diff --git a/.github/workflows/benchmarks.yaml b/.github/workflows/benchmarks.yaml
index c2f3fdf4e..54326ec6a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/benchmarks.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/benchmarks.yaml
@@ -36,7 +36,11 @@ jobs:
           pytest benchmarks/test_benchmarks.py --benchmark-json=benchmark_results.json
 
       - name: Compare benchmark result
-        if: github.event_name == 'pull_request'
+        # Skip the result upload/compare for fork PRs: their GITHUB_TOKEN is
+        # read-only, so comment-on-alert/auto-push hit 'Resource not accessible
+        # by integration'. The benchmarks still run above; only the write-back
+        # is skipped for forks.
+        if: github.event_name == 'pull_request' && github.event.pull_request.head.repo.full_name == github.repository
         uses: benchmark-action/github-action-benchmark@v1.21.0
         with:
           tool: "pytest"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yaml b/.github/workflows/tests.yaml
index a22e0cbdc..0f68ab6e9 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yaml
@@ -50,15 +50,33 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           # install VMEC++ deps as well as VMEC2000 deps (we need to import VMEC2000 in a test)
           sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y build-essential cmake libnetcdf-dev liblapack-dev libomp-dev
+      - name: Cache the VMEC2000 wheel
+        if: ${{ matrix.os == 'ubuntu-22.04' && matrix.python-version == '3.10' }}
+        uses: actions/cache@v4
+        with:
+          path: /tmp/vmec2000-wheel
+          # Keyed on the pinned VMEC2000 source commit: rebuild only when it changes.
+          key: vmec2000-728af8bd6c79-cp310-ubuntu22.04
       - name: Also install VMEC2000 (only on Ubuntu 22.04)
         if: ${{ matrix.os == 'ubuntu-22.04' && matrix.python-version == '3.10' }}
         run: |
-          # mpi4py is needed for VMEC2000
-          sudo apt-get install -y libopenmpi-dev
+          sudo apt-get install -y libopenmpi-dev libnetcdff-dev libscalapack-mpi-dev \
+            libopenblas-dev ninja-build
           python -m pip install mpi4py
-          # custom wheel for VMEC2000, needed for some VMEC++/VMEC2000 compatibility tests
-          # NOTE: this wheel is only guaranteed to work on Ubuntu 22.04
-          python -m pip install vmec@https://anaconda.org/eguiraud-pf/vmec/0.0.6/download/vmec-0.0.6-cp310-cp310-linux_x86_64.whl
+          if ! ls /tmp/vmec2000-wheel/vmec-*.whl >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            # Build with the SYSTEM cmake + ninja; do NOT pip-install the
+            # cmake/ninja wheels (they shadow the system cmake that
+            # scikit-build-core's editable vmecpp rebuild records).
+            python -m pip install numpy scikit-build f90wrap setuptools wheel
+            git clone https://github.com/hiddenSymmetries/VMEC2000.git /tmp/VMEC2000
+            git -C /tmp/VMEC2000 checkout 728af8bd6c796b36a0aa85fe298e507791e57c6e
+            cp /tmp/VMEC2000/cmake/machines/ubuntu.json /tmp/VMEC2000/cmake_config_file.json
+            LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu \
+              python -m pip wheel /tmp/VMEC2000 --no-build-isolation -w /tmp/vmec2000-wheel
+          fi
+          python -m pip install /tmp/vmec2000-wheel/vmec-*.whl
+          # fail loudly here if the binding is still broken, not in the test step
+          python -c "import vmec; print('VMEC2000 import OK')"
       - name: Install package
         run: |
           # on Ubuntu we would not need this, but on MacOS we need to point CMake to gfortran-14 and gcc-14
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index be3c3255b..8e07b1753 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -66,7 +66,9 @@ find_package(LAPACK REQUIRED)
 FetchContent_Declare(
   abseil-cpp
   GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/abseil/abseil-cpp.git
-  GIT_TAG 4447c7562e3bc702ade25105912dce503f0c4010
+  # 20260107.1 LTS: older abseil fails to compile under Clang >= 21 (the
+  # Enzyme build) on absl::Nonnull SFINAE in absl/strings/ascii.cc.
+  GIT_TAG 255c84dadd029fd8ad25c5efb5933e47beaa00c7
   GIT_SHALLOW TRUE
 )
 FetchContent_Declare(
diff --git a/tests/test_simsopt_compat.py b/tests/test_simsopt_compat.py
index 609dffea2..1443d8cbc 100644
--- a/tests/test_simsopt_compat.py
+++ b/tests/test_simsopt_compat.py
@@ -303,6 +303,11 @@ def test_ensure_vmec2000_input_from_vmecpp_input():
         if varname[1:-1] == "axis_":
             # these are called differently in VMEC2000, e.g. raxis_c -> raxis_cc
             varname_vmec2000 = f"{varname[:-1]}c{varname[-1]}"
+        if not hasattr(vmec2000.indata, varname_vmec2000):
+            # vmecpp-only field (e.g. free_boundary_method) with no counterpart
+            # in the legacy VMEC2000 INDATA namelist; not part of the common
+            # subset under test.
+            continue
         vmec2000_var = getattr(vmec2000.indata, varname_vmec2000)
 
         if vmecpp_var is None: