Talon
5f6c223526
Closes the three items PROGRESS.md's M3 section explicitly carried forward as out of scope: - Device enumeration (vc_list_devices) + input device selection (vc_set_input_device), backed by AudioEngine::enumerate_devices() via miniaudio's ma_context_get_devices. Device ids are opaque hex-encoded ma_device_id strings. - VAD/PTT send-side input gate (vc_set_input_mode, vc_set_push_to_talk). webrtc-audio-processing (the originally-planned APM) has no working Windows/MSVC build upstream (GCC-only Meson, unfinished MinGW support, hard abseil-cpp dependency), so VAD is a new lightweight, dependency-free energy/RMS processor (EnergyVadProcessor) behind the existing ApmProcessor interface. Gating is MIC-only; SCREEN_AUDIO/AUX_DEVICE always bypass it. - True stereo playback: AudioEngine's mixer and output device now carry stereo end-to-end (mono streams upmix L=R) instead of downmixing decoded stereo streams to mono before mixing. - Real WASAPI loopback capture for SCREEN_AUDIO (Windows-only, via miniaudio's loopback device type), replacing test-only injection as the production capture path. Also: vccli gains --list-devices, --input-device, --input-mode, and --share-screen-audio flags, plus a stdin command loop (ptt on/off, mode vad/ptt) for manual verification. New test_vad_ptt_devices.cpp covers all four items (ABI-level + a white-box AudioEngine stereo-mix check). Docs updated to match: voice.md, roadmap.md (decision-log entry superseding the original webrtc-audio-processing choice), tech-stack.md, README.md, architecture.md, CLAUDE.md, PROGRESS.md. Still explicitly out of scope, documented not silently dropped: real webrtc-audio-processing/AEC (no AEC/NS/AGC exists at all yet), macOS/iOS SCREEN_AUDIO capture, process-specific loopback, and a pre-existing RT-thread rule violation in the capture path that predates this work. Verified: ctest 12/12 green across 3 consecutive full-suite runs (both dev and m1-dev presets build clean); test_vad_ptt_devices passed 5 consecutive standalone runs; manually verified live (vccli --list-devices against real hardware, vccli --voice --input-mode vad streaming without incident). Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
VoiceCat
Self-hosted, native voice & text chat in the spirit of classic TeamSpeak / Mumble —
channel-based voice, channel + private text, one server you run yourself. Plain TCP
(control) and UDP (media), no WebRTC. Encrypted by default. A shared C++ core
(libvoicecat) drives native clients (Swift on macOS/iOS, C# on Windows) and the server.
Status: pre-implementation. The design is complete in
docs/. The code is an M0 skeleton — it compiles and links, but every subsystem is a stub. SeeAGENTS.mdto start building, anddocs/roadmap.mdfor the milestones.
Read the design first
The docs/ folder is the source of truth. Start at docs/README.md,
then architecture → protocol → voice → security → tech-stack → deployment →
roadmap.
Build the skeleton (no dependencies needed yet)
The M0 skeleton builds with just a C++20 compiler + CMake + Ninja — no vcpkg, no third-party libraries, because every subsystem is currently a stub.
cmake --preset dev
cmake --build --preset dev
ctest --preset dev # runs the smoke test (links the core, calls the C ABI)
Artifacts land in build/dev/bin/ (voicecat-server, vccli).
When you start implementing a subsystem that needs real libraries, build with vcpkg deps:
# one-time: git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg && ./vcpkg/bootstrap-vcpkg.sh
export VCPKG_ROOT=/path/to/vcpkg # set VCPKG_ROOT (works on Linux/macOS/Windows)
cmake --preset server-release # auto-installs deps from vcpkg.json
cmake --build --preset server-release
Layout
docs/ design spec (read this)
core/ libvoicecat — the shared C++ core
include/ voicecat.h (the C ABI all clients call)
proto/ voicecat.proto (control-plane wire format, source of truth)
src/ net/ crypto/ codec/ protocol/ session/ audio/ (stubs today)
server/ voicecat-server (headless; links the core)
tools/vccli/ headless test client — drives the protocol from M1 on
clients/ apple/ (Swift, M4) windows/ (C#, M4) — placeholders for now
tests/ CTest targets
License
Permissive-only dependencies (no GPL/LGPL) so the project can be redistributed freely,
including closed-source. Project license: TBD (see docs/tech-stack.md §5).