diff --git a/src/github/api/gitea-client.ts b/src/github/api/gitea-client.ts
index 5b5b57a..b631ea0 100644
--- a/src/github/api/gitea-client.ts
+++ b/src/github/api/gitea-client.ts
@@ -48,12 +48,28 @@ export class GiteaApiClient {
 
     try {
       const response = await fetch(url, options);
-      const responseData: any = await response.json();
+      
+      let responseData: any = null;
+      const contentType = response.headers.get("content-type");
+      
+      // Only try to parse JSON if the response has JSON content type
+      if (contentType && contentType.includes("application/json")) {
+        try {
+          responseData = await response.json();
+        } catch (parseError) {
+          console.warn(`Failed to parse JSON response: ${parseError}`);
+          responseData = await response.text();
+        }
+      } else {
+        responseData = await response.text();
+      }
 
       if (!response.ok) {
-        const error = new Error(
-          `HTTP ${response.status}: ${responseData.message || response.statusText}`
-        ) as GiteaApiError;
+        const errorMessage = typeof responseData === 'object' && responseData.message 
+          ? responseData.message 
+          : responseData || response.statusText;
+        
+        const error = new Error(`HTTP ${response.status}: ${errorMessage}`) as GiteaApiError;
         error.status = response.status;
         error.response = {
           data: responseData,
diff --git a/src/github/operations/comments/create-initial.ts b/src/github/operations/comments/create-initial.ts
index 7d2ef18..e5d032d 100644
--- a/src/github/operations/comments/create-initial.ts
+++ b/src/github/operations/comments/create-initial.ts
@@ -25,13 +25,17 @@ export async function createInitialComment(
   try {
     let response;
 
+    console.log(`Creating comment for ${context.isPR ? 'PR' : 'issue'} #${context.entityNumber}`);
+    
     // Only use createReplyForReviewComment if it's a PR review comment AND we have a comment_id
     if (isPullRequestReviewCommentEvent(context)) {
+      console.log(`Creating PR review comment reply`);
       response = await api.customRequest("POST", `/api/v1/repos/${owner}/${repo}/pulls/${context.entityNumber}/comments/${context.payload.comment.id}/replies`, {
         body: initialBody,
       });
     } else {
       // For all other cases (issues, issue comments, or missing comment_id)
+      console.log(`Creating issue comment via API`);
       response = await api.createIssueComment(owner, repo, context.entityNumber, initialBody);
     }