diff --git a/deepmd/dpmodel/array_api.py b/deepmd/dpmodel/array_api.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e4af2ad627
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deepmd/dpmodel/array_api.py
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-3.0-or-later
+"""Utilities for the array API."""
+
+
+def support_array_api(version: str) -> callable:
+    """Mark a function as supporting the specific version of the array API.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    version : str
+        The version of the array API
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    callable
+        The decorated function
+
+    Examples
+    --------
+    >>> @support_array_api(version="2022.12")
+    ... def f(x):
+    ...     pass
+    """
+
+    def set_version(func: callable) -> callable:
+        func.array_api_version = version
+        return func
+
+    return set_version
diff --git a/deepmd/dpmodel/utils/env_mat.py b/deepmd/dpmodel/utils/env_mat.py
index 94cf3a7c21..41f2591279 100644
--- a/deepmd/dpmodel/utils/env_mat.py
+++ b/deepmd/dpmodel/utils/env_mat.py
@@ -4,13 +4,18 @@
     Union,
 )
 
+import array_api_compat
 import numpy as np
 
 from deepmd.dpmodel import (
     NativeOP,
 )
+from deepmd.dpmodel.array_api import (
+    support_array_api,
+)
 
 
+@support_array_api(version="2022.12")
 def compute_smooth_weight(
     distance: np.ndarray,
     rmin: float,
@@ -19,12 +24,15 @@ def compute_smooth_weight(
     """Compute smooth weight for descriptor elements."""
     if rmin >= rmax:
         raise ValueError("rmin should be less than rmax.")
+    xp = array_api_compat.array_namespace(distance)
     min_mask = distance <= rmin
     max_mask = distance >= rmax
-    mid_mask = np.logical_not(np.logical_or(min_mask, max_mask))
+    mid_mask = xp.logical_not(xp.logical_or(min_mask, max_mask))
     uu = (distance - rmin) / (rmax - rmin)
     vv = uu * uu * uu * (-6.0 * uu * uu + 15.0 * uu - 10.0) + 1.0
-    return vv * mid_mask + min_mask
+    return vv * xp.astype(mid_mask, distance.dtype) + xp.astype(
+        min_mask, distance.dtype
+    )
 
 
 def _make_env_mat(
diff --git a/doc/backend.md b/doc/backend.md
index 2f0bc7ed20..e164cd8405 100644
--- a/doc/backend.md
+++ b/doc/backend.md
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ As a reference backend, it is not aimed at the best performance, but only the co
 The DP backend uses [HDF5](https://docs.h5py.org/) to store model serialization data, which is backend-independent.
 Only Python inference interface can load this format.
 
+NumPy 1.21 or above is required.
+
 ## Switch the backend
 
 ### Training
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index d9cbeb44e4..861fea6399 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ dependencies = [
     'packaging',
     'ml_dtypes',
     'mendeleev',
+    'array-api-compat',
 ]
 requires-python = ">=3.8"
 keywords = ["deepmd"]
@@ -79,6 +80,7 @@ test = [
     "pytest-sugar",
     "pytest-split",
     "dpgui",
+    'array-api-strict>=2;python_version>="3.9"',
 ]
 docs = [
     "sphinx>=3.1.1",
diff --git a/source/tests/common/dpmodel/array_api/__init__.py b/source/tests/common/dpmodel/array_api/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e02301188e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/source/tests/common/dpmodel/array_api/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-3.0-or-later
+"""Test array API compatibility to be completely sure their usage of the array API is portable."""
diff --git a/source/tests/common/dpmodel/array_api/test_env_mat.py b/source/tests/common/dpmodel/array_api/test_env_mat.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d5bc7b6c18
--- /dev/null
+++ b/source/tests/common/dpmodel/array_api/test_env_mat.py
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-3.0-or-later
+import sys
+import unittest
+
+if sys.version_info >= (3, 9):
+    import array_api_strict as xp
+else:
+    raise unittest.SkipTest("array_api_strict doesn't support Python<=3.8")
+
+from deepmd.dpmodel.utils.env_mat import (
+    compute_smooth_weight,
+)
+
+from .utils import (
+    ArrayAPITest,
+)
+
+
+class TestEnvMat(unittest.TestCase, ArrayAPITest):
+    def test_compute_smooth_weight(self):
+        self.set_array_api_version(compute_smooth_weight)
+        d = xp.arange(10, dtype=xp.float64)
+        w = compute_smooth_weight(
+            d,
+            4.0,
+            6.0,
+        )
+        self.assert_namespace_equal(w, d)
+        self.assert_device_equal(w, d)
+        self.assert_dtype_equal(w, d)
diff --git a/source/tests/common/dpmodel/array_api/utils.py b/source/tests/common/dpmodel/array_api/utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7e422c2ead
--- /dev/null
+++ b/source/tests/common/dpmodel/array_api/utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-3.0-or-later
+import array_api_compat
+from array_api_strict import (
+    set_array_api_strict_flags,
+)
+
+
+class ArrayAPITest:
+    """Utils for array API tests."""
+
+    def set_array_api_version(self, func):
+        """Set the array API version for a function."""
+        set_array_api_strict_flags(api_version=func.array_api_version)
+
+    def assert_namespace_equal(self, a, b):
+        """Assert two array has the same namespace."""
+        self.assertEqual(
+            array_api_compat.array_namespace(a), array_api_compat.array_namespace(b)
+        )
+
+    def assert_dtype_equal(self, a, b):
+        """Assert two array has the same dtype."""
+        self.assertEqual(a.dtype, b.dtype)
+
+    def assert_device_equal(self, a, b):
+        """Assert two array has the same device."""
+        self.assertEqual(array_api_compat.device(a), array_api_compat.device(b))