diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index b7ad3839..603dc72d 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 stages:
   - build
+  - deploy
 
 variables:
   DOCKER_BUILDKIT: "1"
@@ -13,6 +14,9 @@ cache:
   paths:
     - .npm/
 
+# =========================
+# 🏗️ BUILD STAGE
+# =========================
 build-image:
   stage: build
   image: docker:27.0.3
@@ -25,12 +29,43 @@ build-image:
 
   script:
     - echo "Building optimized Docker image..."
-    - docker build --build-arg BUILDKIT_INLINE_CACHE=1 --cache-from $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE/web-lti:latest -t "$IMAGE_NAME" .
+    - docker build --build-arg BUILDKIT_INLINE_CACHE=1 --cache-from "$CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE/web-lti:latest" -t "$IMAGE_NAME" .
     - docker push "$IMAGE_NAME"
-    - echo "Cleaning old images (keep last 3)..."
+    - echo "Cleaning old images..."
     - docker image prune -af --filter "until=72h"
 
-  after_script: "echo 'Build complete: $IMAGE_NAME'"
+  rules:
+    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "development"'
+
+# =========================
+# 🚀 DEPLOY STAGE
+# =========================
+deploy-dev:
+  stage: deploy
+  image: alpine:3.20
+
+  before_script:
+    - echo "Installing dependencies..."
+    - apk add --no-cache openssh curl
+    - mkdir -p ~/.ssh
+    - echo "$SSH_PRIVATE_KEY" > ~/.ssh/id_rsa
+    - chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_rsa
+    - eval $(ssh-agent -s)
+    - ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa
+    - ssh-keyscan -H "$SERVER_IP" >> ~/.ssh/known_hosts
+
+  script:
+    - echo "Deploying image to $SERVER_USER@$SERVER_IP"
+    - >
+      ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no "$SERVER_USER@$SERVER_IP" "
+        docker pull $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE/web-lti:development_${CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA} &&
+        docker stop dev-web-lti || true &&
+        docker rm dev-web-lti || true &&
+        docker run -d --name dev-web-lti \
+          --network dev-lti-network \
+          -p 3002:3000 \
+          $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE/web-lti:development_${CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA}
+      "
 
   rules:
     - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "development"'
\ No newline at end of file