diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/package_base.py b/lib/spack/spack/package_base.py
index d5b9320c8bd..14d7ddf7f08 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/package_base.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/package_base.py
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 import llnl.util.tty as tty
 from llnl.util.lang import classproperty, memoized
 
+import spack
 import spack.compilers
 import spack.config
 import spack.dependency
@@ -60,6 +61,7 @@
 from spack.util.package_hash import package_hash
 from spack.util.typing import SupportsRichComparison
 from spack.version import GitVersion, StandardVersion
+from spack.version import ver as version_from_str
 
 FLAG_HANDLER_RETURN_TYPE = Tuple[
     Optional[Iterable[str]], Optional[Iterable[str]], Optional[Iterable[str]]
@@ -731,10 +733,22 @@ class PackageBase(WindowsRPath, PackageViewMixin, metaclass=PackageMeta):
     #: TestSuite instance used to manage stand-alone tests for 1+ specs.
     test_suite: Optional[Any] = None
 
+    #: compatibility requirements with Spack
+    #: if value is ``None``, requirements from repo are still applied
+    required_spack_version = None
+
     def __init__(self, spec):
         # this determines how the package should be built.
         self.spec: spack.spec.Spec = spec
 
+        # is this package more restrictive in compatibility than the repo is
+        if self.required_spack_version:
+            spack_version = version_from_str(spack.spack_version)
+            required_version = version_from_str(self.required_spack_version)
+            if not spack_version.satisfies(required_version):
+                msg = f"Package {self.name} requires Spack version {self.required_spack_version}."
+                raise PackageError(msg)
+
         # Allow custom staging paths for packages
         self.path = None
 
diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/repo.py b/lib/spack/spack/repo.py
index e4a945f0bfe..c7feade124f 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/repo.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/repo.py
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 import llnl.util.tty as tty
 from llnl.util.filesystem import working_dir
 
+import spack
 import spack.caches
 import spack.config
 import spack.error
@@ -40,6 +41,7 @@
 import spack.spec
 import spack.tag
 import spack.tengine
+import spack.version
 import spack.util.file_cache
 import spack.util.git
 import spack.util.naming as nm
@@ -49,6 +51,11 @@
 #: Package modules are imported as spack.pkg.<repo-namespace>.<pkg-name>
 ROOT_PYTHON_NAMESPACE = "spack.pkg"
 
+_required_repo_version = "0:"
+
+#: Version of the repo interface that this version of Spack is compatible with
+required_repo_version = spack.version.ver(_required_repo_version)
+
 
 def python_package_for_repo(namespace):
     """Returns the full namespace of a repository, given its relative one
@@ -951,7 +958,7 @@ def check(condition, msg):
         self.config_file = os.path.join(self.root, repo_config_name)
         check(os.path.isfile(self.config_file), f"No {repo_config_name} found in '{root}'")
 
-        # Read configuration and validate namespace
+        # Read configuration and validate
         config = self._read_config()
         check(
             "namespace" in config,
@@ -965,6 +972,19 @@ def check(condition, msg):
             "Namespaces must be valid python identifiers separated by '.'",
         )
 
+        required_version = spack.version.ver(config.get("required_spack_version", ":"))
+        spack_version = spack.version.ver(spack.spack_version)
+        check(
+            spack_version.satisfies(required_version),
+            f"Repo {self.namespace} requires Spack version {required_version}",
+        )
+
+        repo_version = spack.version.ver(config.get("version", "0"))
+        check(
+            repo_version.satisfies(required_repo_version),
+            f"Spack requires repo version {required_repo_version}",
+        )
+
         # Set up 'full_namespace' to include the super-namespace
         self.full_namespace = python_package_for_repo(self.namespace)
 
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin.mock/repo.yaml b/var/spack/repos/builtin.mock/repo.yaml
index 30b068da13d..9382e74ce0e 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin.mock/repo.yaml
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin.mock/repo.yaml
@@ -1,2 +1,4 @@
 repo:
   namespace: builtin.mock
+  version: 0
+  required_spack_version: '0.23:1.0.0.dev0'
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/repo.yaml b/var/spack/repos/builtin/repo.yaml
index 54b282db6be..103f646f2da 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/repo.yaml
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/repo.yaml
@@ -1,2 +1,4 @@
 repo:
   namespace: builtin
+  version: 0
+  required_spack_version: '0.23:1.0.0.dev0'