build_local_transcribe_kwargs read stt.local.no_speech_prob_threshold /
stt.local.logprob_threshold only for Hermes' post-filter
(_is_hallucinated_segment). faster-whisper's model.transcribe() never
received them, so its internal defaults (no_speech_threshold=0.6,
log_prob_threshold=-1.0) always applied and silently dropped
low-confidence segments before they reached the post-filter — making
those config knobs dead for the first gate.
Non-English speech decodes at a lower avg_logprob, so the English-tuned
defaults discard whole utterances (empty transcript despite correct
capture and language detection). Map the same config values through to
model.transcribe() so both gates stay in sync and the knobs work.
Defaults are unchanged, so behavior is identical unless a user tunes them.
Fixes#74178
Second, deeper pass over tools/gateway/hermes_cli plus first pass over
the trees wave 1 missed (acp, acp_adapter, skills, computer_use, docker,
dashboard, conformance, monitoring, secret_sources, hermes_state,
providers). Same rubric as wave 1 (AGENTS.md test policy); security,
alternation/caching invariants, issue-number regressions, and E2E kept.
Real test-quality fixes found and rooted out along the way:
- tests/tools/test_command_guards.py made real auxiliary-LLM HTTPS calls
(DEFAULT_CONFIG smart-approval leaked in) — pinned approval
mode=manual via autouse fixture: 17.4s → 0.4s.
- test_model_switch_custom_providers.py / test_user_providers_model_switch.py
silently probed live provider catalogs (~2s/test) — stubbed
cached_provider_model_ids/provider_model_ids/fetch_api_models.
- test_telegram_noise_filter.py: 15-platform copy-paste matrix over
shared gateway.run logic → 3 representative platforms (55s → 3.9s).
- test_gateway_shutdown.py: stop()'s 5s interrupt-deadline loop spun on
MagicMock agents — interrupt.side_effect now clears _running_agents
(22s → 1.0s).
- test_gateway_inactivity_timeout.py poll-harness timings shrunk 3-5x
(24s → 1.1s); test_mcp_stability.py backoff/SIGTERM-grace sleeps
patched (15.4s → 2.5s); test_async_delegation.py negative-drain wait
5s → 0.5s.
- test_telegram_init_deadline.py: loop-block margin restored to 1.0s
with rationale comment — the watchdog-dump assertion needs the loop
blocked well past deadline+grace under parallel load (flaked once in
the 40-worker verification run at a 0.2s margin).
Verification: full hermetic suite via scripts/run_tests.sh —
2,438 files, 21,718 tests passed, 0 failed, 293.9s wall.
Suite totals vs original baseline: 46,820 → 19,757 test functions
(−57.8%), wall 583.5s → 293.9s (−50%), subprocess CPU 13,564s → 11,623s.
Local faster-whisper called model.transcribe with bare {'beam_size': 5}:
no VAD, cross-window conditioning on, no confidence filtering. Pure
silence produced hallucinated tokens (E2E: 5s anullsrc WAV -> 'You',
no_speech_prob=0.705) and noisy clips could produce runs of junk, often
in other languages.
Three-layer class fix, one shared owner for every local-whisper call
site (build_local_transcribe_kwargs):
1. Silero VAD filter (bundled with faster-whisper) on by default —
silence never reaches the model. stt.local.vad: false restores the
raw behavior for music/ambient transcription.
stt.local.vad_min_silence_ms tunes chunk splitting (default 500).
2. condition_on_previous_text=False — one hallucinated token can no
longer seed a self-reinforcing run; negligible cost for
voice-note-length audio.
3. Segment confidence gate (_join_confident_segments): drop a segment
only when no_speech_prob > 0.6 AND avg_logprob < -1.0 (openai-whisper's
own heuristic shape; both must hit so quiet-but-real speech survives).
Config: stt.local.no_speech_prob_threshold / logprob_threshold.
The WHISPER_HALLUCINATIONS blocklist in voice_mode.py stays as
last-resort defense but should now almost never fire.
E2E (real faster-whisper 'base', CPU int8):
silence.wav before 'You' -> after ''
noise.wav before '' -> after ''
speech.wav before/after 'Hello World, this is a test of the
transcription system.' (unchanged)
Docs (EN + zh-Hans), DEFAULT_CONFIG, cli-config.yaml.example updated;
19 unit tests (kwargs contract, off-switch, confidence gate incl.
quiet-speech survival, _transcribe_local wiring), sabotage-verified.
Teknium