diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml b/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml
index f2ea3d6..13ee3de 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml
@@ -79,7 +79,27 @@ jobs:
           sudo apt-get update -qq
           sudo apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends build-essential libcurl4-openssl-dev libssl-dev
 
-      - name: Build elc fresh on the runner
+      - name: Restore elc binary from GCS cache
+        id: elc-cache
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          # Cache key = SHA256 of both source files that produce elc
+          ELC_SRC_HASH=$(cat "$EL_HOME/dist/platform/elc.c" "$EL_HOME/el-compiler/runtime/el_runtime.c" | sha256sum | cut -c1-16)
+          CACHE_OBJ="gs://neuron-ci-cache/elc/linux-amd64/${ELC_SRC_HASH}/elc"
+          echo "elc_cache_key=${ELC_SRC_HASH}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          echo "elc_cache_obj=${CACHE_OBJ}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          if gsutil -q stat "$CACHE_OBJ" 2>/dev/null; then
+            echo "Cache hit: ${CACHE_OBJ}"
+            gsutil cp "$CACHE_OBJ" "$EL_HOME/dist/platform/elc"
+            chmod +x "$EL_HOME/dist/platform/elc"
+            echo "cache_hit=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          else
+            echo "Cache miss for key ${ELC_SRC_HASH}"
+            echo "cache_hit=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          fi
+
+      - name: Build elc (cache miss only)
+        if: steps.elc-cache.outputs.cache_hit != 'true'
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
           # The committed dist/platform/elc is arm64 from Will's mac. We
@@ -93,6 +113,8 @@ jobs:
             -lcurl -lpthread -ldl -lm -lssl -lcrypto
           file dist/platform/elc
           ls -la dist/platform/elc
+          # Upload to GCS cache for future runs
+          gsutil cp dist/platform/elc "${{ steps.elc-cache.outputs.elc_cache_obj }}" || true
 
       - name: Compute image tag
         id: tag
diff --git a/Dockerfile.stage b/Dockerfile.stage
index 3c4dfc5..76682a2 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.stage
+++ b/Dockerfile.stage
@@ -25,6 +25,11 @@ WORKDIR /build
 # El runtime (shared by both binaries)
 COPY runtime/el_runtime.c runtime/el_runtime.h ./
 
+# Pre-compile el_runtime as a separate cached layer.
+# el_runtime.c changes rarely; main.c changes every run.
+# Splitting this out means el_runtime.o is cached across builds when only main.c changes.
+RUN cc -O2 -c el_runtime.c -I. -o el_runtime.o
+
 # ── Build neuron-web ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 #
 # main.c was generated on the host by build-stage.sh from src/*.el via the
@@ -35,7 +40,7 @@ COPY dist/main.c ./
 
 RUN cc -O2 -rdynamic \
        -o neuron-web \
-       main.c web_stubs.c el_runtime.c \
+       main.c web_stubs.c el_runtime.o \
        -lcurl -lpthread -ldl -lm -lssl -lcrypto
 
 # ── Build soul-demo ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
@@ -44,7 +49,7 @@ COPY dist/vessel_stubs.c ./
 
 RUN cc -O2 -rdynamic \
        -o soul-demo \
-       soul-demo.c vessel_stubs.c el_runtime.c \
+       soul-demo.c vessel_stubs.c el_runtime.o \
        -lcurl -lpthread -ldl -lm -lssl -lcrypto
 
 # ── Stage 2: runtime image ────────────────────────────────────────────────────
diff --git a/build-stage.sh b/build-stage.sh
index 6bd5530..f78ecc0 100755
--- a/build-stage.sh
+++ b/build-stage.sh
@@ -89,6 +89,8 @@ sed "${SED_INPLACE[@]}" \
 
 echo "==> Building Docker image marketing:${TAG} for linux/amd64"
 docker buildx build --platform linux/amd64 --load \
+    --cache-from type=registry,ref=us-central1-docker.pkg.dev/neuron-785695/neuron-marketing/marketing:cache \
+    --cache-to type=registry,ref=us-central1-docker.pkg.dev/neuron-785695/neuron-marketing/marketing:cache,mode=max \
     -f Dockerfile.stage \
     -t "marketing:${TAG}" \
     .