diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index c146aa5dea05128696f71ba4e76696decb6b0e34..1f064cab0e7e3f334963c1d712f15924abc98127 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ variables:
   ## note: nightly builds will always use the master/main branch
   EDM4EIC_VERSION: ""
   EICRECON_VERSION: ""
+  EPIC_VERSION: ""
   JUGGLER_VERSION: ""
 
   ## Local registry
@@ -366,11 +367,13 @@ jug_dev:
                    ${IF_BUILD_DEFAULT:+
                      ${EDM4EIC_VERSION:+--build-arg EDM4EIC_VERSION=${EDM4EIC_VERSION}}
                      ${EICRECON_VERSION:+--build-arg EICRECON_VERSION=${EICRECON_VERSION}}
+                     ${EPIC_VERSION:+--build-arg EPIC_VERSION=${EPIC_VERSION}}
                      ${JUGGLER_VERSION:+--build-arg JUGGLER_VERSION=${JUGGLER_VERSION}}
                    }
                    ${IF_BUILD_NIGHTLY:+
                      --build-arg EDM4EIC_VERSION=main
                      --build-arg EICRECON_VERSION=main
+                     --build-arg EPIC_VERSION=main
                      --build-arg JUGGLER_VERSION=main
                    }
                    --build-arg ENV=${ENV}
diff --git a/containers/jug/dev.Dockerfile b/containers/jug/dev.Dockerfile
index 5ec5f4b9aa82050db6e9e424c7d8dda20e49829e..e6f1b2612681786192ca68bb0021f13e0f5cf9e7 100644
--- a/containers/jug/dev.Dockerfile
+++ b/containers/jug/dev.Dockerfile
@@ -171,9 +171,11 @@ EOF
 ## Note: these default versions are just the very first commit.
 ARG EDM4EIC_VERSION="8aeb507f93a93257c99985efbce0ec1371e0b331"
 ARG EICRECON_VERSION="28108da4a1e8919a05dfdb5f11e114800a2cbe96"
+ARG EPIC_VERSION="c1827f05430b2051df8a0b421db1cbab87165e0b"
 ARG JUGGLER_VERSION="df87bf1f8643afa8e80bece9d36d6dc26dfe8132"
 ADD https://api.github.com/repos/eic/edm4eic/commits/${EDM4EIC_VERSION} /tmp/edm4eic.json
 ADD https://api.github.com/repos/eic/eicrecon/commits/${EICRECON_VERSION} /tmp/eicrecon.json
+ADD https://api.github.com/repos/eic/epic/commits/${EPIC_VERSION} /tmp/epic.json
 ADD https://api.github.com/repos/eic/juggler/commits/${JUGGLER_VERSION} /tmp/juggler.json
 RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/ccache,id=${TARGETPLATFORM}              \
     --mount=type=cache,target=/var/cache/spack                          \
@@ -192,6 +194,12 @@ if [ "${EICRECON_VERSION}" != "28108da4a1e8919a05dfdb5f11e114800a2cbe96" ] ; the
   sed -i "/# EICRECON_VERSION$/ s/@[^\s']*/@git.${EICRECON_VERSION}=main/" /opt/spack-environment/packages.yaml
   spack deconcretize -y --all eicrecon
 fi
+if [ "${EPIC_VERSION}" != "c1827f05430b2051df8a0b421db1cbab87165e0b" ] ; then
+  export EPIC_VERSION=$(jq -r .sha /tmp/epic.json)
+  sed -i "/# EPIC_VERSION$/ s/epic\s/epic@git.${EPIC_VERSION}=main /" /opt/spack-environment/${ENV}/spack.yaml
+  sed -i "/# EPIC_VERSION$/ s/epic@main\s/epic@git.${EPIC_VERSION}=main /" /opt/spack-environment/${ENV}/spack.yaml
+  spack deconcretize -y --all epic
+fi
 if [ "${JUGGLER_VERSION}" != "df87bf1f8643afa8e80bece9d36d6dc26dfe8132" ] ; then
   export JUGGLER_VERSION=$(jq -r .sha /tmp/juggler.json)
   sed -i "/# JUGGLER_VERSION$/ s/@[^\s']*/@git.${JUGGLER_VERSION}=main/" /opt/spack-environment/packages.yaml
diff --git a/spack-environment/dbg/spack.yaml b/spack-environment/dbg/spack.yaml
index c2c9c5499ffd76523b14f0442d44926dffcc77ac..ba53572ed483ad4fb868f170ec7712365a524278 100644
--- a/spack-environment/dbg/spack.yaml
+++ b/spack-environment/dbg/spack.yaml
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ spack:
   - edm4eic build_type=Debug
   - edm4hep build_type=Debug
   - eicrecon build_type=Debug
-  - epic build_type=Debug
+  - epic build_type=Debug # EPIC_VERSION
   - gdb
   - irt build_type=Debug
   - jana2 build_type=Debug
diff --git a/spack-environment/dev/spack.yaml b/spack-environment/dev/spack.yaml
index f29f4b0479ef9bb738f47e42c424b0baf89dd7ce..de08d4e4cb87cbf4aefa93343e6b2ada08f3f771 100644
--- a/spack-environment/dev/spack.yaml
+++ b/spack-environment/dev/spack.yaml
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ spack:
   - eicrecon
   - eigen
   - emacs
-  - epic@main
+  - epic@main # EPIC_VERSION
   - epic@23.10.0
   - epic@23.11.0
   - epic@23.12.0
diff --git a/spack-environment/prod/spack.yaml b/spack-environment/prod/spack.yaml
index f5ba4a3253976fea0078e0e954a18e0c695a00b4..4cf7f9439af2265f79abe65f7aa100760a044fbc 100644
--- a/spack-environment/prod/spack.yaml
+++ b/spack-environment/prod/spack.yaml
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ spack:
   - dd4hep -ddeve
   - edm4eic
   - eicrecon
-  - epic
+  - epic # EPIC_VERSION
   - fastjet
   - fjcontrib
   - gaudi