diff --git a/kafkakewl-deploy/src/main/scala/com/mwam/kafkakewl/deploy/Main.scala b/kafkakewl-deploy/src/main/scala/com/mwam/kafkakewl/deploy/Main.scala
index 14fbe95..5a4c8de 100644
--- a/kafkakewl-deploy/src/main/scala/com/mwam/kafkakewl/deploy/Main.scala
+++ b/kafkakewl-deploy/src/main/scala/com/mwam/kafkakewl/deploy/Main.scala
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import com.mwam.kafkakewl.common.http.HttpServer
 import com.mwam.kafkakewl.common.persistence.{KafkaPersistentStore, PersistentStore}
 import com.mwam.kafkakewl.common.telemetry.GlobalTracer
 import com.mwam.kafkakewl.deploy.endpoints.*
-import com.mwam.kafkakewl.deploy.services.TopologyDeploymentsService
+import com.mwam.kafkakewl.deploy.services.{TopologyDeploymentsService, TopologyDeploymentsToKafkaService}
 import com.mwam.kafkakewl.domain.config.KafkaClientConfig
 import sttp.tapir.server.metrics.zio.ZioMetrics
 import sttp.tapir.server.ziohttp.{ZioHttpInterpreter, ZioHttpServerOptions}
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ object Main extends ZIOAppDefault {
       MetricsConfig.live,
       KafkaPersistentStore.live,
       TopologyDeploymentsService.live,
+      TopologyDeploymentsToKafkaService.live,
       DeploymentsEndpoints.live,
       DeploymentsServerEndpoints.live,
       Endpoints.live,
diff --git a/kafkakewl-deploy/src/main/scala/com/mwam/kafkakewl/deploy/services/TopologyDeploymentsService.scala b/kafkakewl-deploy/src/main/scala/com/mwam/kafkakewl/deploy/services/TopologyDeploymentsService.scala
index bcd6bfc..fd02fa2 100644
--- a/kafkakewl-deploy/src/main/scala/com/mwam/kafkakewl/deploy/services/TopologyDeploymentsService.scala
+++ b/kafkakewl-deploy/src/main/scala/com/mwam/kafkakewl/deploy/services/TopologyDeploymentsService.scala
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import zio.*
 
 class TopologyDeploymentsService private (
     private val persistentStore: PersistentStore,
+    private val topologyDeploymentsToKafkaService: TopologyDeploymentsToKafkaService,
     private val mutex: Semaphore,
     private val topologyDeploymentsRef: Ref[TopologyDeployments]
 ) {
@@ -20,6 +21,7 @@ class TopologyDeploymentsService private (
     mutex.withPermit {
       for {
         _ <- ZIO.logInfo(s"deploying $deployments")
+
         // TODO authorization
 
         // Validation before deployment
@@ -29,20 +31,29 @@ class TopologyDeploymentsService private (
           .toZIOParallelErrors
           .mapError(DeploymentsFailure.validation)
 
-        // TODO performing the kafka deployment itself, returns the new TopologyDeployments
-        // TODO persisting the new TopologyDeployments
-        // TODO publishing the change-log messages
-        // TODO update the in-memory state
+        // Performing the actual deployment to kafka (dryRun is respected here)
+        success <- topologyDeploymentsToKafkaService
+          .deploy(deployments)
+          .logError("deploying TopologyDeployments")
+          .mapError(DeploymentsFailure.deployment)
 
-        // Just same fake topology deployments for now
+        // Creating the new TopologyDeployments from the statuses
         topologyDeployments = deployments.deploy
-          .map(t => (t.id, TopologyDeployment(t.id, TopologyDeploymentStatus(), Some(t))))
+          .map(t => (t.id, TopologyDeployment(t.id, success.statuses(t.id), Some(t))))
           .toMap ++ deployments.delete
-          .map(tid => (tid, TopologyDeployment(tid, TopologyDeploymentStatus(), None)))
+          .map(tid => (tid, TopologyDeployment(tid, success.statuses(tid), None)))
           .toMap
 
-        _ <- persistentStore.save(topologyDeployments).logError("saving TopologyDeployments").mapError(DeploymentsFailure.persistence)
-        _ <- topologyDeploymentsRef.update { _ ++ topologyDeployments -- deployments.delete }
+        _ <- (for {
+          // Persisting the new TopologyDeployments
+          _ <- persistentStore.save(topologyDeployments).logError("saving TopologyDeployments").mapError(DeploymentsFailure.persistence)
+
+          // Updating the in-memory state if everything succeeded so far
+          _ <- topologyDeploymentsRef.update {
+            _ ++ topologyDeployments -- deployments.delete
+          }
+        } yield ()).unless(deployments.options.dryRun) // Not making any actual changes if dryRun = true
+
         _ <- ZIO.logInfo(s"finished deploying $deployments")
       } yield DeploymentsSuccess(
         topologyDeployments
@@ -62,14 +73,15 @@ class TopologyDeploymentsService private (
 }
 
 object TopologyDeploymentsService {
-  def live: ZLayer[PersistentStore, Nothing, TopologyDeploymentsService] =
+  def live: ZLayer[PersistentStore & TopologyDeploymentsToKafkaService, Nothing, TopologyDeploymentsService] =
     ZLayer.fromZIO {
       for {
         persistentStore <- ZIO.service[PersistentStore]
+        topologyDeploymentsToKafkaService <- ZIO.service[TopologyDeploymentsToKafkaService]
         // TODO what happens if we fail here?
         topologyDeployments <- persistentStore.loadLatest().orDie
         mutex <- Semaphore.make(permits = 1)
         topologyDeploymentsRef <- Ref.make(topologyDeployments)
-      } yield TopologyDeploymentsService(persistentStore, mutex, topologyDeploymentsRef)
+      } yield TopologyDeploymentsService(persistentStore, topologyDeploymentsToKafkaService, mutex, topologyDeploymentsRef)
     }
 }
diff --git a/kafkakewl-deploy/src/main/scala/com/mwam/kafkakewl/deploy/services/TopologyDeploymentsToKafkaService.scala b/kafkakewl-deploy/src/main/scala/com/mwam/kafkakewl/deploy/services/TopologyDeploymentsToKafkaService.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d3c1c37
--- /dev/null
+++ b/kafkakewl-deploy/src/main/scala/com/mwam/kafkakewl/deploy/services/TopologyDeploymentsToKafkaService.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+/*
+ * SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2023 Marshall Wace <opensource@mwam.com>
+ *
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ */
+
+package com.mwam.kafkakewl.deploy.services
+
+import com.mwam.kafkakewl.domain.{Deployments, DeploymentsSuccess, TopologyDeploymentStatus}
+import zio.*
+
+class TopologyDeploymentsToKafkaService {
+  def deploy(deployments: Deployments): Task[DeploymentsSuccess] = {
+    ZIO.succeed {
+      // For now we just return empty statuses for all deploy/delete topologies
+      DeploymentsSuccess(
+        deployments.deploy.map(topology => (topology.id, TopologyDeploymentStatus())).toMap ++
+          deployments.delete.map(tid => (tid, TopologyDeploymentStatus())).toMap
+      )
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+object TopologyDeploymentsToKafkaService {
+  def live: ZLayer[Any, Nothing, TopologyDeploymentsToKafkaService] =
+    // TODO proper dependencies, etc...
+    ZLayer.succeed {
+      TopologyDeploymentsToKafkaService()
+    }
+}
diff --git a/kafkakewl-domain/src/main/scala/com/mwam/kafkakewl/domain/Deployments.scala b/kafkakewl-domain/src/main/scala/com/mwam/kafkakewl/domain/Deployments.scala
index 7c2a63a..182c3c0 100644
--- a/kafkakewl-domain/src/main/scala/com/mwam/kafkakewl/domain/Deployments.scala
+++ b/kafkakewl-domain/src/main/scala/com/mwam/kafkakewl/domain/Deployments.scala
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ package com.mwam.kafkakewl.domain
 import zio.NonEmptyChunk
 
 final case class DeploymentOptions(
+    dryRun: Boolean = true,
     // TODO make allowing unsafe operations more granular if needed
     allowUnsafe: Boolean = false
 )