diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a4f6205..5badefb 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -6,13 +6,18 @@ Unlike [binsparse-python](https://github.com/ivirshup/binsparse-python), the dif
 
 This does make reading specific parts (e.g. the coordinates) in a single request a bit harder, but having a single logical array map to a on-disk zarr array does have its advantages.
 
+Useful links:
+
+- zarr-python PR: https://github.com/zarr-developers/zarr-python/pull/3529
+- sparse indexing adapter: https://github.com/keewis/sparse-indexing-adapter
+
 ## Installation
 
 `zarr-sparse` currently requires a special version of zarr. To install it, use:
 
 ```sh
 pip install \
-    "zarr @ git+https://github.com/keewis/zarr-python.git@zarr-sparse-patch" \
+    "zarr @ git+https://github.com/keewis/zarr-python.git@array-registry" \
     "zarr-sparse @ git+https://github.com/keewis/zarr-sparse.git@main"
 ```
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index d8a77e4..b0d9454 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ test = [
 [dependency-groups]
 dev = [
   "black>=25.1.0",
+  "dask>=2025.10.0",
   "hatch>=1.14.1",
   "hypothesis>=6.138.0",
   "ipdb>=0.13.13",
@@ -34,6 +35,7 @@ dev = [
   "pyinstrument>=5.1.1",
   "pytest>=8.3.5",
   "pytest-xdist>=3.6.1",
+  "xarray>=2025.10.1",
 ]
 
 [tool.hatch]
diff --git a/zarr_sparse/buffer.py b/zarr_sparse/buffer.py
index 8216716..e013037 100644
--- a/zarr_sparse/buffer.py
+++ b/zarr_sparse/buffer.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 from zarr.registry import register_ndbuffer
 
 from zarr_sparse.chunk_grid import ChunkGrid
-from zarr_sparse.combine import combine_nd
+from zarr_sparse.combine import combine_nd, first_value
 from zarr_sparse.slices import slice_size
 from zarr_sparse.utils import as_decorator
 
@@ -21,6 +21,16 @@
 
 def sparse_equal(a, b, equal_nan: bool) -> bool:
     equal_nan = equal_nan if a.dtype.kind not in ("U", "S", "T", "O", "V") else False
+    if isinstance(a, ChunkGrid):
+        if len(a.data) == 1:
+            a = next(iter(a.data.values()))
+        else:
+            raise RuntimeError("comparing multi-chunk grid")
+    if isinstance(b, ChunkGrid):
+        if len(b.data) == 1:
+            b = next(iter(b.data.values()))
+        else:
+            raise RuntimeError("comparing multi-chunk grid")
 
     if b.ndim == 0:
         if not np.array_equal(
@@ -104,7 +114,9 @@ def __getitem__(self, key: Any) -> Self:
 
     def __setitem__(self, key: Any, value: Any) -> None:
         if isinstance(value, NDBuffer):
-            value = value._data
+            if len(value._data.data) != 1:
+                raise RuntimeError("setting a non-one-sized buffer is not allowed")
+            value = first_value(value._data.data)
 
         slice_sizes = tuple(
             slice_size(slice_, size) for slice_, size in zip(key, self._data.shape)
diff --git a/zarr_sparse/codec/codec.py b/zarr_sparse/codec/codec.py
index b6ab650..9409c3c 100644
--- a/zarr_sparse/codec/codec.py
+++ b/zarr_sparse/codec/codec.py
@@ -9,11 +9,12 @@
 from zarr.codecs import BytesCodec, ZstdCodec
 from zarr.core.array_spec import ArrayConfig, ArraySpec
 from zarr.core.buffer import Buffer, NDBuffer
+from zarr.core.buffer.cpu import Buffer as CPUBuffer
 from zarr.core.common import JSON, parse_named_configuration
 from zarr.core.dtype.npy.int import Int64
 from zarr.registry import get_pipeline_class, register_codec
 
-from zarr_sparse.buffer import sparse_buffer_prototype
+from zarr_sparse.buffer import SparseNDBuffer, sparse_buffer_prototype
 from zarr_sparse.codec import metadata
 from zarr_sparse.combine import first_value
 from zarr_sparse.comparison import compare_fill_value
@@ -104,6 +105,9 @@ async def decode_metadata_table(table_data: Buffer) -> dict[str, Any]:
 
 
 class SparseArrayCodec(ArrayBytesCodec):
+    codec_input = SparseNDBuffer
+    codec_output = CPUBuffer
+
     def __init__(self):
         self.array_codecs = (BytesCodec(), ZstdCodec())
         self.table_codecs = (BytesCodec(),)