diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 0e6b318ffe35..18739a491f1e 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -242,6 +242,10 @@ group :test do
   gem "rack-test", "~> 2.1.0"
   gem "shoulda-context", "~> 2.0"
 
+  # Run specs with guard
+  gem "guard"
+  gem "guard-rspec"
+
   # Test prof provides factories from code
   # and other niceties
   gem "test-prof", "~> 1.4.0"
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index ffce7edab9c9..071692c3499c 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -427,8 +427,7 @@ GEM
       descendants_tracker (~> 0.0.1)
     color_conversion (0.1.2)
     colored2 (4.0.0)
-    commonmarker (1.1.5)
-      rb_sys (~> 0.9)
+    commonmarker (1.1.5-x86_64-linux)
     compare-xml (0.66)
       nokogiri (~> 1.8)
     concurrent-ruby (1.3.4)
@@ -565,7 +564,7 @@ GEM
       concurrent-ruby (~> 1.1)
       webrick (~> 1.7)
       websocket-driver (~> 0.7)
-    ffi (1.17.0)
+    ffi (1.17.0-x86_64-linux-gnu)
     flamegraph (0.9.5)
     fog-aws (3.29.0)
       base64 (~> 0.2.0)
@@ -637,6 +636,20 @@ GEM
       grape
       rack
     gravatar_image_tag (1.2.0)
+    guard (2.19.0)
+      formatador (>= 0.2.4)
+      listen (>= 2.7, < 4.0)
+      lumberjack (>= 1.0.12, < 2.0)
+      nenv (~> 0.1)
+      notiffany (~> 0.0)
+      pry (>= 0.13.0)
+      shellany (~> 0.0)
+      thor (>= 0.18.1)
+    guard-compat (1.2.1)
+    guard-rspec (4.7.3)
+      guard (~> 2.1)
+      guard-compat (~> 1.1)
+      rspec (>= 2.99.0, < 4.0)
     hana (1.3.7)
     hashdiff (1.1.2)
     hashery (2.1.2)
@@ -743,6 +756,7 @@ GEM
       view_component (>= 2.0)
       yard (~> 0.9)
       zeitwerk (~> 2.5)
+    lumberjack (1.2.10)
     mail (2.8.1)
       mini_mime (>= 0.1.1)
       net-imap
@@ -761,7 +775,6 @@ GEM
     mime-types-data (3.2024.1105)
     mini_magick (5.0.1)
     mini_mime (1.1.5)
-    mini_portile2 (2.8.8)
     minitest (5.25.2)
     msgpack (1.7.5)
     multi_json (1.15.0)
@@ -770,6 +783,7 @@ GEM
     mustermann-grape (1.1.0)
       mustermann (>= 1.0.0)
     mutex_m (0.3.0)
+    nenv (0.3.0)
     net-http (0.6.0)
       uri
     net-imap (0.5.1)
@@ -783,9 +797,11 @@ GEM
     net-smtp (0.5.0)
       net-protocol
     nio4r (2.7.4)
-    nokogiri (1.16.8)
-      mini_portile2 (~> 2.8.2)
+    nokogiri (1.16.8-x86_64-linux)
       racc (~> 1.4)
+    notiffany (0.1.3)
+      nenv (~> 0.1)
+      shellany (~> 0.0)
     oj (3.16.7)
       bigdecimal (>= 3.0)
       ostruct (>= 0.2)
@@ -955,7 +971,6 @@ GEM
     rb-fsevent (0.11.2)
     rb-inotify (0.11.1)
       ffi (~> 1.0)
-    rb_sys (0.9.103)
     rbtrace (0.5.1)
       ffi (>= 1.0.6)
       msgpack (>= 0.4.3)
@@ -1075,6 +1090,7 @@ GEM
       rubyzip (>= 1.2.2, < 3.0)
       websocket (~> 1.0)
     semantic (1.6.1)
+    shellany (0.0.1)
     shoulda-context (2.0.0)
     shoulda-matchers (6.4.0)
       activesupport (>= 5.2.0)
@@ -1197,7 +1213,7 @@ GEM
     zeitwerk (2.7.1)
 
 PLATFORMS
-  ruby
+  x86_64-linux
 
 DEPENDENCIES
   actionpack-xml_parser (~> 2.0.0)
@@ -1265,6 +1281,8 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   grape (~> 2.2.0)
   grape_logging (~> 1.8.4)
   grids!
+  guard
+  guard-rspec
   html-pipeline (~> 2.14.0)
   htmldiff
   httpx
diff --git a/Guardfile b/Guardfile
index 4d787422605f..4dd7a422bc7e 100644
--- a/Guardfile
+++ b/Guardfile
@@ -26,17 +26,38 @@
 # See COPYRIGHT and LICENSE files for more details.
 #++
 
-guard :rspec do # , :cli => "--drb" do
-  watch(%r{^spec/.+_spec\.rb$})
-  watch(%r{^lib/(.+)\.rb$})     { |m| "spec/lib/#{m[1]}_spec.rb" }
-  watch('spec/spec_helper.rb')  { 'spec' }
-
-  # Rails example
-  watch(%r{^app/(.+)\.rb$})                           { |m| "spec/#{m[1]}_spec.rb" }
-  watch(%r{^app/(.*)(\.erb|\.haml)$})                 { |m| "spec/#{m[1]}#{m[2]}_spec.rb" }
-  watch(%r{^app/controllers/(.+)_(controller)\.rb$})  do |m|
-    ["spec/routing/#{m[1]}_routing_spec.rb", "spec/#{m[2]}s/#{m[1]}_#{m[2]}_spec.rb", "spec/acceptance/#{m[1]}_spec.rb"]
+guard :rspec, cmd: "spring rspec --format d" do
+  require "guard/rspec/dsl"
+
+  dsl = Guard::RSpec::Dsl.new(self)
+  rspec = dsl.rspec
+  watch(rspec.spec_helper)  { rspec.spec_dir }
+  watch(rspec.spec_support) { rspec.spec_dir }
+  watch(rspec.spec_files)
+
+  watch(/^modules\/(.+)\/spec\/(.+)_helper\.rb$/)   { |m| "modules/#{m[1]}/spec" }
+  watch(/^modules\/(.+)\/spec\/support\/(.+)\.rb$/) { |m| "modules/#{m[1]}/spec" }
+  watch(/^modules\/(.*)\/app\/(.+)\.rb$/)           { |m| "modules/#{m[1]}/spec/#{m[2]}_spec.rb" }
+  watch(/^modules\/(.*)\/spec\/(.+)_spec\.rb$/)
+
+  ruby = dsl.ruby
+  dsl.watch_spec_files_for(ruby.lib_files)
+  rails = dsl.rails(view_extensions: %w[erb slim])
+  watch(rails.spec_helper)                 { rspec.spec_dir }
+  watch(rails.app_controller)              { "#{rspec.spec_dir}/controllers" }
+
+  dsl.watch_spec_files_for(rails.app_files)
+  dsl.watch_spec_files_for(rails.views)
+
+  watch(rails.controllers) do |m|
+    [
+      rspec.spec.call("mailers/#{m[1]}_mailer"),
+      rspec.spec.call("controllers/#{m[1]}_controller"),
+      rspec.spec.call("requests/#{m[1]}_controller")
+    ]
   end
+
+  watch(/^lib\/(.+)\.rb$/)                            { |m| "spec/lib/#{m[1]}_spec.rb" }
   watch(%r{^spec/support/(.+)\.rb$})                  { 'spec' }
   watch('config/routes.rb')                           { 'spec/routing' }
   watch('app/controllers/application_controller.rb')  { 'spec/controllers' }
diff --git a/docker-compose.override.example.yml b/docker-compose.override.example.yml
index 96095d1b6e44..81ae453a4d9d 100644
--- a/docker-compose.override.example.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.override.example.yml
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ services:
     ports:
       - "${PORT:-3000}:3000"
 
+  # backend-test:
+  #   environment:
+  #     START_GUARD: 1
+
   frontend:
     # use these ports to be able to access the stack under http://localhost:4200
     ports:
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 67af270b8c7c..906311b283f1 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -140,6 +140,8 @@ services:
     build:
       <<: *build
       target: test
+    tty: true
+    stdin_open: true
     command: setup-tests
     hostname: backend-test
     networks:
diff --git a/docker/dev/backend/scripts/setup-tests b/docker/dev/backend/scripts/setup-tests
index ddcdd7e5755b..eb74db7b75af 100755
--- a/docker/dev/backend/scripts/setup-tests
+++ b/docker/dev/backend/scripts/setup-tests
@@ -14,5 +14,10 @@ echo "to start the full suite, or "
 echo "  bin/compose exec backend-test bundle exec rspec path/to/some_spec.rb"
 echo "to run a subset"
 
-# Keep this container online
-while true; do sleep 1000; done;
+if [ ${START_GUARD} = "1" ]; then
+  echo "or use Guard gem events to run a specific tests.\n"
+  bundle exec guard start --no-bundler-warning
+else
+  # Keep this container online
+  while true; do sleep 1000; done;
+fi