diff --git a/.github/workflows/deploy-staging.yml b/.github/workflows/deploy-staging.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b97aaad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/deploy-staging.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,198 @@
+name: Deploy to Staging
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      branch:
+        description: 'Branch to deploy (default: main)'
+        required: false
+        type: string
+        default: 'main'
+      service_name:
+        description: 'GCP App Engine service name to deploy to (default: wildebackyard-web-staging)'
+        required: false
+        type: string
+        default: 'wildebackyard-web-staging'
+
+env:
+  GCP_PROJECT_ID: ${{ secrets.GCP_PROJECT_ID }}
+  GCP_REGION: us-central1
+  PYTHON_VERSION: '3.12'
+  SERVICE_NAME: ${{ inputs.service_name || 'wildebackyard-web-staging' }}
+
+jobs:
+  test:
+    name: Run Tests
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+
+    env:
+      DJANGO_SECRET_KEY: test-secret-key-for-ci
+      DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE: config.settings.local
+      DJANGO_ADMIN_URL: admin/
+      BACKEND_API_URL: https://wildebackyard-api-dot-wildepod-339517.wl.r.appspot.com
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          ref: ${{ inputs.branch || 'main' }}
+
+      - name: Set up Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: ${{ env.PYTHON_VERSION }}
+
+      - name: Install uv
+        run: |
+          curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
+          echo "$HOME/.cargo/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH
+
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: |
+          uv sync
+          uv pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
+
+      - name: Run tests
+        run: |
+          uv run pytest --verbose --tb=short
+
+  build:
+    name: Build Validation
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs: test
+
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          ref: ${{ inputs.branch || 'main' }}
+
+      - name: Set up Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: ${{ env.PYTHON_VERSION }}
+          cache: 'pip'
+
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: |
+          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+          pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
+
+      - name: Validate GCP credentials secret
+        env:
+          GCP_SA_KEY: ${{ secrets.GCP_SA_KEY }}
+        run: |
+          if [ -z "$GCP_SA_KEY" ]; then
+            echo "Error: GCP_SA_KEY secret is not set or is empty"
+            echo "Please configure the GCP_SA_KEY secret in your repository settings:"
+            echo "1. Go to Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions"
+            echo "2. Add a new secret named 'GCP_SA_KEY'"
+            echo "3. Paste the contents of your service account JSON key"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+      - name: Authenticate to Google Cloud
+        uses: google-github-actions/auth@v2
+        with:
+          credentials_json: ${{ secrets.GCP_SA_KEY }}
+
+      - name: Set up Cloud SDK
+        uses: google-github-actions/setup-gcloud@v2
+
+      - name: Validate app.yaml
+        run: |
+          if [ ! -f "app.yaml" ]; then
+            echo "Error: app.yaml not found"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          python -c "import yaml; yaml.safe_load(open('app.yaml'))"
+          echo "✓ app.yaml is valid"
+
+  deploy:
+    name: Deploy to App Engine Staging
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs: [test, build]
+    environment:
+      name: staging
+
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          ref: ${{ inputs.branch || 'main' }}
+
+      - name: Set up Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: ${{ env.PYTHON_VERSION }}
+
+      - name: Authenticate to Google Cloud
+        uses: google-github-actions/auth@v2
+        with:
+          credentials_json: ${{ secrets.GCP_SA_KEY }}
+
+      - name: Set up Cloud SDK
+        uses: google-github-actions/setup-gcloud@v2
+
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: |
+          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+          pip install -r requirements.txt
+
+      - name: Update version.py with deployment commit hash
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          SHORT_HASH=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)
+          RELEASE_TAG=$(git describe --tags --exact-match 2>/dev/null || echo "staging")
+          export SHORT_HASH RELEASE_TAG
+          python3 << 'PYTHON'
+          import os
+          short_hash = os.environ.get('SHORT_HASH', 'unknown')
+          release_tag = os.environ.get('RELEASE_TAG', 'unknown')
+          with open('config/version.py', 'w') as f:
+              f.write('"""\n')
+              f.write('Version information for the application.\n')
+              f.write('This file is automatically updated by the GitHub Actions workflow during deployment.\n')
+              f.write('"""\n')
+              f.write('\n')
+              f.write('VERSION = {\n')
+              f.write(f'    "commit_hash": "{short_hash}",\n')
+              f.write(f'    "release_tag": "{release_tag}",\n')
+              f.write('}\n')
+          print(f'✓ Updated version.py with commit hash: {short_hash} and release tag: {release_tag}')
+          PYTHON
+
+      - name: Collect static files
+        continue-on-error: true
+        env:
+          DJANGO_SECRET_KEY: ${{ secrets.DJANGO_SECRET_KEY }}
+          CLOUD_SQL_DATABASE_URL_STAGING: ${{ secrets.CLOUD_SQL_DATABASE_URL_STAGING }}
+        run: |
+          uv run python manage.py collectstatic --noinput --settings=config.settings.staging || echo "Static collection skipped"
+
+      - name: Deploy to App Engine
+        run: |
+          gcloud app deploy \
+            --project=${{ env.GCP_PROJECT_ID }} \
+            --verbosity=info \
+            --no-promote \
+            --version=$(echo $GITHUB_SHA | cut -c1-7) \
+            --appyaml=app.yaml
+
+      - name: Get deployment info
+        id: deployment
+        run: |
+          VERSION=$(echo $GITHUB_SHA | cut -c1-7)
+          URL="https://${VERSION}-dot-${{ env.SERVICE_NAME }}-dot-${{ env.GCP_PROJECT_ID }}.appspot.com"
+          echo "url=$URL" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          echo "version=$VERSION" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          echo "✓ Deployed version ${VERSION} to ${{ env.SERVICE_NAME }}"
+          echo "✓ URL: ${URL}"