diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/lflang/generator/python/PythonGenerator.java b/core/src/main/java/org/lflang/generator/python/PythonGenerator.java
index 5bbd0de287..4f6ae54b30 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/lflang/generator/python/PythonGenerator.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/lflang/generator/python/PythonGenerator.java
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@
 import org.lflang.lf.Reactor;
 import org.lflang.target.Target;
 import org.lflang.target.property.ProtobufsProperty;
+import org.lflang.target.property.PythonVersionProperty;
 import org.lflang.util.FileUtil;
 import org.lflang.util.LFCommand;
 import org.lflang.util.StringUtil;
@@ -88,6 +89,7 @@ public class PythonGenerator extends CGenerator {
   private final List<String> pythonRequiredModules = new ArrayList<>();
 
   private final PythonTypes types;
+  private static String pythonVersion;
 
   public PythonGenerator(LFGeneratorContext context) {
     this(
@@ -275,6 +277,7 @@ protected String generateTopLevelPreambles(Reactor ignored) {
 
   @Override
   protected void handleProtoFiles() {
+    pythonVersion = targetConfig.get(PythonVersionProperty.INSTANCE);
     for (String name : targetConfig.get(ProtobufsProperty.INSTANCE)) {
       this.processProtoFile(name);
       int dotIndex = name.lastIndexOf(".");
@@ -557,34 +560,36 @@ protected void additionalPostProcessingForModes() {
   }
 
   private static String setUpMainTarget(
-      boolean hasMain, String executableName, Stream<String> cSources) {
+          boolean hasMain, String executableName, Stream<String> cSources) {
+    String pyVersion = pythonVersion.isEmpty() ? "3.8" : pythonVersion + " EXACT";
     return ("""
-            set(CMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE ON)
-            add_compile_definitions(_PYTHON_TARGET_ENABLED)
-            add_subdirectory(core)
-            set(CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})
-            set(LF_MAIN_TARGET <pyModuleName>)
-            find_package(Python 3.10.0...<3.11.0 REQUIRED COMPONENTS Interpreter Development)
-            Python_add_library(
-                ${LF_MAIN_TARGET}
-                MODULE
-            """
+        set(CMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE ON)
+        add_compile_definitions(_PYTHON_TARGET_ENABLED)
+        add_subdirectory(core)
+        set(CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})
+        set(LF_MAIN_TARGET <pyModuleName>)
+        find_package(Python <pyVersion> REQUIRED COMPONENTS Interpreter Development)
+        Python_add_library(
+            ${LF_MAIN_TARGET}
+            MODULE
+        """
             + cSources.collect(Collectors.joining("\n    ", "    ", "\n"))
             + """
-)
-if (MSVC)
-    set_target_properties(${LF_MAIN_TARGET} PROPERTIES LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})
-    set_target_properties(${LF_MAIN_TARGET} PROPERTIES LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_DEBUG ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})
-    set_target_properties(${LF_MAIN_TARGET} PROPERTIES LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_RELEASE ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})
-    set_target_properties(${LF_MAIN_TARGET} PROPERTIES LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_MINSIZEREL ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})
-    set_target_properties(${LF_MAIN_TARGET} PROPERTIES LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_RELWITHDEBINFO ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})
-endif (MSVC)
-set_target_properties(${LF_MAIN_TARGET} PROPERTIES PREFIX "")
-include_directories(${Python_INCLUDE_DIRS})
-target_link_libraries(${LF_MAIN_TARGET} PRIVATE ${Python_LIBRARIES})
-target_compile_definitions(${LF_MAIN_TARGET} PUBLIC MODULE_NAME=<pyModuleName>)
-""")
-        .replace("<pyModuleName>", generatePythonModuleName(executableName));
+            )
+            if (MSVC)
+                set_target_properties(${LF_MAIN_TARGET} PROPERTIES LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})
+                set_target_properties(${LF_MAIN_TARGET} PROPERTIES LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_DEBUG ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})
+                set_target_properties(${LF_MAIN_TARGET} PROPERTIES LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_RELEASE ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})
+                set_target_properties(${LF_MAIN_TARGET} PROPERTIES LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_MINSIZEREL ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})
+                set_target_properties(${LF_MAIN_TARGET} PROPERTIES LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY_RELWITHDEBINFO ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})
+            endif (MSVC)
+            set_target_properties(${LF_MAIN_TARGET} PROPERTIES PREFIX "")
+            include_directories(${Python_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+            target_link_libraries(${LF_MAIN_TARGET} PRIVATE ${Python_LIBRARIES})
+            target_compile_definitions(${LF_MAIN_TARGET} PUBLIC MODULE_NAME=<pyModuleName>)
+            """)
+            .replace("<pyModuleName>", generatePythonModuleName(executableName))
+            .replace("<pyVersion>", pyVersion);
     // The use of fileConfig.name will break federated execution, but that's fine
   }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/lflang/target/Target.java b/core/src/main/java/org/lflang/target/Target.java
index 30048f5a58..08974b7411 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/lflang/target/Target.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/lflang/target/Target.java
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@
 import org.lflang.target.property.TracingProperty;
 import org.lflang.target.property.VerifyProperty;
 import org.lflang.target.property.WorkersProperty;
+import org.lflang.target.property.PythonVersionProperty;
 
 /**
  * Enumeration of targets and their associated properties.
@@ -640,7 +641,8 @@ public void initialize(TargetConfig config) {
               SingleThreadedProperty.INSTANCE,
               TracingProperty.INSTANCE,
               TracePluginProperty.INSTANCE,
-              WorkersProperty.INSTANCE);
+              WorkersProperty.INSTANCE,
+              PythonVersionProperty.INSTANCE);
       case Rust ->
           config.register(
               BuildTypeProperty.INSTANCE,
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/lflang/target/property/PythonVersionProperty.java b/core/src/main/java/org/lflang/target/property/PythonVersionProperty.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..05ee718acd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/lflang/target/property/PythonVersionProperty.java
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+package org.lflang.target.property;
+
+/**
+ * Directive for specifying a specific version of the reactor runtime library.
+ */
+public final class PythonVersionProperty extends StringProperty {
+
+    /** Singleton target property instance. */
+    public static final PythonVersionProperty INSTANCE = new PythonVersionProperty();
+
+    private PythonVersionProperty() {
+        super();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String name() {
+        return "python-version";
+    }
+}