diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 1e73087..3fee52f 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -10,3 +10,6 @@ wheels/
 .venv
 
 .env
+
+# Collected static files (generated by `manage.py collectstatic`)
+staticfiles/
diff --git a/highscore/app/settings.py b/highscore/app/settings.py
index 2354d1b..0ab341f 100644
--- a/highscore/app/settings.py
+++ b/highscore/app/settings.py
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ SECURE_PROXY_SSL_HEADER = ("HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO", "https")
 
 MIDDLEWARE = [
     "django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware",
+    "whitenoise.middleware.WhiteNoiseMiddleware",
     "django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware",
     "django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware",
     "django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware",
@@ -122,3 +123,26 @@ USE_TZ = True
 # them, so the prefix must be added manually for the admin assets to load under
 # the /scores sub-path.
 STATIC_URL = f"{FORCE_SCRIPT_NAME.rstrip('/')}/static/"
+STATIC_ROOT = BASE_DIR / "staticfiles"
+
+# WhiteNoise serves static files directly from the app (no separate web server
+# needed), with compression and far-future cache headers. In production the
+# manifest backend hashes filenames for cache-busting (requires collectstatic);
+# locally we skip the manifest and serve straight from the finders so no
+# collectstatic step is needed.
+STORAGES = {
+    "default": {
+        "BACKEND": "django.core.files.storage.FileSystemStorage",
+    },
+    "staticfiles": {
+        "BACKEND": (
+            "whitenoise.storage.CompressedStaticFilesStorage"
+            if DEBUG
+            else "whitenoise.storage.CompressedManifestStaticFilesStorage"
+        ),
+    },
+}
+
+# Serve static files from the app dirs in development (we run under daphne, which
+# does not auto-serve static like runserver does).
+WHITENOISE_USE_FINDERS = DEBUG
diff --git a/makefile b/makefile
index 999eb09..51b142f 100644
--- a/makefile
+++ b/makefile
@@ -6,3 +6,4 @@ help:
 
 setup:
 	/opt/uv/uv run python highscore/manage.py migrate
+	/opt/uv/uv run python highscore/manage.py collectstatic
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index e28e03a..78ffe40 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ dependencies = [
     "django-ninja>=1.6.2",
     "psycopg>=3.3.4",
     "pydantic-settings>=2.14.1",
+    "whitenoise>=6.12.0",
 ]
 
 [project.scripts]
diff --git a/uv.lock b/uv.lock
index fe5a089..98a310c 100644
--- a/uv.lock
+++ b/uv.lock
@@ -791,6 +791,7 @@ dependencies = [
     { name = "django-ninja" },
     { name = "psycopg" },
     { name = "pydantic-settings" },
+    { name = "whitenoise" },
 ]
 
 [package.dev-dependencies]
@@ -811,6 +812,7 @@ requires-dist = [
     { name = "django-ninja", specifier = ">=1.6.2" },
     { name = "psycopg", specifier = ">=3.3.4" },
     { name = "pydantic-settings", specifier = ">=2.14.1" },
+    { name = "whitenoise", specifier = ">=6.12.0" },
 ]
 
 [package.metadata.requires-dev]
@@ -1001,6 +1003,15 @@ wheels = [
     { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/bd/6e/95b0e537de1f4d4301f76f944642c6da50d1511cc7b3d64dc418a66c7509/wcwidth-0.8.1-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:f453740b1e4a4f3291faa37944c555d71056c4da08d59809b307ef4feba695c8", size = 323092, upload-time = "2026-06-08T05:57:21.413Z" },
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "whitenoise"
+version = "6.12.0"
+source = { registry = "https://pypi.org/simple" }
+sdist = { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/cb/2a/55b3f3a4ec326cd077c1c3defeee656b9298372a69229134d930151acd01/whitenoise-6.12.0.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:f723ebb76a112e98816ff80fcea0a6c9b8ecde835f8ddda25df7a30a3c2db6ad", size = 26841, upload-time = "2026-02-27T00:05:42.028Z" }
+wheels = [
+    { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/db/eb/d5583a11486211f3ebd4b385545ae787f32363d453c19fffd81106c9c138/whitenoise-6.12.0-py3-none-any.whl", hash = "sha256:fc5e8c572e33ebf24795b47b6a7da8da3c00cff2349f5b04c02f28d0cc5a3cc2", size = 20302, upload-time = "2026-02-27T00:05:40.086Z" },
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "zope-interface"
 version = "8.5"