diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index f326f85..deb888d 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ staging_protocols = {
 	'content-type': ['v1'],
 	'cursor-shape': ['v1'],
 	'drm-lease': ['v1'],
+	'ext-background-effect': ['v1'],
 	'ext-data-control': ['v1'],
 	'ext-foreign-toplevel-list': ['v1'],
 	'ext-idle-notify': ['v1'],
diff --git a/staging/ext-background-effect/README b/staging/ext-background-effect/README
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c9ee9d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/staging/ext-background-effect/README
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+ext_blur protocol
+
+Maintainers:
+David Edmundson <davidedmundson@kde.org>
+Vlad Zahorodnii <vlad.zahorodnii@kde.org>
+Xaver Hugl <xaver.hugl@kde.org>
diff --git a/staging/ext-background-effect/ext-background-effect-v1.xml b/staging/ext-background-effect/ext-background-effect-v1.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..33cc2a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/staging/ext-background-effect/ext-background-effect-v1.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<protocol name="ext_background_effect_v1">
+  <copyright>
+    Copyright (C) 2015 Martin Gräßlin
+    Copyright (C) 2015 Marco Martin
+    Copyright (C) 2020 Vlad Zahorodnii
+    Copyright (C) 2024 Xaver Hugl
+
+    Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
+    copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"),
+    to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation
+    the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
+    and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
+    Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+
+    The above copyright notice and this permission notice (including the next
+    paragraph) shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the
+    Software.
+
+    THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+    IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+    FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.  IN NO EVENT SHALL
+    THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+    LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
+    FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER
+    DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
+  </copyright>
+
+  <interface name="ext_background_effect_manager_v1" version="1">
+    <description summary="background effect factory">
+      This protocol provides a way to improve visuals of translucent surfaces
+      by applying effects like blur to the background behind them.
+
+      The capabilities are send when the global is bound, and every time they
+      change. Note that when the capability goes away, the corresponding effect
+      is no longer applied by the compositor, even if it was set before.
+
+      Warning! The protocol described in this file is currently in the testing
+      phase. Backward compatible changes may be added together with the
+      corresponding interface version bump. Backward incompatible changes can
+      only be done by creating a new major version of the extension.
+    </description>
+
+    <request name="destroy" type="destructor">
+      <description summary="destroy the background effect manager">
+        Informs the server that the client will no longer be using this
+        protocol object. Existing objects created by this object are not
+        affected.
+      </description>
+    </request>
+
+    <enum name="error">
+      <entry name="background_effect_exists" value="0"
+             summary="the surface already has a background effect object"/>
+    </enum>
+
+    <enum name="capability" bitfield="true">
+      <entry name="blur" value="0"
+             summary="the compositor supports applying blur"/>
+    </enum>
+
+    <event name="capabilities">
+      <description summary="capabilities of the compositor"/>
+      <arg name="flags" type="uint" enum="capability"/>
+    </event>
+
+    <request name="get_background_effect">
+      <description summary="get a background effects object">
+        Instantiate an interface extension for the given wl_surface to add
+        effects like blur for the background behind it.
+
+        If the given wl_surface already has a ext_background_effect_surface_v1
+        object associated, the background_effect_exists protocol error will be
+        raised.
+      </description>
+      <arg name="id" type="new_id" interface="ext_background_effect_surface_v1"
+           summary="the new ext_background_effect_surface_v1 object"/>
+      <arg name="surface" type="object" interface="wl_surface"
+           summary="the surface"/>
+    </request>
+  </interface>
+
+  <interface name="ext_background_effect_surface_v1" version="1">
+    <description summary="background effects for a surface">
+      The background effect object provides a way to specify a region behind
+      a surface that should have background effects like blur applied.
+
+      If the wl_surface associated with the ext_background_effect_surface_v1
+      object has been destroyed, this object becomes inert.
+    </description>
+
+    <request name="destroy" type="destructor">
+      <description summary="release the blur object">
+        Informs the server that the client will no longer be using this protocol
+        object. The effect regions will be removed on the next commit.
+      </description>
+    </request>
+
+    <enum name="error">
+      <entry name="surface_destroyed" value="0"
+             summary="the associated surface has been destroyed"/>
+    </enum>
+
+    <request name="set_blur_region">
+      <description summary="set blur region">
+        This request sets the region of the surface that will have its
+        background blurred.
+
+        The blur region is specified in the surface-local coordinates, and
+        clipped by the compositor to the surface size.
+
+        The initial value for the blur region is empty. Setting the pending
+        blur region has copy semantics, and the wl_region object can be
+        destroyed immediately. A NULL wl_region removes the effect.
+
+        The blur region is double-buffered state, and will be applied on
+        the next wl_surface.commit.
+
+        The blur algorithm is subject to compositor policies.
+
+        If the associated surface has been destroyed, the surface_destroyed
+        error will be raised.
+      </description>
+      <arg name="region" type="object" interface="wl_region" allow-null="true"
+           summary="blur region of the surface"/>
+    </request>
+
+  </interface>
+</protocol>