Files
local-transcription/NEXT_STEPS.md
Josh Knapp 472233aec4 Initial commit: Local Transcription App v1.0
Phase 1 Complete - Standalone Desktop Application

Features:
- Real-time speech-to-text with Whisper (faster-whisper)
- PySide6 desktop GUI with settings dialog
- Web server for OBS browser source integration
- Audio capture with automatic sample rate detection and resampling
- Noise suppression with Voice Activity Detection (VAD)
- Configurable display settings (font, timestamps, fade duration)
- Settings apply without restart (with automatic model reloading)
- Auto-fade for web display transcriptions
- CPU/GPU support with automatic device detection
- Standalone executable builds (PyInstaller)
- CUDA build support (works on systems without CUDA hardware)

Components:
- Audio capture with sounddevice
- Noise reduction with noisereduce + webrtcvad
- Transcription with faster-whisper
- GUI with PySide6
- Web server with FastAPI + WebSocket
- Configuration system with YAML

Build System:
- Standard builds (CPU-only): build.sh / build.bat
- CUDA builds (universal): build-cuda.sh / build-cuda.bat
- Comprehensive BUILD.md documentation
- Cross-platform support (Linux, Windows)

Documentation:
- README.md with project overview and quick start
- BUILD.md with detailed build instructions
- NEXT_STEPS.md with future enhancement roadmap
- INSTALL.md with setup instructions

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
2025-12-25 18:48:23 -08:00

10 KiB

Next Steps for Local Transcription

This document outlines potential future enhancements and features for the Local Transcription application.

Current Status: Phase 1 Complete

The application currently has:

  • Desktop GUI with PySide6
  • Real-time transcription with Whisper (faster-whisper)
  • Audio capture with automatic sample rate detection and resampling
  • Noise suppression with Voice Activity Detection (VAD)
  • Web server for OBS browser source integration
  • Configurable display settings (font, timestamps, fade duration)
  • Settings apply without restart
  • Auto-fade for web display
  • Standalone executable builds for Linux and Windows
  • CUDA support (with automatic CPU fallback)

Phase 2: Multi-User Server Architecture (Optional)

If you want to enable multiple users to sync their transcriptions to a shared display:

Server Components

  1. WebSocket Server

    • Accept connections from multiple clients
    • Aggregate transcriptions from all connected users
    • Broadcast to web display clients
    • Handle user authentication/authorization
    • Rate limiting and abuse prevention
  2. Database/Storage (Optional)

    • Store transcription history
    • User management
    • Session logs for later review
    • Consider: SQLite, PostgreSQL, or Redis
  3. Web Admin Interface

    • Monitor connected clients
    • View active sessions
    • Manage users and permissions
    • Export transcription logs

Client Updates

  1. Server Sync Toggle

    • Enable/disable server sync in Settings
    • Server URL configuration
    • API key/authentication setup
    • Connection status indicator
  2. Network Handling

    • Auto-reconnect on connection loss
    • Queue transcriptions when offline
    • Sync when connection restored

Implementation Technologies

  • Server Framework: FastAPI (already used for web display)
  • WebSocket: Already integrated
  • Database: SQLAlchemy + SQLite/PostgreSQL
  • Deployment: Docker container for easy deployment

Estimated Effort: 2-3 weeks for full implementation


Phase 3: Enhanced Features

Transcription Improvements

  1. Multi-Language Support

    • Automatic language detection
    • Real-time language switching
    • Translation between languages
    • Per-user language settings
  2. Speaker Diarization

    • Detect and label different speakers
    • Use pyannote.audio or similar
    • Automatically assign speaker IDs
  3. Custom Vocabulary

    • Add gaming terms, streamer names
    • Technical jargon support
    • Proper noun correction
  4. Punctuation & Formatting

    • Automatic punctuation insertion
    • Sentence capitalization
    • Better text formatting

Display Enhancements

  1. Theme System

    • Light/dark themes
    • Custom color schemes
    • User-created themes (JSON/YAML)
    • Per-element styling
  2. Animation Options

    • Different fade effects
    • Slide in/out animations
    • Configurable transition speeds
    • Particle effects (optional)
  3. Layout Modes

    • Karaoke-style (word highlighting)
    • Ticker tape (scrolling bottom)
    • Multi-column for multiple users
    • Picture-in-picture mode
  4. Web Display Customization

    • CSS customization interface
    • Live preview in settings
    • Save/load custom styles
    • Community theme sharing

Audio Processing

  1. Advanced Noise Reduction

    • RNNoise integration
    • Custom noise profiles
    • Adaptive filtering
    • Echo cancellation
  2. Audio Effects

    • Equalization presets
    • Compression/normalization
    • Voice enhancement filters
  3. Multi-Input Support

    • Multiple microphones simultaneously
    • Virtual audio cable integration
    • Audio routing/mixing

Phase 4: Integration & Automation

OBS Integration

  1. OBS Plugin (Advanced)

    • Native OBS plugin instead of browser source
    • Lower resource usage
    • Better performance
    • Tighter integration
  2. Scene Integration

    • Auto-show/hide based on speech
    • Integrate with OBS scene switcher
    • Hotkey support

Streaming Platform Integration

  1. Twitch Integration

    • Send captions to Twitch chat
    • Twitch API integration
    • Custom Twitch bot
  2. YouTube Integration

    • Live caption upload
    • YouTube API integration
  3. Discord Integration

    • Send transcriptions to Discord webhook
    • Discord bot for voice chat transcription

Automation

  1. Hotkey Support

    • Global hotkeys for start/stop
    • Toggle display visibility
    • Quick settings access
  2. Voice Commands

    • "Hey Transcription, start/stop"
    • Command detection in audio stream
    • Configurable wake words
  3. Auto-Start Options

    • Start with OBS
    • Start on system boot
    • Auto-detect streaming software

Phase 5: Advanced Features

AI Enhancements

  1. Summarization

    • Real-time conversation summaries
    • Key point extraction
    • Topic detection
  2. Sentiment Analysis

    • Detect tone/emotion
    • Highlight important moments
    • Filter profanity (optional)
  3. Context Awareness

    • Remember conversation context
    • Better transcription accuracy
    • Adaptive vocabulary

Analytics & Insights

  1. Usage Statistics

    • Words per minute
    • Speaking time per user
    • Most common words/phrases
    • Accuracy metrics
  2. Export Options

    • Export to SRT/VTT for video captions
    • PDF/Word document export
    • CSV for data analysis
    • JSON API for custom tools
  3. Search & Filter

    • Search transcription history
    • Filter by user, date, keyword
    • Highlight search results

Accessibility

  1. Screen Reader Support

    • Full NVDA/JAWS compatibility
    • Keyboard navigation
    • Voice feedback
  2. High Contrast Modes

    • Enhanced visibility options
    • Color blind friendly palettes
  3. Text-to-Speech

    • Read back transcriptions
    • Multiple voice options
    • Speed control

Performance Optimizations

Current Considerations

  1. Model Optimization

    • Quantization (int8, int4)
    • Smaller model variants
    • TensorRT optimization (NVIDIA)
    • ONNX Runtime support
  2. Caching

    • Cache common phrases
    • Model warm-up on startup
    • Preload frequently used resources
  3. Resource Management

    • Dynamic batch sizing
    • Memory pooling
    • Thread pool optimization

Future Optimizations

  1. Distributed Processing

    • Offload to cloud GPU
    • Share processing across multiple machines
    • Load balancing
  2. Edge Computing

    • Run on edge devices (Raspberry Pi)
    • Mobile app support
    • Embedded systems

Community Features

Sharing & Collaboration

  1. Theme Marketplace

    • Share custom themes
    • Download community themes
    • Rating system
  2. Plugin System

    • Allow community plugins
    • Custom audio filters
    • Display widgets
    • Integration modules
  3. Documentation

    • Video tutorials
    • Wiki/knowledge base
    • API documentation
    • Developer guides

User Support

  1. In-App Help

    • Contextual help tooltips
    • Getting started wizard
    • Troubleshooting guide
  2. Community Forum

    • GitHub Discussions
    • Discord server
    • Reddit community

Technical Debt & Maintenance

Code Quality

  1. Testing

    • Unit tests for core modules
    • Integration tests
    • End-to-end tests
    • Performance benchmarks
  2. Documentation

    • API documentation
    • Code comments
    • Architecture diagrams
    • Developer setup guide
  3. CI/CD

    • Automated builds
    • Automated testing
    • Release automation
    • Cross-platform testing

Security

  1. Security Audits

    • Dependency scanning
    • Vulnerability assessment
    • Code security review
  2. Data Privacy

    • Local-first by default
    • Optional cloud features
    • GDPR compliance (if applicable)
    • Clear privacy policy

Immediate Quick Wins

These are small enhancements that could be implemented quickly:

Easy (< 1 day)

  • Add application icon
  • Add "About" dialog with version info
  • Add keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+S for settings, etc.)
  • Add system tray icon
  • Save window position/size
  • Add "Check for Updates" feature
  • Export transcriptions to text file

Medium (1-3 days)

  • Add profanity filter (optional)
  • Add confidence score display
  • Add audio level meter
  • Multiple language support in UI
  • Dark/light theme toggle
  • Backup/restore settings
  • Recent transcriptions history

Larger (1+ weeks)

  • Cloud sync for settings
  • Mobile companion app
  • Browser extension
  • API server mode
  • Plugin architecture
  • Advanced audio visualization

Resources & References

Documentation

Similar Projects

Community

  • Create GitHub Discussions for feature requests
  • Set up issue templates
  • Contributing guidelines
  • Code of conduct

Decision Log

Track major architectural decisions here:

2025-12-25: PyInstaller for Distribution

  • Decision: Use PyInstaller for creating standalone executables
  • Rationale: Good PySide6 support, active development, cross-platform
  • Alternatives Considered: cx_Freeze, Nuitka, py2exe
  • Impact: Users can run without Python installation

2025-12-25: CUDA Build Strategy

  • Decision: Provide CUDA-enabled builds that bundle CUDA runtime
  • Rationale: Universal builds work everywhere, automatic GPU detection
  • Trade-off: Larger file size (~600MB extra) for better UX
  • Impact: Single build for both GPU and CPU users

2025-12-25: Web Server Always Running

  • Decision: Remove enable/disable toggle, always run web server
  • Rationale: Simplifies UX, no configuration needed for OBS
  • Impact: Uses one local port (8080 by default), minimal overhead

Contact & Contribution

When this project is public:

  • Issues: Report bugs and request features on GitHub Issues
  • Pull Requests: Contributions welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md
  • Discussions: Join GitHub Discussions for questions and ideas
  • License: [To be determined - consider MIT or Apache 2.0]

Last Updated: 2025-12-25 Version: 1.0.0 (Phase 1 Complete)