The bundled PUC was missing the setBranch() method on the main UpdateChecker
class (it's only on Vcs\PluginUpdateChecker via the VcsCheckerMethods trait).
When called with a non-VCS URL like the Gitea update URL, this caused a fatal
error at plugin activation.
Updating to PUC v5.7 (May 2026) which is the latest upstream release. The
setBranch() call is removed because PUC doesn't recognize Gitea as a VCS host;
the plugin falls back to PUC's plain JSON metadata mode, which is fine for a
plugin hosted on a self-managed repo.