v1.5.0

### Added

- Added `TogetherSTTService` and `TogetherTTSService` for real-time speech-to-text and text-to-speech using Together AI's WebSocket APIs.
  (PR [#4054](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4054))

- Added per-sentence synthesis mode and zero-shot audio prompt support to `NvidiaTTSService`, letting NVIDIA TTS users choose between stitched and per-request synthesis flows and configure voice-cloning prompts for supported models.
  (PR [#4742](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4742))

- Added `on_heartbeat_timeout` event handler to `PipelineWorker`, fired when a heartbeat frame is not received within the monitor timeout period.
  (PR [#4761](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4761))

- Added Time To First Audio (TTFA) metrics to TTS services, reported as `TTFAMetricsData` alongside the existing TTFB metric. TTFA measures the time to the first *audible* sample — TTFB plus the leading silence many providers pad onto the start of a response — so comparing the two shows how much perceived latency is padding versus service response time. Audible onset is detected from short-time RMS energy (`detect_speech_onset` in `pipecat.audio.utils`), which rejects noise-floor blips and brief transients; the `MetricsLogObserver` surfaces the new metric.
  (PR [#4782](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4782))

- `GeminiTTSService` can now use the Gemini Developer API (google-genai) backend in addition to the existing Google Cloud backend. Pass `api_key` (or set `GOOGLE_API_KEY`) to authenticate with an API key instead of Google Cloud service-account credentials.

    - The backend is selected automatically: passing `api_key` opts into the GenAI backend, while `credentials`/`credentials_path` continue to use the Google Cloud backend. Use `use_genai=True`/`False` to force a backend explicitly. A `GOOGLE_API_KEY` present in the environment alone does not switch backends — it is only used once the GenAI backend is active.
    - New `http_options` parameter forwards `google.genai.types.HttpOptions` to the GenAI client.
    - The GenAI backend does not support `prompt`/style instructions or `multi_speaker` output; setting them logs a warning and they are ignored. Use the Google Cloud backend for those features.
  (PR [#4787](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4787))

- Added a `mode` streaming parameter to `AssemblyAISTTService`, exposing AssemblyAI's U3 Pro latency/accuracy preset (`min_latency`, `balanced`, or `max_accuracy`). It trades transcription accuracy against turn-finalization latency and is only applicable to U3 Pro models, where the server defaults to `balanced`.
  (PR [#4810](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4810))

- `TaskManager` can now be constructed with an event loop and an optional `contextvars.Context` (`TaskManager(loop=..., context=...)`), and creates all of its tasks within that context. You can pass a single task manager to `WorkerRunner(task_manager=...)` (and to individual workers) to share one loop and context across the runner and every worker, so context variables set in one task are visible to the others.
  (PR [#4815](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4815))

- Added tunable parameters to the xAI TTS services: `speed`, `optimize_streaming_latency`, and `text_normalization` (plus `with_timestamps` on the WebSocket service). Set them via the service's `Settings`, e.g. `XAITTSService.Settings(speed=1.1)`.
  (PR [#4821](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4821))

- Added word-level timestamps to `XAITTSService`. When `with_timestamps` is enabled (now the default), xAI's per-character timing is converted into per-word `TTSTextFrame` objects, each carrying an accurate `pts`. Note that xAI delivers timestamps in coarse batches, so word frames are emitted in bursts; consumers should schedule off `pts` rather than arrival time.
  (PR [#4821](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4821))

- Added a `base_url` parameter to `TwilioFrameSerializer` to configure the REST API host used for auto hang-up. By default the host is still derived from `region`/`edge` (unchanged behavior), but setting `base_url` lets you target a Twilio-API-compatible backend or a self-hosted server instead of `api.twilio.com`.
  (PR [#4845](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4845))

- Added a first-class RTVI `dtmf` client message. Sending `{type: "dtmf", data: {button: "1"}}` makes the `RTVIProcessor` push an `InputDTMFFrame` downstream, the same path a telephony transport's keypress takes, so any bot with DTMF handling (e.g. a `DTMFAggregator`) reacts to it. One keypress per message.
  (PR [#4849](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4849))

- Added DTMF keypress support to the behavioral evals. A scenario turn can now press keys with a `dtmf:` field (e.g. `dtmf: "123#"`) instead of `user:`, sent as one RTVI `dtmf` message per key. A bot running a `DTMFAggregator` reacts to them as a transcription, so a `dtmf` turn can assert on `user_transcription` and `response` like a spoken turn.
  (PR [#4849](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4849))

- Added built-in text transform functions for TTS voice formatting under
  `pipecat.utils.text.transforms`: `strip_markdown`, `normalize_acronyms`,
  `expand_currency`, `expand_numbers`, `expand_percentages`,
  `expand_phone_numbers`, `expand_units`, `email_to_speech`, `normalize_dates`,
  and `replace_text`. These can be composed individually via the
  `text_transforms` parameter on any `TTSService`, or used together via the new
  `VoiceFormatter` bundle.
    - `VoiceFormatter` is a single configurable callable that applies all
  transforms in the correct order (structural cleanup → language expansions →
  custom replacements). Most transforms are enabled by default; pass keyword
  arguments to toggle them:
      ```python
      tts = CartesiaTTSService(
          text_transforms=[("*", VoiceFormatter(expand_numbers=True,
  normalize_acronyms=False))],
      )
      ```
    - Individual transforms can be composed for fine-grained control:
      ```python
      tts = CartesiaTTSService(
          text_transforms=[("*", strip_markdown), ("*", expand_currency), ("*",
  expand_percentages)],
      )
      ```
  (PR [#4854](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4854))

- Added silence-based keepalive to `NvidiaSTTService` to keep idle NVIDIA streaming ASR sessions from going stale. When no audio arrives for a while, the service sends silence over the existing stream instead of letting it sit idle and degrade.
  (PR [#4877](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4877))

- Pipecat Flows is now part of `pipecat-ai`. The conversation-flow framework previously published as the separate `pipecat-ai-flows` package now ships with Pipecat under the `pipecat.flows` namespace — `from pipecat.flows import FlowManager, NodeConfig` — so there is no longer a separate package to install or keep version-matched. Code importing from `pipecat_flows` should switch to `pipecat.flows`. If the deprecated `pipecat-ai-flows` package is still installed alongside this Pipecat, Pipecat logs an error prompting you to remove it. The standalone package's release history remains available in the archived [pipecat-flows repository](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat-flows/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md).
  (PR [#4882](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4882))

- Added `clear_after_secs` parameter to `SOXRStreamAudioResampler` (default `0.2`) to control how long after inactivity the internal resampler state is cleared. Set to `None` to disable clearing.
  (PR [#4886](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4886))

- Added `resampler_clear_after_secs` to `FrameSerializer.InputParams` so all telephony serializers (Twilio, Plivo, Vonage, Telnyx, Exotel, Genesys) expose this setting to callers.
  (PR [#4886](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4886))

- Added a `language_code` streaming parameter to `AssemblyAISTTService` for declaring the audio language (e.g. `"es"`, `"fr"`). On U3 Pro models a tier-1 code (`en`/`es`/`fr`/`de`/`it`/`pt`) steers transcription toward that language. It is mutually exclusive with `language_detection` and is not sent unless set, so existing behavior is unchanged.
  (PR [#4889](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4889))

- Added `AudioBufferStartRecordingFrame` and `AudioBufferStopRecordingFrame` control frames. Push them through the pipeline to start and stop `AudioBufferProcessor` recording. The `start_recording()` / `stop_recording()` methods continue to work.
  (PR [#4890](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4890))

- Added an `auto_start_recording` option to `AudioBufferProcessor` that starts recording as soon as the pipeline starts. Bots generated by the Pipecat CLI with the recording feature now use this option.
  (PR [#4890](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4890))

- Added `on_recording_started` and `on_recording_stopped` events to `AudioBufferProcessor`, fired when recording starts and stops. `on_recording_stopped` fires after the final buffered audio has been emitted.
  (PR [#4890](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4890))

- AI services can now describe themselves to downstream processors at start by overriding `service_metadata_frame()` to return a populated `ServiceMetadataFrame`; `broadcast_service_metadata()` broadcasts whatever it returns. The STT services that do server-side end-of-turn detection (Deepgram Flux, Cartesia Turns, AssemblyAI, Gladia, Speechmatics) use this to recommend `ExternalUserTurnStrategies`, so bots no longer need to set `user_turn_strategies` by hand; your own setting still wins.
  (PR [#4892](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4892))

- Added `endpoint_latency_adjustment_level` to `SonioxSTTService.Settings`, exposing Soniox's endpoint-detection latency control (integer 0–3; higher finalizes turns sooner at some cost to accuracy). Takes effect when Soniox endpoint detection is active (`vad_force_turn_endpoint=False`).
  (PR [#4894](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4894))

- Added a `speed` setting (0.7-1.3) to `SonioxTTSService`.
  (PR [#4947](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4947))

- `SonioxTTSService` now supports cloned voices: pass the voice UUID as `voice`.
  (PR [#4947](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4947))

- `SonioxSTTService` now emits `UserStartedSpeakingFrame` / `UserStoppedSpeakingFrame` and recommends `ExternalUserTurnStrategies` when using Soniox's built-in endpoint detection (`vad_force_turn_endpoint=False`), matching `AssemblyAISTTService`. The turn opens on the local VAD signal when a VAD analyzer is configured (most responsive) or on the first transcript token otherwise, and closes on the Soniox endpoint. A new `should_interrupt` parameter (default True) controls whether the bot is interrupted when the user starts speaking in this mode.
  (PR [#4949](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4949))

### Changed

- `TavusTransport` now delivers bot audio via the Tavus `conversation.echo` app message API instead of a WebRTC audio track. By default, audio is sent paced to real playback time (compatible with downstream processors like `AudioBufferProcessor`). Set `TavusParams(audio_out_faster_than_realtime=True)` to instead accumulate and send audio in 100ms chunks as fast as possible, which gives Tavus more of a rendering buffer at the cost of losing realtime pacing.
    - The default `persona_id` changed from `"pipecat-stream"` to `"pipecat0"`, which signals Tavus to expect audio over the `conversation.echo` app message API instead of a WebRTC custom audio track.
  (PR [#4648](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4648))

- `TavusVideoService` now sends bot audio to Tavus via the `conversation.echo` app message API instead of a WebRTC audio track. Audio is accumulated and sent in 100ms chunks, as fast as possible.
    - The default `persona_id` changed from `"pipecat-stream"` to `"pipecat0"`, which signals Tavus to expect audio over the `conversation.echo` app message API instead of a WebRTC custom audio track.
  (PR [#4648](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4648))

- ⚠️ The default `GeminiTTSService` model changed from `gemini-2.5-flash-tts` to `gemini-3.1-flash-tts-preview`. Pass `settings=GeminiTTSService.Settings(model="gemini-2.5-flash-tts")` to keep the previous model.
  (PR [#4787](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4787))

- `TTFAMetricsData` now reports the latency breakdown directly: `ttfa` (the measurement, renamed from `value`), `ttfb`, and `leading_silence`. Consumers can see how much of the perceived latency is silence padding (`leading_silence == ttfa - ttfb`) without correlating a separate `TTFBMetricsData`. `ttfb` here mirrors the standalone, earlier `TTFBMetricsData` for convenience and is not a separate measurement.
  (PR [#4814](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4814))

- Dangling tasks are now reported by the `WorkerRunner` for its shared task manager once everything has been torn down. A worker only reports dangling tasks when it owns its own task manager, so a worker sharing the runner's task manager no longer flags the runner's and other workers' tasks as dangling. `check_dangling_tasks` is now a constructor argument on both `WorkerRunner` and `BaseWorker`.
  (PR [#4815](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4815))

- `XAITTSService` now cancels the current utterance on interruption by sending a `text.clear` message over the existing WebSocket, instead of disconnecting and reconnecting. This makes barge-in faster by avoiding a reconnect on every interruption.
  (PR [#4821](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4821))

- Bumped `pipecat-ai-prebuilt` minimum version to `1.0.3` in the `runner` extra, which updates the prebuilt client UI served by the development runner to use RTVI protocol 2.0.0.
  (PR [#4847](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4847))

- Eval scenarios now accept a `send_after:` with only `delay_ms` (no `event`), a pure time delay relative to the previous send, and `expect:` is now optional so a turn can just send input or wait.
  (PR [#4849](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4849))

- Simplified the `WorkerBus` message-dispatch tasks by removing redundant `CancelledError` handling (the task manager already handles cancellation, and `CancelledError` was never caught by the subscriber-isolation handler). Subscriber-exception isolation and cancellation behavior are unchanged.
  (PR [#4851](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4851))

- When text transforms change the alphanumeric content of a TTS frame (e.g. `expand_currency` turning `"$42.50"` into `"forty-two dollars and fifty cents"`), the conversation context now correctly receives the original LLM text (`"$42.50"`) rather than the expanded TTS words. Intermediate spoken words within a transformed span are suppressed from the context until the full span is complete, so the context entry is clean and accurately represents what was said.
  (PR [#4854](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4854))

- `pipecat init` is now the starting point for building a Pipecat app. It writes the coding-agent files `AGENTS.md` and `CLAUDE.md`, then helps you build:
    - Build with a coding agent (such as Claude Code or Codex). This also writes a `GETTING_STARTED.md` guide for building Pipecat apps with an AI coding assistant.
    - Scaffold a runnable bot immediately through an interactive setup wizard.
    - Run `pipecat init quickstart` to scaffold the ready-to-run quickstart project, set up for coding agents in one step.
  (PR [#4861](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4861))

- `AssemblyAISTTService` now defaults to the `universal-3-5-pro` model (AssemblyAI's launched flagship streaming model), replacing the pre-GA alias `u3-rt-pro`. Both resolve to the same U3 Pro family and feature set, so the only change is the model id sent on the wire. `u3-rt-pro` and `u3-rt-pro-beta-1` remain accepted for backward compatibility.
  (PR [#4863](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4863))

- Bumped the `@pipecat-ai/*` JS client dependencies used by the `pipecat init` client templates (and the UI-worker examples): `client-js` to `1.12.0`, `client-react` to `1.7.1`, `daily-transport` to `1.6.7`, `small-webrtc-transport` to `1.10.5`, and `websocket-transport` to `1.7.0`.
  (PR [#4866](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4866))

- ⚠️ `pipecat init` now keeps existing `AGENTS.md`, `CLAUDE.md`, and `GETTING_STARTED.md` files instead of overwriting them on re-run. When a guide was written by an older Pipecat version, an interactive run offers to refresh it; otherwise pass the new `--overwrite-guide` flag (renamed from `--force`, now covering all three files) to refresh them.
  (PR [#4869](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4869))

- Updated the ai-coustics integration to SDK 0.21 (bumped `aic-sdk` to `~=2.5.0`). `AICQuailVADAnalyzer` now reports the model's continuous raw VAD probability (`VadContext.raw_vad_probability()`) gated by Pipecat's `VADParams` instead of a binary speech flag. Because the previous output was binary (`0.0`/`1.0`), `VADParams.confidence` had no effect on this analyzer before — it now governs the speech threshold, so existing `AICQuailVADAnalyzer` users should review their `VADParams.confidence` after upgrading. The ai-coustics voice examples now use the `quail-vf-2.2-l-16khz` enhancement model.
  (PR [#4874](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4874))

- Widened the `google` extra's `google-genai` dependency to `>=1.68.0,<3`, allowing the 2.x line. The google-genai 2.0 major release scopes its breaking changes to the Interactions API, which Pipecat does not use; the surfaces Pipecat relies on (`Client`, `aio.live.connect`, `generate_content`/`generate_content_stream`, `types.*`) are unchanged, so no migration is required.
  (PR [#4895](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4895))

- ⚠️ `LLMContextAggregatorPair`'s `realtime_service_mode` is now auto-configured and defaults to `None` (was `False`): a realtime (speech-to-speech) LLM service announces itself via service metadata and the aggregator turns the mode on automatically, so you no longer opt in by hand. If your realtime-service pipeline previously ran without `realtime_service_mode=True`, realtime context-write behavior now applies to it: listen for `on_user_turn_message_added` to get the newly-added user message rather than `on_user_turn_stopped`, which no longer carries it (`UserTurnStoppedMessage.content` is `None` in realtime mode). Pass `realtime_service_mode=False` to keep the legacy, pre-`realtime_service_mode` behavior.
  (PR [#4919](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4919))

- ⚠️ Auto-switching to external user turn strategies for realtime services is no longer conditioned on `realtime_service_mode`: a realtime service that does its own server-side turn detection now gets `ExternalUserTurnStrategies` whenever it recommends them, even with `realtime_service_mode=False` or left off. (The switch has moved onto the same service-metadata recommendation mechanism the STT services use.) As before, passing your own `user_turn_strategies` overrides the recommendation.
  (PR [#4919](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4919))

- ⚠️ `SonioxTTSService` now emits word-aligned `TTSTextFrame`s instead of pushing each sentence's full text up front, so the context reflects only what was actually spoken on interruption.
  (PR [#4947](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4947))

### Deprecated

- Deprecated `TaskManagerParams` and `TaskManager.setup()`. Pass `loop` and `context` to the `TaskManager` constructor instead.
  - Deprecated the `WorkerRunner` `loop` argument. Pass `task_manager` (which owns its own loop) instead.
  (PR [#4815](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4815))

- Deprecated the `speech_hold_duration`, `minimum_speech_duration`, and `sensitivity` parameters of `AICQuailVADAnalyzer`. They only affected the SDK's post-processed VAD output, which the new raw-probability path no longer uses — speech gating is now governed by Pipecat's `VADParams` (`confidence`/`start_secs`/`stop_secs`). The parameters are accepted but ignored, and will be removed in 2.0.0.
  (PR [#4874](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4874))

### Removed

- ⚠️ Removed `WorkerParams.loop`. Pass a task manager via `WorkerParams(task_manager=...)` instead.
  (PR [#4815](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4815))

- ⚠️ Removed the `pipecat create` command; scaffolding now lives in `pipecat init`, the single entry point for starting a Pipecat app. Alongside the coding-agent guide (`AGENTS.md`, `CLAUDE.md`) it already wrote, `pipecat init` now also scaffolds a runnable bot — interactively, or non-interactively from flags or a config file (e.g. `pipecat init . --bot-type web -t daily --stt deepgram_stt --llm openai_llm --tts cartesia_tts`; run `pipecat init --list-options` for valid values). `pipecat init quickstart` replaces `pipecat create quickstart`. Scaffolding is now directory-first and in-place — the project name comes from the target directory, and `create`'s `--output/-o` and `--name`-subfolder layout are gone.
  (PR [#4883](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4883))

- ⚠️ Removed the internal `RealtimeServiceMetadataFrame` and `RealtimeServiceInfo`. Realtime LLM services now describe themselves with `LLMServiceMetadataFrame` (carrying `is_realtime_service`); if you imported either symbol directly, switch to `LLMServiceMetadataFrame`.
  (PR [#4919](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4919))

### Fixed

- Fixed `MarkdownTextFilter` leaking raw `#` markers into TTS output for second-level (and deeper) markdown headers. Headers are now normalized to plain text before the newline-collapse step that previously broke header recognition by `md.convert`. This also handles closed ATX headers (e.g. `## Title ##`) while preserving trailing whitespace needed for word-by-word streaming.
  (PR [#4708](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4708))

- Fixed `NvidiaSegmentedSTTService` not initializing `speaker_diarization` and `diarization_max_speakers` defaults, which left both fields as `NOT_GIVEN` after construction.
  (PR [#4718](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4718))

- Fixed `SarvamTTSService` WebSocket handshakes sending duplicate `User-Agent` headers. Pipecat now passes the Sarvam SDK `User-Agent` via the WebSocket client's `user_agent_header` parameter instead of `additional_headers`.
  (PR [#4794](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4794))

- Fixed `DeepgramSageMakerSTTService` blocking pipeline startup while connecting. The SageMaker BiDi connection is now established in a background task, so a slow or failing connect no longer holds up the `StartFrame` barrier (the first bot turn, e.g. a greeting, can proceed while STT connects) and connection failures surface via `on_connection_error` instead of looking like a hang.
  (PR [#4803](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4803))

- Fixed `RNNoiseFilter` failing to import with `No module named 'av.option'` when installing `pipecat-ai[rnnoise]`. PyAV 17.1.0 removed the `av.option` submodule that `pyrnnoise`'s `audiolab` dependency imports, so the `rnnoise` extra now caps `av<17.1.0`.
  (PR [#4807](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4807))

- Fixed eval failure reasons (a missing function call, a response timeout, an unsatisfied `eval:`, or a `send_after` that never fired) not being written to the per-scenario `.eval.log` file. They were only printed to the terminal during the run, so there was no record to debug failures after the fact.
  (PR [#4811](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4811))

- Fixed `SileroOnnxModel` raising a confusing `AttributeError` instead of a `ValueError` when given an input audio chunk with too many dimensions. The validation error message called `x.dim()` (a PyTorch method) on a NumPy array; it now uses `x.ndim` and surfaces the intended "Too many dimensions" message.
  (PR [#4820](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4820))

- Fixed `XAIHttpTTSService` omitting the `language` field when it was unset. xAI marks `language` as required, so it is now always sent, falling back to `"auto"` for language auto-detection.
  (PR [#4821](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4821))

- Fixed `WorkerBus` permanently stopping message delivery to a subscriber when that subscriber's `on_bus_message` (or an overridable lifecycle hook such as `on_job_response`/`on_activated`) raised an exception. The router and data dispatch tasks now log the exception and keep running, so subsequent messages — including cancel/cleanup — are still delivered.
  (PR [#4827](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4827))

- Fixed `Mem0MemoryService` injecting an empty "Based on previous conversations, I recall:" message into the LLM context on turns where no relevant memories were found. Mem0 2.x `search()` returns a `{"results": [...]}` dict, which is always truthy, so the empty-memory guard never triggered; retrieved memories are now normalized to a list so the guard, formatting, and debug counts all behave correctly.
  (PR [#4843](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4843))

- Fixed a missing `pipecat/workers/__init__.py` so the `py.typed` marker covers `pipecat.workers.*` and type checkers (e.g. pyright in strict mode) resolve `from pipecat.workers.runner import WorkerRunner` without reporting `reportMissingTypeStubs`.
  (PR [#4846](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4846))

- Fixed `RTVIObserver` silently dropping TTFA (Time To First Audio) metrics. TTFA metrics are now forwarded to RTVI clients under a `ttfa` key, alongside TTFB, processing, token, and character metrics.
  (PR [#4880](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4880))

- Fixed `TwilioFrameSerializer` rejecting a valid `base_url` configuration when only one of `region`/`edge` was also set. The `region`/`edge` pairing is only required when deriving Twilio's FQDN host; since `base_url` is used verbatim and ignores `region`/`edge`, the validation now skips that check when `base_url` is provided.
  (PR [#4885](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4885))

- Fixed eval scenarios silently corrupting unquoted DTMF turns with leading zeros or a hex prefix. YAML 1.1 parsed `dtmf: 012` as octal (`10`) and `dtmf: 0x10` as hex before validation, sending the wrong keypresses; the scenario loader now resolves only plain-decimal scalars as integers, so leading-zero sequences keep their digits and `dtmf: 123` still works.
  (PR [#4887](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4887))

- Fixed local STT services (`WhisperSTTService`, `WhisperSTTServiceMLX`, `MoonshineSTTService`) corrupting the start of every utterance. `SegmentedSTTService` wraps each VAD segment in a WAV container, but these services read the bytes directly as 16-bit PCM, so the 44-byte WAV header was decoded as 22 `int16` samples and prepended as a near-full-scale burst, changing the transcription. `SegmentedSTTService` now exposes a `wants_wav_segments` property (default `True`, what cloud upload APIs expect) that local models override to receive raw PCM instead.
  (PR [#4896](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4896))

- Fixed services and transports leaking connections and background tasks when a pipeline is torn down without an `EndFrame`/`CancelFrame` reaching every processor. Resource release (closing websockets and connections, releasing clients/sessions, cancelling `create_task()` tasks) now runs from the guaranteed `cleanup()` hook in addition to the frame-driven `stop()`/`cancel()` paths, so it happens on every exit path. Affected services include the websocket STT/TTS bases (and their subclasses), realtime LLM services, Deepgram Flux, and the AWS/Azure/Google/NVIDIA/HeyGen/Simli/Tavus integrations, plus the Daily, LiveKit, websocket, SmallWebRTC, and Tavus transports.
  (PR [#4902](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4902))

- Fixed occasional abnormal WebSocket closures (1006) when disconnecting the ElevenLabs TTS service. Pipecat now waits for ElevenLabs to complete its side of the two-step close before closing, rather than racing the closing handshake.
  (PR [#4904](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4904))

- Fixed `InworldTTSService` surfacing an `ErrorFrame` during idle periods when the keepalive task sent a contextless `send_text` and Inworld rejected it. The `context_id is required` and `no open context` rejections are now treated as benign (logged at debug level and skipped), matching the existing `Context not found` handling, which prevents spurious failover away from Inworld.
  (PR [#4906](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4906))

- Fixed `ElevenLabsHttpTTSService` sending `previous_text` with the `eleven_v3` model, which rejects that parameter. ElevenLabs returned a 400 error for every request after the first sentence of a turn, so only the first sentence of a multi-sentence response was spoken.
  (PR [#4925](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4925))

- Fixed `AggregatedFrameSequencer` duplicating a word and misattributing its context in TTS word-timestamp mode (Cartesia, ElevenLabs, etc.) when a whitespace-only token was force-completed.
  (PR [#4930](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4930))

- Fixed the incomplete-turn (`○`/`◐`) re-prompt nudge firing while the user was already speaking again. The re-prompt timeout was only cancelled on `InterruptionFrame`, which does not fire when the user resumes speaking inside the same open turn. It is now also cancelled on `VADUserStartedSpeakingFrame`, so a user who resumes after a pause is no longer interrupted by a canned "no rush" prompt.
  (PR [#4938](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4938))

- Fixed the bot speaking the same response multiple times within one user turn when using `filter_incomplete_user_turns` turn completion. When the acoustic detector (e.g. Smart Turn) triggered several inferences in one turn, each produced a `✓` and every one was voiced. At most one completion is now spoken at a time; later duplicate completions are dropped until a new user turn begins or the user resumes speaking within the same turn.
  (PR [#4938](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4938))

- Fixed a second, redundant LLM inference when using `filter_incomplete_user_turns` turn completion. After the LLM marked a user turn incomplete (○/◐), the mixin armed a re-prompt timeout; if that timeout fired at the same moment a completed inference (✓) arrived, both the re-prompt and the completed response ran. The pending timeout is now cancelled as soon as a new LLM response starts, so only one inference runs.
  (PR [#4938](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4938))

- Fixed the bot talking over the user when using `filter_incomplete_user_turns` turn completion. A completion (`✓`) resolves with some latency, so the user may have resumed speaking by the time it arrives. The user turn controller now drops a turn finalization that arrives while the user is speaking, so a stale completion no longer ends the turn (and talks over them); the turn stays open for the next inference to re-evaluate.
  (PR [#4938](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4938))

- Fixed `AssemblyAISTTService` processing metrics never being recorded in AssemblyAI turn-detection mode (`vad_force_turn_endpoint=False`) with `should_interrupt=True` (the default): the interruption broadcast on speech start immediately stopped the just-started metrics. Metrics now start after the interruption broadcast.
  (PR [#4949](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4949))

- Fixed `RimeTTSService` intermittently going silent for the rest of the session when metrics are enabled. Rime's websocket may split a 16-bit sample across audio chunks, and the resulting odd-length audio frames crashed the TTS playback task; dangling bytes are now carried over to the next chunk so frames always contain whole samples.
  (PR [#4952](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat/pull/4952))