From dab3980fc2c66e4b66b814929a66404047ce5b6c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Doxa Maps <maps@doxa.example>
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 2026 21:25:12 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] Rudder served from a remote host says it runs on your own
 computer, not that the engine is broken

The engine records the microphone of the machine it runs on, so a cloud dev
server has none by design. Off loopback (and not the desktop app), an absent
engine now reads "Runs on your computer" with where to open Rudder instead,
rather than build instructions for a missing binary.
---
 plugin-designs/rudder-voice/rudder-voice.vue | 16 +++++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 15 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/plugin-designs/rudder-voice/rudder-voice.vue b/plugin-designs/rudder-voice/rudder-voice.vue
index 540d1e0dc..7f2bfb7b3 100644
--- a/plugin-designs/rudder-voice/rudder-voice.vue
+++ b/plugin-designs/rudder-voice/rudder-voice.vue
@@ -28,6 +28,16 @@ const cfg = computed(() => {
   try { return props.profileConfig ? JSON.parse(props.profileConfig) : {} } catch { return {} }
 })
 const apiBase = computed(() => (cfg.value.apiBase || '/api/rudder').replace(/\/$/, ''))
+// The engine records THIS computer's microphone, so it can only ever run beside the reader: on a laptop's
+// dev server, or as the desktop app's sidecar. Served from anywhere else (a cloud dev server), an absent
+// engine is the expected state, not a failure, and the notice says where Rudder does work.
+const LOOPBACK = /^(localhost|127\.\d+\.\d+\.\d+|\[?::1\]?|tauri\.localhost)$/
+const onOwnComputer = computed(() => {
+  try {
+    if (/^https?:\/\//.test(apiBase.value)) return LOOPBACK.test(new URL(apiBase.value).hostname)
+    return typeof location === 'undefined' || location.protocol === 'tauri:' || LOOPBACK.test(location.hostname)
+  } catch { return true }
+})
 
 const LANGUAGES = [
   ['en-US', 'English (US)'], ['en-GB', 'English (UK)'], ['es-US', 'Spanish (US)'], ['es-ES', 'Spanish (Spain)'],
@@ -463,7 +473,7 @@ const statusText = computed(() => ({
   starting: 'Loading speech model… (about 20 s the first time)',
   ready: recording.value ? 'Listening' : 'Ready',
   error: 'Engine error',
-  offline: 'Engine offline',
+  offline: onOwnComputer.value ? 'Engine offline' : 'Runs on your computer',
 }[engine.value] || engine.value))
 
 </script>
@@ -561,6 +571,10 @@ const statusText = computed(() => ({
     <p v-if="offCards.length" class="hint">Also available but switched off in Sound settings: {{ offCards.join(', ') }}. Turn it on there to use it here.</p>
 
     <p v-if="notice" class="notice" :data-kind="noticeKind">{{ notice }}</p>
+    <p v-else-if="engine === 'offline' && !onOwnComputer" class="notice" data-kind="warn">
+      Voice to text runs on your own computer, not on this server: it listens to the microphone of the machine
+      the engine runs on. Open the Plugin Studio on your computer (<code>bun run dev</code>) or use the Rudder desktop app.
+    </p>
     <p v-else-if="engine === 'offline'" class="notice" data-kind="warn">
       The local speech engine isn't reachable at <code>{{ apiBase }}</code>. In the Plugin Studio it starts with
       <code>bun run dev</code> once built: <code>cd backend/rudder-engine &amp;&amp; go build -o ../bin/rudder-engine .</code>