diff --git a/net-misc/maestral/Manifest b/net-misc/maestral/Manifest
index 7ee84b4f72..638afa7d0a 100644
--- a/net-misc/maestral/Manifest
+++ b/net-misc/maestral/Manifest
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 DIST maestral-1.9.4.gh.tar.gz 8126850 BLAKE2B cad2dd4dbc3ac0a7aeadaf08c3ad5640167c759e209a2e8109b7747e650aca34ca6919ff3d0f5f1a014f85f9f8b40e6223e15437ce536ac3b18e1c69563100d9 SHA512 7da052ed07795a89108effb310b3c378545861480d33fd40fdb8aac87b659746dd8e241774a29f45f3f1323c83fc210fd6ec0dd066824ac2b51e8d9f2369edb1
 DIST maestral-1.9.5.gh.tar.gz 8126921 BLAKE2B 212bcb06aef01c779001e43d257ca13193e18705a0233e9aef111b451a7e04b165109896fd9e7c10a78013471e4d66236eb30e754882f6acf59b5a6ec0adb4f5 SHA512 5b6d0b9b6c748bd7e89792de89fb41e1f1544deb85d7d25e63a4ccf28b8afd64a7c4818dca7cdec8d3f5b21e124deddcb4121c2ca203af01bd07eb7821f7e7e2
+DIST maestral-1.9.6_rc0.gh.tar.gz 8129918 BLAKE2B eaec932849f73290d7c78afd82447539000279ce7fa0d87a6445706ab36cef5ec5d05f9dff29d19a7d3dec4e8d2cb82c58552e13756cee7efcbb0a3cb4e37e1c SHA512 85028a3e2c3fd1b8fd35cd227fac8803d68b592d0b8109737d4bc5a8b465ec70c6285059e10d869bf306b71b87017fc804d42875c9d3182003a94017be9b72fc
diff --git a/net-misc/maestral/maestral-1.9.6_rc0.ebuild b/net-misc/maestral/maestral-1.9.6_rc0.ebuild
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9b2560e4c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/net-misc/maestral/maestral-1.9.6_rc0.ebuild
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+# Copyright 2021-2025 Gentoo Authors
+# Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
+
+EAPI=8
+
+DISTUTILS_USE_PEP517=setuptools
+PYTHON_COMPAT=( python3_{11..13} )
+inherit distutils-r1 xdg
+
+MY_PV=${PV/_rc/.dev}
+DESCRIPTION="Maestral is an open-source Dropbox client written in Python"
+HOMEPAGE="https://maestral.app"
+SRC_URI="https://github.com/samschott/maestral/archive/refs/tags/v${MY_PV}.tar.gz -> ${P}.gh.tar.gz"
+S="${WORKDIR}"/${PN}-${MY_PV}
+
+LICENSE="MIT"
+SLOT="0"
+if [[ ${PV} != *_rc* ]]; then
+	KEYWORDS="~amd64"
+fi
+
+RDEPEND="
+	>=dev-python/click-8.0.2[${PYTHON_USEDEP}]
+	>=dev-python/desktop-notifier-5.0.0[${PYTHON_USEDEP}]
+	dev-python/dropbox[${PYTHON_USEDEP}]
+	>=dev-python/fasteners-0.15[${PYTHON_USEDEP}]
+	dev-python/importlib-metadata[${PYTHON_USEDEP}]
+	>=dev-python/keyring-22.0.0[${PYTHON_USEDEP}]
+	>=dev-python/keyrings-alt-3.1.0[${PYTHON_USEDEP}]
+	dev-python/packaging[${PYTHON_USEDEP}]
+	>=dev-python/pathspec-0.5.8[${PYTHON_USEDEP}]
+	>=dev-python/pyro5-5.10[${PYTHON_USEDEP}]
+	>=dev-python/requests-2.16.2[${PYTHON_USEDEP}]
+	dev-python/rich[${PYTHON_USEDEP}]
+	dev-python/survey[${PYTHON_USEDEP}]
+	dev-python/typing-extensions[${PYTHON_USEDEP}]
+	>=dev-python/watchdog-2.0.1[${PYTHON_USEDEP}]
+	dev-python/xattr[${PYTHON_USEDEP}]
+"
+BDEPEND="
+	dev-python/build[${PYTHON_USEDEP}]
+"
+
+EPYTEST_DESELECT=(
+	# disable benchmarks
+	tests/offline/test_clean_local_events.py::test_performance
+
+	# requires systemd
+	tests/offline/test_cli.py::test_autostart
+
+	# requires network
+	tests/offline/test_main.py::test_check_for_updates
+
+	# may fail if the filesystem does not support xattrs
+	# https://bugs.gentoo.org/927982
+	tests/offline/utils/test_path.py::test_move_preserves_xattrs
+)
+
+EPYTEST_PLUGINS=( bidict )
+distutils_enable_tests pytest