diff --git a/.github/workflows/deploy-core.yml b/.github/workflows/deploy-core.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..2c62d70d91aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/deploy-core.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+name: Deploy Core
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+
+concurrency:
+  group: deploy_core
+  cancel-in-progress: false
+
+env:
+  GCLOUD_PROJECT_ID: ${{ secrets.GCLOUD_PROJECT_ID }}
+
+jobs:
+  build-and-deploy:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+
+      - name: Get short sha
+        id: short_sha
+        run: echo "short_sha=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+
+      - name: "Authenticate with Google Cloud"
+        uses: "google-github-actions/auth@v1"
+        with:
+          credentials_json: "${{ secrets.GCLOUD_SA_KEY }}"
+
+      - name: "Set up Cloud SDK"
+        uses: "google-github-actions/setup-gcloud@v1"
+
+      - name: Install gke-gcloud-auth-plugin
+        run: |
+          gcloud components install gke-gcloud-auth-plugin
+
+      - name: Setup kubectl
+        run: |
+          gcloud container clusters get-credentials dust-kube --region us-central1
+
+      - name: Build the image on Cloud Build
+        run: |
+          chmod +x ./k8s/cloud-build.sh
+          ./k8s/cloud-build.sh core
+
+      - name: Deploy the image on Kubernetes
+        run: |
+          chmod +x ./k8s/deploy-image.sh
+          ./k8s/deploy-image.sh gcr.io/$GCLOUD_PROJECT_ID/core-image:${{ steps.short_sha.outputs.short_sha }} core-deployment
+
+      - name: Wait for rollout to complete
+        run: |
+          echo "Waiting for rollout to complete (web)"
+          kubectl rollout status deployment/core-deployment --timeout=10m
diff --git a/core/Dockerfile b/core/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..8322b1d61144
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+FROM rust:1.70.0 as core
+
+WORKDIR /app
+
+COPY . .
+
+RUN cargo build --release
+
+EXPOSE 3001
+
+# Set a default command, it will start the API service if no command is provided
+CMD ["cargo", "run", "--release", "--bin", "dust-api"]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/core/bin/dust_api.rs b/core/bin/dust_api.rs
index 7d114331ae82..94d65bfd49e7 100644
--- a/core/bin/dust_api.rs
+++ b/core/bin/dust_api.rs
@@ -30,7 +30,10 @@ use serde_json::{json, Value};
 use std::collections::{HashMap, HashSet};
 use std::convert::Infallible;
 use std::sync::Arc;
-use tokio::sync::mpsc::unbounded_channel;
+use tokio::{
+    signal::unix::{signal, SignalKind},
+    sync::mpsc::unbounded_channel,
+};
 use tokio_stream::Stream;
 use tower_http::trace::{self, TraceLayer};
 use tracing::Level;
@@ -78,6 +81,23 @@ impl APIState {
         run_manager.pending_apps.push((app, credentials));
     }
 
+    async fn stop_loop(&self) {
+        loop {
+            let pending_runs = {
+                let manager = self.run_manager.lock();
+                utils::info(&format!(
+                    "[GRACEFUL] {} stop_loop pending runs",
+                    manager.pending_runs.len()
+                ));
+                manager.pending_runs.len()
+            };
+            if pending_runs == 0 {
+                break;
+            }
+            tokio::time::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_millis(1024)).await;
+        }
+    }
+
     async fn run_loop(&self) -> Result<()> {
         let mut loop_count = 0;
         loop {
@@ -121,8 +141,8 @@ impl APIState {
                 });
             });
             loop_count += 1;
-            tokio::time::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_millis(100)).await;
-            if loop_count % (10 * 10) == 0 {
+            tokio::time::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_millis(4)).await;
+            if loop_count % 1024 == 0 {
                 let manager = self.run_manager.lock();
                 utils::info(&format!("{} pending runs", manager.pending_runs.len()));
             }
@@ -1813,30 +1833,44 @@ fn main() {
         .layer(extract::Extension(state.clone()));
 
         // Start the APIState run loop.
-        let state = state.clone();
-        tokio::task::spawn(async move { state.run_loop().await });
+        let runloop_state = state.clone();
+        tokio::task::spawn(async move { runloop_state.run_loop().await });
+
+        let (tx1, rx1) = tokio::sync::oneshot::channel::<()>();
+        let (tx2, rx2) = tokio::sync::oneshot::channel::<()>();
 
-        let (tx, rx) = tokio::sync::oneshot::channel();
         let srv = axum::Server::bind(&"[::]:3001".parse().unwrap())
             .serve(app.into_make_service())
             .with_graceful_shutdown(async {
-                rx.await.ok();
+                rx1.await.ok();
             });
 
         tokio::spawn(async move {
             if let Err(e) = srv.await {
-                eprintln!("server error: {}", e);
+                utils::error(&format!("server error: {}", e));
             }
+            utils::info("[GRACEFUL] Server stopped");
+            tx2.send(()).ok();
         });
 
-        // Wait for `ctrl+c` and stop the server
-        tokio::signal::ctrl_c().await.unwrap();
-        println!("Ctrl+C received, stopping server...");
-        let _ = tx.send(());
+        utils::info(&format!("Current PID: {}", std::process::id()));
+
+        let mut stream = signal(SignalKind::terminate()).unwrap();
+        stream.recv().await;
+
+        // Gracefully shut down the server
+        utils::info("[GRACEFUL] SIGTERM received, stopping server...");
+        tx1.send(()).ok();
+
+        // Wait for the server to shutdown
+        utils::info("[GRACEFUL] Awaiting server shutdown...");
+        rx2.await.ok();
 
-        // Wait for another `ctrl+c` and exit
-        tokio::signal::ctrl_c().await.unwrap();
+        // Wait for the run loop to finish.
+        utils::info("[GRACEFUL] Awaiting stop loop...");
+        state.stop_loop().await;
 
+        utils::info("[GRACEFUL] Exiting!");
         Ok::<(), anyhow::Error>(())
     });
 }
diff --git a/core/dockerignore b/core/dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..42e6e8129b65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+target
+
+# misc
+.DS_Store
+*.pem
+
+.env
+.env*.local
+
+Dockerfile*
+.dockerignore
diff --git a/k8s/apply_infra.sh b/k8s/apply_infra.sh
index 2efac3671e4c..b9025c3ec018 100755
--- a/k8s/apply_infra.sh
+++ b/k8s/apply_infra.sh
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 
 set -e
 
-
 function apply_deployment {
     # This function applies a deployment, but if the deployment already exists,
     # it will replace the image with the current image to avoid a rolling update
@@ -57,6 +56,7 @@ kubectl apply -f "$(dirname "$0")/configmaps/connectors-edge-configmap.yaml"
 kubectl apply -f "$(dirname "$0")/configmaps/blog-configmap.yaml"
 kubectl apply -f "$(dirname "$0")/configmaps/docs-configmap.yaml"
 kubectl apply -f "$(dirname "$0")/configmaps/alerting-temporal-configmap.yaml"
+kubectl apply -f "$(dirname "$0")/configmaps/core-configmap.yaml"
 
 echo "-----------------------------------"
 echo "Applying backend configs"
@@ -100,6 +100,7 @@ apply_deployment blog-deployment
 apply_deployment docs-deployment
 apply_deployment metabase-deployment
 apply_deployment alerting-temporal-deployment
+apply_deployment core-deployment
 
 
 echo "-----------------------------------"
@@ -114,6 +115,7 @@ kubectl apply -f "$(dirname "$0")/services/connectors-edge-service.yaml"
 kubectl apply -f "$(dirname "$0")/services/blog-service.yaml"
 kubectl apply -f "$(dirname "$0")/services/docs-service.yaml"
 kubectl apply -f "$(dirname "$0")/services/metabase-service.yaml"
+kubectl apply -f "$(dirname "$0")/services/core-service.yaml"
 
 
 echo "-----------------------------------"
diff --git a/k8s/configmaps/core-configmap.yaml b/k8s/configmaps/core-configmap.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..cf9296dcb13d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/k8s/configmaps/core-configmap.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: ConfigMap
+metadata:
+  name: core-config
+data:
+  DD_ENV: "prod"
+  DD_SERVICE: "core"
+  DD_LOGS_INJECTION: "true"
+  DD_RUNTIME_METRICS_ENABLED: "true"
diff --git a/k8s/deployments/core-deployment.yaml b/k8s/deployments/core-deployment.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..3108a5028518
--- /dev/null
+++ b/k8s/deployments/core-deployment.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: Deployment
+metadata:
+  name: core-deployment
+spec:
+  replicas: 3
+  selector:
+    matchLabels:
+      app: core
+  template:
+    metadata:
+      labels:
+        app: core
+        name: core-pod
+        admission.datadoghq.com/enabled: "true"
+      annotations:
+        ad.datadoghq.com/web.logs: '[{"source": "core","service": "core","tags": ["env:prod"]}]'
+    spec:
+      terminationGracePeriodSeconds: 180
+      containers:
+        - name: web
+          image: gcr.io/or1g1n-186209/core-image:latest
+          command: ["cargo", "run", "--release", "--bin", "dust-api"]
+          imagePullPolicy: Always
+          ports:
+            - containerPort: 3001
+
+          envFrom:
+            - configMapRef:
+                name: core-config
+            - secretRef:
+                name: core-secrets
+          env:
+            - name: DD_AGENT_HOST
+              valueFrom:
+                fieldRef:
+                  fieldPath: status.hostIP
+
+          volumeMounts:
+            - name: service-account-volume
+              mountPath: /etc/service-accounts
+
+          resources:
+            requests:
+              cpu: 1000m
+              memory: 2.5Gi
+            limits:
+              cpu: 1000m
+              memory: 2.5Gi
+
+      volumes:
+        - name: service-account-volume
+          secret:
+            secretName: gcp-service-account-secret
diff --git a/k8s/services/core-service.yaml b/k8s/services/core-service.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..87a2e19dbdb9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/k8s/services/core-service.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Service
+metadata:
+  name: core-service
+spec:
+  selector:
+    app: core
+    name: core-pod
+  ports:
+    - protocol: TCP
+      port: 80
+      targetPort: 3001
+  type: ClusterIP