diff --git a/.woodpecker.yml b/.woodpecker.yml
index acb0ffe..b0daf84 100644
--- a/.woodpecker.yml
+++ b/.woodpecker.yml
@@ -5,13 +5,21 @@ steps:
       - set -eu
       - mkdir -p ~/.ssh
 
-      # Pull and decode known hosts
+      # Decode known hosts
+      - echo "🔑 Fetching known hosts..."
       - gcloud secrets versions access latest --secret=STAGING_KNOWN_HOSTS --project=aptivaai-dev | base64 -d > ~/.ssh/known_hosts
       - chmod 644 ~/.ssh/known_hosts
 
-      # Pull private key
+      # Inject SSH key
+      - echo "🔐 Fetching private key..."
       - gcloud secrets versions access latest --secret=STAGING_SSH_KEY --project=aptivaai-dev > ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
       - chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
 
-      # SSH test
+      # Debug key format before SSH
+      - echo "📦 Key size: $(wc -c < ~/.ssh/id_ed25519) bytes"
+      - file ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 || echo "(file not found)"
+      - head -n 5 ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
+
+      # SSH test with verbose output
+      - echo "🧪 Testing SSH connectivity to staging..."
       - ssh -vvv -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=yes jcoakley@10.128.0.12 hostname