diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 040d7c297cc91bdf1df7a0b9debb210dcd9aff37..72a4509adbc99c8d6be889df89839037712ba007 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ test:
   stage: test
   script:
     - meson _build . -Db_coverage=true
+    - ninja -C _build libgsystemservice-doc
     - ninja -C _build test
     - ninja -C _build coverage
   coverage: '/^\s+lines\.+:\s+([\d.]+\%)\s+/'
diff --git a/libgsystemservice/docs/meson.build b/libgsystemservice/docs/meson.build
index d4562681eac02b1633e35461fd6d2ac1be173f87..bde3b6ec7ca6c7304b2278a8af90017d05108b83 100644
--- a/libgsystemservice/docs/meson.build
+++ b/libgsystemservice/docs/meson.build
@@ -24,4 +24,14 @@ gnome.gtkdoc('libgsystemservice',
     '--ignore-headers=' + ' '.join(['tests']),
   ],
   install: not meson.is_subproject(),
-)
\ No newline at end of file
+)
+
+test('gtkdoc-check',
+  find_program('gtkdoc-check'),
+  suite: ['docs'],
+  env: [
+    'BUILDDIR=' + meson.current_build_dir(),
+    'DOC_MODULE=libgsystemservice',
+    'DOC_MAIN_SGML_FILE=docs.xml',
+  ],
+)
diff --git a/libgsystemservice/meson.build b/libgsystemservice/meson.build
index 6a8d2a51e0709316243ea6c617fbcfd4329ca5dd..d5c3211d39fb7ac90b55239e44d2e501dbcb8794 100644
--- a/libgsystemservice/meson.build
+++ b/libgsystemservice/meson.build
@@ -66,5 +66,7 @@ if not meson.is_subproject()
   )
 endif
 
-subdir('docs')
+if get_option('gtk_doc')
+  subdir('docs')
+endif
 subdir('tests')
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index c01db721e2223686fdb78ab31f301b704e844104..b2493ecae8b565151982f726e8588ba04c45a690 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
 # Copyright © 2018 Endless Mobile, Inc.
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later
 
+option(
+  'gtk_doc',
+  type: 'boolean',
+  value: true,
+  description: 'Whether to render the reference documentation (requires gtk-doc)',
+)
+
 option(
   'installed_tests',
   type: 'boolean',