diff --git a/server/forge/gitea/gitea.go b/server/forge/gitea/gitea.go
index 0b765fef1..084ca497e 100644
--- a/server/forge/gitea/gitea.go
+++ b/server/forge/gitea/gitea.go
@@ -586,7 +586,8 @@ func (c *Gitea) newClientToken(ctx context.Context, token string) (*gitea.Client
 		}
 	}
 	client, err := gitea.NewClient(c.url, gitea.SetToken(token), gitea.SetHTTPClient(httpClient), gitea.SetContext(ctx))
-	if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "Malformed version") {
+	if err != nil &&
+		(errors.Is(err, &gitea.ErrUnknownVersion{}) || strings.Contains(err.Error(), "Malformed version")) {
 		// we guess it's a dev gitea version
 		log.Error().Err(err).Msgf("could not detect gitea version, assume dev version %s", giteaDevVersion)
 		client, err = gitea.NewClient(c.url, gitea.SetGiteaVersion(giteaDevVersion), gitea.SetToken(token), gitea.SetHTTPClient(httpClient), gitea.SetContext(ctx))