feat: Cloud transcription models and UI enhancements by Vassista · Pull Request #349 · stenolabs/stenoai

Vassista · 2026-07-18T15:01:51Z

Description

This PR introduces three major enhancements to the app:

1. Cloud Transcription Models

Added support for OpenAI-compatible ASR endpoints, allowing users to configure custom API endpoints for transcription.
Introduced a unified model picker within the Transcribe settings page, making it seamless to switch between local models (Parakeet, Whisper) and cloud-based models.

2. Settings UI Refactor & Context-Aware Search

Unified Sidebar Navigation: Completely refactored the Settings page layout. The settings tabs have been moved from a top-header bar directly into the main sidebar for a modern, fluid layout.
Aesthetics: The settings navigation now features polished styling with rounded capsule active states, subtle sliding hover animations, and beautiful Lucide icons for each tab.
Centered Layout: Removed redundant headers and cleanly centered the configuration options within the right pane for better readability.
Context-Aware Cmd+K: The Command Palette is now context-aware! If you press Cmd+K while viewing Settings, it seamlessly switches to a "Search settings..." mode. It instantly searches through an index of all app configurations (e.g. "Dark Mode", "Microphone", "Export") and navigates you to the exact tab where that setting lives.

3. Notification Toast & UI Refinements

Fixed the notification width to 344px to exactly match native macOS notification sizes, ensuring it looks at home on the desktop.
Removed early text truncation (max-w-[150px]) that was causing a massive perceived empty gap when the "Join" button wasn't present. The text now natively grows and fills the available space gracefully.
Replaced the generic video icon in the "Join & take notes" button with the Steno app icon (scaled to fit nicely without blowing out the button).
Added a subtle, passive Steno app icon watermark to the right side of buttonless notifications to perfectly balance the layout and improve branding, adjusting contrast dynamically for perfect visibility in both light and dark mode.
Replaced the generic .txt file icon in the "Previous Notes" home list view with dynamic Letter Avatars (e.g. "L" for "Lunch Break"), matching native macOS design patterns.
Universal Custom Notifications**: Migrated all native macOS notifications (auto-detect, auto-stop, errors) to the new frameless React UI using a seamless CustomNotification wrapper in main.js.

Summary by cubic

Adds an OpenAI-compatible cloud transcription engine with a secure, configurable endpoint, plus small Settings and notification improvements. You can choose Parakeet, Whisper, or Cloud, configure API URL/key/model, and get a cleaner, context-aware Settings experience.

New Features
- Cloud ASR: openai-asr posts to /audio/transcriptions (verbose_json first, text fallback), appends the path if missing, and chunks large WAVs; works with OpenAI, Groq, or any compatible URL.
- Secure config: Edit API URL/key/model in Settings; key is encrypted with Electron safeStorage, can be cleared, and also reads STENOAI_OAI_API_KEY. IPC get-openai-asr-config/set-openai-asr-config + preload bridge and React Query hooks. Enabling cloud shows a privacy notice; copy makes it clear audio is sent over the network. --prompt-api-key supported for CLI.
- Unified picker: Choose Parakeet, Whisper, or “OpenAI-compatible ASR.” Whisper auto-downloads if missing; live transcription remains Parakeet-only. Settings keeps tabs in the main sidebar with icons, a Back to Home action, and “Search settings…” via Cmd+K. Notifications moved to a React toast UI with icons, actions, analytics, and a 344px width.
Bug Fixes
- Cloud ASR hardening: Enforce URL schemes (HTTPS for remote; HTTP allowed for localhost), preserve POST on 307/308 same-origin redirects, block cross-origin redirects, stream multipart bodies safely, never pass API keys via CLI, allow clearing the key in UI, redact set-openai-asr-config in diagnostics, and fix a chunk duration edge case.
- Notifications: Clicking a pre-meeting toast opens the meeting URL and focuses the app; toasts close reliably and passive dismisses are tracked.

^{Written for commit 9dfa101. Summary will update on new commits.}

… API settings

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…ch download, and remove api-key from CLI args

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- Fix notification width to match macOS native dimensions (344px) - Remove early text truncation that caused large empty gaps - Replace generic video icon with AppIcon in Join button - Add subtle AppIcon to buttonless notifications for visual balance

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ruzin · 2026-07-21T23:32:15Z

@Vassista im looking forward to this PR, it has some great features

Optic00 · 2026-07-22T16:00:24Z

One more thing came up on a fresh pass over this same head (cb6bb52) - my earlier Request changes still stands, so I'm adding this as a comment rather than a second review.

New blocker: an empty endpoint URL silently falls back to OpenAI while keeping a foreign provider's key. src/transcriber.py:721 does api_url = (getattr(self, "_openai_asr_api_url", "") or "https://api.openai.com/v1"), and set_openai_asr_api_url (src/config.py:1007) stores an empty string when the field is cleared. So a user who configured, say, Groq (Groq base URL + Groq key) and then blanks the URL ends up shipping their audio and their Groq bearer token to api.openai.com. Please fail closed with a clear "endpoint not configured" error instead of defaulting a blank URL to a hardcoded third-party endpoint while a key is set.

Vassista · 2026-07-22T17:14:29Z

Hi @Optic00 @ruzin ,

Thanks for taking the time to review this PR and giving the feedback.

I'm currently occupied up with some personal commitments, it may take me a some time to address the issues. Meanwhile, If anyone would like to help work through any of the suggested changes, please feel free to do so. I'd really appreciate it. Otherwise, I'll get back to this as soon as I can.

Thanks for your patience!

@Vassista

Adds context-aware Cmd+K settings search on the current nav-rail design. From @Vassista's #349.

@Vassista

Replaces the file glyph with the note's first initial. From @Vassista's #349.

@Vassista

Adds an OpenAI-compatible cloud transcription engine with safeStorage-encrypted API key (never in config.json), UI on the current AiTab. From @Vassista's #349.

@Vassista

…#402) Replaces native OS notifications with the in-app frameless toast (API-compatible shadow class; all 8 call sites preserved; cross-platform). Note: notifications no longer appear in the OS Notification Center, have no sound, and auto-dismiss after 15s. From @Vassista's #349.

ruzin · 2026-07-24T00:10:36Z

@Vassista your work has been merged in separate PRS ty

ruzin · 2026-07-25T02:16:37Z

@Vassista cloud ASR couldn't go in the end as we had some issues, but Ben has written an issue update for it, will wait for you to pick up when free.

Vassista · 2026-07-31T14:54:04Z

@ruzin @Optic00 working on the issues now, so it can be merged asap. Appreciate the wait.

…on, audio chunking, redirect codes, URL scheme validation, premeeting click handler, and docs)

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…nk and remove leftover JSX fragment

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Vassista added 2 commits July 18, 2026 20:04

feat: add support for OpenAI-compatible ASR engines with configurable…

2f045ee

… API settings

feat: improve settings UI layout and navigation

5805d98

Vassista requested review from Optic00 and ruzin as code owners July 18, 2026 15:01

Vassista marked this pull request as draft July 18, 2026 15:02

cubic-dev-ai Bot reviewed Jul 18, 2026

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Vassista and others added 7 commits July 18, 2026 20:40

feat: resolve CI lint errors and add privacy confirmation dialog for …

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…Cloud ASR

refactor: sync config query state without useEffect to satisfy lint r…

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…ules organically

Update app/renderer/src/components/Sidebar.tsx

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fix: resolve reported issues across UI, auth, and transcription backend

796e016

chore: redact set-openai-asr-config in diagnostics logs

61bd165

fix: read STENOAI_OAI_API_KEY from environment in simple_recorder.py

19eae53

Vassista marked this pull request as ready for review July 18, 2026 16:44

cubic-dev-ai Bot reviewed Jul 18, 2026

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Comment thread simple_recorder.py Outdated

Comment thread app/renderer/src/routes/settings/TranscriptionTab.tsx Outdated

Comment thread src/transcriber.py

Comment thread src/transcriber.py Outdated

Comment thread src/transcriber.py Outdated

fix: remove Azure support, fix redirect leak, fix whisper engine swit…

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…ch download, and remove api-key from CLI args

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fix: allow UI to clear API key, add secure --prompt-api-key CLI flag

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Vassista and others added 4 commits July 18, 2026 22:41

fix: preserve POST body on same-origin redirect

d4adce8

Update app/renderer/src/routes/settings/TranscriptionTab.tsx

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remove azure from UI hint

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Comment thread app/renderer/src/components/NotificationToast.tsx Outdated

Vassista changed the title ~~feat: Cloud transcription models and Settings UI enhancements~~ feat: Cloud transcription models and UI enhancements Jul 19, 2026

Refine notification watermark visibility and update note icon to lett…

c3fd3ec

…er avatar

Vassista force-pushed the ui-enhancemen branch from 3046cf4 to c3fd3ec Compare July 19, 2026 07:44

feat: migrate all notifications to custom React UI

51432c5

Vassista marked this pull request as draft July 22, 2026 17:15

ruzin added a commit that referenced this pull request Jul 23, 2026

feat(settings): context-aware Cmd+K settings search (#399)

fcf3248

Adds context-aware Cmd+K settings search on the current nav-rail design. From @Vassista's #349.

ruzin added a commit that referenced this pull request Jul 23, 2026

feat(home): letter-avatars in the Previous Notes list (#400)

e4a298f

Replaces the file glyph with the note's first initial. From @Vassista's #349.

ruzin closed this Jul 24, 2026

ruzin mentioned this pull request Jul 24, 2026

fix(settings): ⌘K search tab-state/URL divergence + index gaps (closes #405) #411

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ruzin reopened this Jul 25, 2026

Optic00 mentioned this pull request Jul 25, 2026

Release merge order - queue before next release #419

Closed

21 tasks

fix: resolve all review findings from stenolabs#349 (ASR key encrypti…

1599d8c

…on, audio chunking, redirect codes, URL scheme validation, premeeting click handler, and docs)

Vassista marked this pull request as ready for review July 31, 2026 15:00

Merge upstream/main into ui-enhancemen and re-apply OpenAI ASR to AiTab

cfef61f

Vassista requested a review from Optic00 August 4, 2026 04:19

fix(main): clean up duplicate Notification class and leftover conflic…

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fix: resolve review findings for cloud ASR, safeStorage, config fallb…

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fix(transcriber, sidebar): define chunk_dur in _transcribe_single_chu…

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…nk and remove leftover JSX fragment

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Description

1. Cloud Transcription Models

2. Settings UI Refactor & Context-Aware Search

3. Notification Toast & UI Refinements

Summary by cubic

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ruzin commented Jul 21, 2026

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Optic00 commented Jul 22, 2026

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Vassista commented Jul 22, 2026

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Vassista commented Jul 18, 2026 •

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