diff --git a/.github/bazel_version.json b/.github/bazel_version.json
index 0fcae114..599e2a0c 100644
--- a/.github/bazel_version.json
+++ b/.github/bazel_version.json
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 [
     "6.5.0",
-    "7.7.0"
+    "7.7.0",
+    "8.5.0"
 ]
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c55acf7d..1e6485e2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ Prerequisites
 We need the following tools:
 
 - Git 2 or newer (we use 2.36)
-- Bazel 6 or 7, not yet bazel 8 (we recommend version 7.7.0)
+- Bazel 6, 7 or 8 (we recommend version 8.5.0)
 - Clang 16 or newer (we use 16), we use clang-tidy
 - Python 3.8 or newer (we use 3.11)
 - CodeChecker 6.26 or newer (we use 6.26.0)
@@ -100,11 +100,11 @@ pip3 install codechecker
 ```
 
 Install Bazel:
-We recommend bazel 7.7.0
+We recommend bazel 8.5.0
 ```bash
-wget https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/releases/download/7.7.0/bazel-7.7.0-linux-x86_64 && \
-chmod +x bazel-7.7.0-linux-x86_64 && \
-sudo mv bazel-7.7.0-linux-x86_64 /usr/local/bin/bazel
+wget https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/releases/download/8.5.0/bazel-8.5.0-linux-x86_64 && \
+chmod +x bazel-8.5.0-linux-x86_64 && \
+sudo mv bazel-8.5.0-linux-x86_64 /usr/local/bin/bazel
 ```
 Or choose a suitable binary for your system from this list: https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/releases/tag/7.7.0
 Alternatively follow the official guide at: https://bazel.build/install
diff --git a/test/foss/yaml-cpp/init.sh b/test/foss/yaml-cpp/init.sh
index 6321f8dc..8144d3eb 100755
--- a/test/foss/yaml-cpp/init.sh
+++ b/test/foss/yaml-cpp/init.sh
@@ -49,6 +49,11 @@ codechecker_test(
 
 #-------------------------------------------------------
 EOF
-
+# Apply bazel 8 specific flag, forcing the use of WORKSPACE
+VERSION=$(< "../../templates/.bazelversion")
+MAJOR_VERSION=${VERSION%%.*}
+if [ "$MAJOR_VERSION" -eq 8 ]; then
+    echo "common --enable_workspace" >> .bazelrc
+fi
 # Add codechecker_bazel repo to WORKSPACE
 cat ../../templates/WORKSPACE.template >> WORKSPACE
diff --git a/test/foss/zlib/init.sh b/test/foss/zlib/init.sh
index ccdb0fe5..bd35bf08 100644
--- a/test/foss/zlib/init.sh
+++ b/test/foss/zlib/init.sh
@@ -49,6 +49,11 @@ codechecker_test(
 
 #-------------------------------------------------------
 EOF
-
+# Apply bazel 8 specific flag, forcing the use of WORKSPACE
+VERSION=$(< "../../templates/.bazelversion")
+MAJOR_VERSION=${VERSION%%.*}
+if [ "$MAJOR_VERSION" -eq 8 ]; then
+    echo "common --enable_workspace" >> .bazelrc
+fi
 # Add codechecker_bazel repo to WORKSPACE
 cat ../../templates/WORKSPACE.template >> WORKSPACE