diff --git a/ci/build_wheel_libcudf.sh b/ci/build_wheel_libcudf.sh
index b087f1b50b26..c5a007399f8d 100755
--- a/ci/build_wheel_libcudf.sh
+++ b/ci/build_wheel_libcudf.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2023-2026, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2023-2026, NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
 set -euo pipefail
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ rapids-dependency-file-generator \
   --output requirements \
   --file-key "py_build_${package_name}" \
   --file-key "py_rapids_build_${package_name}" \
-  --matrix "cuda=${RAPIDS_CUDA_VERSION%.*};arch=$(arch);py=${RAPIDS_PY_VERSION};cuda_suffixed=true" \
+  --matrix "cuda=${RAPIDS_CUDA_VERSION%.*};arch=$(arch);py=${RAPIDS_PY_VERSION};cuda_suffixed=true;use_cuda_wheels=true" \
 | tee /tmp/requirements-build.txt
 
 rapids-logger "Installing build requirements"
diff --git a/ci/test_wheel_cudf.sh b/ci/test_wheel_cudf.sh
index 8d4b8c5ba31c..deff898d4b9e 100755
--- a/ci/test_wheel_cudf.sh
+++ b/ci/test_wheel_cudf.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2023-2026, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2023-2026, NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
 set -euo pipefail
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ LIBCUDF_WHEELHOUSE=$(rapids-download-from-github "$(rapids-artifact-name wheel_c
 PYLIBCUDF_WHEELHOUSE=$(rapids-download-from-github "$(rapids-artifact-name wheel_python pylibcudf cudf --stable --cuda "$RAPIDS_CUDA_VERSION")")
 CUDF_WHEELHOUSE=$(rapids-download-from-github "$(rapids-artifact-name wheel_python cudf cudf --stable --cuda "$RAPIDS_CUDA_VERSION")")
 
-rapids-logger "Install pylibcudf and its basic dependencies in a virtual environment"
+rapids-logger "Install libcudf and verify its runtime dependencies in a virtual environment"
 
 # generate constraints (possibly pinning to oldest support versions of dependencies)
 rapids-generate-pip-constraints py_test_cudf "${PIP_CONSTRAINT}"
@@ -22,9 +22,22 @@ RESULTS_DIR=${RAPIDS_TESTS_DIR:-"$(mktemp -d)"}
 RAPIDS_TESTS_DIR=${RAPIDS_TESTS_DIR:-"${RESULTS_DIR}/test-results"}/
 mkdir -p "${RAPIDS_TESTS_DIR}"
 
+python -m venv libcudf-env
+. libcudf-env/bin/activate
+
+rapids-pip-retry install \
+    -v \
+    --prefer-binary \
+    --constraint "${PIP_CONSTRAINT}" \
+    "$(echo "${LIBCUDF_WHEELHOUSE}"/libcudf_"${RAPIDS_PY_CUDA_SUFFIX}"*.whl)"
+python -c "import libcudf; assert libcudf.load_library() is not None"
+deactivate
+
 # To test pylibcudf without its optional dependencies, we create a virtual environment
-python -m venv env
-. env/bin/activate
+python -m venv pylibcudf-env
+. pylibcudf-env/bin/activate
+
+rapids-logger "Install pylibcudf and its basic dependencies"
 
 # notes:
 #
diff --git a/ci/test_wheel_cudf_streaming.sh b/ci/test_wheel_cudf_streaming.sh
index 0a1210f9b04c..8f2ec61323ed 100755
--- a/ci/test_wheel_cudf_streaming.sh
+++ b/ci/test_wheel_cudf_streaming.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2025-2026, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2025-2026, NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
 set -euo pipefail
@@ -17,6 +17,20 @@ PYLIBCUDF_WHEELHOUSE=$(rapids-download-from-github "$(rapids-artifact-name wheel
 # generate constraints (possibly pinning to oldest support versions of dependencies)
 rapids-generate-pip-constraints py_test_cudf_streaming "${PIP_CONSTRAINT}"
 
+rapids-logger "Install libcudf_streaming and verify its runtime dependencies in a virtual environment"
+
+python -m venv libcudf-streaming-env
+. libcudf-streaming-env/bin/activate
+
+rapids-pip-retry install \
+    -v \
+    --prefer-binary \
+    --constraint "${PIP_CONSTRAINT}" \
+    "$(echo "${LIBCUDF_STREAMING_WHEELHOUSE}"/libcudf_streaming_"${RAPIDS_PY_CUDA_SUFFIX}"*.whl)" \
+    "$(echo "${LIBCUDF_WHEELHOUSE}"/libcudf_"${RAPIDS_PY_CUDA_SUFFIX}"*.whl)"
+python -c "import libcudf_streaming; assert libcudf_streaming.load_library() is not None"
+deactivate
+
 rapids-logger "Install cudf_streaming and its dependencies"
 
 rapids-pip-retry install \
diff --git a/dependencies.yaml b/dependencies.yaml
index 5eb907f5649a..d176947ed843 100644
--- a/dependencies.yaml
+++ b/dependencies.yaml
@@ -829,24 +829,29 @@ dependencies:
           - matrix:
               use_cuda_wheels: "false"
             packages:
-          # We always want nvJitLink >= whatever minor version was available in the build environment
-          # nvJitLink tends to follow the CTK's minor versions, but check at https://docs.nvidia.com/cuda/cuda-toolkit-release-notes/index.html
-          #
-          # ref: https://github.com/rapidsai/cudf/pull/20873
           - matrix:
-              cuda: "12.9"
+              cuda: "12.*"
+              cuda_suffixed: "true"
               use_cuda_wheels: "true"
             packages:
+              - cuda-toolkit[nvrtc]==12.*
+              # We always want nvJitLink >= whatever minor version was available in the build environment
+              # nvJitLink tends to follow the CTK's minor versions, but check at https://docs.nvidia.com/cuda/cuda-toolkit-release-notes/index.html
+              #
+              # ref: https://github.com/rapidsai/cudf/pull/20873
               - nvidia-nvjitlink-cu12>=12.9,<13
           - matrix:
               cuda: "13.*"
+              cuda_suffixed: "true"
               use_cuda_wheels: "true"
             packages:
+              - cuda-toolkit[nvrtc]==13.*
               - &nvjitlink_cu13 nvidia-nvjitlink>=13.3,<14
           # if no matching matrix selectors passed, list the CUDA 13 requirement
           # (just as a source of documentation, as this populates pyproject.toml in source control)
           - matrix:
             packages:
+              - cuda-toolkit[nvrtc]==13.*
               - *nvjitlink_cu13
   cuda_static:
     common:
@@ -963,27 +968,6 @@ dependencies:
           - nvtx>=0.2.1
           - packaging
           - rich
-    specific:
-      - output_types: [requirements, pyproject]
-        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:
-              cuda: "12.*"
-              cuda_suffixed: "true"
-              use_cuda_wheels: "true"
-            packages:
-              - cuda-toolkit[nvcc,nvrtc]==12.*
-          - matrix:
-              cuda: "13.*"
-              cuda_suffixed: "true"
-              use_cuda_wheels: "true"
-            packages:
-              - cuda-toolkit[nvcc,nvrtc]==13.*
-          - {matrix: null, packages: []}
   run_cudf_polars:
     common:
       - output_types: [conda, requirements, pyproject]
diff --git a/python/libcudf/pyproject.toml b/python/libcudf/pyproject.toml
index c1277f1489a4..36cbebdd248b 100644
--- a/python/libcudf/pyproject.toml
+++ b/python/libcudf/pyproject.toml
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ classifiers = [
     "Environment :: GPU :: NVIDIA CUDA",
 ]
 dependencies = [
+    "cuda-toolkit[nvrtc]==13.*",
     "libkvikio==26.10.*,>=0.0.0a0",
     "librmm==26.10.*,>=0.0.0a0",
     "nvidia-libnvcomp==5.2.0.13",
@@ -70,6 +71,7 @@ dependencies-file = "../../dependencies.yaml"
 matrix-entry = "cuda_suffixed=true;use_cuda_wheels=true"
 requires = [
     "cmake>=4.0",
+    "cuda-toolkit[nvrtc]==13.*",
     "libkvikio==26.10.*,>=0.0.0a0",
     "librmm==26.10.*,>=0.0.0a0",
     "ninja",