cjpais/Handy · error · anyhow::Error

Cohere transcription failed: {}

Error message

Cohere transcription failed: {}

What it means

CohereModel::transcribe failed during ONNX inference. Handy maps the validated language through normalize_cjk_language and builds TranscribeOptions { language, ..default }; the transcribe-rs call then returns an ONNX Runtime error such as session run failure, provider fault, degenerate input, or damaged artifacts. The engine is returned to the slot on the normal-error path, so it stays loaded.

Source

Thrown at src-tauri/src/managers/transcription.rs:1404

                            .transcribe(&audio, &options)
                            .map(|r| r.text)
                            .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("Canary transcription failed: {}", e))
                    }
                    LoadedEngine::Cohere(cohere_engine) => {
                        let lang = if validated_language == "auto" {
                            None
                        } else {
                            Some(normalize_cjk_language(&validated_language).to_string())
                        };
                        applied_language_hint = lang.clone();
                        let options = TranscribeOptions {
                            language: lang,
                            ..Default::default()
                        };
                        cohere_engine
                            .transcribe(&audio, &options)
                            .map(|r| r.text)
                            .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("Cohere transcription failed: {}", e))
                    }
                }
            }));

            let text = match transcribe_result {
                Ok(inner_result) => {
                    // Success or normal error: return the engine unless a model
                    // switch/unload invalidated it while it was in use.
                    self.return_engine(engine, &active_model);
                    inner_result?
                }
                Err(panic_payload) => {
                    // Engine panicked — do NOT put it back (it's in an unknown state).
                    // The engine is dropped here, effectively unloading it.
                    let panic_msg = panic_payload_message(panic_payload.as_ref());
                    error!(
                        "Transcription engine panicked: {}. Model has been unloaded.",
                        panic_msg

View on GitHub (pinned to 98a4d80cce)

Solutions

1. Retry the recording to clear transient faults
2. Set language to auto and retry to rule out language-head mismatch
3. Re-download the Cohere model if failures persist
4. Reduce memory/GPU load and retry
5. Update Handy for ort/transcribe-rs alignment

Example fix

// before
let r = cohere_engine.transcribe(&audio, &options)?;

// after — drop the language hint and retry when a hinted run fails
let r = match cohere_engine.transcribe(&audio, &options) {
    Ok(r) => r,
    Err(e) if options.language.is_some() => {
        warn!("Cohere failed with language hint ({}), retrying auto", e);
        cohere_engine.transcribe(&audio, &TranscribeOptions::default())?
    }
    Err(e) => return Err(anyhow::anyhow!("Cohere transcription failed: {}", e)),
};

anyhow::ensure!(audio.len() >= 1600, "audio too short for Cohere");
anyhow::ensure!(audio.iter().all(|s| s.is_finite()), "non-finite audio");
// Language is normalized via normalize_cjk_language; 'auto' passes None

match tm.transcribe(audio.clone()) {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("Cohere transcription failed") && selected_language != "auto" => {
        set_language("auto"); tm.transcribe(audio)
    }
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("Cohere transcription failed") => reDownloadModel_and_retry(&model_id, audio),
    other => other,
}

When it happens

Trigger: cohere_engine.transcribe(&audio, &options) errors: ORT session run failure; audio too short post-VAD; language tensor rejected by the model build; corrupt/missing Int8 artifacts; OOM during inference.

Common situations: Short recordings reduced by VAD; language selection the Cohere build does not carry; partial downloads or AV quarantine; memory pressure; provider/runtime version drift after updates.

Related errors

• SenseVoice transcription failed: {}
• Failed to load cohere model {}: {}
• Parakeet transcription failed: {}
• Moonshine transcription failed: {}
• Moonshine streaming transcription failed: {}

AI-assisted analysis of cjpais/Handy@98a4d80cce (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7a09abdd6c2d18e2. Report an issue: GitHub.