diff --git a/src/nwb_benchmarks/utils/_package_versions.py b/src/nwb_benchmarks/utils/_package_versions.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7a5a6c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/nwb_benchmarks/utils/_package_versions.py
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+"""
+Extract dependencies from pyproject.toml, resolve versions at a specific date,
+and creates a new environment.yaml with version constraints.
+Use for testing historical versions of packages before benchmarks results
+database and automated publishing was finalized.
+"""
+
+import subprocess
+import tempfile
+
+
+def create_older_environment_yaml(
+    packages_to_restrict: tuple[str],
+    exclude_newer_date: str = "2025-06-30",
+    output_file_base: str = "nwb_benchmarks",
+):
+    # create temporary input requirements file
+    with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(mode="w", suffix=".txt") as tmp_file:
+        tmp_file.write("\n".join(packages_to_restrict))
+        tmp_file.flush()
+        tmp_path = tmp_file.name
+
+        with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(mode="w", suffix=".txt") as tmp_out:
+            tmp_out_path = tmp_out.name
+
+            # run uv pip compile to get versions from a specific date
+            cmd = ["uv", "pip", "compile", tmp_path, "--exclude-newer", exclude_newer_date, "-o", tmp_out_path]
+            subprocess.run(cmd)
+
+            # parse the output to get pinned versions based on date
+            pinned_requirements = {}
+            with open(tmp_out_path, "r") as f:
+                for line in f:
+                    if "==" in line:
+                        pkg_name = line.split("==")[0].strip()
+                        version = line.split("==")[1].split()[0].strip()
+                        pinned_requirements[pkg_name] = version
+
+            # save to new output file
+            # NOTE: will create very minimal environment file, rest of dependencies will be installed with -e ..
+            with open(f"environments/{output_file_base}_{exclude_newer_date}.yaml", "w") as f:
+                f.write(
+                    f"name: nwb_benchmarks_{exclude_newer_date}\n"
+                    f"dependencies:\n"
+                    f"  - python == 3.11\n"  # use for consistency
+                    f"  - git\n"
+                    f"  - conda-forge::h5py <={pinned_requirements['h5py']}\n"
+                    f"  - pip\n"
+                    f"  - pip:\n"
+                )
+                for pkg, version in sorted(pinned_requirements.items()):
+                    if pkg in packages_to_restrict and pkg not in ["h5py"]:
+                        f.write(f"    - {pkg}<={version}\n")
+                f.write(f"    - -e ..\n")
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    # restrict key packages of interest to specific dates
+    # no versions of lindi pre 2024-03 and other more difficult dependency resolution issues, so stop at 2024-06-30
+    packages_to_restrict = ["h5py", "dandi", "zarr", "fsspec", "lindi"]
+    create_older_environment_yaml(exclude_newer_date="2025-06-30", packages_to_restrict=packages_to_restrict)
+    create_older_environment_yaml(exclude_newer_date="2024-06-30", packages_to_restrict=packages_to_restrict)