diff --git a/ci/test_wheel_nx-cugraph.sh b/ci/test_wheel_nx-cugraph.sh
index 1b573c58c..8163c425e 100755
--- a/ci/test_wheel_nx-cugraph.sh
+++ b/ci/test_wheel_nx-cugraph.sh
@@ -12,11 +12,20 @@ python_package_name=${package_name//-/_}
 # nx-cugraph is a pure wheel, which is part of generating the download path
 NX_CUGRAPH_WHEELHOUSE=$(rapids-download-from-github "$(rapids-package-name "wheel_python" "$package_name" --pure --cuda "$RAPIDS_CUDA_VERSION")")
 
-# echo to expand wildcard before adding `[extra]` requires for pip
+# generate constraints (possibly pinning to oldest supported versions of dependencies)
+rapids-generate-pip-constraints test_python "${PIP_CONSTRAINT}"
+
+# notes:
+#
+#   * echo to expand wildcard before adding `[test]` requires for pip
+#   * just providing --constraint="${PIP_CONSTRAINT}" to be explicit, and because
+#     that environment variable is ignored if any other --constraint are passed via the CLI
+#   * '--extra-index-url pypi.nvidia.com' can be removed when 'pylibcugraph' and
+#     its dependencies are available from pypi.org
 #
-# '--extra-index-url pypi.nvidia.com' can be removed when 'pylibcugraph' and
-# its dependencies are available from pypi.org
 rapids-pip-retry install \
+    --prefer-binary \
+    --constraint "${PIP_CONSTRAINT}" \
     --extra-index-url https://pypi.nvidia.com \
     "$(echo "${NX_CUGRAPH_WHEELHOUSE}"/"${python_package_name}"*.whl)[test]"
 
diff --git a/dependencies.yaml b/dependencies.yaml
index 4595313dd..b21f4c7d1 100644
--- a/dependencies.yaml
+++ b/dependencies.yaml
@@ -76,6 +76,8 @@ dependencies:
       - output_types: [conda, requirements]
         packages:
           - pre-commit
+  # 'cuda_version' intentionally does not contain fallback entries... we want
+  # a loud error if an unsupported 'cuda' value is passed
   cuda_version:
     specific:
       - output_types: conda
@@ -104,6 +106,51 @@ dependencies:
               cuda: "13.1"
             packages:
               - cuda-version=13.1
+      - output_types: requirements
+        matrices:
+          # if use_cuda_wheels=false is provided, do not add dependencies on any CUDA wheels
+          # (e.g. for DLFW and pip devcontainers)
+          - matrix:
+              use_cuda_wheels: "false"
+            packages:
+          - matrix:
+              arch: aarch64
+              cuda: "12.2"
+              use_cuda_wheels: "true"
+            packages:
+              # some components (like nvidia-cublas-cu12 and nvidia-cuda-nvcc-cu12) didn't have
+              # aarch64 wheels until CTK 12.3, so allow a slightly looser bound here
+              - cuda-toolkit>=12.2,<12.4
+          - matrix:
+              cuda: "12.2"
+              use_cuda_wheels: "true"
+            packages:
+              - cuda-toolkit==12.2.*
+          - matrix:
+              cuda: "12.5"
+              use_cuda_wheels: "true"
+            packages:
+              - cuda-toolkit==12.5.*
+          - matrix:
+              cuda: "12.8"
+              use_cuda_wheels: "true"
+            packages:
+              - cuda-toolkit==12.8.*
+          - matrix:
+              cuda: "12.9"
+              use_cuda_wheels: "true"
+            packages:
+              - cuda-toolkit==12.9.*
+          - matrix:
+              cuda: "13.0"
+              use_cuda_wheels: "true"
+            packages:
+              - cuda-toolkit==13.0.*
+          - matrix:
+              cuda: "13.1"
+              use_cuda_wheels: "true"
+            packages:
+              - cuda-toolkit==13.1.*
   depends_on_nx_cugraph:
     common:
       - output_types: conda