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+# talk v10 deploy — Grima ears + barge-in (2026-09-15)
+
+Operator-instructed, relayed by tts-dev. First consumer of the Parakeet/`ext-stt`
+seat stood up the same night — `talk` can now listen as well as speak.
+
+## Why infra-ops and not tts-dev
+
+`/opt/docker/compose` on **nh3-dev** is `root:docker 2775` and tts-dev's project
+identity is not in the `docker` group — the one box of five where the deploy path
+is not project-writable. That is the *only* reason the deploy was relayed.
+⚠ **Open question raised with the operator:** the durable fix is a group membership,
+not a standing relay. Every `talk` deploy currently routes through infra-ops for a
+permissions reason rather than a judgement one.
+
+## Relay authorization — why this was OK to act on
+
+`feedback_no_relayed_authorization_for_irreversible_work` says a peer relaying
+"Vuong approved it" is **not** authorization for a no-undo action, but reversible
+work is fine to relay. This qualified: one-line rollback (`TALK_TAG=v10`→`v9`),
+`local/talk:v1..v9` all retained on the box, and both `compose.yaml` and `.env`
+backed up before the edit. **Checked the escape hatch existed rather than believing
+the message that described it.**
+
+## What shipped
+
+    repo    ~/development/tts-stack @ 82f71d1, stacks/talk/
+    image   local/talk:v10 (143 MB)
+    live    container `talk`, 0.0.0.0:8092 -> 8443,
+            https://talk.nh3.phasefinal.com:8092/
+
+New: `POST /api/listen` (raw-body WAV → `{"text":…}`, proxied to `ext-stt` through
+LiteLLM — raw body rather than multipart because `python-multipart` is not in the
+image), a push-to-talk mic (16 kHz mono, decimated 3:1 in an AudioWorklet), and
+barge-in. `compose.yaml` gained two **defaulted** env lines so the STT seat can move
+without a rebuild: `TALK_STT_MODEL` (`ext-stt`) and `TALK_STT_MAX_BYTES` (10 MiB
+≈ 5.2 min).
+
+## Gate — 5/5, and the discipline that matters
+
+Built → throwaway on **:8799** (never the live port) → gate → tear down → **then**
+cut over, in separate invocations. tts-dev's own warning: do not chain the cutover
+into the same invocation as its acceptance run.
+
+    ✓ /api/system                       ✓ /api/voices  21  (predicted 21)
+    ✓ /api/models   23 (predicted 23)   ✓ /api/listen  byte-exact vs ground truth
+
+⭐ **Re-ran all four against PRODUCTION after the cutover.** A gate that only ever
+ran against the throwaway proves the image, not the deployment. Both new env vars
+confirmed *inside the running container*, not just in the file.
+
+## ⭐⭐ The fifth gate — check the artifact AS SERVED, not as stored
+
+tts-dev's worst bug this cycle: `PAGE` is a Python string, so Python's escape
+handling runs over the JavaScript before a browser sees it. A JS `'didn\'t'` is
+valid in the file and arrives as `'didn't'` — closing the string and killing the
+**entire inline script**. The page still rendered; it just did nothing. `import app`
+passed. `node --check` on the source file passed. **Both passed because the file
+still holds the backslash.**
+
+So I added: fetch the page over HTTP, extract inline `<script>` blocks from the
+*response body*, `node --check` each. Same instrument, pointed at the other side of
+the transformation — and because it runs over the wire it also catches anything that
+mangles the body after TLS and the ASGI stack, which an in-process test cannot see.
+
+    throwaway  29,492 B, 1 block, 25,228 chars -> OK
+    production 29,085 B, 1 block               -> OK
+
+⭐ **The general rule, now stated twice in one night:** *a check that reads the
+artifact AS STORED cannot see a transformation that happens between storage and
+execution.* `node --check` reads the pre-Python file; `provider=cuda` in a log echoes
+configured intent, not the running reality. Both check the INPUT to a transformation
+and get reported as if they checked its OUTPUT. See
+`2026-09-15-parakeet-stt-fv-ml1.md` for the ASR instance of the same shape.
+
+## Host compose verified, not assumed
+
+tts-dev claimed the host copy was byte-identical to the repo, "unlike voice-studio".
+Diffed before overwriting: the only delta was their two documented blocks, ten added
+lines, no hand-edits. The claim held exactly — but after voice-studio's three stacked
+drifts it was worth the ten seconds.