diff --git a/cubed/array_api/manipulation_functions.py b/cubed/array_api/manipulation_functions.py
index 21fe91ca7..c7707e37e 100644
--- a/cubed/array_api/manipulation_functions.py
+++ b/cubed/array_api/manipulation_functions.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 from cubed.backend_array_api import numpy_array_to_backend_array
 from cubed.core import squeeze  # noqa: F401
 from cubed.core import blockwise, rechunk, unify_chunks
-from cubed.core.ops import elemwise, map_blocks, map_direct
+from cubed.core.ops import elemwise, general_blockwise, map_blocks, map_direct
 from cubed.utils import get_item, to_chunksize
 from cubed.vendor.dask.array.core import broadcast_chunks, normalize_chunks
 from cubed.vendor.dask.array.reshape import reshape_rechunk
@@ -293,8 +293,16 @@ def stack(arrays, /, *, axis=0):
     # (output is already catered for in blockwise)
     extra_projected_mem = a.chunkmem
 
-    return map_direct(
+    array_names = [a.name for a in arrays]
+
+    def block_function(out_key):
+        out_coords = out_key[1:]
+        in_name = array_names[out_coords[axis]]
+        return ((in_name, *(out_coords[:axis] + out_coords[(axis + 1) :])),)
+
+    return general_blockwise(
         _read_stack_chunk,
+        block_function,
         *arrays,
         shape=shape,
         dtype=dtype,
@@ -304,9 +312,5 @@ def stack(arrays, /, *, axis=0):
     )
 
 
-def _read_stack_chunk(x, *arrays, axis=None, block_id=None):
-    array = arrays[block_id[axis]]
-    idx = tuple(v for i, v in enumerate(block_id) if i != axis)
-    out = array.zarray[get_item(array.chunks, idx)]
-    out = nxp.expand_dims(out, axis=axis)
-    return out
+def _read_stack_chunk(array, axis=None):
+    return nxp.expand_dims(array, axis=axis)