Previously _build_backgrounds ran two parallel Sonnet calls of 6
callers each, with zero cross-batch awareness. Each batch independently
gravitated to the same quirky archetypes (Coast to Coast weirdos,
specific hobbies) and produced clustered rosters — one recent show
had two BBQ competitors, two taxidermists, and two conspiracy-pattern
callers across 10 slots.
Collapses to a single Sonnet call generating all 10 at once so the
model can self-diversify across the full roster. The BATCH_SYSTEM_PROMPT
also gets an explicit ANTI-COLLISION RULE with concrete forbidden
examples (no two BBQ competitors, no two taxidermists, no two mystery-
signal callers, etc.) and an instruction to scan output for collisions
before finalizing.
max_tokens bumped 8000 -> 16000 to accommodate the larger response.
Wall-clock cost: ~30s -> ~60s, acceptable for the diversity gain.
Verified on a fresh reset: 10 fully differentiated callers, zero
archetype collisions.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Brings in the Phase 5B caller-generation rewrite:
- Slim two-stage pipeline: Sonnet 4.6 batch identity pregen at session
start, Haiku 4.5 live dialog per turn. Deletes CallerBackground
dataclass, shape/style/voice-matching, per-model routing, preflight UI.
- New caller_gen.py (slim prompt builder) and regulars_v2.py (Obsidian
lore loader for named recurring callers).
- Reworked caller buttons and info panel around the slim background:
identity, situation, signature, secret want. Removes shape badges,
energy dots, emotion info-badges.
- Inworld TTS: emotional_register -> (temperature, speed_adjust) mapping
via _emotional_register_to_params(). applyTextNormalization ON.
- Silas identity/voice leak fix, avatar gender, pre-warm batch gen.
- Archives old regulars to data/regulars.archived.json, adds 10 sample
caller transcripts under docs/samples/.
Post-merge fixes applied during resolution:
- intern.py: kept main's richer new_show() (NEW SHOW history marker,
trim, _save()) and _track_suggestion(); removed the branch's
duplicate minimal new_show() stub.
- tts.py: added 5 voice speed overrides (Graham, Malcolm, Victoria,
Loretta, Marlene) that main had tuned locally. Evelyn deliberately
NOT added to VOICE_PROFILES — she is in BLACKLISTED_VOICES for
unnatural prosody.
- Main's cost dashboard polish, LLM per-model params, and Devon show
context memory from commits c087c03..61b3cba carried through cleanly.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Adds new_show() that inserts a NEW SHOW marker into Devon's history
so he won't reference previous episodes' callers or topics, trims
older history while keeping some long-term memory, and clears
research_cache + pending suggestions. Buffered suggestions are now
tracked in history via _track_suggestion() so Devon won't suggest
the same thing twice. Devon history scoped to current show on ask.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Different models need different tuning for natural conversation:
Qwen gets high frequency penalty to fight repetition loops, Llama
gets warmer temp to reduce terseness, Grok/Mistral/DeepSeek/Kimi get
slightly warmer than Sonnet defaults. Bumps base httpx timeout from
10s to 30s and fallback per-call timeout from 8s to 20s.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Adds /api/costs/tts endpoint backed by get_tts_providers() in cost_db,
surfaces a Costs link in the control panel header, and small polish
to the costs page HTML/JS.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
session.caller was reading name/voice from CALLER_BASES randomized defaults
instead of the slim bg dict — causing Silas to appear as "Earl" with wrong
voice. Now prefers bg data when populated.
Also: avatar endpoint infers gender from voice pool, /api/callers returns bg
name, regulars get canonical voice force-locked, batch gen splits into two
parallel calls with pre-warm so subsequent resets are instant.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Changes to backend/services/tts.py:
- Add temperature: 0.9 and applyTextNormalization: "ON" to Inworld payload
(text normalization auto-speaks "$5,432", "Dr.", phone numbers, dates, etc.)
- Add _emotional_register_to_params() mapping caller's emotional_register
to (temperature, speed_adjust) across 5 families: sadness/grief,
anger/aggression, manic/excited, nervous/earnest, gruff/restrained.
- generate_speech_inworld() and generate_speech() now accept optional
emotional_register kwarg; all providers take it via the dispatch lambdas
(only inworld uses it; others ignore)
- Clamp speed to 0.5-1.5 after both emotional-register and per-text adjustments
In backend/main.py: plumb emotional_register through the two caller-dialog
TTS calls (auto-respond and ai-respond) by reading from the slim caller
background dict. Devon and cohost/announcer calls pass empty string and
hit the default (0.9, 0.0) branch — no behavior change.
Session.reset() calls intern_service.new_show() to reset per-show state,
but the method was never defined (added in 376265e without the impl).
Clears pending_interjection, pending_sources, and research_cache.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Each LLM/TTS call now writes to both in-memory records and SQLite
via cost_db. Session totals updated on save(). All DB writes wrapped
in try/except to never break live shows.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Add check_same_thread=False for background thread access
- Add standalone timestamp index for non-session queries
- Join to sessions table for consistent period filtering in get_models/categories/expensive_calls
- Wrap record imports in try/except with .get() for timestamp
- Add avg_cost_per_session to get_summary()
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Devon: more conversational when addressed directly (500 tokens, 3-5 sentences)
- Devon: monitor prompt rewritten to encourage more contributions
- Devon: polling interval 15s (was 30s), removed 2-message minimum
- Whisper: no fuzzy name matching for 3-char names, require first letter match
- fetch_music.py: post-fetch vocal detection filter using musicinfo tags
- scan_music_vocals.py: new script to scan existing library for vocal tracks
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Remove caller names from Whisper hint (was corrupting transcriptions)
- Background gen switched to Claude Sonnet 4.6 (cheap models = thin backgrounds)
- "WHAT MAKES A GOOD CALLER" rewritten with concrete examples
- Grok guardrails loosened (were cutting too much edge)
- Response length guidance added to caller prompt
- Retry under-20-word responses once for more detail
- Devon monitor softened from "default silence" to balanced
- Ban stalling phrases: "where was I", "as I was saying", etc.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The 2+ requirement created a catch-22: regulars couldn't return because they
needed 2 calls, but couldn't get a second call without returning. Dynamic
count already prevents flooding.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Style-matched defaults:
- Grok 4.1 Fast for edgy callers (high_energy, confrontational, comedian etc.)
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 for emotional callers (quiet_nervous, sweet_earnest, emotional)
- Mistral Large 2512 for deadpan/mysterious/world-weary
- DeepSeek R1 Distill for storyteller/oversharer/conspiracy/rambler
- Gemini 2.5 Flash for know_it_all
- Llama 3.3 70B for first_time/reluctant callers
Category routing: Grok 4.1 Fast for dialog/devon/backgrounds, Gemini Flash for monitor/summary
Updated OPENROUTER_MODELS and OPENROUTER_PRICING with all new models
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Devon audio independent of caller hangup (separate stop events)
- Personal anecdotes capped at ~30% of responses (was every time)
- Interjection criteria tightened ("default is silence")
- Devon sees his own recent history to avoid repeating info
- Response variety: permits minimal reactions, confusion, silence
- Monitor prompt rewritten to be gatekeeping, not encouraging
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Avatar prefetch checks gender marker, re-fetches on mismatch
- Returning callers need 2+ actual calls before re-eligible (was 1)
- Promotion rate lowered 10% → 5% to prevent pool flooding
- Callback injection skipped for returning callers (already have context)
- Show history clarifies "you are NOT that caller" to prevent identity confusion
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Three strategies: single model, cycle through pool, style-matched
- 18 communication styles mapped to 7 models (Grok, Sonnet, Mistral, Qwen, DeepSeek, Gemini, Llama)
- Per-caller model locked for entire call, overridable mid-show
- Model badges on caller buttons and info panel
- Settings UI for strategy, pool, style mapping, fallback
- Fallback to Sonnet on model failure
- 6 new models added to pricing and dropdown
- Checkpoint persistence for all model state
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Regex strips all parentheticals and asterisk actions before TTS
- Catches (laughs nervously), *sighs*, etc. that Grok generates
- Strengthened SPEECH ONLY instructions in caller and Devon prompts
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Route caller_dialog, devon_ask, background_gen to x-ai/grok-4
- Add Grok-4 to OPENROUTER_MODELS and OPENROUTER_PRICING
- Add Grok-specific banned phrases (I hear you, fair enough, that's wild, etc.)
- Add background gen guardrails for Grok (no active violence, no real public figures)
- Soften theme prompt hot-take language for organic connections
- Tighten Devon flirting guardrail (awkward not crude)
- Fix Devon "first day" contradiction on line 36
- Strip silence: preserve music intro, fix ad normalization (direct WAV reading)
- Strip silence: loop range starts 0.5s before audible music
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Fix Devon "if that makes sense" overuse (limit to once per show)
- Suppress Devon failed lookup notifications for self-initiated searches
- Strengthen show theme prompts (2/3 callers call because of theme)
- Fix sentence trimmer splitting on abbreviations (Mr. Mrs. Dr. etc.)
- Fix cost tracker data lost on server restart (persist in checkpoint)
- Ad/ident normalization targets -4dB below dialog for perceived loudness match
- Lower cross-speaker transition threshold to 5s
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Hide h1 (sr-only) on homepage — banner already shows show name
- Promote tagline as visual lead after banner
- Fix avatar gender: add .gender marker files, re-fetch on mismatch
- Clear stale avatar cache so all re-fetch with correct gender
- Blacklist Celeste voice from caller pool
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Add real-time LLM/TTS cost tracking with live status bar display and post-show reports
- Fix PTT bug where Devon suggestion layout shift stopped recording via mouseleave
- Devon: facts-only during calls, full personality between calls
- Double WEIRD topic pool (109→203), bump weight to 14-25%
- Auto-generate YouTube thumbnails with bold hook text in publish pipeline
- LLM SEO: llms.txt, robots.txt for LLM crawlers, structured data, BreadcrumbList schemas
- Publish episode 37
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Massively expanded all 8 caller topic pools from ~1200 to ~2500 entries to
reduce repeat calls. Added persistent topic history (data/used_topics_history.json)
with 30-day aging to prevent cross-episode duplicates. Published episode 35.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Whisper base → distil-large-v3 for much better live transcription accuracy
- Add context hints to transcription (caller name, screening status)
- Increase beam_size 3→5 for better decoding
- Add explicit role clarification in caller system prompt so LLM knows Luke is the host
- Prefix host messages with [Host Luke] in LLM conversation
- Fix upload_clips episode list sorting (natural numeric order)
- Episodes 26-28 transcripts, data updates, misc fixes
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Fix TTS text pipeline: new caps handling (spell out unknown acronyms, lowercase
emphasis words), action-word lookahead for parenthetical stripping, abbreviation
expansions (US→United States, NM→New Mexico), pronunciation fixes
- Inworld TTS: camelCase API fields, speakingRate per-voice overrides, retry logic
with exponential backoff (3 attempts)
- Footer redesign: SVG icons for social/podcast links across all pages
- Stats page: show "Rate us on Spotify" instead of "not public" placeholder
- New voices, expanded caller prompts and problem scenarios
- Social posting via Postiz, YouTube upload in publish pipeline
- Episode transcripts 15-25, terms page, sitemap updates
- Fix invoice script: match Timing totals using merged Task+App intervals
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Add host mic noise reduction (afftdn + anlmdn)
- Add phone EQ bandpass on caller stem
- Mute music during ads with 2s lookahead/tail
- Increase ducking release to 3s to reduce pumping
- Add Inworld voice mappings for all regular callers
- Recording toggle endpoint, stem sync fixes
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Returning callers now keep their voice across sessions (stored in regulars.json)
- Backfilled voice assignments for all 11 existing regulars
- Discord button on homepage + link in all page footers
- REC and On-Air buttons now toggle together (both directions)
- Fixed host mic double-stream bug (stem_mic vs host_stream conflict)
- SEO: JSON-LD structured data on episode + how-it-works pages
- SEO: noscript fallbacks, RSS links, twitter meta tags
- Episode 9 transcript and sitemap update
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Re-label all 8 episode transcripts with LUKE:/CALLER: speaker labels
using LLM-based diarization (relabel_transcripts.py)
- Add episode.html transcript page with styled speaker labels
- Update publish_episode.py to generate speaker-labeled transcripts
and copy to website/transcripts/ for Cloudflare Pages
- Add SVG favicon with PNG fallbacks
- Fix CPU issue: tie host audio stream to on-air toggle, not per-caller
- Update how-it-works page with post-production pipeline info
- Add transcript links to episode cards in app.js
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- On-air toggle uploads status.json to BunnyCDN + purges cache, website
polls it every 15s to show live ON AIR / OFF AIR badge
- Publish script downloads Castopod's copy of audio for CDN upload
(byte-exact match), removes broken slug fallback, syncs all episode
media to CDN after publishing
- Fix f-string syntax error in publish_episode.py (Python <3.12)
- Enable CORS on BunnyCDN pull zone for json files
- CDN URLs for website OG images, stem recorder bug fixes, LLM token
budget tweaks, session context in CLAUDE.md
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
New stem recording system captures 5 time-aligned WAV files (host, caller,
music, sfx, ads) during live shows. Standalone postprod.py processes stems
into broadcast-ready MP3 with gap removal, voice compression, music ducking,
and EBU R128 loudness normalization.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Music crossfade: smooth 3-second blend between tracks instead of hard stop/start
- Emotional detection: analyze host mood from recent messages so callers adapt tone
- AI caller summaries: generate call summaries with timestamps for show history
- Returning callers: persist regular callers across sessions with call history
- Session export: generate transcripts with speaker labels and chapter markers
- Caller screening: AI pre-screens phone callers to get name and topic while queued
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
lukeandClaude Opus 4.6