diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yml b/.github/workflows/build.yml
index a72c0e7e..9413ea9a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yml
@@ -159,6 +159,8 @@ jobs:
           qt: true
           pyvista: false
           wm: false
+      - run: HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1 brew install coreutils
+        name: Get timeout utility
       - run: ./tools/check_installation.sh
 
   test_linux:
diff --git a/recipes/mne-python/construct.yaml b/recipes/mne-python/construct.yaml
index 8fa696e3..247aa85f 100644
--- a/recipes/mne-python/construct.yaml
+++ b/recipes/mne-python/construct.yaml
@@ -58,10 +58,10 @@ channels:
 specs:
   # Python
   - python =3.12.7  # allow_outdated, vtk
-  - pip =25.0
+  - pip =25.0.1
   - wheel =0.45.1
   - conda =25.1.1
-  - mamba =2.0.6
+  - mamba =2.0.5
   # MNE ecosystem
   # TODO: ⛔️ ⛔️ ⛔️ DEV BUILDS START: CHANGE BEFORE RELEASE! ⛔️ ⛔️ ⛔️
   # - mne-base =1.4dev0=*_20230503
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ specs:
   - mne-bids-pipeline =1.9.0
   - mne-qt-browser =0.6.3
   - mne-connectivity =0.7.0=*_1
-  - mne-faster =1.2
+  - mne-faster =1.2.1
   - mne-nirs =0.7.1
   - mne-features =0.3
   - mne-rsa =0.9.1
@@ -130,13 +130,14 @@ specs:
   # <<< END RELATED SOFTWARE LIST >>>
   # ^^^ this line is special and used by MNE-Python, do not change it!
 
+  - spyder-base =6.0.4
   - antropy =0.1.9
   - mayavi =4.8.2=pyside6_*
   - traitsui =8.0.0
   - pyface =8.0.0=*_1
   - imageio-ffmpeg =0.6.0
   - pandas =2.2.3
-  - polars =1.21.0
+  - polars =1.22.0
   - scipy =1.15.1
   - numpy =2.1.3  # allow_outdated, each new version has to wait for numba
   - openblas =0.3.28
@@ -144,7 +145,7 @@ specs:
   - jupyter =1.1.1
   - jupyterlab =4.3.5
   - ipykernel =6.29.5
-  - spyder-kernels =3.0.2
+  - spyder-kernels =3.0.3
   # TODO: Needs to not require pyqt
   # https://github.com/spyder-ide/spyder/issues/20201
   # spyder =6.1.0
@@ -161,7 +162,7 @@ specs:
   # NeuroSpin needs the following
   - questionary =2.1.0
   - pqdm =0.2.0
-  - astropy =7.0.0
+  - astropy =7.0.1
   # Viz
   # matplotilb is just matplotlib-base, tornado, and pyqt
   # https://github.com/conda-forge/matplotlib-feedstock/blob/main/recipe/meta.yaml
@@ -178,7 +179,7 @@ specs:
   - pyvista =0.44.2
   - pyvistaqt =0.11.1
   - trame =3.8.0
-  - trame-vtk =2.8.14
+  - trame-vtk =2.8.15
   - trame-vuetify =2.8.1
   - termcolor =2.5.0
   - defusedxml =0.7.1
@@ -190,8 +191,8 @@ specs:
   - pytest-qt =4.4.0
   - pytest-timeout =2.3.1
   - pre-commit =4.1.0
-  - ruff =0.9.4
-  - uv =0.5.28
+  - ruff =0.9.6
+  - uv =0.5.29
   - check-manifest =0.50
   - codespell =2.4.1
   - py-spy =0.4.0
diff --git a/tests/test_imports.py b/tests/test_imports.py
index 47c51fac..988f0bc5 100644
--- a/tests/test_imports.py
+++ b/tests/test_imports.py
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ def check_version_eq(package, ver):
 mods += """
 darkdetect qdarkstyle numba openpyxl xlrd pingouin questionary
 seaborn plotly pqdm pyvistaqt vtk PySide6 PySide6.QtCore matplotlib matplotlib.pyplot
+spyder spyder-kernels
 """.strip().split()
 if platform.system() == "Darwin":
     mods += ["Foundation"]  # pyobjc
@@ -64,6 +65,8 @@ def check_version_eq(package, ver):
     "mne-ari",  # https://github.com/john-veillette/mne-ari/pull/7
     "pactools",  # https://github.com/pactools/pactools/pull/37
     "Foundation",
+    "spyder",
+    "spyder-kernels",
 }
 mod_map = {  # for import test, need map from conda-forge line/name to importable name
     "python-neo": "neo",
diff --git a/tests/test_outdated.py b/tests/test_outdated.py
index d66cb978..f5282a1f 100644
--- a/tests/test_outdated.py
+++ b/tests/test_outdated.py
@@ -122,6 +122,8 @@ def get_conda_json(package):
             continue
         elif "main" not in file["labels"]:
             continue
+        elif ".rc" in file["version"]:
+            continue
         else:
             version = file["version"]
             break
diff --git a/tests/test_spyder.sh b/tests/test_spyder.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..11af3a74
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_spyder.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -o pipefail
+
+TO=20s
+echo "Running Spyder with a timeout of $TO:"
+echo "which spyder: $(which spyder)"
+timeout $TO spyder
+RESULT=$?
+if [[ $RESULT -eq 124 ]]; then
+    echo "Spyder succeeded with timeout"
+else
+    echo "Spyder failed with error code $RESULT (should be 124 for timeout)"
+    exit 1
+fi
diff --git a/tools/check_installation.sh b/tools/check_installation.sh
index 3c607d9a..fdf6d2d0 100755
--- a/tools/check_installation.sh
+++ b/tools/check_installation.sh
@@ -113,3 +113,7 @@ echo "::endgroup::"
 echo "::group::Checking that all packages are installed that MNE-Python devs would need"
 python -u tests/test_dev_installed.py
 echo "::endgroup::"
+
+echo "::group::Checking Spyder"
+bash tests/test_spyder.sh
+echo "::endgroup::"