diff --git a/src/Base/PODVector.cpp b/src/Base/PODVector.cpp
index 109745b7..2e11d121 100644
--- a/src/Base/PODVector.cpp
+++ b/src/Base/PODVector.cpp
@@ -61,6 +61,9 @@ void make_PODVector(py::module &m, std::string typestr, std::string allocstr)
         .def(py::init<>())
         .def(py::init<std::size_t>(), py::arg("size"))
         .def(py::init<PODVector_type&>(), py::arg("other"))
+        .def("assign", [](PODVector_type & pv, T const & value){
+            pv.assign(pv.size(), value);
+        }, py::arg("value"), "assign the same value to every element")
         .def("push_back", py::overload_cast<const T&>(&PODVector_type::push_back))
         .def("pop_back", &PODVector_type::pop_back)
         .def("clear", &PODVector_type::clear)
diff --git a/src/Particle/ParticleContainer.H b/src/Particle/ParticleContainer.H
index dfd1eafa..5f44c342 100644
--- a/src/Particle/ParticleContainer.H
+++ b/src/Particle/ParticleContainer.H
@@ -204,6 +204,12 @@ void make_ParticleContainer_and_Iterators (py::module &m, std::string allocstr)
         .def_property_readonly("num_position_components", [](const py::object&){ return AMREX_SPACEDIM; })
         .def_property_readonly("byte_spread", &ParticleContainerType::ByteSpread)
 
+        // runtime components
+        .def("add_real_comp", &ParticleContainerType::template AddRealComp<bool>,
+             py::arg("communicate")=true, "add a new runtime component with type Real")
+        .def("add_int_comp", &ParticleContainerType::template AddIntComp<bool>,
+             py::arg("communicate")=true, "add a new runtime component with type Int")
+
         .def_property_readonly("finest_level", &ParticleContainerBase::finestLevel)
 
         // ParticleContainer ( const ParticleContainer &) = delete;
diff --git a/tests/test_particleContainer.py b/tests/test_particleContainer.py
index 44c531a6..b62f6882 100644
--- a/tests/test_particleContainer.py
+++ b/tests/test_particleContainer.py
@@ -46,6 +46,20 @@ def particle_container(Npart, std_geometry, distmap, boxarr, std_real_box):
 
     iseed = 1
     pc.init_random(Npart, iseed, myt, False, std_real_box)
+
+    # add runtime components: 1 real 2 int
+    pc.add_real_comp(True)
+    pc.add_int_comp(True)
+    pc.add_int_comp(True)
+
+    # assign some values to runtime components
+    for lvl in range(pc.finest_level + 1):
+        for pti in pc.iterator(pc, level=lvl):
+            soa = pti.soa()
+            soa.get_real_data(2).assign(1.2345)
+            soa.get_int_data(1).assign(42)
+            soa.get_int_data(2).assign(33)
+
     return pc
 
 
@@ -58,6 +72,20 @@ def soa_particle_container(Npart, std_geometry, distmap, boxarr, std_real_box):
 
     iseed = 1
     pc.init_random(Npart, iseed, myt, False, std_real_box)
+
+    # add runtime components: 1 real 2 int
+    pc.add_real_comp(True)
+    pc.add_int_comp(True)
+    pc.add_int_comp(True)
+
+    # assign some values to runtime components
+    for lvl in range(pc.finest_level + 1):
+        for pti in pc.iterator(pc, level=lvl):
+            soa = pti.soa()
+            soa.get_real_data(8).assign(1.2345)
+            soa.get_int_data(0).assign(42)
+            soa.get_int_data(1).assign(33)
+
     return pc
 
 
@@ -315,6 +343,7 @@ def test_per_cell(empty_particle_container, std_geometry, std_particle):
 def test_soa_pc_numpy(soa_particle_container, Npart):
     """Used in docs/source/usage/compute.rst"""
     pc = soa_particle_container
+    assert pc.number_of_particles_at_level(0) == Npart
 
     class Config:
         have_gpu = False
@@ -358,6 +387,7 @@ class Config:
 def test_pc_numpy(particle_container, Npart):
     """Used in docs/source/usage/compute.rst"""
     pc = particle_container
+    assert pc.number_of_particles_at_level(0) == Npart
 
     class Config:
         have_gpu = False
@@ -414,6 +444,8 @@ def test_pc_df(particle_container, Npart):
     print(df.columns)
     print(df)
 
+    assert len(df.columns) == 14
+
 
 @pytest.mark.skipif(
     importlib.util.find_spec("pandas") is None, reason="pandas is not available"
@@ -502,3 +534,5 @@ def test_pc_df_mpi(particle_container, Npart):
         # only rank 0
         print(df.columns)
         print(df)
+
+        assert len(df.columns) == 14