diff --git a/playbooks/deploy-fish-cpp.yaml b/playbooks/deploy-fish-cpp.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..72832fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/playbooks/deploy-fish-cpp.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,130 @@
+# Deploy fish-cpp (Fish s2-pro via s2.cpp + GGML CUDA inference) to irv-ml1.
+#
+# Builds the image locally — multi-stage CUDA devel base (CMake + s2.cpp
+# compile, ~10 min cold) → CUDA runtime base + binary + python shim.
+# Pre-pulls rodrigomt/s2-pro-gguf weights (q6_k default, ~5 GB) into
+# the bind-mounted weights dir.
+#
+# Usage:
+#   scripts/elway irv-ml1 --playbook playbooks/deploy-fish-cpp.yaml
+#
+# Idempotent — every step is creates-/when-gated; rerun is safe.
+
+vars:
+  compose_dir: /opt/docker/compose/fish-cpp
+  references_dir: /worktank/fish-cpp/references
+  weights_dir: /worktank/fish-cpp/weights
+  host_port: "8199"
+  weights_repo: rodrigomt/s2-pro-gguf
+  default_quant: s2-pro-q6_k.gguf
+
+steps:
+  # ── host-side dirs ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+  - name: Ensure /worktank/fish-cpp root exists (one-time, sudo)
+    shell: mkdir -p /worktank/fish-cpp
+    sudo: true
+    creates: /worktank/fish-cpp
+
+  - name: Chown /worktank/fish-cpp to lkraven
+    shell: chown -R lkraven:lkraven /worktank/fish-cpp
+    sudo: true
+    when: "[ \"$(stat -c %U /worktank/fish-cpp)\" != \"lkraven\" ]"
+
+  - name: Ensure references dir exists
+    shell: mkdir -p {{ references_dir }}
+    creates: "{{ references_dir }}"
+
+  - name: Ensure weights dir exists
+    shell: mkdir -p {{ weights_dir }}
+    creates: "{{ weights_dir }}"
+
+  - name: Ensure compose dir exists
+    shell: mkdir -p {{ compose_dir }}
+    creates: "{{ compose_dir }}"
+
+  # ── deploy build context ────────────────────────────────────────────
+  # s2.cpp is built INSIDE the docker image, but the Dockerfile + shim
+  # need to be present in the compose dir so `docker compose build`
+  # can find them.
+
+  - name: Upload compose.yaml
+    upload:
+      src: stacks/fish-cpp/compose.yaml
+      dest: "{{ compose_dir }}/compose.yaml"
+      mode: "0644"
+
+  - name: Upload Dockerfile
+    upload:
+      src: stacks/fish-cpp/Dockerfile
+      dest: "{{ compose_dir }}/Dockerfile"
+      mode: "0644"
+
+  - name: Upload server.py (FastAPI shim)
+    upload:
+      src: stacks/fish-cpp/server.py
+      dest: "{{ compose_dir }}/server.py"
+      mode: "0644"
+
+  - name: Seed .env from template (only if absent)
+    upload:
+      src: stacks/fish-cpp/.env.example
+      dest: "{{ compose_dir }}/.env"
+      mode: "0644"
+    when: "[ ! -f {{ compose_dir }}/.env ]"
+
+  # ── pre-pull weights ────────────────────────────────────────────────
+  # q6_k + tokenizer.json (~5 GB total). Same one-shot
+  # python:3.12-slim + huggingface_hub.snapshot_download + hf_transfer
+  # pattern we've used for fish-s2, voxtral, etc. Idempotent on rerun
+  # via `creates:` on the model file.
+
+  - name: Pre-pull rodrigomt/s2-pro-gguf weights (q6_k + tokenizer, ~5 GB)
+    shell: |
+      docker run --rm --user 1000:1000 \
+        -e HOME=/tmp/h -e HF_HUB_ENABLE_HF_TRANSFER=1 \
+        -v {{ weights_dir }}:/dest \
+        python:3.12-slim sh -c 'set -e; mkdir -p /tmp/h /tmp/pip /tmp/site; PIP_CACHE_DIR=/tmp/pip pip install --quiet --target /tmp/site huggingface_hub hf_transfer; PYTHONPATH=/tmp/site python -c "from huggingface_hub import snapshot_download; snapshot_download(repo_id=\"{{ weights_repo }}\", local_dir=\"/dest\", allow_patterns=[\"{{ default_quant }}\",\"tokenizer.json\"])"'
+    creates: "{{ weights_dir }}/{{ default_quant }}"
+
+  # ── build + bring up ────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+  - name: docker compose build (~10 min first time; CUDA toolchain + s2.cpp compile)
+    shell: |
+      set -o pipefail
+      cd {{ compose_dir }} && docker compose build 2>&1 \
+        | grep -vE '^#[0-9]+ |^ => |^=> |Collecting|Downloading|Requirement|Using cached|Installing collected|Successfully (installed|built)|━'
+
+  - name: docker compose up -d
+    shell: cd {{ compose_dir }} && docker compose up -d
+
+  - name: Wait for /v1/health to respond
+    shell: |
+      for i in $(seq 1 60); do
+        curl -sf -o /dev/null --max-time 3 http://localhost:{{ host_port }}/v1/health && exit 0
+        sleep 5
+      done
+      exit 1
+    changed_when: "false"
+
+verify:
+  - name: /v1/health returns 200 + reports model loaded
+    shell: |
+      curl -sf http://localhost:{{ host_port }}/v1/health \
+        | python3 -c "import json,sys; d=json.load(sys.stdin); assert d.get('status')=='ok' and d.get('model')"
+    changed_when: "false"
+
+  - name: /v1/tts returns a real WAV (POST with text body)
+    shell: |
+      out=$(mktemp --suffix=.wav)
+      curl -sf -X POST http://localhost:{{ host_port }}/v1/tts \
+        -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
+        -d '{"text":"Verify."}' \
+        -o "$out" --max-time 60
+      file -b "$out" | grep -q '^RIFF.*WAVE'
+      rm -f "$out"
+    changed_when: "false"
+
+  - name: Container is running
+    shell: docker inspect fish-cpp --format '{{.State.Status}}' | grep -q running
+    changed_when: "false"
diff --git a/stacks/fish-cpp/.env.example b/stacks/fish-cpp/.env.example
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ba9ba64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stacks/fish-cpp/.env.example
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+# fish-cpp stack tunables. Copy to `.env` on irv-ml1 before deploying.
+
+# ── build pin ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+# SHA of rodrigomatta/s2.cpp to build from. The repo is alpha — pin a
+# specific SHA so future upstream churn doesn't break our build. Update
+# deliberately when you want upstream improvements.
+FISH_CPP_S2_SHA=e48ce8e02d8335bd9a0ba94679f605724b31d123
+
+# Local image tag — bump when you change build context.
+FISH_CPP_TAG=v1
+
+# ── network ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+# Host port. Container listens on 8000 internally.
+# Reservations on irv-ml1: 8188 ComfyUI, 8190 CosyVoice, 8191 Qwen3-TTS,
+# 8192 IndexTTS-2, 8193 Kokoro, 8194 VibeVoice, 8195 fish-s2 (HF),
+# 8196 Chatterbox, 8197 Voxtral, 8765 Parakeet ASR. 8199 picked here.
+FISH_CPP_PORT=8199
+FISH_CPP_BIND=0.0.0.0
+
+# ── runtime / GPU ────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+# GPU pinning. "0" = RTX 3090 (24 GB), "1" = RTX A6000 (48 GB).
+# Pinned to GPU 1 to share with fish-s2 (HF) for direct A/B benching;
+# q6_k weights need ~5 GB + 3 GB runtime ≈ 8 GB. A6000 has plenty.
+FISH_CPP_GPU_DEVICES=1
+
+# Quantization variant to load. Available files in
+# rodrigomt/s2-pro-gguf:
+#   s2-pro-q4_k_m.gguf  — smaller / faster, quality drops noticeably
+#   s2-pro-q5_k_m.gguf  — middle ground
+#   s2-pro-q6_k.gguf    — sweet spot (default), near-bf16 quality
+#   s2-pro-q8_0.gguf    — closest to bf16, larger / slower
+#   s2-pro-f16.gguf     — full precision, no quantization win
+FISH_CPP_MODEL=s2-pro-q6_k.gguf
+
+# ── persistent storage on the host ───────────────────────────────────
+# Weights — pre-pulled by the deploy playbook (~5 GB for q6_k +
+# ~12 MB tokenizer.json).
+FISH_CPP_WEIGHTS_DIR=/worktank/fish-cpp/weights
+
+# Reference audio for voice cloning. Drop ~5-15 s WAV/MP3/FLAC clips
+# here; reference them by basename in the API request body.
+FISH_CPP_REFERENCE_DIR=/worktank/fish-cpp/references
diff --git a/stacks/fish-cpp/Dockerfile b/stacks/fish-cpp/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9bb88a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stacks/fish-cpp/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+# fish-cpp — s2.cpp (pure C++/GGML inference for Fish s2-pro GGUFs) +
+# tiny FastAPI shim exposing Fish's /v1/tts contract.
+#
+# Two-stage build:
+#   1. builder — compiles s2.cpp with CUDA backend
+#   2. runtime — slim image with the s2 binary + Python shim
+#
+# The s2.cpp binary is the actual inference engine; the Python shim is
+# just an HTTP-to-CLI bridge so this stack drops into the same fleet
+# pattern as the other TTS (POST /v1/tts, Fish-shaped request body).
+
+# ── Stage 1: build s2.cpp with CUDA ────────────────────────────────────
+FROM nvidia/cuda:12.6.0-devel-ubuntu24.04 AS builder
+
+ARG S2_CPP_SHA=e48ce8e02d8335bd9a0ba94679f605724b31d123
+ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
+
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+      git ca-certificates cmake ninja-build build-essential pkg-config \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+WORKDIR /src
+RUN git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/rodrigomatta/s2.cpp.git \
+    && cd s2.cpp \
+    && git checkout ${S2_CPP_SHA} \
+    && git submodule update --init --recursive
+
+WORKDIR /src/s2.cpp
+RUN cmake -G Ninja -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DS2_CUDA=ON \
+    && cmake --build build --parallel $(nproc) --target s2
+
+# ── Stage 2: runtime — slim image with the binary + python shim ────────
+FROM nvidia/cuda:12.6.0-runtime-ubuntu24.04
+
+ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive \
+    PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1 \
+    PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1
+
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+      python3 python3-pip python3-venv tini \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+# Pull the shim deps into an isolated venv so we don't fight system pip.
+RUN python3 -m venv /opt/venv
+ENV PATH="/opt/venv/bin:${PATH}"
+RUN pip install --no-cache-dir 'fastapi>=0.115' 'uvicorn[standard]>=0.30' 'pydantic>=2'
+
+# Copy the s2 binary + GGML runtime libs from the builder stage.
+COPY --from=builder /src/s2.cpp/build/s2 /usr/local/bin/s2
+COPY --from=builder /src/s2.cpp/build/ggml/src/libggml*.so /usr/local/lib/
+COPY --from=builder /src/s2.cpp/build/ggml/src/ggml-cuda/libggml-cuda.so /usr/local/lib/
+RUN ldconfig
+
+WORKDIR /app
+COPY server.py /app/server.py
+
+# Bind-mounted at runtime: weights at /weights, references at /references.
+VOLUME /weights
+VOLUME /references
+
+EXPOSE 8000
+ENTRYPOINT ["/usr/bin/tini", "--"]
+CMD ["uvicorn", "server:app", "--host", "0.0.0.0", "--port", "8000", "--no-access-log"]
diff --git a/stacks/fish-cpp/README.md b/stacks/fish-cpp/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..69b90ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stacks/fish-cpp/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+# fish-cpp
+
+Fish s2-pro served via [s2.cpp](https://github.com/rodrigomatta/s2.cpp)
+— a pure C++/GGML inference engine for Fish s2-pro, with weights from
+[rodrigomt/s2-pro-gguf](https://huggingface.co/rodrigomt/s2-pro-gguf).
+Wrapped by a tiny FastAPI shim exposing Fish's `/v1/tts` HTTP contract
+so it slots into the same bench harness + client patterns as `fish-s2`.
+
+## Why this stack alongside `fish-s2`
+
+`fish-s2` (HF transformers wrapper) measured at **0.78× realtime** on
+the A6000 — phenomenal quality but sub-realtime, meaning streaming
+clients hit buffer underruns on phrases longer than ~3-4 seconds of
+audio. `fish-cpp` targets the same s2-pro architecture but runs it
+through s2.cpp's C++/GGML/CUDA inference path with q6_k quantization
+— typically 2-5× faster than HF transformers for equivalent precision
+(GGML is what makes llama.cpp fast).
+
+**Goal**: hit ≥ 1× realtime on the A6000 so streaming actually flows
+without stutters, while keeping Fish's quality near-equivalent to BF16.
+
+## Status: alpha
+
+s2.cpp is alpha software per its upstream README. Pin the SHA in
+`.env`, don't track main blindly — community alpha projects break
+weekly.
+
+## What works (and what doesn't) vs `fish-s2`
+
+| feature | fish-s2 (HF) | fish-cpp (this) |
+|---|---|---|
+| `/v1/tts` POST endpoint | ✓ | ✓ |
+| `text` body field | ✓ | ✓ |
+| `references` body field (cloning) | ✓ | ✓ (single ref only) |
+| `streaming: true` | ✓ (TTFB → 26 ms) | ✗ accepted but ignored |
+| Paralinguistic tags | ✓ | should work (same weights) |
+| Quantization | bf16 | q4_k_m / q5_k_m / **q6_k** (default) / q8_0 |
+| Realtime factor | 0.78× | targeting 1-1.5× |
+
+The streaming gap matters: fish-s2 with `streaming: true` returns the
+first audio chunk in 26 ms (perceived latency feels instant). fish-cpp
+returns nothing until generation completes. So fish-cpp's appeal is
+RAW THROUGHPUT, not perceived latency. Combined with realtime+
+generation, total wall time stays low enough that polling clients
+don't notice.
+
+## API
+
+OpenAPI shape mirrors `fish-s2`:
+
+```bash
+# Basic — text only, default voice
+curl -fsS -X POST http://10.100.79.3:8199/v1/tts \
+  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
+  -d '{"text":"Hello there."}' \
+  > out.wav
+
+# With voice cloning — base64-encoded reference audio inline
+B64=$(base64 -w 0 /worktank/fish-cpp/references/glados.wav)  # on irv-ml1
+echo "{\"text\":\"Welcome.\",\"references\":[{\"audio\":\"$B64\",\"text\":\"transcript\"}]}" \
+  | curl -fsS -X POST http://10.100.79.3:8199/v1/tts \
+      -H 'Content-Type: application/json' --data-binary @- \
+      > out.wav
+```
+
+Health probe at `GET /v1/health`.
+
+## Deploy
+
+```bash
+scripts/elway irv-ml1 --playbook playbooks/deploy-fish-cpp.yaml
+```
+
+Cold deploy ~30-45 min: ~10 min image build (CUDA dev toolchain +
+CMake + s2.cpp compile), ~3 min weights pull (~5 GB for q6_k +
+12 MB tokenizer), ~1 min container boot.
+
+## Hardware footprint
+
+- **VRAM**: ~8 GB practical for q6_k (5 GB weights + 3 GB runtime).
+  Pinned to GPU 1 (A6000) by default to share with `fish-s2` for
+  direct A/B comparison. Could also run on GPU 0 (3090) with room
+  to spare.
+- **Disk**: ~5 GB for q6_k checkpoint + tokenizer.
+
+## Bench plan
+
+Same 3-phrase suite as the other TTS:
+
+```
+P1 = "Hello, this is a test of the voice synthesis system. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
+P2 = "Oh my god, I cannot believe what just happened. That was absolutely incredible!"
+P3 = "What the hell is going on. This is some bullshit and I am not putting up with it."
+```
+
+Compare:
+- TTFB / total wall-clock per phrase
+- audio-seconds / wall-seconds (realtime factor)
+- Quality (ear test) vs `fish-s2` BF16 baseline
+
+If fish-cpp lands ≥ 1× realtime AND the q6_k quality holds up under
+ear test, this stack becomes the default Fish path. fish-s2 stays
+deployed for paralinguistic tag fidelity reference + streaming
+(if that turns out to matter for any specific use case).
+
+## Lessons learned
+
+(Populate after deploy iteration.)
diff --git a/stacks/fish-cpp/compose.yaml b/stacks/fish-cpp/compose.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..293a706
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stacks/fish-cpp/compose.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+# fish-cpp — Fish s2-pro served via s2.cpp (pure C++/GGML inference,
+# CUDA backend) with a tiny FastAPI shim exposing Fish's /v1/tts
+# contract. Built locally from rodrigomatta/s2.cpp + a pinned SHA.
+#
+# Why this stack alongside fish-s2:
+#   * fish-s2 (HF transformers wrapper): ~7-8 s TTFB, 0.78× realtime.
+#     Phenomenal quality but sub-realtime, buffer-underruns on long
+#     phrases even with streaming.
+#   * fish-cpp (this): targets ~2-5× speedup from the GGML inference
+#     path + q6_k quantization. Goal: hit realtime for streaming use.
+#
+# CAVEATS:
+#   * s2.cpp is alpha software (per upstream README). Pin the SHA;
+#     don't track main blindly.
+#   * Per-request subprocess spawn — each /v1/tts call forks the s2
+#     binary. Adds ~50-100 ms over a long-running daemon. Negligible
+#     vs the multi-second generation cost.
+#   * No streaming — s2.cpp writes a complete WAV before returning,
+#     so the shim's `streaming: true` field is accepted but ignored.
+#     TTFB ≈ total wall time (fast generation is the only path to
+#     low-latency here, not chunked output).
+
+services:
+  fish-cpp:
+    image: local/fish-cpp:${FISH_CPP_TAG}
+    build:
+      context: .
+      dockerfile: Dockerfile
+      args:
+        S2_CPP_SHA: ${FISH_CPP_S2_SHA:-e48ce8e02d8335bd9a0ba94679f605724b31d123}
+    container_name: fish-cpp
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    runtime: nvidia
+    ports:
+      - "${FISH_CPP_BIND:-0.0.0.0}:${FISH_CPP_PORT}:8000"
+    environment:
+      - NVIDIA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=${FISH_CPP_GPU_DEVICES:-1}
+      - FISH_CPP_MODEL=${FISH_CPP_MODEL:-s2-pro-q6_k.gguf}
+      - FISH_CPP_TOKENIZER=tokenizer.json
+      - FISH_CPP_DEVICE=0
+    volumes:
+      - ${FISH_CPP_WEIGHTS_DIR}:/weights:ro
+      - ${FISH_CPP_REFERENCE_DIR}:/references:ro
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "python3 -c \"import urllib.request,sys; sys.exit(0 if urllib.request.urlopen('http://127.0.0.1:8000/v1/health', timeout=5).status==200 else 1)\""]
+      interval: 30s
+      timeout: 10s
+      retries: 3
+      start_period: 60s
+    labels:
+      - homepage.group=AI Systems
+      - homepage.name=Fish (s2.cpp)
+      - homepage.icon=mdi-fish
+      - homepage.description=Fish s2-pro via s2.cpp/GGML — quantized for realtime (irv-ml1)
+      - homepage.href=http://10.100.79.3:${FISH_CPP_PORT}
diff --git a/stacks/fish-cpp/server.py b/stacks/fish-cpp/server.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..324bf88
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stacks/fish-cpp/server.py
@@ -0,0 +1,131 @@
+"""fish-cpp — HTTP shim wrapping the s2.cpp CLI in Fish's /v1/tts API contract.
+
+s2.cpp is a pure C++/GGML inference engine for Fish s2-pro GGUFs. It's
+CLI-only (alpha), so this shim turns each HTTP POST into a subprocess
+invocation that:
+
+  1. Writes the optional reference WAV to /tmp/<id>.wav
+  2. Runs:  s2 -m <model.gguf> -t <tokenizer.json>
+              [-pa /tmp/ref.wav -pt "<transcript>"]
+              -text "..." -o /tmp/<id>.out.wav
+  3. Streams the resulting WAV back to the client.
+
+The contract matches Fish's wrapper close enough that bench harnesses
+written for fish-s2 work against fish-cpp without changes — same
+POST /v1/tts, same {text, references[{audio,text}], format} request body.
+
+What's NOT supported (vs Fish HF):
+  * `streaming: true` — s2.cpp writes a complete WAV before returning.
+    The shim accepts the field but ignores it. TTFB ≈ total wall time.
+    If/when s2.cpp grows incremental output, wire it through here.
+  * Paralinguistic tags — s2.cpp uses the same model weights, so tags
+    SHOULD work, but quality may differ from the HF wrapper.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import base64
+import os
+import subprocess
+import tempfile
+import uuid
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Optional
+
+from fastapi import FastAPI, HTTPException
+from fastapi.responses import FileResponse
+from pydantic import BaseModel
+
+S2_BINARY = os.environ.get("S2_BINARY", "/usr/local/bin/s2")
+WEIGHTS_DIR = Path(os.environ.get("WEIGHTS_DIR", "/weights"))
+MODEL_FILE = os.environ.get("FISH_CPP_MODEL", "s2-pro-q6_k.gguf")
+TOKENIZER_FILE = os.environ.get("FISH_CPP_TOKENIZER", "tokenizer.json")
+DEVICE_INDEX = os.environ.get("FISH_CPP_DEVICE", "0")  # CUDA device id
+
+MODEL_PATH = WEIGHTS_DIR / MODEL_FILE
+TOKENIZER_PATH = WEIGHTS_DIR / TOKENIZER_FILE
+
+app = FastAPI(title="fish-cpp")
+
+
+class ReferenceAudio(BaseModel):
+    audio: str  # base64-encoded WAV bytes (matches Fish HF schema)
+    text: str   # transcript of the reference clip
+
+
+class TTSRequest(BaseModel):
+    text: str
+    references: list[ReferenceAudio] = []
+    format: str = "wav"
+    streaming: bool = False  # accepted for contract parity; ignored
+
+
+@app.get("/v1/health")
+def health() -> dict:
+    if not MODEL_PATH.exists():
+        raise HTTPException(503, f"model missing: {MODEL_PATH}")
+    if not TOKENIZER_PATH.exists():
+        raise HTTPException(503, f"tokenizer missing: {TOKENIZER_PATH}")
+    return {"status": "ok", "model": MODEL_FILE}
+
+
+@app.post("/v1/tts")
+def tts(req: TTSRequest) -> FileResponse:
+    if req.format not in ("wav",):
+        raise HTTPException(400, f"only wav format supported, got {req.format}")
+
+    job = uuid.uuid4().hex
+    out_path = Path(tempfile.gettempdir()) / f"fish-cpp-{job}.wav"
+    ref_path: Optional[Path] = None
+
+    cmd: list[str] = [
+        S2_BINARY,
+        "-m", str(MODEL_PATH),
+        "-t", str(TOKENIZER_PATH),
+        "-text", req.text,
+        "-o", str(out_path),
+        # -v selects voice mode; 0 = default (no preset). Preset voices
+        # would need s2.cpp to ship a voice library; clone via -pa/-pt.
+        "-v", "0",
+    ]
+
+    if req.references:
+        # s2.cpp accepts a single reference at a time via -pa/-pt. If the
+        # client sent multiple, use the first; the upstream API doesn't
+        # appear to support multi-reference cloning.
+        ref = req.references[0]
+        ref_path = Path(tempfile.gettempdir()) / f"fish-cpp-{job}-ref.wav"
+        ref_path.write_bytes(base64.b64decode(ref.audio))
+        cmd.extend(["-pa", str(ref_path), "-pt", ref.text])
+
+    env = os.environ.copy()
+    env["CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES"] = DEVICE_INDEX
+
+    try:
+        result = subprocess.run(
+            cmd, env=env, capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=180,
+        )
+    except subprocess.TimeoutExpired:
+        raise HTTPException(504, "s2 binary timed out (180s)")
+    finally:
+        if ref_path and ref_path.exists():
+            ref_path.unlink()
+
+    if result.returncode != 0:
+        raise HTTPException(
+            500,
+            f"s2 binary failed (rc={result.returncode}): {result.stderr[-500:]}",
+        )
+
+    if not out_path.exists() or out_path.stat().st_size == 0:
+        raise HTTPException(500, "s2 binary produced no output")
+
+    # FileResponse streams the file + cleans up after sending. Caller
+    # gets WAV bytes immediately; we reap the temp file via background
+    # task once the response finishes.
+    from fastapi import BackgroundTasks
+    bg = BackgroundTasks()
+    bg.add_task(out_path.unlink, missing_ok=True)
+    return FileResponse(
+        out_path, media_type="audio/wav", filename=f"{job}.wav", background=bg,
+    )