diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f77c4d5a..513d1b79 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ Solid Queue can be used with SQL databases such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQLite,
   - [Threads, processes, and signals](#threads-processes-and-signals)
   - [Database configuration](#database-configuration)
   - [Other configuration settings](#other-configuration-settings)
+  - [Validating the configuration](#validating-the-configuration)
 - [Lifecycle hooks](#lifecycle-hooks)
 - [Errors when enqueuing](#errors-when-enqueuing)
 - [Concurrency controls](#concurrency-controls)
@@ -264,7 +265,7 @@ Here's an overview of the different options:
   ```
 
   This will create a worker fetching jobs from all queues starting with `staging`. The wildcard `*` is only allowed on its own or at the end of a queue name; you can't specify queue names such as `*_some_queue`. These will be ignored.
-  
+
   Also, if a wildcard (*) is included alongside explicit queue names, for example: `queues: [default, backend, *]`, then it would behave like `queues: *`
 
   Finally, you can combine prefixes with exact names, like `[ staging*, background ]`, and the behaviour with respect to order will be the same as with only exact names.
@@ -408,6 +409,22 @@ There are several settings that control how Solid Queue works that you can set a
 - `clear_finished_jobs_after`: period to keep finished jobs around, in case `preserve_finished_jobs` is true — defaults to 1 day. When installing Solid Queue, [a recurring job](#recurring-tasks) is automatically configured to clear finished jobs every hour on the 12th minute in batches. You can edit the `recurring.yml` configuration to change this as you see fit.
 - `default_concurrency_control_period`: the value to be used as the default for the `duration` parameter in [concurrency controls](#concurrency-controls). It defaults to 3 minutes.
 
+### Validating the configuration
+
+You can validate the Solid Queue configuration ahead of time, which is handy in deploy scripts or CI:
+
+```bash
+# Using the bin/jobs binstub
+bin/jobs check
+
+# Or via rake
+bin/rails solid_queue:check
+```
+
+Both commands validate the same configuration for the current Rails environment, exit non-zero on any error, and print `Solid Queue configuration is valid` on success. They are tolerant of a missing database connection so they can run on CI or deploy hosts without DB credentials.
+
+`bin/jobs check` accepts the same flags as `bin/jobs start` (e.g. `--config_file`, `--recurring_schedule_file`, `--skip-recurring`). The rake task is configured via the same environment variables Solid Queue already honors: `SOLID_QUEUE_CONFIG`, `SOLID_QUEUE_RECURRING_SCHEDULE`, and `SOLID_QUEUE_SKIP_RECURRING`. To validate a specific environment's configuration, prefix with `RAILS_ENV`, for example `RAILS_ENV=production bin/jobs check`.
+
 
 ## Lifecycle hooks
 
@@ -781,7 +798,7 @@ SolidQueue.unschedule_recurring_task("my_dynamic_task")
 
 Only dynamic tasks can be unscheduled at runtime. Attempting to unschedule a static task (defined in `config/recurring.yml`) will raise an `ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound` error.
 
-Tasks scheduled like this persist between Solid Queue's restarts and won't stop running until you manually unschedule them. 
+Tasks scheduled like this persist between Solid Queue's restarts and won't stop running until you manually unschedule them.
 
 ## Inspiration
 
diff --git a/lib/solid_queue/cli.rb b/lib/solid_queue/cli.rb
index 2f3f3e13..13af6588 100644
--- a/lib/solid_queue/cli.rb
+++ b/lib/solid_queue/cli.rb
@@ -30,5 +30,11 @@ def self.exit_on_failure?
     def start
       SolidQueue::Supervisor.start(**options.symbolize_keys)
     end
+
+    desc :check, "Validates the Solid Queue configuration for the current Rails env without starting anything. Exits non-zero on errors."
+    def check
+      configuration = SolidQueue::Configuration.new(**options.symbolize_keys, skip_db_checks: true)
+      exit 1 unless configuration.check!
+    end
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/solid_queue/configuration.rb b/lib/solid_queue/configuration.rb
index e63a000c..3ca640f7 100644
--- a/lib/solid_queue/configuration.rb
+++ b/lib/solid_queue/configuration.rb
@@ -69,6 +69,19 @@ def standalone?
       mode.fork? || @options[:standalone]
     end
 
+    def check!(out: $stdout, err: $stderr)
+      if valid?
+        out.puts "Solid Queue configuration is valid."
+        return true
+      end
+
+      err.puts "Invalid Solid Queue configuration:"
+      errors.full_messages.each do |message|
+        message.each_line { |line| err.puts "  #{line.chomp}" }
+      end
+      false
+    end
+
     private
       attr_reader :options
 
@@ -89,12 +102,21 @@ def ensure_valid_recurring_tasks
       end
 
       def ensure_correctly_sized_thread_pool
-        if (db_pool_size = SolidQueue::Record.connection_pool&.size) && db_pool_size < estimated_number_of_threads
+        if (db_pool_size = database_connection_pool_size) && db_pool_size < estimated_number_of_threads
           errors.add(:base, "Solid Queue is configured to use #{estimated_number_of_threads} threads but the " +
             "database connection pool is #{db_pool_size}. Increase it in `config/database.yml`")
         end
       end
 
+      # Returns nil instead of raising when skip_db_checks is set, so
+      # `bin/jobs check` works on CI/deploy hosts without DB credentials.
+      def database_connection_pool_size
+        SolidQueue::Record.connection_pool&.size
+      rescue ActiveRecord::ActiveRecordError
+        raise unless options[:skip_db_checks]
+        nil
+      end
+
       def default_options
         {
           mode: ENV["SOLID_QUEUE_SUPERVISOR_MODE"] || :fork,
diff --git a/lib/solid_queue/tasks.rb b/lib/solid_queue/tasks.rb
index 91cd778b..d938c141 100644
--- a/lib/solid_queue/tasks.rb
+++ b/lib/solid_queue/tasks.rb
@@ -8,4 +8,10 @@
   task start: :environment do
     SolidQueue::Supervisor.start
   end
+
+  desc "validate the Solid Queue configuration for the current Rails env without starting any process"
+  task check: :environment do
+    configuration = SolidQueue::Configuration.new(skip_db_checks: true)
+    exit 1 unless configuration.check!
+  end
 end
diff --git a/test/unit/cli_test.rb b/test/unit/cli_test.rb
index 9ee0e233..0d106898 100644
--- a/test/unit/cli_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/cli_test.rb
@@ -36,6 +36,27 @@ class CliTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
     end
   end
 
+  test "check exits 0 and prints OK message for a valid configuration" do
+    out, err = capture_io do
+      assert_nothing_raised { SolidQueue::Cli.start([ "check", "--skip-recurring" ]) }
+    end
+
+    assert_match "Solid Queue configuration is valid.", out
+    assert_empty err
+  end
+
+  test "check exits 1 and prints invalid recurring task errors" do
+    out, err, exit_status = capture_check_run(
+      "--recurring_schedule_file", config_file_path(:recurring_with_invalid).to_s
+    )
+
+    assert_equal 1, exit_status
+    assert_match "Invalid Solid Queue configuration", err
+    assert_match "periodic_invalid_class", err
+    assert_match "periodic_incorrect_schedule", err
+    assert_empty out
+  end
+
   private
     def configuration_from_cli(**cli_options)
       cli = SolidQueue::Cli.new([], cli_options)
@@ -43,4 +64,18 @@ def configuration_from_cli(**cli_options)
 
       SolidQueue::Configuration.new(**options)
     end
+
+    # capture_io re-raises SystemExit before returning the captured strings.
+    # It swallows it inside the block and returns its status alongside the IO.
+    def capture_check_run(*args)
+      status = nil
+      out, err = capture_io do
+        begin
+          SolidQueue::Cli.start([ "check", *args ])
+        rescue SystemExit => e
+          status = e.status
+        end
+      end
+      [ out, err, status ]
+    end
 end
diff --git a/test/unit/configuration_test.rb b/test/unit/configuration_test.rb
index 34f69658..fc8fed2c 100644
--- a/test/unit/configuration_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/configuration_test.rb
@@ -172,6 +172,54 @@ class ConfigurationTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
       configuration.errors.full_messages.first
   end
 
+  test "skips DB-pool validation gracefully when skip_db_checks is set and the pool is unavailable" do
+    SolidQueue::Record.stubs(:connection_pool).raises(ActiveRecord::ConnectionNotEstablished)
+
+    configuration = SolidQueue::Configuration.new(
+      workers: [ { queues: "background", threads: 50, polling_interval: 10 } ],
+      skip_recurring: true,
+      skip_db_checks: true
+    )
+
+    assert configuration.valid?,
+      "Expected configuration to be valid when DB pool is unavailable, got: #{configuration.errors.full_messages.inspect}"
+  end
+
+  test "still raises DB connection errors during normal validation when skip_db_checks is not set" do
+    SolidQueue::Record.stubs(:connection_pool).raises(ActiveRecord::ConnectionNotEstablished)
+
+    configuration = SolidQueue::Configuration.new(
+      workers: [ { queues: "background", threads: 50, polling_interval: 10 } ],
+      skip_recurring: true
+    )
+
+    assert_raises(ActiveRecord::ConnectionNotEstablished) { configuration.valid? }
+  end
+
+  test "check! prints success message and returns true for a valid configuration" do
+    configuration = SolidQueue::Configuration.new(skip_recurring: true)
+    out = StringIO.new
+    err = StringIO.new
+
+    assert configuration.check!(out: out, err: err)
+    assert_match "Solid Queue configuration is valid.", out.string
+    assert_empty err.string
+  end
+
+  test "check! prints errors to err and returns false for an invalid configuration" do
+    configuration = SolidQueue::Configuration.new(
+      recurring_schedule_file: config_file_path(:recurring_with_invalid),
+      skip_db_checks: true
+    )
+    out = StringIO.new
+    err = StringIO.new
+
+    assert_not configuration.check!(out: out, err: err)
+    assert_empty out.string
+    assert_match "Invalid Solid Queue configuration:", err.string
+    assert_match "periodic_invalid_class", err.string
+  end
+
   private
     def assert_processes(configuration, kind, count, **attributes)
       processes = configuration.configured_processes.select { |p| p.kind == kind }
diff --git a/test/unit/rake_tasks_test.rb b/test/unit/rake_tasks_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8b2de143
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/rake_tasks_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+require "test_helper"
+require "rake"
+
+class RakeTasksTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
+  setup do
+    @previous_rake_application = Rake.application
+    @rake = Rake::Application.new
+    Rake.application = @rake
+    Rake::Task.define_task(:environment)
+    load File.expand_path("../../lib/solid_queue/tasks.rb", __dir__)
+  end
+
+  teardown do
+    Rake.application = @previous_rake_application
+  end
+
+  test "solid_queue:check exits 0 and prints OK message for a valid configuration" do
+    SolidQueue::Configuration.any_instance.stubs(:skip_recurring_tasks?).returns(true)
+
+    out, err = capture_io do
+      assert_nothing_raised { @rake["solid_queue:check"].invoke }
+    end
+
+    assert_match "Solid Queue configuration is valid.", out
+    assert_empty err
+  end
+
+  test "solid_queue:check exits 1 and prints errors for an invalid configuration" do
+    SolidQueue::Configuration.any_instance.stubs(:invalid_tasks).returns(
+      [ stub(key: "broken", errors: stub(full_messages: [ "is invalid" ])) ]
+    )
+    SolidQueue::Configuration.any_instance.stubs(:skip_recurring_tasks?).returns(false)
+
+    status = nil
+    out, err = capture_io do
+      begin
+        @rake["solid_queue:check"].invoke
+      rescue SystemExit => e
+        status = e.status
+      end
+    end
+
+    assert_equal 1, status
+    assert_empty out
+    assert_match "Invalid Solid Queue configuration:", err
+    assert_match "broken", err
+  end
+end