v1.0.1

sipeed/picoclawv1.0.1May 22, 2026by KoljaB

AI Summary

This release adds support for Kroko/Banafo and Meta Omnilingual ASR engines, introduces streaming engine interfaces, and includes tools to help install and test these new engines.

Key Highlights

  • Added Kroko/Banafo ASR support with streaming and realtime preview capabilities.
  • Introduced the Kroko-ONNX installer helper exposed via the `kroko-builder` extra.
  • Added Meta Omnilingual ASR support using CTC and LLM model-card plumbing.
  • Implemented a generic streaming transcription session interface for engines.

New Features

  • Kroko ONNX transcription engine
  • Omnilingual ASR transcription engine
  • Kroko-ONNX installer helper
  • Streaming engine interface
  • Realtime preview support for streaming engines

Full Release Notes

# RealtimeSTT v1.0.1

### Major Features

- **Kroko/Banafo ASR Support**
  - Added the `kroko_onnx` transcription engine for Kroko/Banafo `.data` streaming models.
  - Added engine aliases for Kroko/Banafo usage through the transcription engine system.
  - Added realtime preview support for streaming engines using persistent transcription sessions.
  - Kroko realtime previews feed only newly recorded audio frames instead of repeatedly reprocessing the full buffer.
  - Kroko final transcription remains one-shot; the streaming path is used for realtime previews when the selected realtime engine supports it.

- **Kroko-ONNX Installer Helper**
  - Added `stt-install-kroko`, exposed through the `kroko-builder` extra.
  - The helper builds and installs Kroko-ONNX for the active Python environment.
  - On Windows, the current Kroko builder path targets CPython 3.12 x64 and uses Docker Desktop.
  - Public Kroko Community models with known filenames can be downloaded into the RealtimeSTT cache.

- **Meta Omnilingual ASR Support**
  - Added the `omnilingual_asr` transcription engine for Meta Omnilingual ASR.
  - Supports the published CTC and LLM model-card plumbing from the upstream `omnilingual-asr` package.
  - Uses `omniASR_CTC_1B_v2` as the default Omnilingual model when the recorder is still configured with a Whisper-style default model name.
  - In-memory audio is passed as predecoded waveform dictionaries to avoid upstream raw-array handling issues.

### Improvements

- **Streaming Engine Interface**
  - Added a generic streaming transcription session interface.
  - Engines can now opt into incremental realtime decoding.
  - Existing engines keep the full-buffer fallback behavior.

- **Kroko Realtime Behavior**
  - Kroko model cadence is used to choose automatic finalization tail padding.
  - Added support for suppressing Kroko native stdout/stderr during recognizer calls with `suppress_native_output=True`.
  - Added `KROKO_ONNX_SUPPRESS_LICENSE_OUTPUT=1` handling for compatible Kroko builds.

- **Install And Smoke-Test Guidance**
  - Documented the recommended Kroko recorder install path:
    `pip install "RealtimeSTT[kroko-builder,silero-onnx-cpu]"`
  - Clarified that `kroko-builder` builds Kroko-ONNX, while `silero-onnx-cpu` provides the local VAD backend needed by recorder-based smoke tests and live microphone use.
  - Added a public Kroko smoke script: `tests/realtimestt_kroko_test.py`.
  - Added a public Omnilingual smoke script: `tests/realtimestt_omnilingual_test.py`.

- **Docs**
  - Added Kroko-ONNX engine documentation.
  - Added Omnilingual ASR engine documentation.
  - Added installation guidance for platform-sensitive extras.
  - Added `docs/licenses.md` with engine and model-family license notes.
  - Clarified that `example_fastapi_server` is a source-checkout reference server, not installed by the PyPI wheel.

### Fixes

- **Omnilingual Runtime Handling**
  - Fixed Omnilingual audio handoff so in-memory audio is passed in the format expected by the upstream backend.
  - Added clearer dependency/platform guidance for the current Omnilingual stack.

- **Kroko Smoke Path**
  - Updated Kroko smoke-test guidance so clean installs include the needed local VAD backend.
  - The standalone Kroko smoke script now gives a direct hint when the recorder VAD dependency is missing.

### Compatibility Notes

- Existing default `faster_whisper` usage remains the compatibility path.
- Kroko recorder/live usage should install:
  `pip install "RealtimeSTT[kroko-builder,silero-onnx-cpu]"`
- The Kroko Windows builder currently requires CPython 3.12 x64 plus Docker Desktop with the Linux engine running.
- Meta Omnilingual ASR is intended for Linux/WSL2 with Python 3.11.x.
- Native Windows Omnilingual runtime is not supported because `fairseq2n` has no Windows wheel.
- Python 3.12.x is not currently a practical Omnilingual target because of upstream `omnilingual-asr` package metadata.
- Licensed Kroko Pro models require a Pro-capable Kroko wheel and a key supplied through configuration, CLI, or environment variables.

### Other

- Added focused Kroko and Omnilingual unit coverage.
- Added public manual smoke paths for Kroko and Omnilingual.
- Package version bumped to `1.0.1`.