Edge case: reading branch/version info does not correctly handle whitespace or leading newlines

<img width="262" height="394" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/21f47547-e04e-41ed-a068-c837a92aaf54" />

Maybe `myFile?.trim() ?? fallback;` might be more appropriate here?
Using .trim() would also reduce visual complexity.