diff --git a/.github/workflows/testing_external_plugins.yaml b/.github/workflows/testing_external_plugins.yaml
index c135ba4d..e911bd53 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/testing_external_plugins.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/testing_external_plugins.yaml
@@ -32,11 +32,6 @@ jobs:
             python-version: 3.9
 
     steps:
-    - name: Extract branch name
-      shell: bash
-      run: echo "##[set-output name=branch;]$(echo ${GITHUB_REF#refs/heads/})"
-      id: extract_branch
-
     - uses: actions/checkout@v2
 
     - name: Set up Python ${{ matrix.python-version }}
@@ -56,7 +51,7 @@ jobs:
         poetry config --local virtualenvs.in-project true
         poetry install --remove-untracked
         poetry install
-        poetry run python -m pip install -e "git+${GITHUB_SERVER_URL}/${GITHUB_REPOSITORY}.git@{{ steps.extract_branch.outputs.branch }}#egg=jrnl-demo-plugins&subdirectory=tests/external_plugins_src"
+        poetry run python -m pip install -e "git+${GITHUB_SERVER_URL}/${GITHUB_REPOSITORY}.git@${GITHUB_SHA}#egg=jrnl-demo-plugins&subdirectory=tests/external_plugins_src"
 
     - name: Test with pytest
       if: success() || failure()
diff --git a/features/steps/core.py b/features/steps/core.py
index 6c1f8556..5b95e25d 100644
--- a/features/steps/core.py
+++ b/features/steps/core.py
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 
 import ast
 from collections import defaultdict
-from jrnl.args import parse_args
 import os
 from pathlib import Path
 import re
@@ -14,20 +13,20 @@ from behave import given
 from behave import then
 from behave import when
 import keyring
-
 import toml
 import yaml
 from yaml.loader import FullLoader
 
-
-import jrnl.time
 from jrnl import Journal
 from jrnl import __version__
 from jrnl import plugins
+from jrnl.args import parse_args
 from jrnl.cli import cli
 from jrnl.config import load_config
 from jrnl.os_compat import split_args
-from jrnl.override import apply_overrides, _recursively_apply
+from jrnl.override import _recursively_apply
+from jrnl.override import apply_overrides
+import jrnl.time
 
 try:
     import parsedatetime.parsedatetime_consts as pdt
@@ -461,7 +460,7 @@ def run(context, command, text=""):
 @given('we load template "{filename}"')
 def load_template(context, filename):
     full_path = os.path.join("features/data/templates", filename)
-    
+
     exporter = plugins.template_exporter.__exporter_from_file(full_path)
     plugins.meta.__exporter_types[exporter.names[0]] = exporter
 
diff --git a/tests/external_plugins_src/jrnl/contrib/exporter/custom_json.py b/tests/external_plugins_src/jrnl/contrib/exporter/custom_json.py
index 1d5ebd56..7f816bb8 100644
--- a/tests/external_plugins_src/jrnl/contrib/exporter/custom_json.py
+++ b/tests/external_plugins_src/jrnl/contrib/exporter/custom_json.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 import json
 
 from jrnl.plugins.base import BaseExporter
-from jrnl.plugins.util import get_tags_count
 
 __version__ = "v1.0.0"
 
@@ -32,7 +31,6 @@ class Exporter(BaseExporter):
     @classmethod
     def export_journal(cls, journal):
         """Returns a json representation of an entire journal."""
-        tags = get_tags_count(journal)
         result = {
             "entries": [cls.entry_to_dict(e) for e in journal.entries],
         }
diff --git a/tests/test_plugin.py b/tests/test_plugin.py
index a48ee3dc..cd71effd 100644
--- a/tests/test_plugin.py
+++ b/tests/test_plugin.py
@@ -6,37 +6,41 @@ import pytest
 from jrnl import Entry
 from jrnl import Journal
 from jrnl.plugins.exporter import json as json_exporter
-from jrnl.plugins.exporter import testing as testing_exporter
+
+try:
+    from jrnl.contrib.exporter import testing as testing_exporter
+except:
+    testing_exporter = None
 
 
-@pytest.fixture()
-def create_entry():
-    entry = Entry.Entry(
-        journal=Journal.Journal(),
-        text="This is the entry text",
-        date=date(year=2001, month=1, day=1),
-        starred=True,
-    )
-    yield entry
+if testing_exporter:
 
+    @pytest.fixture()
+    def create_entry():
+        entry = Entry.Entry(
+            journal=Journal.Journal(),
+            text="This is the entry text",
+            date=date(year=2001, month=1, day=1),
+            starred=True,
+        )
+        yield entry
 
-class TestBaseExporter(testing_exporter.Exporter):
-    def test_unimplemented_export(self, create_entry):
-        entry = create_entry
-        with pytest.raises(NotImplementedError):
-            self.export_entry(entry)
+    class TestBaseExporter(testing_exporter.Exporter):
+        def test_unimplemented_export(self, create_entry):
+            entry = create_entry
+            with pytest.raises(NotImplementedError):
+                self.export_entry(entry)
 
+    class TestJsonExporter(json_exporter.Exporter):
+        def test_json_exporter_name(self):
+            assert "json" in self.names
 
-class TestJsonExporter(json_exporter.Exporter):
-    def test_json_exporter_name(self):
-        assert "json" in self.names
-
-    def test_export_entry(self, create_entry):
-        entry = create_entry
-        fake_uuid = "ewqf09-432p9p0433-243209"  # generated by mashing keys
-        entry.uuid = fake_uuid
-        exported = self.export_entry(entry)
-        deserialized_export = json.loads(exported)
-        assert deserialized_export["title"] == "This is the entry text"
-        assert deserialized_export["date"] == "2001-01-01"
-        assert "uuid" in deserialized_export.keys()
+        def test_export_entry(self, create_entry):
+            entry = create_entry
+            fake_uuid = "ewqf09-432p9p0433-243209"  # generated by mashing keys
+            entry.uuid = fake_uuid
+            exported = self.export_entry(entry)
+            deserialized_export = json.loads(exported)
+            assert deserialized_export["title"] == "This is the entry text"
+            assert deserialized_export["date"] == "2001-01-01"
+            assert "uuid" in deserialized_export.keys()