Fix mic visibility and whisper venv persistence in packaged builds

- Move Whisper venv from process.cwd() to app.getPath('userData') so it
  survives app restarts and works in packaged/installer builds
- Add userData venv candidate in speech service fallback probing
- Reinitialize speech service and broadcast availability when onboarding completes
- Add main-window-ready handshake so hidden overlay receives speech state after first-run
- Guard mic click to refresh availability when speech is not actually ready

Author: TechyCSR

main.js

@@ -407,6 +407,20 @@ class ApplicationController {
       }, 1000);
     });
 
+    ipcMain.on("main-window-ready", () => {
+      // Re-check availability whenever the main overlay finishes loading;
+      // this covers first-run where the window was hidden during onboarding.
+      this.speechAvailable = speechService.isAvailable
+        ? speechService.isAvailable()
+        : false;
+      const { BrowserWindow } = require("electron");
+      BrowserWindow.getAllWindows().forEach((win) => {
+        if (!win.isDestroyed()) {
+          win.webContents.send("speech-availability", { available: this.speechAvailable });
+        }
+      });
+    });
+
     ipcMain.on("test-chat-window", () => {
       windowManager.broadcastToAllWindows("transcription-received", {
         text: "🧪 IMMEDIATE TEST: Chat window IPC communication test successful!",
@@ -628,13 +642,16 @@ class ApplicationController {
       try {
         this.firstRunManager.markCompleted();
         this.isFirstRun = false;
+        // Reinitialize speech service with the latest persisted settings
+        // so the mic button reflects the provider/command set during onboarding.
+        speechService.initializeClient();
+        this.speechAvailable = speechService.isAvailable
+          ? speechService.isAvailable()
+          : false;
         // Show the main overlay window now that onboarding is done
         // and API keys are configured.
         await windowManager.showMainWindow();
         // Broadcast speech availability so the mic button appears
-        this.speechAvailable = speechService.isAvailable
-          ? speechService.isAvailable()
-          : false;
         const { BrowserWindow } = require("electron");
         BrowserWindow.getAllWindows().forEach((win) => {
           if (!win.isDestroyed()) {
@@ -1284,8 +1301,10 @@ class ApplicationController {
   getWhisperInstaller() {
     if (!this._whisperInstaller) {
       const WhisperInstaller = require("./src/core/whisper-installer");
+      const { app } = require("electron");
       this._whisperInstaller = new WhisperInstaller({
         cwd: process.cwd(),
+        dataDir: app.getPath("userData"),
         platform: process.platform,
       });
     }

preload.js

@@ -60,6 +60,13 @@ contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld('electronAPI', {
   updateActiveSkill: (skill) => ipcRenderer.invoke('update-active-skill', skill),
   restartAppForStealth: () => ipcRenderer.invoke('restart-app-for-stealth'),
   closeWindow: () => ipcRenderer.invoke('close-window'),
+  notifyMainWindowReady: () => {
+    try {
+      ipcRenderer.send('main-window-ready');
+    } catch (error) {
+      console.error('Error notifying main window ready:', error);
+    }
+  },
   quit: () => {
     try {
       ipcRenderer.send('quit-app');

src/core/whisper-installer.js

@@ -126,6 +126,10 @@ function runExec(cmd, args, { timeout = PROBE_TIMEOUT_MS, onProgress } = {}) {
 class WhisperInstaller {
   constructor(options = {}) {
     this.cwd = options.cwd || process.cwd();
+    // Persistent data directory for the virtual environment. In packaged
+    // builds process.cwd() is not stable (AppImage mount dirs change,
+    // system install dirs may be read-only), so we default to userData.
+    this.dataDir = options.dataDir || this.cwd;
     this.platform = options.platform || process.platform;
     this.runExec = options.runExec || runExec;
   }
@@ -135,7 +139,7 @@ class WhisperInstaller {
   // ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
   get venvPath() {
-    return path.join(this.cwd, '.venv-whisper');
+    return path.join(this.dataDir, '.venv-whisper');
   }
 
   /**

src/services/speech.service.js

@@ -992,6 +992,27 @@ class SpeechService extends EventEmitter {
     return value === '' ? null : value;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Build a whisper candidate pointing at the app-local venv inside
+   * Electron's userData directory. This is where the onboarding installer
+   * creates the venv in packaged builds.
+   */
+  _getUserDataWhisperCandidate() {
+    try {
+      const { app } = require('electron');
+      const userData = app.getPath('userData');
+      const binDir = process.platform === 'win32' ? 'Scripts' : 'bin';
+      const ext = process.platform === 'win32' ? '.exe' : '';
+      const python = path.join(userData, '.venv-whisper', binDir, `python${ext}`);
+      if (fs.existsSync(python)) {
+        return { command: python, baseArgs: ['-m', 'whisper'] };
+      }
+    } catch (_) {
+      // electron may not be available in unit tests
+    }
+    return null;
+  }
+
   _resolveWhisperCommand() {
     const configured = this._getSetting('whisperCommand') || process.env.WHISPER_COMMAND;
     const candidates = [];
@@ -1000,6 +1021,12 @@ class SpeechService extends EventEmitter {
       candidates.push(...this._expandConfiguredWhisperCandidates(configured));
     }
 
+    // Persistent app venv (highest priority after explicit config)
+    const userDataVenv = this._getUserDataWhisperCandidate();
+    if (userDataVenv) {
+      candidates.push({ ...userDataVenv, source: 'app userData venv' });
+    }
+
     // Platform-aware fallback candidates (higher priority = tried first)
     candidates.push({ command: 'whisper', baseArgs: [], source: 'system PATH' });
     if (process.platform === 'win32') {

src/ui/main-window.js

@@ -49,6 +49,12 @@ class MainWindowUI {
                 skill: this.currentSkill,
                 interactive: this.isInteractive
             });
+
+            // Notify the main process that the overlay renderer is ready
+            // so it can push the latest speech availability state.
+            if (window.electronAPI && window.electronAPI.notifyMainWindowReady) {
+                window.electronAPI.notifyMainWindowReady();
+            }
 
         } catch (error) {
             logger.error('Failed to initialize main window UI', {
@@ -301,12 +307,17 @@ class MainWindowUI {
 
         // Add click handler for microphone
         this.micButton.addEventListener('click', () => {
-            if (this.isInteractive) {
+            if (this.isInteractive && this.speechAvailable) {
                 if (this.isRecording) {
                     window.electronAPI.stopSpeechRecognition();
                 } else {
                     window.electronAPI.startSpeechRecognition();
                 }
+            } else if (this.isInteractive && !this.speechAvailable) {
+                logger.warn('Mic clicked but speech recognition is not available', {
+                    component: 'MainWindowUI'
+                });
+                this.loadSpeechAvailability();
             }
         });