Default to capturing mic + all system audio. - #39
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Pull request overview
Updates ownscribe’s out-of-the-box audio capture behavior to better match the primary “record a meeting you’re in” use case by enabling microphone capture and recording all system audio without prompting by default, while adding an explicit CLI opt-out.
Changes:
- Change default audio config to
mic = trueandcapture_mode = "all"(avoids missing the user’s own voice and avoids the source picker prompt). - Update CLI to support
--mic/--no-micand to reject the--no-mic+--mic-devicecombination. - Refresh tests and README examples to reflect the new defaults and flags.
Reviewed changes
Copilot reviewed 6 out of 6 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.
Show a summary per file
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| tests/test_pipeline.py | Updates recorder-construction expectations to match new default mic + capture mode. |
| tests/test_config.py | Adjusts default-config assertions for mic and capture_mode. |
| tests/test_cli.py | Updates CLI parsing tests for --no-mic and adds coverage for invalid flag combinations. |
| src/ownscribe/config.py | Changes default audio settings in both TOML template and dataclass defaults. |
| src/ownscribe/cli.py | Implements --mic/--no-mic tri-state override behavior and validates incompatible combinations. |
| README.md | Updates usage examples and config snippet to match the new default capture behavior. |
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| if mic is False and mic_device: | ||
| raise click.UsageError("--no-mic and --mic-device cannot be used together.") | ||
| if mic is not None: | ||
| config.audio.mic = mic | ||
| if mic_device: | ||
| config.audio.mic = True | ||
| config.audio.mic_device = mic_device |
| 1. Capture system audio and your microphone until you press Ctrl+C (or auto-stop after 5 minutes of silence) | ||
| 2. Transcribe with WhisperX | ||
| 3. Summarize with your local LLM | ||
| 4. Save everything to `~/ownscribe/YYYY-MM-DD_HHMMSS/` |
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| def test_no_mic_flag(self): | ||
| runner = CliRunner() | ||
| with _mock_config(), mock.patch("ownscribe.pipeline.run_pipeline") as mock_run: | ||
| result = runner.invoke(cli, ["--mic"]) | ||
| result = runner.invoke(cli, ["--no-mic"]) | ||
| assert result.exit_code == 0 | ||
| config = mock_run.call_args[0][0] | ||
| assert config.audio.mic is True | ||
| assert config.audio.mic is False |
paberr
requested changes
Jul 21, 2026
paberr
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paberr
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Owner
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Thanks a lot for the work!
Besides the Copilot & my comments, I think the README needs some updating:
- line 45 still mentions the old default and
--mic - I'm not sure if the permissions described in 68 are still correct or if there's a microphone prompt too?
- The mute hint "press 'm'" is on the
--no-micexample where it doesn't actually apply.
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| if mic is False and mic_device: | ||
| raise click.UsageError("--no-mic and --mic-device cannot be used together.") | ||
| if mic is not None: | ||
| config.audio.mic = mic |
Owner
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Blocking: I think --no-mic doesn't actually disable the mic when mic_device is set in config.toml:
--no-micsetsconfig.audio.mic = False, butconfig.audio.mic_devicekeeps its value from the config file.CoreAudioRecorder.start()re-enables the mic from the device name alone (if self._mic or self._mic_device: cmd.append("--mic")).- So the helper is still launched with
--mic --mic-device "USB Mic"and we record the mic anyway.
Possible fix: clear config.audio.mic_device when --no-mic is given, e.g.
if mic is not None:
config.audio.mic = mic
if mic is False:
config.audio.mic_device = ""(same as CoPilot's comment below I just noticed)
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| def test_no_mic_flag(self): | ||
| runner = CliRunner() | ||
| with _mock_config(), mock.patch("ownscribe.pipeline.run_pipeline") as mock_run: | ||
| result = runner.invoke(cli, ["--mic"]) | ||
| result = runner.invoke(cli, ["--no-mic"]) | ||
| assert result.exit_code == 0 | ||
| config = mock_run.call_args[0][0] | ||
| assert config.audio.mic is True | ||
| assert config.audio.mic is False |
Owner
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Two small things on the tests here, non-blocking:
- With
test_mic_flagrenamed, we no longer test that an explicit--micoverridesmic = falsefrom the config file. Maybe keep a--mictest next to the--no-micone? - There's also no test that
--mic-devicealone impliesmic = True— that implication now sits on its own line incli.pyand could regress silently.
Once the mic_device interaction above is fixed, a test for config-set mic_device + --no-mic would be a nice-to-have too.
Most users record meetings they're participating in, so mic=true and capture_mode="all" out of the box avoids missing your own audio and skips the source picker prompt. --no-mic allows opting-out. With --no-mic, --mic-device is rejected, as there's no sensible behavior for this combination. Fix paberr#36.
The helper was started with --mic whenever a mic_device was set, so --no-mic (or mic = false in config.toml) still recorded the microphone when a device name remained configured. The device name now only applies while mic capture is on.
Cover the mute key and --no-mic where the mic is mentioned, add the Microphone permission macOS now asks for, and fix the output directory name, which is YYYY-MM-DD_HHMM plus the title slug.
Capturing the mic by default means an unavailable microphone stops the whole recording, so name the flag that gets the run going again.
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Owner
|
Thanks a lot again @aaugustin ! I just had some time and put out the remaining fixes myself. |
Contributor
Author
|
Thank you! Apologies for dropping the ball, I went down a rabbit hole in another open source project of mine in the recent weeks. |
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Most users record meetings they're participating in, so mic=true and
capture_mode="all" out of the box avoids missing your own audio and
skips the source picker prompt.
--no-mic allows opting-out. With --no-mic, --mic-device is rejected,
as there's no sensible behavior for this combination.
Fix #36.