simplify speech bootstrap and clean daemon startup locking

packages/app/e2e/global-setup.ts

@@ -156,7 +156,6 @@ export default async function globalSetup() {
       // Keep e2e bootstrap fast and deterministic; terminal/sidebar tests do not need speech.
       PASEO_DICTATION_ENABLED: "0",
       PASEO_VOICE_MODE_ENABLED: "0",
-      PASEO_LOCAL_AUTO_DOWNLOAD: "0",
       NODE_ENV: 'development',
     },
     stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'pipe'],

packages/cli/src/commands/onboard.ts

@@ -25,9 +25,6 @@ interface OnboardOptions extends DaemonStartOptions {
 }
 
 type OnboardPersistedConfig = PersistedConfig & {
-  providers?: PersistedConfig['providers'] & {
-    local?: PersistedConfig['providers'] extends { local?: infer T } ? T : { autoDownload?: boolean }
-  }
   features?: PersistedConfig['features'] & {
     dictation?: PersistedConfig['features'] extends { dictation?: infer T }
       ? T & { enabled?: boolean }
@@ -103,13 +100,6 @@ function savePersistedConfig(paseoHome: string, config: OnboardPersistedConfig):
 function applyVoiceSelection(config: OnboardPersistedConfig, enabled: boolean): OnboardPersistedConfig {
   return {
     ...config,
-    providers: {
-      ...config.providers,
-      local: {
-        ...config.providers?.local,
-        autoDownload: enabled,
-      },
-    },
     features: {
       ...config.features,
       dictation: {
@@ -366,7 +356,7 @@ export async function runOnboard(options: OnboardOptions): Promise<void> {
   const config = loadConfig(paseoHome, { cli: toCliOverrides(options) })
 
   const voiceStatus = voiceEnabled
-    ? 'Voice features enabled. Local speech models will download in the background if missing.'
+    ? 'Voice features enabled. Local speech models will be downloaded automatically if missing.'
     : 'Voice features disabled. Local speech models will not be downloaded.'
   log.message(voiceStatus)
 

packages/cli/tests/17-onboard.test.ts

@@ -46,14 +46,10 @@ try {
       dictation?: { enabled?: boolean }
       voiceMode?: { enabled?: boolean }
     }
-    providers?: {
-      local?: { autoDownload?: boolean }
-    }
   }
 
   assert.strictEqual(config.features?.dictation?.enabled, false, 'dictation.enabled should be false')
   assert.strictEqual(config.features?.voiceMode?.enabled, false, 'voiceMode.enabled should be false')
-  assert.strictEqual(config.providers?.local?.autoDownload, false, 'local.autoDownload should be false')
   const daemonLog = await readFile(join(paseoHome, 'daemon.log'), 'utf-8')
   assert(
     !daemonLog.includes('Ensuring local speech models'),

packages/server/scripts/dev-runner.ts

@@ -1,7 +1,13 @@
 import { fileURLToPath } from "url";
 import { existsSync } from "node:fs";
+import dotenv from "dotenv";
 import { runSupervisor } from "./supervisor.js";
 
+dotenv.config({
+  path: fileURLToPath(new URL("../.env", import.meta.url)),
+  quiet: true,
+});
+
 const WORKER_ENTRY = fileURLToPath(new URL("../src/server/index.ts", import.meta.url));
 if (!existsSync(WORKER_ENTRY)) {
   throw new Error(`Dev worker entry not found: ${WORKER_ENTRY}`);

packages/server/scripts/download-speech-models.ts

@@ -42,5 +42,5 @@ function parseArgs(argv: string[]): { modelsDir: string; modelIds: LocalSpeechMo
 const logger = createRootLogger({ level: "info", format: "pretty" });
 
 const { modelsDir, modelIds } = parseArgs(process.argv.slice(2));
-await ensureLocalSpeechModels({ modelsDir, modelIds, autoDownload: true, logger });
+await ensureLocalSpeechModels({ modelsDir, modelIds, logger });
 logger.info({ modelsDir, modelIds }, "Done downloading speech models");

packages/server/scripts/generate-sherpa-tts-matrix.ts

@@ -284,7 +284,6 @@ logger.info(
 await ensureLocalSpeechModels({
   modelsDir: options.modelsDir,
   modelIds: options.modelIds,
-  autoDownload: true,
   logger,
 });
 

packages/server/scripts/transcribe-local-wav.ts

@@ -18,12 +18,11 @@ type CliOptions = {
   outPath?: string;
   model: LocalSttModelId;
   modelsDir: string;
-  autoDownload: boolean;
 };
 
 function usage(): string {
   return [
-    "Usage: npm run speech:transcribe:local -- <wavPath> [--out <outPath>] [--model <modelId>] [--models-dir <dir>] [--no-auto-download]",
+    "Usage: npm run speech:transcribe:local -- <wavPath> [--out <outPath>] [--model <modelId>] [--models-dir <dir>]",
     "",
     "Examples:",
     "  npm run speech:transcribe:local -- ./sample.wav",
@@ -52,7 +51,6 @@ function parseArgs(argv: string[]): CliOptions {
   let outPath: string | undefined;
   let model = LocalSttModelIdSchema.parse(process.env.PASEO_LOCAL_STT_MODEL ?? DEFAULT_LOCAL_STT_MODEL);
   let modelsDir = defaultModelsDir;
-  let autoDownload = true;
 
   for (let i = 0; i < argv.length; i++) {
     const arg = argv[i];
@@ -87,11 +85,6 @@ function parseArgs(argv: string[]): CliOptions {
       continue;
     }
 
-    if (arg === "--no-auto-download") {
-      autoDownload = false;
-      continue;
-    }
-
     if (arg.startsWith("-")) {
       throw new Error(`Unknown option: ${arg}`);
     }
@@ -108,7 +101,6 @@ function parseArgs(argv: string[]): CliOptions {
     ...(outPath ? { outPath } : {}),
     model,
     modelsDir,
-    autoDownload,
   };
 }
 
@@ -139,7 +131,6 @@ async function main(): Promise<void> {
       providers,
       local: {
         modelsDir: options.modelsDir,
-        autoDownload: options.autoDownload,
         models: {
           dictationStt: options.model,
           voiceStt: options.model,

packages/server/src/server/bootstrap.ts

@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ import type {
   AgentProvider,
 } from "./agent/agent-sdk-types.js";
 import type { AgentProviderRuntimeSettingsMap } from "./agent/provider-launch-config.js";
-import { acquirePidLock, releasePidLock, isLocked, PidLockError } from "./pid-lock.js";
+import { acquirePidLock, releasePidLock } from "./pid-lock.js";
 import { isHostAllowed, type AllowedHostsConfig } from "./allowed-hosts.js";
 import {
   createVoiceMcpSocketBridgeManager,
@@ -137,16 +137,6 @@ export async function createPaseoDaemon(
 ): Promise<PaseoDaemon> {
   const logger = rootLogger.child({ module: "bootstrap" });
 
-  // Fail fast before expensive bootstrap (speech/runtime/model checks) if another daemon is active.
-  const lockState = await isLocked(config.paseoHome);
-  if (lockState.locked) {
-    const existingLock = lockState.info;
-    throw new PidLockError(
-      `Another Paseo daemon is already running (PID ${existingLock?.pid ?? "unknown"}, started ${existingLock?.startedAt ?? "unknown"})`,
-      existingLock
-    );
-  }
-
   // Acquire PID lock before expensive bootstrap work so duplicate starts fail immediately.
   await acquirePidLock(config.paseoHome, config.listen);
 

packages/server/src/server/daemon-e2e/connection-offer.e2e.test.ts

@@ -186,7 +186,8 @@ describe("ConnectionOfferV2 (daemon E2E)", () => {
         PASEO_HOME: tempHome,
         PASEO_LISTEN: `0.0.0.0:${port}`,
         OPENAI_API_KEY: "",
-        PASEO_LOCAL_AUTO_DOWNLOAD: "0",
+        PASEO_DICTATION_ENABLED: "0",
+        PASEO_VOICE_MODE_ENABLED: "0",
         PASEO_LOG_FORMAT: "json",
       };
 

packages/server/src/server/index.ts

@@ -1,9 +1,3 @@
-import dotenv from "dotenv";
-import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
-import path from "node:path";
-
-const __dirname = path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
-dotenv.config({ path: path.resolve(__dirname, "../../.env") });
 import { createPaseoDaemon } from "./bootstrap.js";
 import { loadConfig } from "./config.js";
 import { resolvePaseoHome } from "./paseo-home.js";

packages/server/src/server/persisted-config.ts

@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ const ProviderCredentialsSchema = z
 const LocalSpeechProviderSchema = z
   .object({
     modelsDir: z.string().min(1).optional(),
-    autoDownload: z.boolean().optional(),
   })
   .strict();
 
@@ -175,6 +174,34 @@ function getLogger(logger: LoggerLike | undefined): LoggerLike | undefined {
   return logger?.child({ module: "config" });
 }
 
+function stripDeprecatedLocalSpeechConfigFields(parsed: unknown): unknown {
+  if (!parsed || typeof parsed !== "object" || Array.isArray(parsed)) {
+    return parsed;
+  }
+
+  const root = { ...(parsed as Record<string, unknown>) };
+  const providers = root.providers;
+  if (!providers || typeof providers !== "object" || Array.isArray(providers)) {
+    return root;
+  }
+
+  const providersRecord = { ...(providers as Record<string, unknown>) };
+  const local = providersRecord.local;
+  if (!local || typeof local !== "object" || Array.isArray(local)) {
+    root.providers = providersRecord;
+    return root;
+  }
+
+  const localRecord = { ...(local as Record<string, unknown>) };
+  if ("autoDownload" in localRecord) {
+    delete localRecord.autoDownload;
+  }
+
+  providersRecord.local = localRecord;
+  root.providers = providersRecord;
+  return root;
+}
+
 export function loadPersistedConfig(
   paseoHome: string,
   logger?: LoggerLike
@@ -209,7 +236,8 @@ export function loadPersistedConfig(
     throw new Error(`[Config] Invalid JSON in ${configPath}: ${message}`);
   }
 
-  const result = PersistedConfigSchema.safeParse(parsed);
+  const migrated = stripDeprecatedLocalSpeechConfigFields(parsed);
+  const result = PersistedConfigSchema.safeParse(migrated);
   if (!result.success) {
     const issues = result.error.issues
       .map((i) => `  - ${i.path.join(".")}: ${i.message}`)

packages/server/src/server/session.ts

@@ -2879,7 +2879,6 @@ export class Session {
       await ensureLocalSpeechModels({
         modelsDir,
         modelIds,
-        autoDownload: true,
         logger: this.sessionLogger,
       });
       this.emit({

packages/server/src/server/speech/providers/local/config.ts

@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ export type LocalSpeechModelConfig = {
 
 export type LocalSpeechProviderConfig = {
   modelsDir: string;
-  autoDownload?: boolean;
   models: LocalSpeechModelConfig;
 };
 
@@ -36,17 +35,6 @@ export type { LocalSpeechModelId, LocalSttModelId, LocalTtsModelId };
 
 const DEFAULT_LOCAL_MODELS_SUBDIR = path.join("models", "local-speech");
 
-const BooleanStringSchema = z
-  .string()
-  .trim()
-  .toLowerCase()
-  .pipe(z.enum(["1", "0", "true", "false", "yes", "no"]))
-  .transform((value) => value === "1" || value === "true" || value === "yes");
-
-const OptionalBooleanFlagSchema = z
-  .union([z.boolean(), BooleanStringSchema])
-  .optional();
-
 const NumberLikeSchema = z.union([
   z.number(),
   z.string().trim().min(1),
@@ -63,7 +51,6 @@ const OptionalIntegerSchema = NumberLikeSchema
 const LocalSpeechResolutionSchema = z.object({
   includeProviderConfig: z.boolean(),
   modelsDir: z.string().trim().min(1),
-  autoDownload: OptionalBooleanFlagSchema.default(true),
   dictationLocalSttModel: LocalSttModelIdSchema.default(DEFAULT_LOCAL_STT_MODEL),
   voiceLocalSttModel: LocalSttModelIdSchema.default(DEFAULT_LOCAL_STT_MODEL),
   voiceLocalTtsModel: LocalTtsModelIdSchema.default(DEFAULT_LOCAL_TTS_MODEL),
@@ -98,7 +85,7 @@ function shouldIncludeLocalProviderConfig(params: {
   return (
     localRequestedByFeature ||
     params.env.PASEO_LOCAL_MODELS_DIR !== undefined ||
-    params.persisted.providers?.local !== undefined
+    params.persisted.providers?.local?.modelsDir !== undefined
   );
 }
 
@@ -116,9 +103,6 @@ export function resolveLocalSpeechConfig(params: {
       params.env.PASEO_LOCAL_MODELS_DIR ??
       params.persisted.providers?.local?.modelsDir ??
       path.join(params.paseoHome, DEFAULT_LOCAL_MODELS_SUBDIR),
-    autoDownload:
-      params.env.PASEO_LOCAL_AUTO_DOWNLOAD ??
-      params.persisted.providers?.local?.autoDownload,
     dictationLocalSttModel:
       params.env.PASEO_DICTATION_LOCAL_STT_MODEL ??
       persistedLocalFeatureModel(
@@ -160,7 +144,6 @@ export function resolveLocalSpeechConfig(params: {
       parsed.includeProviderConfig
         ? {
             modelsDir: parsed.modelsDir,
-            autoDownload: parsed.autoDownload,
             models: {
               dictationStt: parsed.dictationLocalSttModel,
               voiceStt: parsed.voiceLocalSttModel,

packages/server/src/server/speech/providers/local/models.ts

@@ -36,13 +36,11 @@ export function getLocalSpeechModelDir(modelsDir: string, modelId: LocalSpeechMo
 export async function ensureLocalSpeechModels(options: {
   modelsDir: string;
   modelIds: LocalSpeechModelId[];
-  autoDownload?: boolean;
   logger: import("pino").Logger;
 }): Promise<Record<LocalSpeechModelId, string>> {
   return ensureSherpaOnnxModels({
     modelsDir: options.modelsDir,
     modelIds: options.modelIds,
-    autoDownload: options.autoDownload ?? true,
     logger: options.logger,
   });
 }

packages/server/src/server/speech/providers/local/runtime.ts

@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@ type ResolvedLocalModels = {
 type LocalSpeechAvailability = {
   configured: boolean;
   modelsDir: string | null;
-  autoDownload: boolean | null;
 };
 
 export type InitializedLocalSpeech = {
@@ -79,7 +78,6 @@ export function getLocalSpeechAvailability(
   return {
     configured: Boolean(localConfig),
     modelsDir: localConfig?.modelsDir ?? null,
-    autoDownload: localConfig?.autoDownload ?? null,
   };
 }
 
@@ -186,12 +184,10 @@ export async function initializeLocalSpeechServices(params: {
   providers: RequestedSpeechProviders;
   speechConfig: PaseoSpeechConfig | null;
   logger: Logger;
-  modelEnsureAutoDownload?: boolean;
 }): Promise<InitializedLocalSpeech> {
   const { providers, logger, speechConfig } = params;
   const localConfig = speechConfig?.local ?? null;
   const localModels = resolveConfiguredLocalModels(speechConfig);
-  const modelEnsureAutoDownload = params.modelEnsureAutoDownload ?? (localConfig?.autoDownload ?? true);
 
   let sttService: SpeechToTextProvider | null = null;
   let ttsService: TextToSpeechProvider | null = null;
@@ -209,28 +205,25 @@ export async function initializeLocalSpeechServices(params: {
         {
           modelsDir: localConfig.modelsDir,
           modelIds: requiredLocalModelIds,
-          autoDownload: modelEnsureAutoDownload,
         },
         "Ensuring local speech models"
       );
       await ensureLocalSpeechModels({
         modelsDir: localConfig.modelsDir,
         modelIds: requiredLocalModelIds,
-        autoDownload: modelEnsureAutoDownload,
         logger,
       });
     } catch (err) {
-      logger.error(
+      logger.warn(
         {
           err,
           modelsDir: localConfig.modelsDir,
           modelIds: requiredLocalModelIds,
-          autoDownload: modelEnsureAutoDownload,
           hint:
             "Use `paseo speech models` to inspect status and " +
             "`paseo speech download --model <MODEL_ID>` to fetch missing models.",
         },
-        "Failed to ensure local speech models"
+        "Local speech model bootstrap failed"
       );
     }
   }
@@ -256,14 +249,14 @@ export async function initializeLocalSpeechServices(params: {
       localSttEngines.set(modelId, created);
       return created;
     } catch (err) {
-      logger.error(
+      logger.warn(
         {
           err,
           modelsDir: localConfig.modelsDir,
           modelId,
           hint: buildModelDownloadHint(modelId),
         },
-        "Failed to initialize local STT engine (models missing or invalid)"
+        "Local STT engine unavailable"
       );
       return null;
     }
@@ -340,14 +333,14 @@ export async function initializeLocalSpeechServices(params: {
         }
         ttsService = localVoiceTtsProvider;
       } catch (err) {
-        logger.error(
+        logger.warn(
           {
             err,
             modelsDir: localConfig.modelsDir,
             modelId: localModels.voiceLocalTtsModel,
             hint: buildModelDownloadHint(localModels.voiceLocalTtsModel),
           },
-          "Failed to initialize local TTS engine (models missing or invalid)"
+          "Local TTS engine unavailable"
         );
       }
     }

packages/server/src/server/speech/providers/local/sherpa/model-downloader.test.ts

@@ -35,25 +35,12 @@ describe("sherpa model downloader", () => {
     const out = await ensureSherpaOnnxModel({
       modelsDir,
       modelId: "kitten-nano-en-v0_1-fp16",
-      autoDownload: false,
       logger,
     });
 
     expect(out).toBe(modelDir);
   });
 
-  test("ensureSherpaOnnxModel throws when missing and autoDownload is false", async () => {
-    const modelsDir = makeTmpDir();
-    await expect(
-      ensureSherpaOnnxModel({
-        modelsDir,
-        modelId: "zipformer-bilingual-zh-en-2023-02-20",
-        autoDownload: false,
-        logger,
-      })
-    ).rejects.toThrow(/auto-download/i);
-  });
-
   test("ensureSherpaOnnxModel logs lifecycle events without progress spam", async () => {
     const modelsDir = makeTmpDir();
     const infoMessages: string[] = [];
@@ -82,7 +69,6 @@ describe("sherpa model downloader", () => {
       await ensureSherpaOnnxModel({
         modelsDir,
         modelId: "pocket-tts-onnx-int8",
-        autoDownload: true,
         logger: loggerWithSpy,
       });
     } finally {

packages/server/src/server/speech/providers/local/sherpa/model-downloader.ts

@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ import { getSherpaOnnxModelSpec, type SherpaOnnxModelId } from "./model-catalog.
 export type EnsureSherpaOnnxModelOptions = {
   modelsDir: string;
   modelId: SherpaOnnxModelId;
-  autoDownload: boolean;
   logger: pino.Logger;
 };
 
@@ -104,13 +103,6 @@ export async function ensureSherpaOnnxModel(options: EnsureSherpaOnnxModelOption
     return modelDir;
   }
 
-  if (!options.autoDownload) {
-    throw new Error(
-      `Missing local speech model files for ${options.modelId} in ${modelDir}. ` +
-        `Set PASEO_LOCAL_AUTO_DOWNLOAD=1 to auto-download.`
-    );
-  }
-
   logger.info({ modelsDir: options.modelsDir }, "Starting model download");
 
   try {
@@ -207,7 +199,6 @@ export async function ensureSherpaOnnxModel(options: EnsureSherpaOnnxModelOption
 export async function ensureSherpaOnnxModels(options: {
   modelsDir: string;
   modelIds: SherpaOnnxModelId[];
-  autoDownload: boolean;
   logger: pino.Logger;
 }): Promise<Record<SherpaOnnxModelId, string>> {
   const uniq = Array.from(new Set(options.modelIds));
@@ -216,7 +207,6 @@ export async function ensureSherpaOnnxModels(options: {
     out[id] = await ensureSherpaOnnxModel({
       modelsDir: options.modelsDir,
       modelId: id,
-      autoDownload: options.autoDownload,
       logger: options.logger,
     });
   }

packages/server/src/server/speech/providers/local/sherpa/speech-download.e2e.test.ts

@@ -106,7 +106,6 @@ describe("speech models (download E2E)", () => {
       await ensureSherpaOnnxModels({
         modelsDir,
         modelIds,
-        autoDownload: true,
         logger,
       });
 
@@ -121,7 +120,6 @@ describe("speech models (download E2E)", () => {
           },
           local: {
             modelsDir,
-            autoDownload: false,
             models: {
               dictationStt:
                 set === "parakeet-pocket"

packages/server/src/server/speech/speech-config-resolver.test.ts

@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@ describe("resolveSpeechConfig", () => {
     });
     expect(result.speech.local).toEqual({
       modelsDir: path.join(paseoHome, "models", "local-speech"),
-      autoDownload: true,
       models: {
         dictationStt: "parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2-int8",
         voiceStt: "parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2-int8",
@@ -67,7 +66,6 @@ describe("resolveSpeechConfig", () => {
       PASEO_VOICE_LOCAL_TTS_SPEAKER_ID: "5",
       PASEO_VOICE_LOCAL_TTS_SPEED: "1.35",
       PASEO_LOCAL_MODELS_DIR: "/tmp/models",
-      PASEO_LOCAL_AUTO_DOWNLOAD: "0",
       OPENAI_API_KEY: "env-key",
       PASEO_VOICE_STT_PROVIDER: "openai",
       PASEO_DICTATION_STT_PROVIDER: "local",
@@ -82,7 +80,6 @@ describe("resolveSpeechConfig", () => {
 
     expect(result.speech.local).toEqual({
       modelsDir: "/tmp/models",
-      autoDownload: false,
       models: {
         dictationStt: "zipformer-bilingual-zh-en-2023-02-20",
         voiceStt: "parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3-int8",

packages/server/src/server/speech/speech-runtime.test.ts

@@ -79,7 +79,6 @@ describe("initializeSpeechRuntime readiness", () => {
       availability: {
         configured: false,
         modelsDir: null,
-        autoDownload: null,
       },
       cleanup: () => {},
     });
@@ -115,7 +114,6 @@ describe("initializeSpeechRuntime readiness", () => {
       availability: {
         configured: false,
         modelsDir: null,
-        autoDownload: null,
       },
       cleanup: () => {},
     });

packages/server/src/server/speech/speech-runtime.ts

@@ -205,7 +205,6 @@ function buildVoiceFeatureReadiness(params: {
   missingLocalModelIds: LocalSpeechModelId[];
   backgroundDownloadInProgress: boolean;
   backgroundDownloadError: string | null;
-  localAutoDownloadEnabled: boolean;
 }): SpeechReadinessState {
   const enabled = params.realtimeVoice.enabled || params.dictation.enabled;
   if (!enabled) {
@@ -246,7 +245,7 @@ function buildVoiceFeatureReadiness(params: {
       available: false,
       reasonCode: "models_missing",
       message: `Voice features are unavailable: missing local models (${joinModelIds(missingModelIds)}).`,
-      retryable: params.localAutoDownloadEnabled,
+      retryable: true,
       missingModelIds,
     };
   }
@@ -328,7 +327,6 @@ export async function initializeSpeechRuntime(params: {
   const openaiConfig = params.openaiConfig;
   const providers = resolveRequestedSpeechProviders(speechConfig);
   const requestedProviders = describeRequestedProviders(providers);
-  const localAutoDownloadEnabled = speechConfig?.local?.autoDownload ?? true;
 
   validateOpenAiCredentialRequirements({
     providers,
@@ -382,7 +380,6 @@ export async function initializeSpeechRuntime(params: {
       missingLocalModelIds,
       backgroundDownloadInProgress,
       backgroundDownloadError,
-      localAutoDownloadEnabled,
     });
     return {
       generatedAt: new Date().toISOString(),
@@ -459,12 +456,11 @@ export async function initializeSpeechRuntime(params: {
     });
   };
 
-  const reconcileServices = async (modelEnsureAutoDownload: boolean): Promise<void> => {
+  const reconcileServices = async (): Promise<void> => {
     const nextLocalSpeech = await initializeLocalSpeechServices({
       providers,
       speechConfig,
       logger,
-      modelEnsureAutoDownload,
     });
     const nextOpenAiSpeech = initializeOpenAiSpeechServices({
       providers,
@@ -521,13 +517,13 @@ export async function initializeSpeechRuntime(params: {
     }
   };
 
-  const runReconcile = async (params: { modelEnsureAutoDownload: boolean }): Promise<void> => {
+  const runReconcile = async (): Promise<void> => {
     if (reconcileInFlight) {
       await reconcileInFlight;
       publishReadinessIfChanged();
       return;
     }
-    reconcileInFlight = reconcileServices(params.modelEnsureAutoDownload).finally(() => {
+    reconcileInFlight = reconcileServices().finally(() => {
       reconcileInFlight = null;
     });
     await reconcileInFlight;
@@ -550,7 +546,7 @@ export async function initializeSpeechRuntime(params: {
     }
     const modelsDir = localModelConfig?.modelsDir ?? null;
     const modelIds = [...missingLocalModelIds];
-    if (!modelsDir || modelIds.length === 0 || !localAutoDownloadEnabled) {
+    if (!modelsDir || modelIds.length === 0) {
       return;
     }
 
@@ -571,10 +567,9 @@ export async function initializeSpeechRuntime(params: {
         await ensureLocalSpeechModels({
           modelsDir,
           modelIds,
-          autoDownload: true,
           logger,
         });
-        await runReconcile({ modelEnsureAutoDownload: false });
+        await runReconcile();
         backgroundDownloadError = null;
       } catch (error) {
         backgroundDownloadError = error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error);
@@ -610,12 +605,11 @@ export async function initializeSpeechRuntime(params: {
         missingLocalModelIds.length === 0 &&
         !backgroundDownloadInProgress
       ) {
-        await runReconcile({ modelEnsureAutoDownload: false });
+        await runReconcile();
       }
 
       if (
         missingLocalModelIds.length > 0 &&
-        localAutoDownloadEnabled &&
         !backgroundDownloadInProgress &&
         !backgroundDownloadError
       ) {
@@ -629,10 +623,10 @@ export async function initializeSpeechRuntime(params: {
     }
   };
 
-  await runReconcile({ modelEnsureAutoDownload: false });
+  await runReconcile();
   const snapshot = computeReadinessSnapshot();
   if (snapshot.voiceFeature.enabled && !snapshot.voiceFeature.available) {
-    if (missingLocalModelIds.length > 0 && localAutoDownloadEnabled) {
+    if (missingLocalModelIds.length > 0) {
       startBackgroundDownload();
     }
     scheduleMonitor();

packages/website/public/schemas/paseo.config.v1.json

@@ -95,9 +95,6 @@
                 "modelsDir": {
                   "type": "string",
                   "minLength": 1
-                },
-                "autoDownload": {
-                  "type": "boolean"
                 }
               },
               "additionalProperties": false
@@ -197,6 +194,9 @@
             "dictation": {
               "type": "object",
               "properties": {
+                "enabled": {
+                  "type": "boolean"
+                },
                 "stt": {
                   "type": "object",
                   "properties": {
@@ -230,6 +230,9 @@
             "voiceMode": {
               "type": "object",
               "properties": {
+                "enabled": {
+                  "type": "boolean"
+                },
                 "llm": {
                   "type": "object",
                   "properties": {

packages/website/src/routes/docs/configuration.tsx

@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ docker run --rm -i \\
           <li><code className="font-mono">OPENAI_API_KEY</code> — override OpenAI provider key</li>
           <li><code className="font-mono">PASEO_VOICE_LLM_PROVIDER</code> — override voice LLM provider (<code className="font-mono">claude</code>, <code className="font-mono">codex</code>, <code className="font-mono">opencode</code>)</li>
           <li><code className="font-mono">PASEO_DICTATION_STT_PROVIDER</code>, <code className="font-mono">PASEO_VOICE_STT_PROVIDER</code>, <code className="font-mono">PASEO_VOICE_TTS_PROVIDER</code> — override voice provider selection (<code className="font-mono">local</code> or <code className="font-mono">openai</code>)</li>
-          <li><code className="font-mono">PASEO_LOCAL_MODELS_DIR</code> and <code className="font-mono">PASEO_LOCAL_AUTO_DOWNLOAD</code> — control local model directory and download behavior</li>
+          <li><code className="font-mono">PASEO_LOCAL_MODELS_DIR</code> — control local model directory</li>
           <li><code className="font-mono">PASEO_DICTATION_LOCAL_STT_MODEL</code> — override local dictation STT model</li>
           <li><code className="font-mono">PASEO_VOICE_LOCAL_STT_MODEL</code>, <code className="font-mono">PASEO_VOICE_LOCAL_TTS_MODEL</code> — override local voice STT/TTS models</li>
           <li><code className="font-mono">PASEO_VOICE_LOCAL_TTS_SPEAKER_ID</code>, <code className="font-mono">PASEO_VOICE_LOCAL_TTS_SPEED</code> — optional local voice TTS tuning</li>

packages/website/src/routes/docs/voice.tsx

@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ function VoiceDocs() {
         </p>
         <p className="text-white/60 leading-relaxed">
           Missing models are downloaded at daemon startup into{' '}
-          <code className="font-mono">$PASEO_HOME/models/local-speech</code> when auto-download is enabled.
+          <code className="font-mono">$PASEO_HOME/models/local-speech</code>.
           Downloads happen only for missing files.
         </p>
         <pre className="bg-card border border-border rounded-lg p-4 font-mono text-sm overflow-x-auto text-white/80">
@@ -71,8 +71,7 @@ function VoiceDocs() {
   },
   "providers": {
     "local": {
-      "modelsDir": "~/.paseo/models/local-speech",
+      "modelsDir": "~/.paseo/models/local-speech"
-      "autoDownload": true
     }
   }
 }`}
@@ -107,7 +106,7 @@ function VoiceDocs() {
         <ul className="text-white/60 space-y-2 list-disc list-inside">
           <li><code className="font-mono">OPENAI_API_KEY</code> — OpenAI speech credentials</li>
           <li><code className="font-mono">PASEO_VOICE_LLM_PROVIDER</code> — voice agent provider override</li>
-          <li><code className="font-mono">PASEO_LOCAL_MODELS_DIR</code>, <code className="font-mono">PASEO_LOCAL_AUTO_DOWNLOAD</code> — local model storage and download policy</li>
+          <li><code className="font-mono">PASEO_LOCAL_MODELS_DIR</code> — local model storage directory</li>
           <li><code className="font-mono">PASEO_DICTATION_LOCAL_STT_MODEL</code> — local dictation STT model ID</li>
           <li><code className="font-mono">PASEO_VOICE_LOCAL_STT_MODEL</code>, <code className="font-mono">PASEO_VOICE_LOCAL_TTS_MODEL</code> — local voice STT/TTS model IDs</li>
           <li><code className="font-mono">PASEO_VOICE_LOCAL_TTS_SPEAKER_ID</code>, <code className="font-mono">PASEO_VOICE_LOCAL_TTS_SPEED</code> — optional local voice TTS tuning</li>