diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 67a48cb8dd..a581397936 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -881,7 +881,7 @@ jobs:
           retention-days: 1
 
   k8_upgrade_test:
-    name: Upgrade cluster test on (${{ matrix.run }})
+    name: Upgrade K8S cluster test on (${{ matrix.run }})
     needs: build_image
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
     strategy:
@@ -945,6 +945,50 @@ jobs:
           path: diagnostics*.gz
           retention-days: 1
 
+  local_upgrade_test:
+    name: Upgrade local cluster test on (${{ matrix.run }})
+    needs: build_primary_binaries
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
+    strategy:
+ #     fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        os: [ubuntu-latest]
+        rust-target: [x86_64-unknown-linux-musl]
+        run: [r1]
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      # Download artifacts
+      - name: Download artifact - fluvio
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: fluvio-${{ matrix.rust-target }}
+          path: ~/bin
+      - name: Mark executable
+        run: |
+          chmod +x ~/bin/fluvio && ~/bin/fluvio version
+          echo "${HOME}/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH
+
+      - name: Run upgrade test with CI artifacts
+        timeout-minutes: 10
+        env:
+          TEST_DATA_BYTES: 10000
+        run: |
+          date
+          make FLUVIO_MODE=local FLUVIO_BIN=~/bin/fluvio upgrade-test
+
+      - name: Run diagnostics
+        if: ${{ !success() }}
+        timeout-minutes: 5
+        run: fluvio cluster diagnostics
+      - name: Upload logs
+        timeout-minutes: 5
+        if: ${{ !success() }}
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: k8_upgrade_${{ matrix.run }}_log
+          path: diagnostics*.gz
+          retention-days: 1
+
   # Smoke test across different version of fluvio
   cli_smoke:
     name: CLI smoke test (${{ matrix.test }}) CLI (${{ matrix.cli_version }}) on cluster (${{ matrix.cluster_version }})
diff --git a/tests/upgrade-test.sh b/tests/upgrade-test.sh
index 77b1f9f424..a421b5c8b8 100755
--- a/tests/upgrade-test.sh
+++ b/tests/upgrade-test.sh
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ readonly PRERELEASE_TOPIC=${PRERELEASE_TOPIC:-prerelease}
 readonly USE_LATEST=${USE_LATEST:-}
 readonly FLUVIO_BIN=$(${READLINK} -f ${FLUVIO_BIN:-"$(which fluvio)"})
 readonly FVM_BIN=$(${READLINK} -f ${FVM_BIN:-"~/.fvm/bin/fvm"})
+readonly FLUVIO_MODE=${FLUVIO_MODE:-"k8"}
 
 # Change to this script's directory 
 pushd "$(dirname "$(${READLINK} -f "$0")")" > /dev/null
@@ -75,7 +76,12 @@ function validate_cluster_stable() {
     ~/.fvm/bin/fvm switch stable
 
     echo "Installing stable fluvio cluster"
-    $STABLE_FLUVIO cluster start --k8
+    if [[ "$FLUVIO_MODE" == "local" ]]; then
+	$STABLE_FLUVIO cluster start --local
+    else
+	$STABLE_FLUVIO cluster start --k8
+    fi
+
     ci_check;
 
     # Baseline: CLI version and platform version are expected to be the same
@@ -163,6 +169,12 @@ function validate_upgrade_cluster_to_prerelease() {
     fi
     popd
 
+    if [[ "$FLUVIO_MODE" == "local" ]]; then
+	echo "Resuming local cluster"
+	$FLUVIO_BIN_ABS_PATH cluster resume
+    fi
+
+
     # Validate that the development version output matches the expected version from installer output
     $FLUVIO_BIN_ABS_PATH version
     validate_cli_version $FLUVIO_BIN_ABS_PATH $TARGET_VERSION