diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 49e1220..3a2bee3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -100,5 +100,115 @@ jobs:
           fi
 
           python test/test.py "$TEST_BINDIR" "${{ matrix.repo }}"
+        env:
+          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+    
+  test_subset:
+    name: Test subset input
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        os: [ ubuntu-latest, macos-latest, windows-latest ]
+        subset: [ '', 'mf6,mf2005' ]
+    defaults:
+      run:
+        shell: bash
+    steps:
+
+      - name: Checkout repo
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+
+      - name: Setup Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+        with:
+          python-version: 3.9
+          cache: 'pip'
+
+      - name: Install Python dependencies
+        run: pip install -r test/requirements.txt
+
+      - name: Install FloPy
+        run: pip install git+https://github.com/modflowpy/flopy.git
+
+      - name: Set bin path
+        if: runner.os != 'Windows'
+        run: |
+          bindir=""
+          echo "TEST_BINDIR=$bindir" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+
+      - name: Set bin path (Windows)
+        if: runner.os == 'Windows'
+        shell: pwsh
+        run: |
+          $bindir = ""
+          echo "TEST_BINDIR=$bindir" | Out-File -FilePath $env:GITHUB_ENV -Encoding utf8 -Append
+
+      - name: Install executables
+        id: install-executables
+        uses: ./
+        with:
+          path: ${{ env.TEST_BINDIR }}
+          subset: ${{ matrix.subset }}
+
+      - name: Test installation
+        run: |
+          script_path="$RUNNER_TEMP/get_modflow.py"
+          python test/test.py "$TEST_BINDIR" "executables" "${{ matrix.subset }}"
+        env:
+          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+    
+  test_tag:
+    name: Test release tag input
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        os: [ ubuntu-latest, macos-latest, windows-latest ]
+        tag: [ 'latest', '13.0' ]
+    defaults:
+      run:
+        shell: bash
+    steps:
+
+      - name: Checkout repo
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+
+      - name: Setup Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+        with:
+          python-version: 3.9
+          cache: 'pip'
+
+      - name: Install Python dependencies
+        run: pip install -r test/requirements.txt
+
+      - name: Install FloPy
+        run: pip install git+https://github.com/modflowpy/flopy.git
+
+      - name: Set bin path
+        if: runner.os != 'Windows'
+        run: |
+          bindir=""
+          echo "TEST_BINDIR=$bindir" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+
+      - name: Set bin path (Windows)
+        if: runner.os == 'Windows'
+        shell: pwsh
+        run: |
+          $bindir = ""
+          echo "TEST_BINDIR=$bindir" | Out-File -FilePath $env:GITHUB_ENV -Encoding utf8 -Append
+
+      - name: Install executables
+        id: install-executables
+        uses: ./
+        with:
+          path: ${{ env.TEST_BINDIR }}
+          tag: ${{ matrix.tag }}
+
+      - name: Test installation
+        run: |
+          script_path="$RUNNER_TEMP/get_modflow.py"
+          python test/test.py "$TEST_BINDIR" "executables"
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ed11492..e9fc4a8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ An action to setup MODFLOW 6 and related programs.
 <!-- START doctoc generated TOC please keep comment here to allow auto update -->
 <!-- DON'T EDIT THIS SECTION, INSTEAD RE-RUN doctoc TO UPDATE -->
 
+
 - [Overview](#overview)
 - [Usage](#usage)
 - [Environment variables](#environment-variables)
@@ -16,6 +17,8 @@ An action to setup MODFLOW 6 and related programs.
   - [`github_token`](#github_token)
   - [`path`](#path)
   - [`repo`](#repo)
+  - [`tag`](#tag)
+  - [`subset`](#subset)
   - [`cache`](#cache)
 - [Outputs](#outputs)
   - [`cache-hit`](#cache-hit)
@@ -62,6 +65,9 @@ The action accepts the following optional inputs:
 - `github_token`
 - `path`
 - `repo`
+- `tag`
+- `subset`
+- `cache`
 
 ### `github_token`
 
@@ -81,6 +87,18 @@ The `repo` input allows selecting which MODFLOW 6 executable distribution to ins
 - `modflow6`
 - `modflow6-nightly-build`
 
+### `tag`
+
+The `tag` input allows selecting a release by tag name. The default is `latest`.
+
+For the `modflow6` distribution, releases are [tagged by semantic version number](https://github.com/MODFLOW-USGS/modflow6/tags). For the `modflow6-nightly-build` distribution, releases are [tagged by date](https://github.com/MODFLOW-USGS/modflow6-nightly-build/tags), in format `%Y%m%d`, e.g. `20230607`. For the `executables` distribution, releases are [tagged by integer version number with trailing ".0"](https://github.com/MODFLOW-USGS/executables/tags).
+
+### `subset`
+
+The `subset` input allows selecting which binaries to install. One or more binaries may be selected with a comma-separated string.
+
+If this input is not provided, or if its value is an empty string, all binaries in the selected distribution are installed. This is the default behavior.
+
 ### `cache`
 
 The `cache` input is a boolean that controls whether the action caches the MODFLOW binaries. The default is `true`.
diff --git a/action.yml b/action.yml
index edda709..c886d48 100644
--- a/action.yml
+++ b/action.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 name: Install MODFLOW
 description: Install & cache MODFLOW 6 and related programs.
 inputs:
+  github_token:
+    description: GitHub API access token
+    required: false
   path:
     description: Path to install location (e.g. a bin directory)
     required: false
@@ -9,9 +12,14 @@ inputs:
     description: Repository to install executables from ('executables', 'modflow6', or 'modflow6-nightly-build')
     required: false
     default: executables
-  github_token:
-    description: GitHub API access token
+  tag:
+    description: Tag of the release version to install
     required: false
+    default: 'latest'
+  subset:
+    description: Subset of binaries to install
+    required: False
+    default: ''
   cache:
     description: Whether to cache the installation
     required: false
@@ -90,6 +98,15 @@ runs:
         fi
       env:
         GH_TOKEN: ${{ steps.set-github-token.outputs.token }}
+    
+    - name: Replace commas in subset input
+      id: commas
+      if: inputs.subset != ''
+      shell: bash
+      run: |
+        subset="${{ inputs.subset }}"
+        subset=${subset//,/_}
+        echo "subset=$subset" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 
     - name: Get date
       if: inputs.cache == 'true'
@@ -103,7 +120,7 @@ runs:
       uses: actions/cache@v3
       with:
         path: ${{ env.MODFLOW_BIN_PATH }}
-        key: modflow-${{ runner.os }}-${{ inputs.repo }}-${{ hashFiles(steps.check-release.outputs.code_json) }}-${{ steps.get-date.outputs.date }}
+        key: modflow-${{ runner.os }}-${{ inputs.repo }}-${{ steps.commas.outputs.subset }}-${{ hashFiles(steps.check-release.outputs.code_json) }}-${{ steps.get-date.outputs.date }}
 
     - name: Install executables
       if: inputs.cache != 'true' || steps.cache-modflow.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
@@ -112,6 +129,11 @@ runs:
         if command -v get-modflow &> /dev/null
         then
           echo "get-modflow command is available, running get-modflow"
+          if [ "${{ inputs.subset }}" == "" ]; then
+            get-modflow "$MODFLOW_BIN_PATH" --repo ${{ inputs.repo }} --release-id "${{ inputs.tag }}" --force
+          else
+            get-modflow "$MODFLOW_BIN_PATH" --repo ${{ inputs.repo }} --release-id "${{ inputs.tag }}" --subset "${{ inputs.subset }}" --force
+          fi
           get-modflow "$MODFLOW_BIN_PATH" --repo ${{ inputs.repo }} --force
         else
           echo "get-modflow command not available, downloading get_modflow.py"
@@ -119,7 +141,11 @@ runs:
           curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/modflowpy/flopy/develop/flopy/utils/get_modflow.py -o "$script_path"
 
           echo "running get_modflow.py"
-          python3 $script_path "$MODFLOW_BIN_PATH" --repo "${{ inputs.repo }}"
+          if [ "${{ inputs.subset }}" == "" ]; then
+            python3 $script_path "$MODFLOW_BIN_PATH" --repo "${{ inputs.repo }}" --release-id "${{ inputs.tag }}"
+          else
+            python3 $script_path "$MODFLOW_BIN_PATH" --repo "${{ inputs.repo }}" --release-id "${{ inputs.tag }}" --subset "${{ inputs.subset }}"
+          fi
         fi
       env:
         GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ steps.set-github-token.outputs.token }}
diff --git a/test/test.py b/test/test.py
index 6c9987a..886923a 100644
--- a/test/test.py
+++ b/test/test.py
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@
 from typing import List, Tuple
 
 path = Path(sys.argv[1] if sys.argv[1] else "~/.local/bin/modflow").expanduser().absolute()
-repo = sys.argv[2] if (len(sys.argv) > 1 and sys.argv[2]) else "executables"
+repo = sys.argv[2] if (len(sys.argv) > 2 and sys.argv[2]) else "executables"
+subset = sys.argv[3] if (len(sys.argv) > 3 and sys.argv[3]) else None
 
 print(f"Path: {path}")
 print(f"Repo: {repo}")
@@ -58,6 +59,11 @@
     "modflow6-nightly-build": ["libmf6"]
 }
 
+# apply subset filter, if provided
+if subset:
+    expected_exes = {k: [vv for vv in v if vv in subset] for k, v in expected_exes.items()}
+    expected_libs = {k: [vv for vv in v if vv in subset] for k, v in expected_libs.items()}
+
 
 # TODO: can flopy also store code.json here (or reproduce it in get_modflow.json)?
 # this would allow getting expected files from metadata instead of hardcoding them