diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 35c24ed3d..03db6842a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -187,7 +187,9 @@ jobs:
         run: pnpm tsx scripts/publish-to-verdaccio.ts --registry-dir ${{ steps.tmp-dir.outputs.dir }}/npm-registry
 
       - name: Install Temporal CLI
-        uses: temporalio/setup-temporal@1059a504f87e7fa2f385e3fa40d1aa7e62f1c6ca # v0
+        uses: temporalio/setup-temporal@8bde337644eaaa6644b8b527d9a8406c2207de5b # v0
+        with:
+          version: ${{ env.TESTS_CLI_VERSION }}
 
       - name: Run Temporal CLI
         working-directory: ${{ runner.temp }}
@@ -201,6 +203,8 @@ jobs:
             --dynamic-config-value history.enableRequestIdRefLinks=true \
             --dynamic-config-value frontend.activityAPIsEnabled=true \
             --dynamic-config-value activity.enableStandalone=true \
+            --dynamic-config-value activity.startDelayEnabled=true \
+            --dynamic-config-value 'activity.longPollTimeout="5000ms"' \
             --dynamic-config-value history.enableChasm=true \
             --dynamic-config-value history.enableTransitionHistory=true &
 
diff --git a/packages/client/src/activity-client.ts b/packages/client/src/activity-client.ts
index 89709f169..7bc83b26e 100644
--- a/packages/client/src/activity-client.ts
+++ b/packages/client/src/activity-client.ts
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ import {
   decompileRetryPolicy,
 } from '@temporalio/common';
 import type { Duration } from '@temporalio/common/lib/time';
-import { msOptionalToTs, optionalTsToDate, optionalTsToMs } from '@temporalio/common/lib/time';
+import { msOptionalToTs, msToNumber, optionalTsToDate, optionalTsToMs } from '@temporalio/common/lib/time';
 import { composeInterceptors } from '@temporalio/common/lib/interceptors';
 import {
   decodeTypedSearchAttributes,
@@ -309,6 +309,7 @@ export class ActivityClient extends AsyncCompletionClient implements TypedActivi
       header: { fields: input.headers },
       userMetadata: await encodeUserMetadata(this.dataConverter, input.options.summary, undefined),
       priority: input.options.priority ? compilePriority(input.options.priority) : undefined,
+      startDelay: msOptionalToTs(input.options.startDelay),
     };
   }
 
@@ -546,6 +547,10 @@ export interface ActivityOptions {
    * Priority to use when starting this activity.
    */
   priority?: Priority;
+  /**
+   * Time to wait before dispatching the first activity task. This delay is not applied to retry attempts.
+   */
+  startDelay?: Duration;
   /**
    * Specifies behavior if there's a *closed* activity with the same ID.
    */
@@ -571,6 +576,9 @@ function validateActivityOptions(options: ActivityOptions): void {
   if (!options.scheduleToCloseTimeout && !options.startToCloseTimeout) {
     throw new TypeError('Either scheduleToCloseTimeout or startToCloseTimeout is required');
   }
+  if (options.startDelay !== undefined && msToNumber(options.startDelay) < 0) {
+    throw new TypeError('startDelay must be non-negative');
+  }
 }
 
 function buildActivityExecutionInfoCommonPart(
diff --git a/packages/test/src/test-standalone-activities.ts b/packages/test/src/test-standalone-activities.ts
index 39397bb11..04ddb0769 100644
--- a/packages/test/src/test-standalone-activities.ts
+++ b/packages/test/src/test-standalone-activities.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import anyTest from 'ava';
 import * as rxjs from 'rxjs';
 import type { ActivityHandle, TypedActivityClient, ActivityOptions } from '@temporalio/client';
 import {
+  ActivityExecutionStatus,
   ActivityExecutionAlreadyStartedError,
   ActivityExecutionFailedError,
   ServiceError,
@@ -16,7 +17,7 @@ import type { TestWorkflowEnvironment } from './helpers';
 import { RUN_INTEGRATION_TESTS, waitUntil, Worker } from './helpers';
 import { echo, throwAnError } from './activities';
 import { heartbeatCancellationDetailsActivity } from './activities/heartbeat-cancellation-details';
-import { createLocalTestEnvironment } from './helpers-integration';
+import { createTestWorkflowEnvironment } from './helpers-integration';
 
 // Use a reduced server long-poll expiration timeout, in order to confirm that client
 // polling/retry strategies result in the expected behavior
@@ -78,9 +79,14 @@ async function waitForValue<T>(subject: rxjs.Subject<T>, value: T) {
 
 if (RUN_INTEGRATION_TESTS) {
   test.before(async (t) => {
-    const env = await createLocalTestEnvironment({
+    const env = await createTestWorkflowEnvironment({
       server: {
-        extraArgs: ['--dynamic-config-value', `activity.longPollTimeout="${LONG_POLL_TIMEOUT_MS}ms"`],
+        extraArgs: [
+          '--dynamic-config-value',
+          `activity.longPollTimeout="${LONG_POLL_TIMEOUT_MS}ms"`,
+          '--dynamic-config-value',
+          'activity.startDelayEnabled=true',
+        ],
       },
     });
 
@@ -118,8 +124,8 @@ if (RUN_INTEGRATION_TESTS) {
 
   test.after.always(async (t) => {
     t.context.worker.shutdown();
-    await t.context.env.teardown();
     await t.context.runPromise;
+    await t.context.env.teardown();
   });
 
   test('Get activity result - success', async (t) => {
@@ -175,6 +181,26 @@ if (RUN_INTEGRATION_TESTS) {
     t.is(err?.cause?.message, 'failure');
   });
 
+  test('Start activity with start delay', async (t) => {
+    const client = t.context.env.client.activity;
+    const activityId = randomUUID();
+    const startDelayMs = 2000;
+    const handle = await client.start('echo', {
+      ...defaultOptions,
+      id: activityId,
+      args: ['hello'],
+      startDelay: startDelayMs,
+    });
+
+    t.is(await handle.result(), 'hello');
+
+    const description = await handle.describe();
+    t.is(description.status, ActivityExecutionStatus.COMPLETED);
+    t.truthy(description.scheduleTime);
+    t.truthy(description.lastStartedTime);
+    t.true(description.lastStartedTime!.getTime() - description.scheduleTime!.getTime() >= startDelayMs - 500);
+  });
+
   test('Describe activity from start handle', async (t) => {
     const client = t.context.env.client.activity;
     const activityId = randomUUID();