I have seen (but not tried) "Spout2OverlayHUD" in the OBS forum (written in C++) which has similar basic functionality. I like the extra features so far!

A fix has been put out (v4.78.0). If you use the "User Script" version you will get the update immediately. The "Nightly" extension version will update soon™ and then the regular extension version will update eventually.

I write my own bots from scratch and have for about 10 years. I like the full control. I've tried quite a few bots of the years and none meet my expectations. I've seen people be very successful with Streamer.Bot and Firebot as of late, but they seem flawed and fall into the same design pitfalls.

That does seem to be the case

Your sub-gifter badge expires with the sub you gifted.

They've always expired with the gift sub, just now they're telling you that it expired with a little popup.