polyscribe/docs/development.md

Development

This document describes how to build, test, and run PolyScribe locally, and how to work with models during development.

Prerequisites

• Rust toolchain via rustup (recommended).
• ffmpeg installed and on PATH.
• For GPU builds: appropriate toolkits and libraries installed (CUDA/ROCm/Vulkan).

Rust toolchain

• Target stable Rust.
• Recommended:
  • rustup install stable
  • rustup default stable

Build

• CPU-only (default):
  • cargo build
  • cargo test
• Enable GPU features at build time:
  • CUDA: cargo build --features gpu-cuda
  • HIP: cargo build --features gpu-hip
  • Vulkan: cargo build --features gpu-vulkan

Run locally

• Development model directory defaults to ./models when built in debug mode.
• You can override:
  • POLYSCRIBE_MODELS_DIR=/path/to/models
  • WHISPER_MODEL=/path/to/model.bin (forces a specific file)
• Example run:
  • cargo run -- -v -o output samples/example.mp3

Models during development

• Interactive downloader:
  • cargo run -- models download
• Non-interactive update (checks sizes/hashes, downloads if missing):
  • cargo run -- models update --no-interaction -q

Tests

• Run all tests:
  • cargo test
• The test suite includes CLI-oriented integration tests and unit tests. Some tests simulate GPU detection using env vars (POLYSCRIBE_TEST_FORCE_*). Do not rely on these flags in production code.

Clippy & formatting

• Run lint checks and treat warnings as errors:
  • cargo clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings
• Check formatting:
  • cargo fmt --all -- --check
• Common warnings can often be fixed by simplifying code, removing unused imports, and following idiomatic patterns.

Code layout

• src/lib.rs: core library surface and re-exports
  • backend: runtime backend selection and transcription glue
  • models: model discovery, manifest, download/update logic
• src/main.rs: CLI parsing, I/O orchestration, logging, and workflows
• tests/: integration tests

Adding a feature

• Find the closest existing module (backend/models/main) and add a small, focused unit test.
• Keep user-facing changes documented in README/docs and update CHANGELOG.md.
• Prefer small functions with clear responsibilities; avoid exposing unnecessary items publicly.
• Follow existing logging style (elog!/wlog!/ilog!/dlog!).

Running the model downloader

• Interactive:
  • cargo run -- models download
• Non-interactive suggestions for CI:
  • POLYSCRIBE_MODELS_DIR=$PWD/models
    cargo run -- models update --no-interaction -q

Env var examples for local testing

• Use a local copy of models and a specific model file:
  • export POLYSCRIBE_MODELS_DIR=$PWD/models
  • export WHISPER_MODEL=$PWD/models/large-v3-turbo-q8_0.bin
• Test manifests/offline copies are handled internally. For full offline runs, pre-populate models/ with the desired .bin files.