diff --git a/test_libs/pyspec/tests/block_processing/block_test_helpers.py b/test_libs/pyspec/tests/block_processing/block_test_helpers.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..71b9fc250
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test_libs/pyspec/tests/block_processing/block_test_helpers.py
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+
+from tests.utils import spectest
+from tests.context import with_state
+
+
+# shorthand for decorating @with_state @spectest()
+def spec_state_test(fn):
+    return with_state(spectest()(fn))