Local STT ignores settings.json model selection, always loads Whisper Large v3 (crashes with Signal 9)

[upcollective]

Environment

• macOS: Darwin 25.2.0 (Sequoia)
• Chip: Apple Silicon
• RAM: 16 GB
• Hyprnote: 1.0.0-nightly.31 (installed via brew install --cask fastrepl/hyprnote/hyprnote@nightly)

Issue Summary

Local STT models fail to work. The app ignores the current_stt_model setting in settings.json and always attempts to load openai_whisper-large-v3-v20240930_626MB, which then crashes with Signal 9 (SIGKILL).

Steps to Reproduce

1. Fresh install of Hyprnote Nightly via Homebrew
2. Open app, sign in, configure Anthropic API for LLM
3. Go to Settings → AI → STT
4. Select "whisper-small-en-q8" (downloads successfully)
5. Start a meeting (mic detection works)
6. End meeting

Expected Behavior

• App uses the selected whisper-small-en-q8 model
• Transcription occurs
• Session is saved with transcript

Actual Behavior

• App ignores settings and tries to load Whisper Large v3
• Large v3 crashes with Signal 9 (memory killed)
• No transcription occurs
• Session is saved with empty raw_md and enhanced_md

Evidence

settings.json shows correct selection:
```json
{
"ai": {
"current_stt_provider": "hyprnote",
"current_stt_model": "QuantizedSmallEn"
}
}
```

But logs show wrong model being loaded:
```
INFO res=InitResponse { status: "initializing", model: "openai_whisper-large-v3-v20240930_626MB" }
```

Then crashes:
```
ERROR tauri_plugin_local_stt::server::external: TerminatedPayload { code: None, signal: Some(9) }
```

Additional Context

• Mic detection works correctly (MicStarted/MicStopped events fire)
• LLM (Anthropic) works correctly
• Only STT is failing
• Tried full cache clear (rm -rf ~/Library/Application Support/hyprnote/) — same behavior after restart
• The correct model file IS downloaded (ggml-small.en-q8_0.bin, 264MB)
• Removing leftover Large v3 metadata files did not help

Workarounds Attempted

1. ❌ Deleted all model files and re-downloaded small model
2. ❌ Full cache clear of all Hyprnote directories
3. ❌ Removed ._openai_whisper-large-v3-v20240930_626MB metadata file
4. ❌ Killed and restarted app multiple times

Request

Please investigate why settings.json → current_stt_model is being ignored and the app defaults to loading Large v3 regardless of user selection.

---

Filed by user with help from Claude Code

[yujonglee]

Hi @upcollective I will look into it this week.