cjpais/Handy · critical

Failed to initialize recording manager

Error message

Failed to initialize recording manager

What it means

Startup panic when AudioRecordingManager::new returns Err. This manager wires the transcription stream router into a fresh audio recorder; failure means the audio recording subsystem could not be assembled at startup. Missing microphones do NOT fail here — device absence surfaces later at record time as 'No input device found' — so this expect indicates structural init failure.

Solutions

1. Get the panic backtrace (RUST_BACKTRACE=1) and map it to the fallible call inside AudioRecordingManager::new
2. If running under a container/CI, raise process/thread limits or move to a desktop session with a functioning audio stack
3. Verify basic host initialization with handy --list-devices — if that also fails, the audio stack itself is broken

// Sanity-check that the audio host initializes at all before managers depend on it
let host_ok = crate::audio_toolkit::get_cpal_host().default_input_device().is_some()
    || crate::audio_toolkit::get_cpal_host().input_devices().is_ok();

When it happens

Trigger: initialize_core_logic constructing the recording manager at launch; any fallible step inside AudioRecordingManager::new (managers/audio.rs) returning Err, such as audio toolkit initialization or thread spawn.

Common situations: Rare; reported in heavily sandboxed processes or containers where thread creation or audio-host initialization fails, and in custom builds that added fallible init to the recorder.

Related errors

• Failed to initialize transcription manager
• error while building tauri application
• failed to create cancel item
• failed to create menu
• failed to create model item

AI-assisted analysis of cjpais/Handy@ba10ce1943 (2026-08-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/50390ba7407929b7. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src-tauri/src/lib.rs:203

fn initialize_core_logic(app_handle: &AppHandle) {
    // Note: Enigo (keyboard/mouse simulation) is NOT initialized here.
    // The frontend is responsible for calling the `initialize_enigo` command
    // after onboarding completes. This avoids triggering permission dialogs
    // on macOS before the user is ready.

    // Initialize the managers. The audio recorder receives the streaming router
    // explicitly, so always-on microphone startup can wire live-preview frames
    // even before Tauri state is populated.
    let model_manager =
        Arc::new(ModelManager::new(app_handle).expect("Failed to initialize model manager"));
    let transcription_manager = Arc::new(
        TranscriptionManager::new(app_handle, model_manager.clone())
            .expect("Failed to initialize transcription manager"),
    );
    let recording_manager = Arc::new(
        AudioRecordingManager::new(app_handle, transcription_manager.stream_router())
            .expect("Failed to initialize recording manager"),
    );
    let history_manager =
        Arc::new(HistoryManager::new(app_handle).expect("Failed to initialize history manager"));

    // Initialize the transcribe-cpp native backend (logging + backend module
    // registration) once, before any whisper model is loaded.
    managers::transcription::init_transcribe_backend();

    // Apply accelerator preferences before any model loads
    managers::transcription::apply_accelerator_settings(app_handle);

    // Add managers to Tauri's managed state
    app_handle.manage(recording_manager.clone());
    app_handle.manage(model_manager.clone());
    app_handle.manage(transcription_manager.clone());
    app_handle.manage(history_manager.clone());
    app_handle.manage(tray::TrayState::new());

View on GitHub (pinned to ba10ce1943)