What causes "CrispASR exited with code {process.ExitCode}: {Error}" in SubtitleEdit/subtitleedit?

Run the exact CrispASR command from the error's stderr manually in a terminal to see the native error.

SubtitleEdit/subtitleedit · error · Exception

CrispASR exited with code {process.ExitCode}: {Error}

Error message

CrispASR exited with code {process.ExitCode}: {Error}

What it means

Thrown after the CrispASR command-line process (madlad backend) exits with a non-zero code. The executable and model paths are validated earlier (lines 47-57), so this fires only when the process launched successfully but failed at runtime. The captured stderr is appended to the message.

Source

Thrown at src/libuilogic/AutoTranslate/CrispAsrMadladTranslate.cs:131

                        {
                            process.Kill();
                        }
                    }
                    catch
                    {
                        // ignore - process may have already exited
                    }

                    exitedSource.TrySetCanceled();
                }))
                {
                    await exitedSource.Task.ConfigureAwait(false);
                }

                if (process.ExitCode != 0)
                {
                    Error = errorBuilder.ToString().Trim();
                    throw new Exception($"CrispASR exited with code {process.ExitCode}: {Error}");
                }

                return outputBuilder.ToString().Trim();
            }
        }

        private static List<TranslationPair> ListLanguages()
        {
            var result = new List<TranslationPair>();
            var seen = new HashSet<string>();
            foreach (var culture in Utilities.GetSubtitleLanguageCultures(false))
            {
                if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(culture.TwoLetterISOLanguageName) && seen.Add(culture.TwoLetterISOLanguageName))
                {
                    result.Add(new TranslationPair(culture.EnglishName, culture.TwoLetterISOLanguageName));
                }
            }

View on GitHub (pinned to 17a9f07487)

Solutions

Run the exact CrispASR command from the error's stderr manually in a terminal to see the native error.
Verify the model file matches the CrispASR version (re-download via the Download button).
Confirm the source/target language codes are valid two-letter ISO 639-1 codes supported by MADLAD-400.
Install required runtime dependencies (CUDA toolkit, Visual C++ Redistributable on Windows).
Shorten the input text (MaxCharacters is 1000) and retry.

Example fix

// before
Error = errorBuilder.ToString().Trim();
throw new Exception($"CrispASR exited with code {process.ExitCode}: {Error}");

// after - surface exit code distinctly and log stderr for diagnostics
Error = errorBuilder.ToString().Trim();
SeLogger.Error($"CrispASR exited with code {process.ExitCode}. Args: {startInfo.Arguments}. Stderr: {Error}");
throw new Exception($"CrispASR exited with code {process.ExitCode}: {Error}", new InvalidOperationException(Error));

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

// Validate inputs before launching the process
if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(_executablePath) || !File.Exists(_executablePath))
    throw new InvalidOperationException("CrispASR executable path is invalid: " + _executablePath);
if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(_modelPath) || !File.Exists(_modelPath))
    throw new InvalidOperationException("CrispASR model path is invalid: " + _modelPath);
if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(sourceLanguageCode) || string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(targetLanguageCode))
    throw new ArgumentException("Source and target language codes must be set.");
if (text.Length > MaxCharacters)
    throw new ArgumentException($"Input text ({text.Length} chars) exceeds MaxCharacters ({MaxCharacters}).");

Type guard

public static bool IsCrispAsrReady(string exePath, string modelPath) =>
    !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(exePath) && File.Exists(exePath) &&
    !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(modelPath) && File.Exists(modelPath);

Try / catch

try
{
    return await translator.Translate(text, src, tgt, token);
}
catch (Exception ex) when (ex.Message.Contains("CrispASR exited with code"))
{
    // Surface stderr to the user; offer to re-download the model or check language codes
    logger.Error(ex, "CrispASR failed: {Message}");
    throw new InvalidOperationException("CrispASR runtime failure - check the model, language codes, and dependencies.", ex);
}

Prevention

Run CrispASR manually once after install to confirm the runtime deps and model load.
Pre-validate language codes against the model's supported set before batch translation.
Chunk input under MaxCharacters (1000) to avoid token-budget crashes.
Log the full command line + stderr on every CrispASR failure for fast triage.

When it happens

Trigger: Translate() spawns CrispASR with args --backend madlad, a model path, the source/target language codes, and the trimmed input text; the process runs to completion but process.ExitCode != 0. Also fires when the CancellationToken triggers process.Kill() and the exit code is non-zero on some platforms.

Common situations: Missing CUDA/runtime DLLs on Windows; a corrupted or wrong-architecture model file; language codes CrispASR does not accept (it expects ISO codes the MADLAD model knows); input text exceeding the model's token budget; antivirus blocking the executable mid-run; permission denied reading the model.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of SubtitleEdit/subtitleedit@17a9f07487 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/999b2afc75efc701. Report an issue: GitHub.