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fix: voice-mode pref toggle-off now stops the recognizer (#1491)#1518

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franksong2702:fix/1491-voice-pref-toggle-deactivate
May 3, 2026
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fix: voice-mode pref toggle-off now stops the recognizer (#1491)#1518
1 commit merged intonesquena:masterfrom
franksong2702:fix/1491-voice-pref-toggle-deactivate

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@franksong2702 franksong2702 commented May 3, 2026

Thinking Path

  • Hermes WebUI has a "Hands-free voice mode" button (PR fix(composer): distinct voice-mode icon, descriptive labels, opt-in pref (#1488) #1489, v0.50.271) gated behind a Settings → Preferences toggle
  • _applyVoiceModePref() controls button visibility but doesn't stop the SpeechRecognition when toggled off mid-session
  • If a user enables voice mode, starts a conversation, then opens Settings and disables the pref, the button disappears but the recognizer keeps running — the user has no way to stop it
  • The fix: _applyVoiceModePref() now checks if voice mode is active and calls _deactivate() when the pref is toggled off
  • _voiceModeActive must be declared before _applyVoiceModePref() to avoid Temporal Dead Zone (TDZ) — the variable was previously declared after the function

What Changed

static/boot.js — 3 changes:

  1. Move let _voiceModeActive=false above _applyVoiceModePref() (was below, causing TDZ risk)
  2. _applyVoiceModePref() now reads the pref into a local enabled variable and calls _deactivate() when !enabled && _voiceModeActive
  3. Remove duplicate window._applyVoiceModePref = _applyVoiceModePref assignment

Why It Matters

  • A running SpeechRecognition instance consumes microphone access and battery
  • The user can't stop it because the button is hidden — they'd have to reload the page
  • The _deactivate() function (line 706) properly cleans up: stops recognition, clears timers, restores TTS, resets UI state

Verification

  • _deactivate is a function declaration (hoisted) — safe to call from _applyVoiceModePref despite being defined later
  • 21/21 voice-mode-related tests pass (2 pre-existing failures in test_v050255_opus_followups.py are Python 3.9 int | None syntax, unrelated)
  • The pref toggle in Settings → Preferences calls window._applyVoiceModePref() via panels.js onchange handler — no changes needed there

Risks / Follow-ups

  • Risk: None. _deactivate() is already the standard cleanup path for voice mode (called on button click, error, etc.). Calling it from the pref toggle is the same code path.
  • Follow-up: None needed. The fix is complete and scoped to the exact bug.

Model Used

  • xiaomi/mimo-v2.5-pro (via Xiaomi MiMo)

fix: voice-mode pref toggle-off now stops the recognizer (nesquena#1491)
f32989d 
When a user disables 'Hands-free voice mode' in Settings while voice
mode is active, the button hides but the SpeechRecognition keeps
running — the user can't stop it because the button is invisible.

Fix: _applyVoiceModePref() now checks if voice mode is active and
calls _deactivate() when the pref is toggled off. Move
_voiceModeActive declaration above the function to avoid TDZ.

Also removes a duplicate window._applyVoiceModePref assignment.
@nesquena-hermes
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nesquena-hermes commented May 3, 2026

Confirmed the TDZ risk in static/boot.js:

  • _applyVoiceModePref() is defined at line 473
  • _applyVoiceModePref() is called at line 476
  • let _voiceModeActive=false is declared at line 480 — after the call

The call at line 476 happens to work today because the current body of _applyVoiceModePref() doesn't read _voiceModeActive — it only reads the pref and toggles button visibility. But the moment we add the deactivate-on-toggle-off logic this PR introduces, that read becomes a TDZ ReferenceError. Reordering the let declaration above the function is the correct prerequisite, not just hygiene.

Behavioral fix is right too: if the pref is toggled off while _voiceModeActive===true, calling _deactivate() is the only way to actually release the SpeechRecognition handle, the timers, and the mic permission. Without it the user has no way out short of a page reload — exactly the state #1491 describes.

Things I'll spot-check on review:

  1. _deactivate() hoisting — line ~706, declared as function _deactivate(){...} (function declaration, not arrow), so calling it from the now-earlier _applyVoiceModePref is safe via hoisting. Confirmed from the grep above (line 232 already calls window._voiceModeActive defensively).
  2. Duplicate window._applyVoiceModePref removal — there's an assignment at line 478. If this PR removes a later duplicate I want to make sure the line-478 export is still there for the Settings panel to bind against.
  3. Pref toggle-back-on path — when the user re-enables the pref, the button reappears but does the recognizer auto-start, or do they need to click it? The latter is more conservative; the former matches "session is still hands-free."

Pulling locally to verify on a live Settings → Preferences toggle. Thanks @franksong2702.

@nesquena-hermes nesquena-hermes mentioned this pull request May 3, 2026
Merged
@nesquena-hermes nesquena-hermes closed this pull request by merging all changes into nesquena:master in f8ed6da May 3, 2026
sunnysktsang pushed a commit to sunnysktsang/hermes-webui that referenced this pull request May 3, 2026
Merge PR nesquena#1518 by @franksong2702: voice-mode pref toggle-off …
6967965 
…stops the recognizer — closes nesquena#1491
sunnysktsang pushed a commit to sunnysktsang/hermes-webui that referenced this pull request May 3, 2026
release: stamp v0.50.279 \u2014 8-PR batch (sweep) + Opus MUST-FIX ab…
11cc493 
…sorbed

CHANGELOG, ROADMAP, TESTING bumped (3936 \u2192 3946).

8 constituent PRs:
- nesquena#1523 (@franksong2702) branch indicator codepoint fix
- nesquena#1519 (@franksong2702) onboarding API-key focus loss fix
- nesquena#1518 (@franksong2702) voice-mode toggle-off recognizer stop
- nesquena#1516 (@franksong2702) YAML newline CSS rules
- nesquena#1517 (@franksong2702) __CACHE_VERSION__ \u2192 __WEBUI_VERSION__ rename
- nesquena#1532 (@ai-ag2026) state.db WebUI session recovery
- nesquena#1525 (@ai-ag2026) stale stream state proactive cleanup
- nesquena#1526 (@ai-ag2026) max_tokens forwarding + OpenRouter quota classifier

Opus MUST-FIX absorbed: sw.js conflict-marker cleanup + regression guard.
Opus SHOULD-FIX deferred to follow-up nesquena#1533 (race in _clear_stale_stream_state).

2 closed as duplicates: nesquena#1528 (identical to nesquena#1517), nesquena#1529 (superseded by nesquena#1516).
1 maintainer-review label: nesquena#1531 (Asunfly stowaway change in force-push).
5 stay on hold: nesquena#1418 nesquena#1464 nesquena#1404 nesquena#1353 nesquena#1311.
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@franksong2702 @nesquena-hermes