diff --git a/.azure-pipelines.yml b/.azure-pipelines.yml
index ed39b83f22..d9ad027222 100644
--- a/.azure-pipelines.yml
+++ b/.azure-pipelines.yml
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ variables:
   ANNDATA_DEV: no
   RUN_COVERAGE: no
   TEST_EXTRA: 'test-full'
+  PRERELEASE_DEPENDENCIES: no
 
 jobs:
 - job: PyTest
@@ -23,6 +24,8 @@ jobs:
         python.version: '3.9'
         ANNDATA_DEV: yes
         RUN_COVERAGE: yes
+        PRERELEASE_DEPENDENCIES: yes
+
   steps:
   - task: UsePythonVersion@0
     inputs:
@@ -48,6 +51,14 @@ jobs:
       pip install pytest-cov wheel
       pip install .[dev,$(TEST_EXTRA)]
     displayName: 'Install dependencies'
+    condition: eq(variables['PRERELEASE_DEPENDENCIES'], 'no')
+
+  - script: |
+      python -m pip install --pre --upgrade pip
+      pip install --pre pytest-cov wheel
+      pip install --pre .[dev,$(TEST_EXTRA)]
+    displayName: 'Install dependencies release candidates'
+    condition: eq(variables['PRERELEASE_DEPENDENCIES'], 'yes')
 
   - script: |
       pip install -v "anndata[dev,test] @ git+https://github.com/scverse/anndata"