diff --git a/apps/kubernetes-provider/src/index.ts b/apps/kubernetes-provider/src/index.ts
index 60c27d1d7..9ff7dc71f 100644
--- a/apps/kubernetes-provider/src/index.ts
+++ b/apps/kubernetes-provider/src/index.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import {
   TaskOperations,
   TaskOperationsCreateOptions,
   TaskOperationsIndexOptions,
+  TaskOperationsPrePullImageOptions,
   TaskOperationsRestoreOptions,
 } from "@trigger.dev/core-apps/provider";
 import { SimpleLogger } from "@trigger.dev/core-apps/logger";
@@ -49,6 +50,7 @@ class KubernetesTaskOperations implements TaskOperations {
   #k8sApi: {
     core: k8s.CoreV1Api;
     batch: k8s.BatchV1Api;
+    apps: k8s.AppsV1Api;
   };
 
   constructor(namespace = "default") {
@@ -313,6 +315,72 @@ class KubernetesTaskOperations implements TaskOperations {
     await this.#getPod(opts.runId, this.#namespace);
   }
 
+  async prePullImage(opts: TaskOperationsPrePullImageOptions) {
+    const metaName = this.#getPrePullContainerName(opts.shortCode);
+
+    const metaLabels = {
+      ...this.#getSharedLabels(opts),
+      app: "task-prepull",
+      "app.kubernetes.io/part-of": "trigger-worker",
+      "app.kubernetes.io/component": "prepull",
+      deployment: opts.deploymentId,
+      name: metaName,
+    } satisfies k8s.V1ObjectMeta["labels"];
+
+    await this.#createDaemonSet(
+      {
+        metadata: {
+          name: metaName,
+          namespace: this.#namespace.metadata.name,
+          labels: metaLabels,
+        },
+        spec: {
+          selector: {
+            matchLabels: {
+              name: metaName,
+            },
+          },
+          template: {
+            metadata: {
+              labels: metaLabels,
+            },
+            spec: {
+              ...this.#defaultPodSpec,
+              restartPolicy: "Always",
+              initContainers: [
+                {
+                  name: "prepull",
+                  image: opts.imageRef,
+                  command: ["/usr/bin/true"],
+                  resources: {
+                    limits: {
+                      cpu: "0.25",
+                      memory: "100Mi",
+                      "ephemeral-storage": "1Gi",
+                    },
+                  },
+                },
+              ],
+              containers: [
+                {
+                  name: "pause",
+                  image: "registry.k8s.io/pause:3.9",
+                  resources: {
+                    limits: {
+                      cpu: "1m",
+                      memory: "12Mi",
+                    },
+                  },
+                },
+              ],
+            },
+          },
+        },
+      },
+      this.#namespace
+    );
+  }
+
   #envTypeToLabelValue(type: EnvironmentType) {
     switch (type) {
       case "PRODUCTION":
@@ -402,7 +470,11 @@ class KubernetesTaskOperations implements TaskOperations {
   }
 
   #getSharedLabels(
-    opts: TaskOperationsIndexOptions | TaskOperationsCreateOptions | TaskOperationsRestoreOptions
+    opts:
+      | TaskOperationsIndexOptions
+      | TaskOperationsCreateOptions
+      | TaskOperationsRestoreOptions
+      | TaskOperationsPrePullImageOptions
   ): Record<string, string> {
     return {
       env: opts.envId,
@@ -446,6 +518,10 @@ class KubernetesTaskOperations implements TaskOperations {
     return `task-run-${suffix}`;
   }
 
+  #getPrePullContainerName(suffix: string) {
+    return `task-prepull-${suffix}`;
+  }
+
   #createK8sApi() {
     const kubeConfig = new k8s.KubeConfig();
 
@@ -460,6 +536,7 @@ class KubernetesTaskOperations implements TaskOperations {
     return {
       core: kubeConfig.makeApiClient(k8s.CoreV1Api),
       batch: kubeConfig.makeApiClient(k8s.BatchV1Api),
+      apps: kubeConfig.makeApiClient(k8s.AppsV1Api),
     };
   }
 
@@ -503,6 +580,18 @@ class KubernetesTaskOperations implements TaskOperations {
     }
   }
 
+  async #createDaemonSet(daemonSet: k8s.V1DaemonSet, namespace: Namespace) {
+    try {
+      const res = await this.#k8sApi.apps.createNamespacedDaemonSet(
+        namespace.metadata.name,
+        daemonSet
+      );
+      logger.debug(res.body);
+    } catch (err: unknown) {
+      this.#handleK8sError(err);
+    }
+  }
+
   #throwUnlessRecord(candidate: unknown): asserts candidate is Record<string, unknown> {
     if (typeof candidate !== "object" || candidate === null) {
       throw candidate;
diff --git a/apps/webapp/app/v3/services/createDeployedBackgroundWorker.server.ts b/apps/webapp/app/v3/services/createDeployedBackgroundWorker.server.ts
index 6406786de..82ba42f51 100644
--- a/apps/webapp/app/v3/services/createDeployedBackgroundWorker.server.ts
+++ b/apps/webapp/app/v3/services/createDeployedBackgroundWorker.server.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import { logger } from "~/services/logger.server";
 import { ExecuteTasksWaitingForDeployService } from "./executeTasksWaitingForDeploy";
 import { PerformDeploymentAlertsService } from "./alerts/performDeploymentAlerts.server";
 import { TimeoutDeploymentService } from "./timeoutDeployment.server";
+import { socketIo } from "../handleSocketIo.server";
 
 export class CreateDeployedBackgroundWorkerService extends BaseService {
   public async call(
@@ -132,6 +133,20 @@ export class CreateDeployedBackgroundWorkerService extends BaseService {
         logger.error("Failed to publish WORKER_CREATED event", { err });
       }
 
+      if (deployment.imageReference) {
+        socketIo.providerNamespace.emit("PRE_PULL_IMAGE", {
+          version: "v1",
+          imageRef: deployment.imageReference,
+          shortCode: deployment.shortCode,
+          // identifiers
+          deploymentId: deployment.id,
+          envId: environment.id,
+          envType: environment.type,
+          orgId: environment.organizationId,
+          projectId: deployment.projectId,
+        });
+      }
+
       await ExecuteTasksWaitingForDeployService.enqueue(backgroundWorker.id, this._prisma);
       await PerformDeploymentAlertsService.enqueue(deployment.id, this._prisma);
       await TimeoutDeploymentService.dequeue(deployment.id, this._prisma);
diff --git a/packages/core-apps/src/provider.ts b/packages/core-apps/src/provider.ts
index 8ce381ba2..da53e6996 100644
--- a/packages/core-apps/src/provider.ts
+++ b/packages/core-apps/src/provider.ts
@@ -64,6 +64,17 @@ export interface TaskOperationsRestoreOptions {
   checkpointId: string;
 }
 
+export interface TaskOperationsPrePullImageOptions {
+  shortCode: string;
+  imageRef: string;
+  // identifiers
+  envId: string;
+  envType: EnvironmentType;
+  orgId: string;
+  projectId: string;
+  deploymentId: string;
+}
+
 export interface TaskOperations {
   init: () => Promise<any>;
 
@@ -73,8 +84,10 @@ export interface TaskOperations {
   restore: (opts: TaskOperationsRestoreOptions) => Promise<any>;
 
   // unimplemented
-  delete: (...args: any[]) => Promise<any>;
-  get: (...args: any[]) => Promise<any>;
+  delete?: (...args: any[]) => Promise<any>;
+  get?: (...args: any[]) => Promise<any>;
+
+  prePullImage?: (opts: TaskOperationsPrePullImageOptions) => Promise<any>;
 }
 
 type ProviderShellOptions = {
@@ -277,6 +290,27 @@ export class ProviderShell implements Provider {
             logger.error("restore failed", error);
           }
         },
+        PRE_PULL_IMAGE: async (message) => {
+          if (!this.tasks.prePullImage) {
+            logger.debug("prePullImage not implemented", message);
+            return;
+          }
+
+          try {
+            await this.tasks.prePullImage({
+              shortCode: message.shortCode,
+              imageRef: message.imageRef,
+              // identifiers
+              envId: message.envId,
+              envType: message.envType,
+              orgId: message.orgId,
+              projectId: message.projectId,
+              deploymentId: message.deploymentId,
+            });
+          } catch (error) {
+            logger.error("prePullImage failed", error);
+          }
+        },
       },
     });
 
@@ -306,9 +340,12 @@ export class ProviderShell implements Provider {
           case "/delete": {
             const body = await getTextBody(req);
 
-            await this.tasks.delete({ runId: body });
-
-            return reply.text(`sent delete request: ${body}`);
+            if (this.tasks.delete) {
+              await this.tasks.delete({ runId: body });
+              return reply.text(`sent delete request: ${body}`);
+            } else {
+              return reply.text("delete not implemented", 501);
+            }
           }
           default: {
             return reply.empty(404);
diff --git a/packages/core/src/v3/schemas/messages.ts b/packages/core/src/v3/schemas/messages.ts
index b57eb9f4b..bd86eb4ca 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/v3/schemas/messages.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/v3/schemas/messages.ts
@@ -367,6 +367,19 @@ export const PlatformToProviderMessages = {
       runId: z.string(),
     }),
   },
+  PRE_PULL_IMAGE: {
+    message: z.object({
+      version: z.literal("v1").default("v1"),
+      imageRef: z.string(),
+      shortCode: z.string(),
+      // identifiers
+      envId: z.string(),
+      envType: EnvironmentType,
+      orgId: z.string(),
+      projectId: z.string(),
+      deploymentId: z.string(),
+    }),
+  },
 };
 
 const CreateWorkerMessage = z.object({