diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index c14bb2b93568..df02233dad5d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -51,6 +51,11 @@ jobs:
           requirements: edge
           database: postgresql
           experimental: true
+        # Python pre-release
+        - python-version: '3.13'
+          requirements: latest
+          database: postgresql
+          experimental: true
     name: py${{ matrix.python-version }}, ${{ matrix.database }}, ${{ matrix.requirements }} deps
     env:
       CI_DATABASE: ${{ matrix.database }}
@@ -78,6 +83,7 @@ jobs:
       uses: actions/setup-python@v5
       with:
         python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
+        allow-prereleases: true
     - name: Used versions
       run: ./ci/print-versions
     - name: Install Python dependencies
diff --git a/ci/apt-install b/ci/apt-install
index 96ee0d90bb12..6a637d0734c6 100755
--- a/ci/apt-install
+++ b/ci/apt-install
@@ -48,6 +48,10 @@ apt-get install -y \
     gir1.2-rsvg-2.0 \
     gir1.2-pango-1.0
 
+# TODO: remove this once Python 3.13 wheels are available, see
+# https://github.com/sirfz/tesserocr/pull/357
+apt-get install -y libleptonica-dev libtesseract-dev
+
 # Remove MySQL 8.x client, use older MariaDB one to ensure compatibility
 if [ "$CI_DATABASE" = "mariadb" ] ; then
     apt-get purge 'mysql-client.*'
diff --git a/ci/pip-install b/ci/pip-install
index edc1354a804a..7b5fbd68e121 100755
--- a/ci/pip-install
+++ b/ci/pip-install
@@ -17,7 +17,13 @@ else
     if [ "${1:-latest}" = mypy ] ; then
       uv pip install --system -e ".[all,mysql,ci,mypy,test]"
     else
-      uv pip install --system -e ".[all,mysql,ci,test]"
+      # TODO: lxml can use wheels once xmlsec has one
+      # see https://github.com/xmlsec/python-xmlsec/issues/327
+      if python -c 'import sys; sys.exit(0 if sys.version_info >= (3,13) else 1)' ; then
+          uv pip install --system --no-binary=lxml  -e ".[all,mysql,ci,test]"
+      else
+          uv pip install --system -e ".[all,mysql,ci,test]"
+      fi
     fi
     if [ "${1:-latest}" = edge ] ; then
         uv pip install --system --upgrade -e ".[all,mysql,test,ci]"