diff --git a/.github/workflows/deploy.yml b/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
index a7247b5..18e8311 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
@@ -10,14 +10,16 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 
     env:
+      GOOGLE_PROJECT_ID: ${{ vars.GOOGLE_PROJECT_ID }}
+      GOOGLE_EARTH_ENGINE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_CREDENTIALS: ${{ secrets.GOOGLE_EARTH_ENGINE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_CREDENTIALS }}
+      GOOGLE_EARTH_ENGINE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL: ${{ secrets.GOOGLE_EARTH_ENGINE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL }}
+      ENVIRONMENT: ${{ vars.ENVIRONMENT }}
       GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS: ${{ secrets.GCP_SA_KEY }}
       BACKEND_IMAGE_NAME: europe-west3-docker.pkg.dev/thf-climate-cloud/thf-climate/thf-climate
       FRONTEND_IMAGE_NAME: europe-west3-docker.pkg.dev/thf-climate-cloud/thf-climate-frontend/thf-climate-frontend
 
     steps:
-      # Step 1: Checkout the code
-      - name: Checkout code
-        uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
 
       # Step 2: Decode and Write the Service Account Key to a file properly
       - name: Set up Google Cloud credentials
@@ -43,11 +45,28 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           gcloud auth configure-docker europe-west3-docker.pkg.dev
 
-      # Step 6: Build and Deploy the backend
-      - name: Build Docker image (backend)
+      # Step 6: Build and the run the backend
+      - name: Build and Run the Docker image (backend)
         working-directory: ./backend
         run: |
           docker buildx build --platform linux/amd64 -t $BACKEND_IMAGE_NAME:latest .
+          docker run -d -p 8000:8000 --name thf-climate-backend $BACKEND_IMAGE_NAME
+      - name: Wait for the application to start
+        working-directory: ./backend
+        run: |
+          timeout 30 bash -c 'until curl -s http://127.0.0.1:8000/; do sleep 1; done'
+
+      # Step 7: Run the tests against the local application
+      - name: Install dependencies and Run tests (backend)
+        working-directory: ./backend
+        env:
+          API_BASE_URL: "http://127.0.0.1:8000"
+        run: |
+          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+          pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
+          pytest
+
+      # Step 8: Push and Deploy the backend on Google cloud
       - name: Push Docker image to Artifact Registry (backend)
         working-directory: ./backend
         run: |
@@ -64,7 +83,7 @@ jobs:
             --min-instances=1 \
             --max-instances=5
 
-      # Step 7: Build and Deploy the frontend
+      # Step 9: Build and Deploy the frontend
       - name: Build Docker image (frontend)
         working-directory: ./frontend
         run: |
diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests-main.yaml b/.github/workflows/tests-main.yaml
index c2180b8..872f6ee 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests-main.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests-main.yaml
@@ -16,15 +16,24 @@ jobs:
       ENVIRONMENT: ${{ vars.ENVIRONMENT }}
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v3
-      - name: Set up Python
-        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
-        with:
-          python-version: '3.11'
-      - name: Install dependencies
+
+      # Build and the run the backend docker image
+      - name: Build and Run the Docker image (backend)
+        working-directory: ./backend
+        run: |
+          docker buildx build --platform linux/amd64 -t thf-climate-backend .
+          docker run -d -p 8000:8000 --name thf-climate-backend thf-climate-backend
+      - name: Wait for the application to start
         working-directory: ./backend
+        run: |
+          timeout 30 bash -c 'until curl -s http://127.0.0.1:8000/; do sleep 1; done'
+
+      # Run the tests against the local application
+      - name: Install dependencies and Run tests
+        working-directory: ./backend
+        env:
+          API_BASE_URL: "http://127.0.0.1:8000"
         run: |
           python -m pip install --upgrade pip
           pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
-      - name: Run tests
-        working-directory: ./backend
-        run: pytest
+          pytest
diff --git a/backend/tests/test_api_response.py b/backend/tests/test_api_response.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..50bfc38
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/tests/test_api_response.py
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+import os
+import requests
+
+
+def test_api_response():
+    # Make a GET request to the API
+    response = requests.get(os.getenv("API_BASE_URL"))
+
+    # Verify the response status code
+    assert response.status_code == 200, f"Expected 200, got {response.status_code}"
+
+    # Verify the response body
+    expected_response = {"Hello": "World"}
+    assert response.json() == expected_response, f"Expected {expected_response}, got {response.json()}"