diff --git a/.github/actions/setup-rust/action.yml b/.github/actions/setup-rust/action.yml
index 45f087e6..e2bfc4de 100644
--- a/.github/actions/setup-rust/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/setup-rust/action.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 name: 'Setup Rust'
+description: |
+  Setup the rust toolchain and environment for the selected toolchain
+
 inputs:
   rust-version:
     required: true
@@ -33,6 +36,14 @@ runs:
       echo "CC=clang" >> $GITHUB_ENV
       echo "PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR=/" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 
+  - name: Install s390x cross-compilation toolchain
+    if: ${{ matrix.target == 's390x-unknown-linux-gnu' }}
+    shell: bash
+    run: |
+      sudo apt-get update
+      sudo apt-get install -y gcc-s390x-linux-gnu
+      echo "CARGO_TARGET_S390X_UNKNOWN_LINUX_GNU_LINKER=s390x-linux-gnu-gcc" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+
   - uses: actions/cache@668228422ae6a00e4ad889ee87cd7109ec5666a7 # v5.0.4
     with:
       path: |
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index b58d2a90..ff0993a2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -61,18 +61,22 @@ jobs:
           # FIXME(issue #2138): run wasm tests, failing to run since https://github.com/mthom/scryer-prolog/pull/2137 removed wasm-pack
           - { os: ubuntu-22.04,   rust-version: nightly, target: 'wasm32-unknown-unknown',   publish: true, args: '--no-default-features' , test-args: '--no-run --no-default-features', use_swap: true }
           # Cargo.toml rust-version
-          - { os: ubuntu-22.04,   rust-version: "${{ needs.read-msrv.outputs.msrv }}" ,  target: 'x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu'}
-          - { os: ubuntu-22.04,   rust-version: beta,    target: 'x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu'}
-          - { os: ubuntu-22.04,   rust-version: nightly, target: 'x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu', miri: true, components: "miri"} 
+          - { os: ubuntu-22.04,   rust-version: "${{ needs.read-msrv.outputs.msrv }}" ,  target: 'x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu' }
+          - { os: ubuntu-22.04,   rust-version: beta,    target: 'x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu' }
+          - { os: ubuntu-22.04,   rust-version: nightly, target: 'x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu', miri: true, components: "miri" } 
+          # run miri for a big-endian target, with all features that are simple to get cross-compiled
+          - { os: ubuntu-22.04,   rust-version: nightly, target: 's390x-unknown-linux-gnu', miri: true, components: "miri", args: '--no-default-features --features=all-simple-cross', test-args: '--no-run --no-default-features --features=all-simple-cross' } 
     defaults:
       run:
         shell: bash
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
+
       - uses: actionhippie/swap-space@0cffa893f224708cfb6b011690d8ba819d69c10f # v1.1.0
         if: matrix.use_swap
         with:
           size: 10G
+
       - name: Setup Rust
         uses: ./.github/actions/setup-rust
         with:
@@ -89,7 +93,7 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Check miri
         if: matrix.miri
-        run: cargo miri test
+        run: cargo miri test --target ${{ matrix.target }} ${{ matrix.args }}
 
       # On stable rust builds, build a binary and publish as a github actions
       # artifact. These binaries could be useful for testing the pipeline but
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 0494a679..948444a8 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@ crate-type = ["cdylib", "rlib"]
 
 [features]
 default = ["ffi", "repl", "hostname", "tls", "http", "crypto-full"]
+# enables all features that are simple to get working for cross-compliation
+# currently all but tls, http as those depend on openssl
+all-simple-cross = ["ffi", "repl", "hostname", "crypto-full"]
 ffi = ["dep:libffi"]
 repl = ["dep:crossterm", "dep:ctrlc", "dep:rustyline"]
 hostname = ["dep:hostname"]