diff --git a/.github/workflows/black-formatting.yml b/.github/workflows/black-formatting.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8514e31bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/black-formatting.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+name: Black formatting
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+  schedule:
+    - cron: "0 12 * * 0"  # Weekly at noon UTC on Sundays
+
+jobs:
+  lint:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout repository
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Check and apply black formatting
+        id: black-check
+        uses: psf/black@stable
+        with:
+            options: "--check --verbose"
+        continue-on-error: true
+
+      - name: Create PR
+        uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v5
+        if : ${{ steps.black-check.outcome == 'failure' }}
+        with:
+            commit-message: black formatting
+            title: Black formatting
+            body: Reformatting code with black style
+            branch: black-formatting
diff --git a/.github/workflows/io-test.yml b/.github/workflows/io-test.yml
index 66690722c..6f6009101 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/io-test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/io-test.yml
@@ -46,10 +46,10 @@ jobs:
           key: ${{ runner.os }}-datasets-${{ steps.ephy_testing_data.outputs.dataset_hash }}
           restore-keys: ${{ runner.os }}-datasets-
 
-      - uses: conda-incubator/setup-miniconda@v2.2.0
+      - uses: conda-incubator/setup-miniconda@v3
         with:
           activate-environment: neo-test-env
-          python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
+          python-version: "${{ matrix.python-version }}"
 
       - name: Get current dependencies hash
         id: dependencies
@@ -81,6 +81,11 @@ jobs:
           git config --global user.email "neo_ci@fake_mail.com"
           git config --global user.name "neo CI"
 
+      - name: Python version
+        run: |
+          which python
+          python --version
+
       - name: Install neo including dependencies
         # installation with dependencies is only required if no cache was found
         # restore-key hits should result in `cache-hit` == 'false'
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 8d886720c..480a183d3 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ test = [
     "coverage",
     "coveralls",
     "pillow",
-    "sonpy",
+    "sonpy;python_version<'3.10'",
     "pynwb",
     "probeinterface",
     "zugbruecke>=0.2",
@@ -84,7 +84,8 @@ docs = [
 
 dev = [
     "build",
-    "twine"
+    "twine",
+    "black"
 ]
 
 igorproio = ["igor2"]
@@ -125,3 +126,7 @@ all = [
     "zugbruecke>=0.2; sys_platform!='win32'",
 ]
 # we do not include 'stfio' in 'all' as it is not pip installable
+
+
+[tool.black]
+line-length = 120