Add whisper-server engine: transcribe on a remote whisper.cpp server

- WhisperServerEngine posts multipart/form-data to POST /inference
  (verbose_json) with the same transcribe() contract as the other
  engines, so live and final passes work unchanged; stdlib-only
  multipart builder; HTTP and connection errors surface clean messages
- CLI: --engine whisper-server + --server-url (or MEETREC_SERVER_URL)
- GUI: engine dropdown gains whisper-server; model/device/compute grey
  out (the server owns the model), new Server URL field
- model lives server-side, beam size is a server-start setting in
  whisper.cpp v1.9.3 (documented); verbose_json reports language names
  (german) rather than ISO codes
- validated against the live R9700 server over Tailscale: array input,
  native-rate file input (server-side resample), full final_transcribe
  pipeline, and unreachable-server handling

README.md

@@ -86,6 +86,8 @@ meetrec-cli --list-sources                                  # find your input de
 meetrec-cli -s "Conference Mic" --model small --live 8 -o meeting
 meetrec-cli -s monitor --model base --language en           # record system audio
 meetrec-cli --engine whisper-cpp -o meeting                 # transcribe on the GPU (Vulkan)
+MEETREC_SERVER_URL=http://100.103.83.12:8085 \
+  meetrec-cli --engine whisper-server -o meeting             # transcribe on a remote server
 python meetrec.py --help                                    # all options
 ```
 
@@ -93,7 +95,8 @@ Key options:
 
 | Option          | Meaning                                                          |
 | --------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
-| `--engine`      | transcription backend: `faster-whisper` (default) or `whisper-cpp` |
+| `--engine`      | transcription backend: `faster-whisper` (default), `whisper-cpp`, or `whisper-server` |
+| `--server-url`  | whisper-server base URL, e.g. `http://100.103.83.12:8085` (or `MEETREC_SERVER_URL`) |
 | `-s, --source`  | `default` or a substring of a device name (`--list-sources`)     |
 | `-m, --model`   | `tiny` / `base` / `small` / `medium` / `large-v3` (default `small`) |
 | `-o, --output`  | output file stem (default `meeting`)                             |
@@ -118,8 +121,9 @@ Meetrec supports two interchangeable transcription backends — `--engine` on th
 | ------ | ------- | ----------- |
 | `faster-whisper` (default) | CTranslate2 | NVIDIA CUDA (`--device cuda`); otherwise CPU |
 | `whisper-cpp` | [whisper.cpp](https://github.com/ggml-org/whisper.cpp) | **AMD / Intel / NVIDIA via Vulkan**; falls back to CPU |
+| `whisper-server` | remote whisper.cpp HTTP server | whatever the server has — see [server/whisper-server/](server/whisper-server/) (Docker Compose, Vulkan GPU, Tailscale) |
 
-On AMD hardware (e.g. the Radeon iGPU in Ryzen AI 300 laptops) the `faster-whisper` path is CPU-only — use the `whisper-cpp` engine there, which runs on the GPU when whisper.cpp is built with `-DWHISPER_VULKAN=ON` (`./install.sh --whisper-cpp` does this for you).
+On AMD hardware (e.g. the Radeon iGPU in Ryzen AI 300 laptops) the `faster-whisper` path is CPU-only — use the `whisper-cpp` engine there, which runs on the GPU when whisper.cpp is built with `-DWHISPER_VULKAN=ON` (`./install.sh --whisper-cpp` does this for you). The `whisper-server` engine moves the work to a server entirely (ideal for slow clients such as phones) and can run `large-v3` on a GPU.
 
 Notes on `whisper-cpp`:
 
@@ -127,6 +131,13 @@ Notes on `whisper-cpp`:
 - GGML models (`ggml-*.bin`) download automatically to `~/.cache/meetrec/whisper-cpp` on first use.
 - VAD works like on faster-whisper: whisper.cpp's Silero VAD model (~1 MB) downloads automatically and is used for both live and final passes.
 - Live mode spawns `whisper-cli` for every rolling-window pass, so the GGML model is reloaded on each live tick — slightly heavier than faster-whisper, which loads once per recording.
+
+Notes on `whisper-server`:
+
+- The model lives on the server — `--model`, `--device`, `--compute-type` do not apply; beam size is a server-start setting in whisper.cpp v1.9.3 (no per-request override).
+- Run your own with the Docker Compose stack in `server/whisper-server/` — Vulkan GPU (AMD/NVIDIA/Intel), model auto-download, Tailscale-only binding.
+- The server has no authentication: keep it on Tailscale or behind a VPN/firewall.
+- `verbose_json` reports language names ("german") rather than ISO codes.
 - `--device` / `--compute-type` do not apply (GPU vs. CPU is decided by the whisper.cpp build).
 
 ## Project layout

meetrec.py

@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ import sys
 import tempfile
 import threading
 import time
+import urllib.error
 import urllib.request
 import wave
 from pathlib import Path
@@ -324,6 +325,8 @@ def final_transcribe(model, wav_path: str, out_stem: str, language,
 #   faster-whisper  CTranslate2 — NVIDIA CUDA or CPU (default)
 #   whisper-cpp     whisper.cpp CLI — GPU via Vulkan (AMD, Intel, NVIDIA)
 #                   or CPU; preferred on AMD hardware (e.g. Ryzen AI laptops)
+#   whisper-server  remote whisper.cpp HTTP server (server/whisper-server) —
+#                   the model lives on the server; ideal for phones/laptops
 #
 # Both expose:  transcribe(audio, beam_size, vad_filter, language,
 #                        vad_parameters) -> (segments, info)
@@ -493,11 +496,95 @@ class WhisperCppEngine:
         return segs, info
 
 
+MULTIPART_BOUNDARY = "meetrec-9f3e1c7a5b2d"
+
+
+def _multipart_body(fields: dict, file_name: str, file_obj) -> bytes:
+    """Build a multipart/form-data body with stdlib only."""
+    parts = []
+    for name, value in fields.items():
+        parts.append(
+            f"--{MULTIPART_BOUNDARY}\r\n"
+            f'Content-Disposition: form-data; name="{name}"\r\n\r\n'
+            f"{value}\r\n".encode())
+    parts.append(
+        f"--{MULTIPART_BOUNDARY}\r\n"
+        f'Content-Disposition: form-data; name="file"; '
+        f'filename="{file_name}"\r\n'
+        f"Content-Type: audio/wav\r\n\r\n".encode())
+    parts.append(file_obj.read())
+    parts.append(b"\r\n")
+    parts.append(f"--{MULTIPART_BOUNDARY}--\r\n".encode())
+    return b"".join(parts)
+
+
+class WhisperServerEngine:
+    """Transcription via a remote whisper.cpp server (whisper-server).
+
+    Use the Docker Compose stack in server/whisper-server/ to run one
+    (Vulkan GPU on AMD, or CPU). The model lives on the server, so
+    --model / --device / --compute-type do not apply, and beam size is a
+    server-start setting in whisper.cpp v1.9.3 (no per-request override) —
+    beam_size is accepted for interface compatibility but ignored.
+    vad_filter/vad_parameters are likewise accepted but unused; the server
+    runs its own pipeline. Note: verbose_json reports language names like
+    "german" rather than ISO codes.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, server_url: str):
+        self.server_url = server_url.rstrip("/")
+        self.model_name = None          # the server owns the model
+
+    def transcribe(self, audio, beam_size=5, vad_filter=False,
+                   language=None, vad_parameters=None, timeout=600):
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory(prefix="meetrec-") as td:
+            if isinstance(audio, (str, os.PathLike)):
+                wav = str(audio)         # server resamples to 16 kHz itself
+            else:
+                wav = os.path.join(td, "in.wav")
+                write_wav_float(wav, audio)
+            with open(wav, "rb") as f:
+                body = _multipart_body(
+                    {"response_format": "verbose_json",
+                     "language": language or "auto"},
+                    "audio.wav", f)
+            req = urllib.request.Request(
+                self.server_url + "/inference", data=body,
+                headers={"Content-Type":
+                         "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + MULTIPART_BOUNDARY})
+            try:
+                with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=timeout) as r:
+                    data = json.load(r)
+            except urllib.error.HTTPError as e:
+                raise RuntimeError(f"server returned {e.code}: "
+                                    f"{e.read()[:300]!r}") from None
+            except urllib.error.URLError as e:
+                raise RuntimeError(f"cannot reach whisper server at "
+                                    f"{self.server_url}: {e.reason}") from None
+
+        segs = [SimpleNamespace(start=s["start"], end=s["end"],
+                                text=s["text"].strip())
+                for s in data.get("segments", [])
+                if s.get("text", "").strip()]
+        info = SimpleNamespace(
+            language=data.get("language") or language or "unknown",
+            language_probability=1.0,   # not reported by verbose_json
+            duration=data.get("duration", 0.0),
+        )
+        return segs, info
+
+
 def load_engine(model_name, engine="faster-whisper",
-                device="auto", compute_type="int8"):
+                device="auto", compute_type="int8", server_url=None):
     """Create a transcription engine. See the Engines section above."""
     if engine == "whisper-cpp":
         return WhisperCppEngine(model_name)
+    if engine == "whisper-server":
+        url = server_url or os.environ.get("MEETREC_SERVER_URL")
+        if not url:
+            raise RuntimeError("no server URL: pass --server-url or set "
+                               "MEETREC_SERVER_URL (e.g. http://100.103.83.12:8085)")
+        return WhisperServerEngine(url)
     if engine == "faster-whisper":
         from faster_whisper import WhisperModel
         return WhisperModel(model_name, device=device,
@@ -528,10 +615,13 @@ def main():
     ap.add_argument("--language", default=None,
                     help="force language code, e.g. en, de (default: autodetect)")
     ap.add_argument("--engine", default="faster-whisper",
-                    choices=["faster-whisper", "whisper-cpp"],
+                    choices=["faster-whisper", "whisper-cpp", "whisper-server"],
                     help="transcription backend (default: faster-whisper). "
-                         "whisper-cpp can use a GPU via Vulkan — preferred "
-                         "on AMD hardware")
+                         "whisper-cpp can use a GPU via Vulkan; whisper-server "
+                         "transcribes on a remote whisper.cpp server")
+    ap.add_argument("--server-url", default=None,
+                    help="whisper-server base URL, e.g. http://100.103.83.12:8085 "
+                         "(or set MEETREC_SERVER_URL); whisper-server engine only")
     ap.add_argument("--device", default="auto",
                     help="compute device: auto / cpu / cuda (default: auto); "
                          "faster-whisper only")
@@ -548,12 +638,18 @@ def main():
 
     device = resolve_source(args.source)
 
+    if args.engine == "whisper-server":
+        print(f"using whisper server at "
+              f"{args.server_url or os.environ.get('MEETREC_SERVER_URL')} "
+              f"(model lives on the server)")
+    else:
         print(f"loading Whisper model {args.model!r} via {args.engine!r} "
               f"(first run downloads it to ~/.cache)...")
     try:
         model = load_engine(args.model, engine=args.engine,
                             device=args.device,
-                            compute_type=args.compute_type)
+                            compute_type=args.compute_type,
+                            server_url=args.server_url)
     except Exception as e:
         print(f"error: {e}", file=sys.stderr)
         sys.exit(1)

meetrec_gui.py

@@ -50,18 +50,20 @@ class ModelLoader(QThread):
     failed = Signal(str)
 
     def __init__(self, model_name, engine="faster-whisper", device="auto",
-                 compute_type="int8", parent=None):
+                 compute_type="int8", server_url=None, parent=None):
         super().__init__(parent)
         self.model_name = model_name
         self.engine = engine
         self.device = device
         self.compute_type = compute_type
+        self.server_url = server_url
 
     def run(self):
         try:
             self.model = meetrec.load_engine(
                 self.model_name, engine=self.engine,
-                device=self.device, compute_type=self.compute_type)
+                device=self.device, compute_type=self.compute_type,
+                server_url=self.server_url)
             self.loaded.emit(self.model)
         except Exception as e:
             self.failed.emit(str(e))
@@ -104,7 +106,7 @@ class MeetRecWindow(QWidget):
              "pt", "ru", "zh", "ja", "ko"]
     DEVICES = ["auto", "cpu", "cuda"]
     COMPUTE_TYPES = ["int8", "int8_float16", "float16", "float32"]
-    ENGINES = ["faster-whisper", "whisper-cpp"]
+    ENGINES = ["faster-whisper", "whisper-cpp", "whisper-server"]
 
     def __init__(self):
         super().__init__()
@@ -151,7 +153,8 @@ class MeetRecWindow(QWidget):
 
         # row 2: model + language
         r2 = QHBoxLayout()
-        r2.addWidget(QLabel("Model:"))
+        self.model_lbl = QLabel("Model:")
+        r2.addWidget(self.model_lbl)
         self.model_cb = QComboBox()
         self.model_cb.addItems(self.MODELS)
         self.model_cb.setCurrentText("small")
@@ -192,6 +195,17 @@ class MeetRecWindow(QWidget):
         r2b.addStretch(1)
         root.addLayout(r2b)
 
+        # row 2c: whisper-server URL
+        r2c = QHBoxLayout()
+        self.server_lbl = QLabel("Server:")
+        r2c.addWidget(self.server_lbl)
+        self.server_url = QLineEdit("http://100.103.83.12:8085")
+        self.server_url.setToolTip(
+            "whisper.cpp server (see server/whisper-server/) — "
+            "the model lives on the server")
+        r2c.addWidget(self.server_url, 1)
+        root.addLayout(r2c)
+
         # row 3: live options + output name
         r3 = QHBoxLayout()
         r3.addWidget(QLabel("Live:"))
@@ -287,18 +301,26 @@ class MeetRecWindow(QWidget):
             self.src.setCurrentText(keep)
 
     def _engine_changed(self, _idx):
-        # --device/--compute-type only apply to faster-whisper (CTranslate2);
-        # whisper.cpp picks GPU (Vulkan) or CPU on its own.
-        gpu_opts = self.engine_cb.currentText() != "whisper-cpp"
-        self.device_lbl.setText("Device:" if gpu_opts else "Device (n/a):")
-        self.compute_lbl.setText("Compute:" if gpu_opts else "Compute (n/a):")
-        self.device_cb.setEnabled(gpu_opts)
-        self.compute_cb.setEnabled(gpu_opts)
+        # What applies per engine:
+        #   model:            faster-whisper + whisper-cpp (server owns the
+        #                     model otherwise)
+        #   device/compute:   faster-whisper only (CTranslate2)
+        #   server url:       whisper-server only
+        engine = self.engine_cb.currentText()
+        has_model = engine != "whisper-server"
+        has_dc = engine == "faster-whisper"
+        self.model_lbl.setText("Model:" if has_model else "Model (n/a):")
+        self.device_lbl.setText("Device:" if has_dc else "Device (n/a):")
+        self.compute_lbl.setText("Compute:" if has_dc else "Compute (n/a):")
+        self.model_cb.setEnabled(has_model)
+        self.device_cb.setEnabled(has_dc)
+        self.compute_cb.setEnabled(has_dc)
+        self.server_url.setEnabled(engine == "whisper-server")
 
     def _set_inputs_enabled(self, enabled: bool):
         for w in (self.src, self.model_cb, self.engine_cb, self.device_cb,
-                  self.compute_cb, self.lang, self.live_cb, self.live_spin,
-                  self.out):
+                  self.compute_cb, self.server_url, self.lang, self.live_cb,
+                  self.live_spin, self.out):
             w.setEnabled(enabled)
         if enabled:
             self._engine_changed(-1)   # whisper-cpp: keep device/compute off
@@ -341,9 +363,13 @@ class MeetRecWindow(QWidget):
         self.elapsed.setText("00:00:00")
 
         key = (self.engine_cb.currentText(), self._args.model,
-               self.device_cb.currentText(), self.compute_cb.currentText())
+               self.device_cb.currentText(), self.compute_cb.currentText(),
+               self.server_url.text().strip())
         if self.model is None or self.model_key != key:
             self.state = "loading"
+            if key[0] == "whisper-server":
+                self.status.setText(f"Using whisper server {key[4]} ...")
+            else:
                 self.status.setText(
                     f"Loading Whisper model {self._args.model!r} via {key[0]} "
                     "(first run downloads it, this can take a minute)...")
@@ -353,6 +379,7 @@ class MeetRecWindow(QWidget):
                 engine=key[0],
                 device=self.device_cb.currentText(),
                 compute_type=self.compute_cb.currentText(),
+                server_url=key[4] or None,
                 parent=self)
             self.loader.loaded.connect(self._model_ready)
             self.loader.failed.connect(self._model_failed)