diff --git a/surfsense_web/components/announcements/AnnouncementCard.tsx b/surfsense_web/components/announcements/AnnouncementCard.tsx
index ea0288b43..83a0e09b8 100644
--- a/surfsense_web/components/announcements/AnnouncementCard.tsx
+++ b/surfsense_web/components/announcements/AnnouncementCard.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 "use client";
 
 import { Bell, ExternalLink, Info, type LucideIcon, Rocket, Wrench, Zap } from "lucide-react";
+import Image from "next/image";
 import Link from "next/link";
 import { Badge } from "@/components/ui/badge";
 import { Button } from "@/components/ui/button";
@@ -49,7 +50,18 @@ export function AnnouncementCard({ announcement }: { announcement: AnnouncementW
 	const Icon = config.icon;
 
 	return (
-		<Card className="group relative transition-all duration-200 hover:shadow-md">
+		<Card className="group relative overflow-hidden transition-all duration-200 hover:shadow-md">
+			{announcement.image && (
+				<div className="relative aspect-video w-full overflow-hidden border-b bg-muted">
+					<Image
+						src={announcement.image.src}
+						alt={announcement.image.alt}
+						fill
+						sizes="(max-width: 768px) 95vw, 600px"
+						className="object-cover"
+					/>
+				</div>
+			)}
 			<CardHeader className="pb-3">
 				<div className="flex items-start justify-between gap-3">
 					<div className="flex items-start gap-3 min-w-0">
diff --git a/surfsense_web/components/announcements/AnnouncementSpotlight.tsx b/surfsense_web/components/announcements/AnnouncementSpotlight.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..794a3c1cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/surfsense_web/components/announcements/AnnouncementSpotlight.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+"use client";
+
+import { ExternalLink } from "lucide-react";
+import Image from "next/image";
+import Link from "next/link";
+import { useEffect, useMemo, useState } from "react";
+import { Button } from "@/components/ui/button";
+import {
+	Dialog,
+	DialogContent,
+	DialogDescription,
+	DialogFooter,
+	DialogTitle,
+} from "@/components/ui/dialog";
+import { useAnnouncements } from "@/hooks/use-announcements";
+
+/**
+ * Proactively shows important "spotlight" announcements in a blocking dialog.
+ *
+ * Behaviour:
+ * - On load, the first active, audience-matched, unread spotlight announcement
+ *   is shown automatically.
+ * - The user must explicitly acknowledge it ("Got it" or the CTA link), which
+ *   marks it as read so it never shows again.
+ * - Closing via the X / Escape / outside-click only hides it for the current
+ *   session; it reappears on the next load until the user marks it as seen.
+ */
+export function AnnouncementSpotlight() {
+	const { announcements, markRead } = useAnnouncements();
+	const [sessionDismissed, setSessionDismissed] = useState<Set<string>>(() => new Set());
+	const [ready, setReady] = useState(false);
+
+	// Short delay so the spotlight doesn't flash during initial hydration/layout.
+	useEffect(() => {
+		const timer = setTimeout(() => setReady(true), 800);
+		return () => clearTimeout(timer);
+	}, []);
+
+	const current = useMemo(
+		() =>
+			announcements.find(
+				(a) => a.spotlight && a.isImportant && !a.isRead && !sessionDismissed.has(a.id)
+			) ?? null,
+		[announcements, sessionDismissed]
+	);
+
+	if (!current) return null;
+
+	const handleAcknowledge = () => {
+		markRead(current.id);
+	};
+
+	const handleOpenChange = (next: boolean) => {
+		if (!next) {
+			setSessionDismissed((prev) => {
+				const updated = new Set(prev);
+				updated.add(current.id);
+				return updated;
+			});
+		}
+	};
+
+	return (
+		<Dialog open={ready} onOpenChange={handleOpenChange}>
+			<DialogContent className="max-w-md gap-0 overflow-hidden p-0">
+				{current.image && (
+					<div className="relative aspect-video w-full border-b bg-muted">
+						<Image
+							src={current.image.src}
+							alt={current.image.alt}
+							fill
+							sizes="(max-width: 768px) 95vw, 448px"
+							className="object-cover"
+							priority
+						/>
+					</div>
+				)}
+				<div className="flex flex-col gap-3 p-6">
+					<DialogTitle className="text-xl">{current.title}</DialogTitle>
+					<DialogDescription className="text-sm leading-relaxed text-muted-foreground">
+						{current.description}
+					</DialogDescription>
+					<DialogFooter className="mt-2">
+						{current.link && (
+							<Button variant="outline" asChild className="gap-1.5" onClick={handleAcknowledge}>
+								<Link
+									href={current.link.url}
+									target={current.link.url.startsWith("http") ? "_blank" : undefined}
+								>
+									{current.link.label}
+									<ExternalLink className="h-3.5 w-3.5" />
+								</Link>
+							</Button>
+						)}
+						<Button onClick={handleAcknowledge}>Got it</Button>
+					</DialogFooter>
+				</div>
+			</DialogContent>
+		</Dialog>
+	);
+}
diff --git a/surfsense_web/components/announcements/AnnouncementToastProvider.tsx b/surfsense_web/components/announcements/AnnouncementToastProvider.tsx
index 3e99f5c32..5578eba17 100644
--- a/surfsense_web/components/announcements/AnnouncementToastProvider.tsx
+++ b/surfsense_web/components/announcements/AnnouncementToastProvider.tsx
@@ -70,8 +70,10 @@ export function AnnouncementToastProvider() {
 		const outerTimer = setTimeout(() => {
 			const authed = isAuthenticated();
 			const active = getActiveAnnouncements(announcements, authed);
+			// Spotlight announcements are handled by the blocking spotlight dialog,
+			// so skip them here to avoid double-notifying the user.
 			const importantUntoasted = active.filter(
-				(a) => a.isImportant && !isAnnouncementToasted(a.id)
+				(a) => a.isImportant && !a.spotlight && !isAnnouncementToasted(a.id)
 			);
 
 			for (let i = 0; i < importantUntoasted.length; i++) {
diff --git a/surfsense_web/components/layout/providers/LayoutDataProvider.tsx b/surfsense_web/components/layout/providers/LayoutDataProvider.tsx
index 4284e3da7..34fd15e3b 100644
--- a/surfsense_web/components/layout/providers/LayoutDataProvider.tsx
+++ b/surfsense_web/components/layout/providers/LayoutDataProvider.tsx
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import { searchSpacesAtom } from "@/atoms/search-spaces/search-space-query.atoms
 import { removeChatTabAtom, syncChatTabAtom, type Tab } from "@/atoms/tabs/tabs.atom";
 import { currentUserAtom } from "@/atoms/user/user-query.atoms";
 import { ActionLogDialog } from "@/components/agent-action-log/action-log-dialog";
+import { AnnouncementSpotlight } from "@/components/announcements/AnnouncementSpotlight";
 import { AnnouncementsDialog } from "@/components/announcements/AnnouncementsDialog";
 import {
 	AlertDialog,
@@ -909,6 +910,7 @@ export function LayoutDataProvider({ searchSpaceId, children }: LayoutDataProvid
 			/>
 
 			<AnnouncementsDialog />
+			<AnnouncementSpotlight />
 
 			{/* Agent action log + revert dialog */}
 			<ActionLogDialog />
diff --git a/surfsense_web/contracts/types/announcement.types.ts b/surfsense_web/contracts/types/announcement.types.ts
index 6c5206d9d..05cf14d21 100644
--- a/surfsense_web/contracts/types/announcement.types.ts
+++ b/surfsense_web/contracts/types/announcement.types.ts
@@ -35,6 +35,20 @@ export interface Announcement {
 	audience: AnnouncementAudience;
 	/** If true, the user will see a toast notification for this announcement */
 	isImportant: boolean;
+	/**
+	 * If true, this announcement is shown in a blocking spotlight dialog that the
+	 * user must explicitly acknowledge ("Got it"). Until acknowledged it keeps
+	 * reappearing; once acknowledged it never shows again. Spotlight announcements
+	 * are skipped by the lightweight toast provider to avoid double notifications.
+	 */
+	spotlight?: boolean;
+	/** Optional head/banner image shown at the top of the announcement */
+	image?: {
+		/** Image source (public path or absolute URL) */
+		src: string;
+		/** Accessible alt text */
+		alt: string;
+	};
 	/** Optional CTA link */
 	link?: {
 		label: string;
diff --git a/surfsense_web/lib/announcements/announcements-data.ts b/surfsense_web/lib/announcements/announcements-data.ts
index ce44ec539..e5f3f0fce 100644
--- a/surfsense_web/lib/announcements/announcements-data.ts
+++ b/surfsense_web/lib/announcements/announcements-data.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,27 @@ import type { Announcement } from "@/contracts/types/announcement.types";
  * This file can be replaced with an API call in the future.
  */
 export const announcements: Announcement[] = [
+	{
+		id: "2026-05-31-ai-automations",
+		title: "Introducing AI Automations",
+		description:
+			"Turn prompts into hands-off AI agent workflows. Describe an automation in plain English and SurfSense builds it, run it on a schedule, or trigger it the moment a document lands in a folder. Automations work across Notion, Slack, Google Drive, Gmail, GitHub, Linear, Jira and more.",
+		category: "feature",
+		date: "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z",
+		startTime: "2026-05-31T00:00:00Z",
+		endTime: "2026-07-15T00:00:00Z",
+		audience: "users",
+		isImportant: true,
+		spotlight: true,
+		image: {
+			src: "/announcements/automations.png",
+			alt: "Connector tiles flowing into a central AI core that triggers scheduled and event-driven automations.",
+		},
+		link: {
+			label: "See what's new",
+			url: "/changelog",
+		},
+	},
 	{
 		id: "announcement-1",
 		title: "Introducing What's New",
diff --git a/surfsense_web/public/announcements/automations.png b/surfsense_web/public/announcements/automations.png
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..39eb35837
Binary files /dev/null and b/surfsense_web/public/announcements/automations.png differ