diff --git a/frontends/concrete-python/Makefile b/frontends/concrete-python/Makefile
index c82480deec..ee37288504 100644
--- a/frontends/concrete-python/Makefile
+++ b/frontends/concrete-python/Makefile
@@ -2,9 +2,14 @@ PYTHON=python
 PIP=$(PYTHON) -m pip
 
 COMPILER_BUILD_DIRECTORY ?= $(PWD)/../../compilers/concrete-compiler/compiler/build
-NEW_PYTHON_PATH="${COMPILER_BUILD_DIRECTORY}/tools/concretelang/python_packages/concretelang_core/:$(PWD)"
+BINDINGS_DIRECTORY=${COMPILER_BUILD_DIRECTORY}/tools/concretelang/python_packages/concretelang_core/
 RUNTIME_LIBRARY=${COMPILER_BUILD_DIRECTORY}/lib/libConcretelangRuntime.so
 
+CONCRETE_VERSION?="" # empty mean latest
+# E.g. to use a previous version: `make CONCRETE_VERSION="<2.7.0" venv`
+# E.g. to use a nightly: `make CONCRETE_VERSION="==2.7.0dev20240801`
+# see https://pypi.zama.ai/cpu/concrete-python/index.html for available versions
+
 .ONESHELL:
 .PHONY:
 .SILENT:
@@ -16,7 +21,9 @@ RUNTIME_LIBRARY=${COMPILER_BUILD_DIRECTORY}/lib/libConcretelangRuntime.so
 venv:
 	$(PYTHON) -m venv .venv
 	. .venv/bin/activate
-
+ifeq (,$(wildcard ${RUNTIME_LIBRARY}))
+	$(PIP) install --extra-index-url https://pypi.zama.ai/cpu "concrete-python$(CONCRETE_VERSION)"
+endif
 	$(PIP) install -r requirements.dev.txt
 	$(PIP) install -r requirements.extra-full.txt
 	$(PIP) install -r requirements.txt
@@ -26,11 +33,17 @@ venv:
 	@echo "You can have the same activation in a terminal using:"
 	@echo 'eval $$(make cp_activate)'
 
-cp_activate:
+cp_activate: silent_cp_activate
 	@echo "echo 'Activating virtual env and local concrete-python and local compiler bindings' ;"
+
+silent_cp_activate:
 	@echo "export PATH=$(PWD)/.venv/bin:$$PATH;"
+ifeq (,$(wildcard ${RUNTIME_LIBRARY}))
+	@echo "export PYTHONPATH=$(PWD);"
+else
 	@echo "export LD_PRELOAD=$(RUNTIME_LIBRARY);"
-	@echo "export PYTHONPATH=$(NEW_PYTHON_PATH);"
+	@echo "export PYTHONPATH=${BINDINGS_DIRECTORY}:$(PWD);"
+endif
 
 licenses:
 	bash scripts/versioning/summary.sh
@@ -42,8 +55,7 @@ licenses:
 pytest: pytest-default
 
 pytest-default:
-	export LD_PRELOAD=$(RUNTIME_LIBRARY)
-	export PYTHONPATH=$(NEW_PYTHON_PATH)
+	eval $(shell make silent_cp_activate)
 	pytest tests -svv -n auto \
 		--cov=concrete.fhe \
 		--cov-fail-under=95 \
@@ -52,9 +64,7 @@ pytest-default:
 		-m "${PYTEST_MARKERS}"
 
 pytest-single:
-	export LD_PRELOAD=$(RUNTIME_LIBRARY)
-	export PYTHONPATH=$(NEW_PYTHON_PATH)
-
+	eval $(shell make silent_cp_activate)
 	# test single precision, mono params
 	pytest tests -svv -n auto \
 		--precision=single \
@@ -63,9 +73,7 @@ pytest-single:
 		-m "${PYTEST_MARKERS}"
 
 pytest-multi:
-	export LD_PRELOAD=$(RUNTIME_LIBRARY)
-	export PYTHONPATH=$(NEW_PYTHON_PATH)
-
+	eval $(shell make silent_cp_activate)
 	# test multi precision, multi params
 	pytest tests -svv -n auto \
 		--precision=multi \
@@ -77,9 +85,7 @@ pytest-multi:
 		-m "${PYTEST_MARKERS}"
 
 pytest-gpu:
-	export LD_PRELOAD=$(RUNTIME_LIBRARY)
-	export PYTHONPATH=$(NEW_PYTHON_PATH)
-
+	eval $(shell make silent_cp_activate)
 	# test single precision
 	pytest tests -svv -n0 --use_gpu \
 		--key-cache "${KEY_CACHE_DIRECTORY}" \
@@ -95,9 +101,7 @@ pytest-gpu:
 		-m "${PYTEST_MARKERS}"
 
 benchmark:
-	export LD_PRELOAD=$(RUNTIME_LIBRARY)
-	export PYTHONPATH=$(NEW_PYTHON_PATH)
-
+	eval $(shell make silent_cp_activate)
 	export PROGRESS_SAMPLES=3
 	export PROGRESS_OUTPUT_INDENT=2
 
@@ -105,9 +109,7 @@ benchmark:
 	find ./benchmarks/ -name "*.py" | xargs python
 
 process-benchmark-results-for-grafana:
-	export LD_PRELOAD=$(RUNTIME_LIBRARY)
-	export PYTHONPATH=$(NEW_PYTHON_PATH)
-
+	eval $(shell make silent_cp_activate)
 	python scripts/benchmark/postprocessor.py \
 		--source progress.json \
 		--target progress.processed.json \
@@ -118,6 +120,7 @@ process-benchmark-results-for-grafana:
 # ==========
 
 format:
+	eval $(shell make silent_cp_activate)
 	bash scripts/format/formatter.sh \
 		--dir concrete \
 		--dir examples \
@@ -126,6 +129,7 @@ format:
 		--dir benchmarks
 
 sanitize-notebooks:
+	eval $(shell make silent_cp_activate)
 	$(PYTHON) scripts/notebook/sanitizer.py docs
 
 conformance: format sanitize-notebooks
@@ -135,6 +139,7 @@ conformance: format sanitize-notebooks
 # =======
 
 check-format:
+	eval $(shell make silent_cp_activate)
 	bash scripts/format/formatter.sh --check \
 		--dir concrete \
 		--dir examples \
@@ -143,15 +148,19 @@ check-format:
         --dir benchmarks
 
 check-sanitize-notebooks:
+	eval $(shell make silent_cp_activate)
 	$(PYTHON) scripts/notebook/sanitizer.py docs --check
 
 mypy:
+	eval $(shell make silent_cp_activate)
 	mypy concrete examples scripts tests benchmarks --ignore-missing-imports
 
 pydocstyle:
+	eval $(shell make silent_cp_activate)
 	pydocstyle concrete --convention google --add-ignore=D1,D200,D202,D212,D402 --add-select=D401
 
 pylint:
+	eval $(shell make silent_cp_activate)
 	pylint --rcfile=.pylintrc concrete
 	pylint --rcfile=.pylintrc examples --disable=C0103,C0114,C0115,C0116,E0401,R1721
 	pylint --rcfile=.pylintrc scripts
@@ -159,6 +168,7 @@ pylint:
 	pylint --rcfile=.pylintrc benchmarks
 
 ruff:
+	eval $(shell make silent_cp_activate)
 	ruff concrete/ examples/ scripts/ tests/ benchmarks/
 
 pcc: check-format check-sanitize-notebooks mypy pydocstyle pylint ruff