diff --git a/R/get_data.R b/R/get_data.R
index 17ebc38..7d3b8d9 100644
--- a/R/get_data.R
+++ b/R/get_data.R
@@ -2,10 +2,10 @@
 #'
 #' @param dir What relative file path should the files be downloaded
 #' @param type Which OTTR repo are we downloading? Options are "rmd", "quarto", "rmd_website", "quarto_website"
-#'
+#' @param render Should the OTTR repo be rendered after downloading? Default is TRUE
 #' @return This downloads the main branch repo files from the respective repo for testing purposes
 #' @export
-setup_ottr_template <- function(dir = "inst/extdata", type) {
+setup_ottr_template <- function(dir = ".", type, render = TRUE) {
   if (!dir.exists(dir)) dir.create(dir, recursive = TRUE, showWarnings = FALSE)
 
   possible_types <- c("rmd", "quarto", "rmd_website", "quarto_website")
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ setup_ottr_template <- function(dir = "inst/extdata", type) {
   }
 
   ## Render it
+  if (render) {
   if (type == "rmd") bookdown::render_book(output_dir)
   if (type == "rmd_website") rmarkdown::render_site(output_dir)
 
@@ -58,6 +59,7 @@ setup_ottr_template <- function(dir = "inst/extdata", type) {
       as_job = FALSE
     )
   }
+  }
   return(output_dir)
 }
 
diff --git a/R/url-check.R b/R/url-check.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a78f625
--- /dev/null
+++ b/R/url-check.R
@@ -0,0 +1,224 @@
+#' Check URLs of all md,rmd, and qmd files
+#'
+#' @param path path to the bookdown or quarto course repository, must have a
+#'   `.github` folder which will be used to establish the top of the repo.
+#' @param output_dir A relative file path to the folder (existing or not) that the
+#'   output check file should be saved to. Default is "check_reports"
+#' @param resources_dir A relative file path to the folder (existing or not) that the
+#'   ignore_urls.txt file and exclude_files.txt will be found. Default is "resources".
+#'   If no ignore_urls.txt file and exclude_files.txt files are found, we will download one.
+#' @param report_all Should all URLs that were tested be returned? Default is FALSE
+#'   meaning only broken URLs will be reported in the url_checks.tsv file.
+#' @return A file will be saved that lists the broken URLs will be saved to the specified output_dir.
+#' @export
+#'
+#' @importFrom magrittr
+#'
+#' @examples
+#'
+#' rmd_dir <- setup_ottr_template(dir = ".", type = "rmd", render = FALSE)
+#'
+#' check_urls(rmd_dir)
+#'
+#' # If there are broken URLs they will be printed in a list at "check_reports/url_checks.tsv"
+#'
+#' qmd_dir <- setup_ottr_template(dir = ".", type = "qmd", render = FALSE)
+#'
+#' check_urls(qmd_dir)
+#'
+check_urls <- function(path = ".",
+                       output_dir = "check_reports",
+                       resources_dir = "resources",
+                       report_all = FALSE) {
+  # Find .git root directory
+  root_dir <- rprojroot::find_root(path = path, rprojroot::has_dir(".github"))
+
+  resources_dir <- file.path(root_dir, resources_dir)
+  output_dir <- file.path(root_dir, output_dir)
+
+  if (!dir.exists(output_dir)) {
+    dir.create(output_dir, recursive = TRUE, showWarnings = FALSE)
+  }
+  if (!dir.exists(resources_dir)) {
+    dir.create(resources_dir, recursive = TRUE, showWarnings = FALSE)
+  }
+
+  output_file <- file.path(output_dir, "url_checks.tsv")
+  ignore_urls_file <- file.path(resources_dir, "ignore-urls.txt")
+  exclude_file <- file.path(resources_dir, "exclude_files.txt")
+
+  # Read in ignore urls file if it exists
+  if (file.exists(ignore_urls_file)) {
+    ignore_urls <- readLines(ignore_urls_file)
+  } else {
+    ignore_urls <- ""
+  }
+
+  # Read in ignore urls file if it exists
+  if (file.exists(exclude_file)) {
+    exclude_file <- readLines(exclude_file)
+  } else {
+    exclude_file <- ""
+  }
+
+  # Only declare `.md` files but not the ones in the style-sets directory
+  files <- list.files(path = root_dir, pattern = "md$", full.names = TRUE, recursive = TRUE)
+
+  if (exclude_file[1] != "") files <- grep(paste0(exclude_file, collapse = "|"), files, invert = TRUE, value = TRUE)
+
+  # Run this for all Rmds
+  all_urls <- lapply(files, get_urls)
+
+  # Write the file
+  all_urls_df <- dplyr::bind_rows(all_urls)
+
+  if (nrow(all_urls_df) > 0) {
+    if (!report_all) {
+    all_urls_df <- all_urls_df %>%
+      dplyr::filter(urls_status == "failed") %>%
+      readr::write_tsv(output_file)
+    }
+  } else {
+    all_urls_df <- data.frame(errors = NA)
+  }
+
+  # Print out how many spell check errors
+  write(nrow(all_urls_df), stdout())
+
+  # Save spell errors to file temporarily
+  readr::write_tsv(all_urls_df, output_file)
+
+  message(paste0("Saved to: ", output_file))
+}
+
+
+#' Test a URL
+#'
+#' @param url A single URL that will be checked whether it is real.
+#' @param ignore_url A vector of URLs which to ignore.
+#'
+#' @return a logical TRUE/FALSE for whether the URL is legitimate.
+#' @export
+#'
+#' @importFrom magrittr
+#'
+test_url <- function(url, ignore_urls = "") {
+
+  if (url %in% ignore_urls) {
+    message(paste0("Ignoring: ", url))
+    return("ignored")
+  }
+
+  message(paste0("Testing: ", url))
+
+  url_status <- try(httr::GET(url), silent = TRUE)
+
+  # Fails if host can't be resolved
+  status <- ifelse(suppressMessages(grepl("Could not resolve host", url_status)), "failed", "success")
+
+  if (status == "success") {
+    # Fails if 404'ed
+    status <- ifelse(try(url_status$status_code, silent = TRUE) == 404, "failed", "success")
+  }
+
+  return(status)
+}
+
+
+#' Identify and collect URLs in a single rmd/qmd/md file
+#'
+#' @param file A file path to a rmd/qmd/md file that contains URLs to be check
+#' @param ignore_url A vector of URLs which to ignore.
+#'
+#' @return a data.frame of all the URLs identified in the given rmd/qmd/md file
+#' @export
+#'
+#' @importFrom magrittr
+#'
+get_urls <- function(file, ignore_urls = "") {
+  message(paste("##### Testing URLs from file:", file))
+
+  # Read in a file and return the urls from it
+  content <- readLines(file)
+
+  # Set up the possible tags
+  html_tag <- "<a href="
+  include_url_tag <- "include_url\\("
+  include_slide_tag <- "include_slide\\("
+  markdown_tag <- "\\[.*\\]\\(http[s]?.*\\)"
+  markdown_tag_bracket <- "\\[.*\\]: http[s]?"
+  http_gen <- "http[s]?"
+  url_pattern <- "[(|<]?http[s]?://(?:[a-zA-Z]|[0-9]|[$-_@.&+]|[!*\\(\\),]|(?:%[0-9a-fA-F][0-9a-fA-F]))+"
+
+  # Other patterns
+  nested_parens <- "\\((.*)\\((.*)\\)(.*)\\)"
+  outermost_parens <- "^\\((.*)\\)(.*)$"
+
+  # Collect the different kinds of tags in a named vector
+  all_tags <- c(
+    html = html_tag,
+    knitr = include_url_tag,
+    ottrpal = include_slide_tag,
+    markdown = markdown_tag,
+    markdown_bracket = markdown_tag_bracket,
+    other_http = http_gen
+  )
+
+  url_list <- sapply(all_tags, grep, content, value = TRUE)
+  url_list$other_http <- setdiff(url_list$other_http, unlist(url_list[-6]))
+
+  # Extract the urls only of each type
+  if (length(url_list$html) > 0) {
+    url_list$html <- sapply(url_list$html, function(html_line) {
+      head(rvest::html_attr(rvest::html_nodes(rvest::read_html(html_line), "a"), "href"))
+    })
+    url_list$html <- unlist(url_list$html)
+  }
+  url_list$knitr <- stringr::word(url_list$knitr, sep = "include_url\\(\"|\"\\)", 2)
+  url_list$ottrpal <- stringr::word(url_list$ottrpal, sep = "include_slide\\(\"|\"\\)", 2)
+
+  # Check markdown for parentheticals outside of [ ]( )
+  parens_index <- sapply(url_list$markdown, stringr::str_detect, nested_parens)
+
+  if (length(parens_index) >= 1) {
+    # Break down to parenthetical only
+    url_list$markdown[parens_index] <- stringr::str_extract(url_list$markdown[parens_index], nested_parens)
+    # Remove parentheticals outside [ ]( )
+    url_list$markdown[parens_index] <- stringr::word(stringr::str_replace(url_list$markdown[parens_index], outermost_parens, "\\1"), sep = "\\]", 2)
+
+    url_list$markdown[!parens_index] <- stringr::word(url_list$markdown[!parens_index], sep = "\\]", 2)
+    url_list$markdown <- grep("http", url_list$markdown, value = TRUE)
+  }
+  if (length(url_list$markdown_bracket) > 0) {
+    url_list$markdown_bracket <- paste0("http", stringr::word(url_list$markdown_bracket, sep = "\\]: http", 2))
+  }
+  url_list$other_http <- stringr::word(stringr::str_extract(url_list$other_http, url_pattern), sep = "\\]", 1)
+
+  # Remove parentheses only if they are on the outside
+  url_list$other_http <- stringr::word(stringr::str_replace(url_list$other_http, outermost_parens, "\\1"), sep = "\\]", 1)
+  url_list$markdown <- stringr::word(stringr::str_replace(url_list$markdown, outermost_parens, "\\1"), sep = "\\]", 1)
+
+  # Remove `< >`
+  url_list$other_http <- stringr::word(stringr::str_replace(url_list$other_http, "^<(.*)>(.*)$", "\\1"), sep = "\\]", 1)
+
+  # If after the manipulations there's not actually a URL, remove it.
+  url_list <- lapply(url_list, na.omit)
+
+  # collapse list
+  urls <- unlist(url_list)
+
+  # Remove trailing characters
+  urls <- gsub("\\'\\:$|\\'|\\:$|\\.$|\\)$|\\,$", "", urls)
+
+  # Remove URLs that are in the ignore
+  if (ignore_urls[1] != "") urls <- grep(paste0(ignore_urls, collapse = "|"), urls, invert = TRUE, value = TRUE)
+
+  if (length(urls) > 0) {
+    # Remove trailing characters
+    urls_status <- sapply(urls, test_url, ignore_urls = ignore_urls)
+    url_df <- data.frame(urls, urls_status, file)
+    return(url_df)
+  } else {
+    message("No URLs found")
+  }
+}
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-check-urls.R b/tests/testthat/test-check-urls.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d30d4c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-check-urls.R
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+
+output_file <- file.path("check_reports", "url_checks.tsv")
+
+test_that("Test URL checks for OTTR main", {
+
+   rmd_dir <- setup_ottr_template(type = "rmd", render = FALSE)
+
+   status <- check_urls(rmd_dir)
+   testthat::expect_true(status < 2)
+
+   # Make sure the report exists
+   testthat::expect_true(file.exists(file.path(rmd_dir, output_file)))
+   results <- readr::read_tsv(file.path(rmd_dir, output_file))
+
+   # It should be a data.frame
+   testthat::expect_true(is.data.frame(results))
+   clean_up()
+
+})
+
+test_that("Test URL checks for OTTR Quarto main", {
+   qmd_dir <- setup_ottr_template(type = "quarto", render = FALSE)
+
+   status <- check_urls(qmd_dir)
+   testthat::expect_true(status < 2)
+
+   # Make sure the report exists
+   testthat::expect_true(file.exists(file.path(qmd_dir, output_file)))
+   results <- readr::read_tsv(file.path(qmd_dir, output_file))
+
+   # It should be a data.frame
+   testthat::expect_true(is.data.frame(results))
+   clean_up()
+})
+
+test_that("Test URL checks for OTTR web", {
+   rmd_web <- setup_ottr_template(type = "rmd_website", render = FALSE)
+
+   status <- check_urls(rmd_web, report_all = TRUE)
+   testthat::expect_true(status < 2)
+
+   # Make sure the report exists
+   testthat::expect_true(file.exists(file.path(rmd_web, output_file)))
+   results <- readr::read_tsv(file.path(rmd_web, output_file))
+
+   # It should be a data.frame
+   testthat::expect_true(is.data.frame(results))
+   clean_up()
+})
+
+test_that("Test URL checks for OTTR Quarto web", {
+   ## Test URL
+   qmd_web <- setup_ottr_template(type = "quarto_website", render = FALSE)
+
+   status <- check_urls(qmd_web, report_all = TRUE)
+   testthat::expect_true(status < 2)
+
+   # Make sure the report exists
+   testthat::expect_true(file.exists(file.path(qmd_web, output_file)))
+   results <- readr::read_tsv(file.path(qmd_web, output_file))
+
+   # It should be a data.frame
+   testthat::expect_true(is.data.frame(results))
+   clean_up()
+})