diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 001948b776..dc96df408f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 ### Template
 
+- Add a Github Action Workflow to the pipeline template that tests a successful download with 'nf-core download' ([#2618](https://github.com/nf-core/tools/pull/2618))
 - Use `pre-commit` to lint files in GitHub CI ([#2635](https://github.com/nf-core/tools/pull/2635))
 
 ### Download
diff --git a/nf_core/pipeline-template/.github/workflows/download_pipeline.yml b/nf_core/pipeline-template/.github/workflows/download_pipeline.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d5d0307262
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nf_core/pipeline-template/.github/workflows/download_pipeline.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+name: Test successful pipeline download with 'nf-core download'
+
+# Run the workflow when:
+#  - dispatched manually
+#  - when a PR is opened or reopened to master branch
+#  - the head branch of the pull request is updated, i.e. if fixes for a release are pushed last minute to dev.
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+  pull_request:
+    types:
+      - opened
+    branches:
+      - master
+  pull_request_target:
+    branches:
+      - master
+
+env:
+  NXF_ANSI_LOG: false
+
+jobs:
+  download:
+    runs-on: ["self-hosted"]
+    steps:
+      - name: Install Nextflow
+        uses: nf-core/setup-nextflow@v1
+
+      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: "3.11"
+          architecture: "x64"
+      - uses: eWaterCycle/setup-singularity@v7
+        with:
+          singularity-version: 3.8.3
+
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: |
+          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+          pip install git+https://github.com/nf-core/tools.git@dev
+
+      - name: Get the repository name and current branch set as environment variable
+        run: |
+          echo "REPO_LOWERCASE=${GITHUB_REPOSITORY,,}" >> ${GITHUB_ENV}
+          echo "REPOTITLE_LOWERCASE=$(basename ${GITHUB_REPOSITORY,,})" >> ${GITHUB_ENV}
+          echo "REPO_BRANCH=${GITHUB_REF#refs/heads/}" >> ${GITHUB_ENV}
+
+      - name: Download the pipeline
+        env:
+          NXF_SINGULARITY_CACHEDIR: ./
+        run: |
+          nf-core download ${{ env.REPO_LOWERCASE }} \
+          --revision ${{ env.REPO_BRANCH }} \
+          --outdir ./${{ env.REPOTITLE_LOWERCASE }} \
+          --compress "none" \
+          --container-system 'singularity' \
+          --container-library "quay.io" -l "docker.io" -l "ghcr.io" \
+          --container-cache-utilisation 'amend' \
+          --download-configuration
+
+      - name: Inspect download
+        run: tree ./${{ env.REPOTITLE_LOWERCASE }}
+
+      - name: Run the downloaded pipeline
+        env:
+          NXF_SINGULARITY_CACHEDIR: ./
+          NXF_SINGULARITY_HOME_MOUNT: true
+        run: nextflow run ./${{ env.REPOTITLE_LOWERCASE }}/$( sed 's/\W/_/g' <<< ${{ env.REPO_BRANCH }}) -stub -profile test,singularity --outdir ./results