diff --git a/DEVELOPER.md b/DEVELOPER.md
index 703767d..58798c3 100644
--- a/DEVELOPER.md
+++ b/DEVELOPER.md
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ This repository's tests expect a few environment variables:
 - `BIN_PATH`: path to MODFLOW 6 and related executables
 - `REPOS_PATH`: the path to MODFLOW 6 example model repositories
 - `GITHUB_TOKEN`: a GitHub authentication token
+- `GIITHUB_USER`: the developer's GitHub username
 
 These may be set manually, but the recommended approach is to configure environment variables in a `.env` file in the project root, for instance:
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1a390c5..3e48ce8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 # MODFLOW developer tools
 
+[![CI](https://github.com/MODFLOW-USGS/modflow-devtools/actions/workflows/ci.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/MODFLOW-USGS/modflow-devtools/actions/workflows/ci.yml)
+[![Documentation Status](https://readthedocs.org/projects/modflow-devtools/badge/?version=latest)](https://modflow-devtools.readthedocs.io/en/latest/?badge=latest)
+[![Formatted with black](https://img.shields.io/badge/code%20style-black-000000.svg)](https://github.com/python/black)
+
 [![GitHub tag](https://img.shields.io/github/tag/MODFLOW-USGS/modflow-devtools.svg)](https://github.com/MODFLOW-USGS/modflow-devtools/tags/latest)
 [![PyPI Version](https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/modflow-devtools.png)](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/modflow-devtools)
-[![PyPI Versions](https://img.shields.io/pypi/pyversions/modflow-devtools.png)](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/modflow-devtools)
 [![PyPI Status](https://img.shields.io/pypi/status/modflow-devtools.png)](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/modflow-devtools)
-[![CI](https://github.com/MODFLOW-USGS/modflow-devtools/actions/workflows/ci.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/MODFLOW-USGS/modflow-devtools/actions/workflows/ci.yml)
-[![Documentation Status](https://readthedocs.org/projects/modflow-devtools/badge/?version=latest)](https://modflow-devtools.readthedocs.io/en/latest/?badge=latest)
+[![PyPI Versions](https://img.shields.io/pypi/pyversions/modflow-devtools.png)](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/modflow-devtools)
 
 Python tools for MODFLOW development and testing.
 
diff --git a/conftest.py b/conftest.py
index 74bcb56..6fd20f0 100644
--- a/conftest.py
+++ b/conftest.py
@@ -1 +1,18 @@
+from os import environ
+
+import pytest
+
 pytest_plugins = ["modflow_devtools.fixtures"]
+
+
+def get_github_user():
+    user = environ.get("GITHUB_USER", None)
+    return user
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def github_user() -> str:
+    user = get_github_user()
+    if not user:
+        pytest.skip(reason="GITHUB_USER required")
+    return user
diff --git a/modflow_devtools/test/test_download.py b/modflow_devtools/test/test_download.py
index 9fbfff7..119b99d 100644
--- a/modflow_devtools/test/test_download.py
+++ b/modflow_devtools/test/test_download.py
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
+from os import environ
+from typing import List
+
 import pytest
+from conftest import get_github_user
 from flaky import flaky
 from modflow_devtools.download import (
     download_and_unzip,
@@ -9,11 +13,21 @@
 )
 from modflow_devtools.markers import requires_github
 
-_repos = [
-    "MODFLOW-USGS/modflow6",
-    "MODFLOW-USGS/modflow6-nightly-build",
-    "MODFLOW-USGS/executables",
-]
+
+def get_repos(user):
+    return [
+        user + "/" + repo
+        for repo in ["modflow6", "modflow6-nightly-build", "executables"]
+    ]
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def repos(github_user) -> List[str]:
+    return get_repos(github_user)
+
+
+_github_user = get_github_user()
+_repos = get_repos(_github_user)
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("per_page", [-1, 0, 1.5, 101, 1000])
@@ -36,37 +50,37 @@ def test_get_releases(repo):
     assets = [a for aa in [r["assets"] for r in releases] for a in aa]
     assert all(repo in a["browser_download_url"] for a in assets)
 
-    # test page size option
-    if repo == "MODFLOW-USGS/modflow6-nightly-build":
-        assert len(releases) <= 31  # 30-day retention period
-
 
 @flaky
 @requires_github
-@pytest.mark.parametrize("repo", _repos)
-def test_get_release(repo):
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("github_repo", _repos)
+def test_get_release(github_repo, github_user):
     tag = "latest"
-    release = get_release(repo, tag, verbose=True)
+    release = get_release(github_repo, tag, verbose=True)
     assets = release["assets"]
     expected_names = ["linux.zip", "mac.zip", "win64.zip"]
+    expected_ostags = [a.replace(".zip", "") for a in expected_names]
     actual_names = [asset["name"] for asset in assets]
 
-    if repo == "MODFLOW-USGS/modflow6":
+    if github_repo == f"{github_user}/modflow6":
         # can remove if modflow6 releases follow asset name conventions followed in executables and nightly build repos
         assert set([a.rpartition("_")[2] for a in actual_names]) >= set(
             [a for a in expected_names if not a.startswith("win")]
         )
     else:
-        assert set(actual_names) >= set(expected_names)
+        for ostag in expected_ostags:
+            assert any(
+                ostag in a for a in actual_names
+            ), f"dist not found for {ostag}"
 
 
 @flaky
 @requires_github
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("name", [None, "rtd-files", "run-time-comparison"])
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("per_page", [None, 100])
-def test_list_artifacts(tmp_path, name, per_page):
+def test_list_artifacts(github_user, name, per_page):
     artifacts = list_artifacts(
-        "MODFLOW-USGS/modflow6",
+        f"{github_user}/modflow6",
         name=name,
         per_page=per_page,
         max_pages=2,
@@ -80,8 +94,8 @@ def test_list_artifacts(tmp_path, name, per_page):
 @flaky
 @requires_github
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("delete_zip", [True, False])
-def test_download_artifact(function_tmpdir, delete_zip):
-    repo = "MODFLOW-USGS/modflow6"
+def test_download_artifact(github_user, function_tmpdir, delete_zip):
+    repo = f"{github_user}/modflow6"
     artifacts = list_artifacts(repo, max_pages=1, verbose=True)
     first = next(iter(artifacts), None)
 
@@ -104,14 +118,16 @@ def test_download_artifact(function_tmpdir, delete_zip):
 @flaky
 @requires_github
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("delete_zip", [True, False])
-def test_download_and_unzip(function_tmpdir, delete_zip):
-    zip_name = "mf6.3.0_linux.zip"
+def test_download_and_unzip(github_user, function_tmpdir, delete_zip):
+    github_user = "MODFLOW-USGS"  # comment to use releases on a fork
+    version = "6.3.0"
+    ostag = "linux"
+    zip_name = f"mf{version}_{ostag}.zip"
     dir_name = zip_name.replace(".zip", "")
-    url = f"https://github.com/MODFLOW-USGS/modflow6/releases/download/6.3.0/{zip_name}"
+    url = f"https://github.com/{github_user}/modflow6/releases/download/{version}/{zip_name}"
     download_and_unzip(
         url, function_tmpdir, delete_zip=delete_zip, verbose=True
     )
-
     assert (function_tmpdir / zip_name).is_file() != delete_zip
 
     dir_path = function_tmpdir / dir_name
diff --git a/modflow_devtools/test/test_misc.py b/modflow_devtools/test/test_misc.py
index 9ff517e..4643902 100644
--- a/modflow_devtools/test/test_misc.py
+++ b/modflow_devtools/test/test_misc.py
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ def test_get_namefile_paths_largetestmodels():
 def test_get_namefile_paths_exclude_patterns(models):
     path, expected_count = models
     paths = get_namefile_paths(path, excluded=["gwf"])
-    assert len(paths) == expected_count
+    assert len(paths) >= expected_count
 
 
 @pytest.mark.skipif(not any(_example_paths), reason="examples not found")
@@ -225,10 +225,10 @@ def test_get_namefile_paths_select_prefix():
 @pytest.mark.skipif(not any(_example_paths), reason="examples not found")
 def test_get_namefile_paths_select_patterns():
     paths = get_namefile_paths(_examples_path, selected=["gwf"])
-    assert len(paths) == 70
+    assert any(paths)
 
 
 @pytest.mark.skipif(not any(_example_paths), reason="examples not found")
 def test_get_namefile_paths_select_packages():
     paths = get_namefile_paths(_examples_path, packages=["wel"])
-    assert len(paths) == 43
+    assert any(paths)
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 1efc939..a170923 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ keywords = [
 readme = "README.md"
 license = {text = "CC0"}
 classifiers = [
-    "Development Status :: 3 - Alpha",
+    "Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable",
     "Intended Audience :: Science/Research",
     "License :: CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication",
     "Programming Language :: Python :: 3 :: Only",