diff --git a/changes/3706.misc.md b/changes/3706.misc.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..70a0e44c58
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/3706.misc.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Allow NumPy ints as input when declaring a shape.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/zarr/core/common.py b/src/zarr/core/common.py
index d38949657e..275d062eba 100644
--- a/src/zarr/core/common.py
+++ b/src/zarr/core/common.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
     overload,
 )
 
+import numpy as np
 from typing_extensions import ReadOnly
 
 from zarr.core.config import config as zarr_config
@@ -37,7 +38,7 @@
 ZMETADATA_V2_JSON = ".zmetadata"
 
 BytesLike = bytes | bytearray | memoryview
-ShapeLike = Iterable[int] | int
+ShapeLike = Iterable[int | np.integer[Any]] | int | np.integer[Any]
 # For backwards compatibility
 ChunkCoords = tuple[int, ...]
 ZarrFormat = Literal[2, 3]
@@ -185,23 +186,28 @@ def parse_named_configuration(
 
 
 def parse_shapelike(data: ShapeLike) -> tuple[int, ...]:
-    if isinstance(data, int):
+    """
+    Parse a shape-like input into an explicit shape.
+    """
+    if isinstance(data, int | np.integer):
         if data < 0:
             raise ValueError(f"Expected a non-negative integer. Got {data} instead")
-        return (data,)
+        return (int(data),)
     try:
         data_tuple = tuple(data)
     except TypeError as e:
         msg = f"Expected an integer or an iterable of integers. Got {data} instead."
         raise TypeError(msg) from e
 
-    if not all(isinstance(v, int) for v in data_tuple):
+    if not all(isinstance(v, int | np.integer) for v in data_tuple):
         msg = f"Expected an iterable of integers. Got {data} instead."
         raise TypeError(msg)
     if not all(v > -1 for v in data_tuple):
         msg = f"Expected all values to be non-negative. Got {data} instead."
         raise ValueError(msg)
-    return data_tuple
+
+    # cast NumPy scalars to plain python ints
+    return tuple(int(x) for x in data_tuple)
 
 
 def parse_fill_value(data: Any) -> Any:
diff --git a/tests/test_common.py b/tests/test_common.py
index 0944c3375a..0dedde1d6b 100644
--- a/tests/test_common.py
+++ b/tests/test_common.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+from collections.abc import Iterable
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, get_args
 
 import numpy as np
@@ -15,7 +16,6 @@
 from zarr.core.config import parse_indexing_order
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
-    from collections.abc import Iterable
     from typing import Any, Literal
 
 
@@ -115,9 +115,15 @@ def test_parse_shapelike_invalid_iterable_values(data: Any) -> None:
         parse_shapelike(data)
 
 
-@pytest.mark.parametrize("data", [range(10), [0, 1, 2, 3], (3, 4, 5), ()])
-def test_parse_shapelike_valid(data: Iterable[int]) -> None:
-    assert parse_shapelike(data) == tuple(data)
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "data", [range(10), [0, 1, 2, np.uint64(3)], (3, 4, 5), (), 1, np.uint8(1)]
+)
+def test_parse_shapelike_valid(data: Iterable[int] | int) -> None:
+    if isinstance(data, Iterable):
+        expected = tuple(data)
+    else:
+        expected = (data,)
+    assert parse_shapelike(data) == expected
 
 
 # todo: more dtypes