diff --git a/etc/spack/defaults/packages.yaml b/etc/spack/defaults/packages.yaml
index fe4eff20f80..dda4b83eab2 100644
--- a/etc/spack/defaults/packages.yaml
+++ b/etc/spack/defaults/packages.yaml
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ packages:
       unwind: [libunwind]
       uuid: [util-linux-uuid, libuuid]
       wasi-sdk: [wasi-sdk-prebuilt]
+      xkbdata-api: [xkeyboard-config, xkbdata]
       xxd: [xxd-standalone, vim]
       yacc: [bison, byacc]
       ziglang: [zig]
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libxkbcommon/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libxkbcommon/package.py
index acee82f66e5..1d368e13173 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libxkbcommon/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libxkbcommon/package.py
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ class Libxkbcommon(MesonPackage, AutotoolsPackage):
     depends_on("pkgconfig@0.9.0:", type="build")
     depends_on("bison", type="build")
     depends_on("util-macros")
-    depends_on("xkbdata")
+    depends_on("xkbdata-api")
     depends_on("libxcb@1.10:")
     depends_on("libxml2", when="@1:")
 
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ class Libxkbcommon(MesonPackage, AutotoolsPackage):
 class MesonBuilder(spack.build_systems.meson.MesonBuilder):
     def meson_args(self):
         args = [
-            "-Dxkb-config-root={0}".format(self.spec["xkbdata"].prefix),
+            "-Dxkb-config-root={0}".format(self.spec["xkbdata-api"].prefix),
             "-Denable-docs=false",
             "-Denable-wayland=" + str(self.spec.satisfies("+wayland")),
         ]
@@ -79,6 +79,6 @@ class AutotoolsBuilder(spack.build_systems.autotools.AutotoolsBuilder):
     def configure_args(self):
         """Configure arguments are passed using meson_args functions"""
         return [
-            "--with-xkb-config-root={0}".format(self.spec["xkbdata"].prefix),
+            "--with-xkb-config-root={0}".format(self.spec["xkbdata-api"].prefix),
             "--disable-docs",
         ] + self.enable_or_disable("wayland")
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/xkbdata/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/xkbdata/package.py
index 13aa939143c..6fdca7982fb 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/xkbdata/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/xkbdata/package.py
@@ -15,3 +15,5 @@ class Xkbdata(AutotoolsPackage, XorgPackage):
     version("1.0.1", sha256="5b43ca5219cd4022a158a8d4bfa30308ea5e16c9b5270a64589ebfe7f875f430")
 
     depends_on("xkbcomp", type="build")
+
+    provides("xkbdata-api")
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/xkeyboard-config/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/xkeyboard-config/package.py
index 8e7c692dd48..65b08a4972e 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/xkeyboard-config/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/xkeyboard-config/package.py
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ class XkeyboardConfig(AutotoolsPackage, XorgPackage):
     depends_on("intltool@0.30:", type="build")
     depends_on("xproto@7.0.20:", type="build")
 
+    provides("xkbdata-api")
+
     # TODO: missing dependencies
     # xgettext
     # msgmerge