diff --git a/.github/workflows/test_spack.yml b/.github/workflows/test_spack.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..528a4087
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/test_spack.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+name: Test spack
+
+on:
+  push:
+  pull_request:
+    branches:
+      - master
+
+jobs:
+  test-spack:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+
+    permissions:
+      packages: write
+
+    defaults:
+      run:
+        shell: bash
+
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        config:
+        - {
+            backend: 'mpi',
+            tests: true,
+            device: '',
+          }
+        - {
+            backend: 'ucx',
+            tests: true,
+            device: '',
+          }
+
+        python-version: ['3.11']
+
+        spack-version: ['develop']
+
+        micro-arch: ['x86_64_v3']
+
+      fail-fast: false
+
+    env:
+      SHLVL:                          "1"
+      OMPI_ALLOW_RUN_AS_ROOT:         "1"
+      OMPI_ALLOW_RUN_AS_ROOT_CONFIRM: "1"
+      SPACK_DISABLE_LOCAL_CONFIG:     "true"
+      SPACK_USER_CACHE_PATH:          "/tmp/spack"
+
+    steps:
+  
+      - name: install additional ubuntu packages
+        run: |
+          sudo apt-get update -qq
+          sudo apt-get install -y gfortran libblas-dev
+
+      - name: clone ghex
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          path: ghex
+          submodules: recursive
+
+      - name: clone ghex spack repo
+        run: |
+          git clone --depth=1 --branch add_ghex https://github.com/boeschf/spack-repos.git repos
+
+      - name: clone spack
+        run: |
+          git clone -c feature.manyFiles=true --depth 1 \
+            --branch ${{ matrix.spack-version }} \
+            https://github.com/spack/spack.git \
+            spack
+
+      - name: initialize spack and add online buildcache
+        run: |
+          cat <<EOF > spack/etc/spack/config.yaml
+          config:
+            install_tree:
+              padded_length: 128
+            build_jobs: 4
+          EOF
+
+          cat <<EOF > spack/etc/spack/packages.yaml
+          packages:
+            all:
+              require:
+              - 'target=${{ matrix.micro-arch }}'
+              - '%gcc'
+          EOF
+
+
+          source spack/share/spack/setup-env.sh
+          spack compiler find
+          spack mirror add --unsigned local-buildcache oci://ghcr.io/boeschf/spack-buildcache
+          spack repo add repos
+          spack reindex
+
+      - name: build and install ghex through spack dev-build (CPU)
+        if: ${{ !matrix.config.device }}
+        run: |
+          source spack/share/spack/setup-env.sh
+          # print dependencies
+          spack spec -I --reuse ghex@develop \
+            backend=${{ matrix.config.backend }} \
+            ^python@${{ matrix.python-version }}
+          # dev-build does not respect test dependencies - workaround
+          spack install --reuse googletest
+          spack load googletest
+          # need `--dirty` here for environment variables and googletest test dependency to propagate
+          spack dev-build --test=root --dirty --reuse --source-path ghex ghex@develop \
+            backend=${{ matrix.config.backend }} \
+            ^python@${{ matrix.python-version }}
+
+      - name: build and install ghex through spack dev-build (GPU)
+        if: ${{ matrix.config.device }}
+        run: |
+          source spack/share/spack/setup-env.sh
+          # print dependencies
+          spack spec -I --reuse ghex@develop \
+            backend=${{ matrix.config.backend }} \
+            ${{ matrix.config.device }} \
+            ^python@${{ matrix.python-version }}
+          # dev-build
+          spack dev-build --dirty --reuse --source-path ghex ghex@develop \
+            backend=${{ matrix.config.backend }} \
+            ${{ matrix.config.device }} \
+            ^python@${{ matrix.python-version }}
+
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1fe3a5c0..369de0f9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 [![License](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-BSD%203--Clause-blue.svg)](https://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause)
 [![CI](https://github.com/ghex-org/GHEX/actions/workflows/CI.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/ghex-org/GHEX/actions/workflows/CI.yml)
 [![Pip](https://github.com/ghex-org/GHEX/actions/workflows/test_pip.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/ghex-org/GHEX/actions/workflows/test_pip.yml)
+[![Spack](https://github.com/ghex-org/GHEX/actions/workflows/test_spack.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/ghex-org/GHEX/actions/workflows/test_spack.yml)
 # GHEX
 Generic exascale-ready library for halo-exchange operations on variety of grids/meshes.
 
@@ -76,6 +77,29 @@ python -m pip install 'git+https://github.com/ghex-org/GHEX.git#subdirectory=bin
 | `GHEX_GPU_ARCH=`          | list of archs           | `"60;70;75;80"`/ `"gfx900;gfx906"` | GPU architecture
 | `GHEX_TRANSPORT_BACKEND=` | `{MPI, UCX, LIBFABRIC}` | `MPI`                              | Choose transport backend
 
+#### Spack Install
+
+- make sure you have an up-to-date [spack installation](https://github.com/spack/spack)
+- clone the ghex spack repo
+```
+git clone https://github.com/ghex-org/spack-repos.git
+git clone --depth=1 ttps://github.com/boeschf/spack-repos.git path/to/ghex-repos
+```
+-  add the repo to spack
+```
+spack repo add path/to/ghex-repos
+spack reindex
+```
+- install GHEX using spack
+```
+spack install ghex backend=mpi
+```
+- for more build/install options, see
+```
+spack info ghex
+```
+
+
 ### Acknowledgements
 
 The development of GHEX was supported partly by The Partnership for Advanced
diff --git a/bindings/python/requirements-test.txt b/bindings/python/requirements-test.txt
index cf9b925e..62dd1216 100644
--- a/bindings/python/requirements-test.txt
+++ b/bindings/python/requirements-test.txt
@@ -1,13 +1,4 @@
-#
-# This file is autogenerated by pip-compile with Python 3.11
-# by the following command:
-#
-#    pip-compile --annotation-style=line --extra=test --output-file=requirements-test.txt pyproject.toml
-#
-iniconfig==2.0.0          # via pytest
-mpi4py==3.1.5             # via ghex (pyproject.toml)
-numpy==1.26.2             # via ghex (pyproject.toml)
-packaging==23.2           # via pytest
-pluggy==1.3.0             # via pytest
-pytest==7.4.3             # via ghex (pyproject.toml), pytest-mpi
-pytest-mpi==0.6           # via ghex (pyproject.toml)
+mpi4py
+numpy
+pytest
+pytest-mpi
diff --git a/cmake/ghex_python.cmake b/cmake/ghex_python.cmake
index b51d1d42..572c26f8 100644
--- a/cmake/ghex_python.cmake
+++ b/cmake/ghex_python.cmake
@@ -12,8 +12,8 @@ if (GHEX_BUILD_PYTHON_BINDINGS)
         set(venv_bin_dir "${venv}/bin")
         set(reqs "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/bindings/python/requirements-test.txt")
         message("Creating VENV from ${Python3_EXECUTABLE} to ${VENV}")
-        execute_process(COMMAND_ECHO STDOUT COMMAND ${Python3_EXECUTABLE} -m venv ${venv} )
-        execute_process(COMMAND_ECHO STDOUT COMMAND ${venv_bin_dir}/pip install -U pip setuptools wheel pybind11-stubgen)
+        execute_process(COMMAND_ECHO STDOUT COMMAND ${Python3_EXECUTABLE} -m venv --system-site-packages ${venv} )
+        execute_process(COMMAND_ECHO STDOUT COMMAND ${venv_bin_dir}/pip install pip setuptools wheel pybind11-stubgen)
         execute_process(COMMAND_ECHO STDOUT COMMAND ${venv_bin_dir}/pip install -r ${reqs} )
 
         #execute_process (COMMAND "${Python3_EXECUTABLE}" -m venv ${venv})
@@ -27,10 +27,6 @@ if (GHEX_BUILD_PYTHON_BINDINGS)
         ## Launch a new search
         find_package (Python3 REQUIRED COMPONENTS Interpreter Development.Module)
     else()
-        #if(DEFINED PYTHON_EXECUTABLE)
-        #    set(Python3_EXECUTABLE ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE})
-        #endif()
-        #set(Python_FIND_STRATEGY LOCATION)
         find_package (Python3 REQUIRED COMPONENTS Interpreter Development.Module)
     endif()
 
diff --git a/test/bindings/python/CMakeLists.txt b/test/bindings/python/CMakeLists.txt
index e9dc6c89..f0f907f3 100644
--- a/test/bindings/python/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/test/bindings/python/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ function(ghex_reg_pytest t)
         ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/test_${t}.py)
     add_test(
         NAME py_${t}
-        COMMAND ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} -m pytest -s ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/test_${t}.py
+        COMMAND ${venv_bin_dir}/python -m pytest -s ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/test_${t}.py
         WORKING_DIRECTORY ${pyghex_test_workdir})
     set_tests_properties(py_${t} PROPERTIES RUN_SERIAL ON)
 endfunction()
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ function(ghex_reg_parallel_pytest t n)
     add_test(
         NAME py_${t}_parallel
         COMMAND ${MPIEXEC_EXECUTABLE} ${MPIEXEC_NUMPROC_FLAG} ${n} ${MPIEXEC_PREFLAGS}
-        ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} -m pytest -s --with-mpi ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/test_${t}.py
+        ${venv_bin_dir}/python -m pytest -s --with-mpi ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/test_${t}.py
         WORKING_DIRECTORY ${pyghex_test_workdir})
     set_tests_properties(py_${t}_parallel PROPERTIES RUN_SERIAL ON)
 endfunction()
@@ -36,5 +36,4 @@ ghex_reg_parallel_pytest(context 4)
 ghex_reg_parallel_pytest(structured_domain_descriptor 4)
 ghex_reg_parallel_pytest(structured_pattern 4)
 
-#ghex_reg_pytest(unstructured_domain_descriptor)
 ghex_reg_parallel_pytest(unstructured_domain_descriptor 4)