diff --git a/templates/zerver/right-sidebar.html b/templates/zerver/right-sidebar.html
index 17a3045d30..b513c3f17b 100644
--- a/templates/zerver/right-sidebar.html
+++ b/templates/zerver/right-sidebar.html
@@ -20,6 +20,13 @@
                   to use <a href="https://zephyr.zulip.com">the web interface</a></span>
               </div>
               <div class="alert alert_sidebar alert-error home-error-bar" id="home-error"></div>
+              {% if send_to_staging %}
+              <div id="staging-warning"class="alert alert_sidebar alert-error">
+                <p>This realm uses staging. Please login into
+                <a href="https://staging.zulip.com/">staging.zulip.com</a>
+                to be part of the conversation.</p>
+              </div>
+              {% endif %}
               <div class="alert alert_sidebar alert-error home-error-bar" id="reloading-application"></div>
               {% if enable_feedback %}
               <div id="feedback_section">
diff --git a/zerver/views/__init__.py b/zerver/views/__init__.py
index 797c023a4b..b837d7f67d 100644
--- a/zerver/views/__init__.py
+++ b/zerver/views/__init__.py
@@ -1000,6 +1000,11 @@ def home(request):
         (not user_profile.email.lower().endswith("@customer4.invalid"))):
         show_invites = False
 
+    # Warn users on the zulip.com realm to use staging.
+    send_to_staging = False
+    if page_params['domain'] == "zulip.com" and not page_params['staging']:
+        send_to_staging = True
+
     request._log_data['extra'] = "[%s]" % (register_ret["queue_id"],)
     response = render_to_response('zerver/index.html',
                                   {'user_profile': user_profile,
@@ -1013,6 +1018,7 @@ def home(request):
                                    'show_webathena': user_profile.realm.domain == "mit.edu",
                                    'enable_feedback': settings.ENABLE_FEEDBACK,
                                    'embedded': narrow_stream is not None,
+                                   'send_to_staging': send_to_staging,
                                    },
                                   context_instance=RequestContext(request))
     patch_cache_control(response, no_cache=True, no_store=True, must_revalidate=True)