diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/cd-develop.yml b/.gitea/workflows/cd-develop.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..37b2600
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/cd-develop.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+name: CD - Develop (guide → bcos.dev)
+
+# Guide-specific CI (issue #5). The guide bundles markdown INTO the backend jar at build time,
+# so a running instance must be rebuilt + redeployed to pick up content changes — a git-pull is
+# not enough. This automates that on every push to develop: build → push :dev → deploy to bcos.dev.
+#
+# Auto-deploy is intentional and scoped to the DEV environment only (docs, low blast radius).
+# Audience filtering is runtime (GUIDE_SERVED_AUDIENCES): bcos.dev serves all four tiers; prod
+# (a future cd-main, gated) serves only customer,internal — so dev/bcos content never leaves dev.
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - develop
+    paths:
+      - 'backend/**'
+      - '.gitea/workflows/cd-develop.yml'
+
+jobs:
+  build-and-deploy:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    env:
+      GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY: "true"
+      MAVEN_OPTS: "-Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true -Dmaven.wagon.http.ssl.insecure=true -Dmaven.wagon.http.ssl.allowall=true"
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Configure Maven settings (Gitea package registry)
+        run: |
+          mkdir -p ~/.m2
+          cat > ~/.m2/settings.xml << 'EOF'
+          <settings>
+            <servers>
+              <server><id>gitea</id><username>hiveiq</username><password>${{ secrets.MAVEN_TOKEN }}</password></server>
+            </servers>
+            <profiles>
+              <profile>
+                <id>gitea-registry</id>
+                <repositories>
+                  <repository>
+                    <id>gitea</id>
+                    <url>https://hiveiq-gitea.directlx.dev/api/packages/hiveops/maven</url>
+                    <releases><enabled>true</enabled></releases><snapshots><enabled>false</enabled></snapshots>
+                  </repository>
+                </repositories>
+              </profile>
+            </profiles>
+            <activeProfiles><activeProfile>gitea-registry</activeProfile></activeProfiles>
+          </settings>
+          EOF
+
+      # mvn package FIRST — the Dockerfile does `COPY target/*.jar`, so skipping this ships stale
+      # content (the exact trap that makes the manual process error-prone).
+      - name: Build backend JAR (bakes in content)
+        run: cd backend && mvn clean package -DskipTests -B
+
+      - name: Build + push image
+        run: |
+          echo "${{ secrets.DEV_REGISTRY_PASSWORD }}" | docker login ${{ secrets.DEV_REGISTRY_URL }} -u ${{ secrets.DEV_REGISTRY_USERNAME }} --password-stdin
+          docker build -t ${{ secrets.DEV_REGISTRY_URL }}/hiveiq-guide-backend:dev backend/
+          docker push ${{ secrets.DEV_REGISTRY_URL }}/hiveiq-guide-backend:dev
+
+      # DEPENDENCY (issue #5, coordinate with CI/runner session): needs BCOS_DEV_DEPLOY_KEY secret
+      # (SSH key for bcosadmin@.251) + runner network reachability to 173.231.195.251.
+      - name: Deploy to bcos.dev
+        run: |
+          mkdir -p ~/.ssh && echo "${{ secrets.BCOS_DEV_DEPLOY_KEY }}" > ~/.ssh/dk && chmod 600 ~/.ssh/dk
+          ssh -i ~/.ssh/dk -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no bcosadmin@173.231.195.251 \
+            'cd ~/hiveiq/hiveops-openmetal/hiveops/instances/dev && docker compose pull hiveiq-guide-backend && docker compose up -d hiveiq-guide-backend'
+
+      - name: Smoke — guide backend healthy + content served
+        run: |
+          for i in $(seq 1 12); do
+            s=$(curl -sk -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}' https://api.bcos.dev/guide/actuator/health || echo 000)
+            [ "$s" = "200" ] && { echo "guide healthy"; exit 0; }
+            sleep 5
+          done
+          echo "::error::guide did not report healthy after deploy"; exit 1