Prepare Local Speech Recognition for an Offline Event

Start the forallcli sidecar, choose Qwen3 ASR, enumerate audio, and preflight local recognition.

Written By 4ALL.LIVE

Last updated 12 days ago

Prepare local speech recognition so audio can be processed on the operator workstation without the cloud STT runtime once required local resources are available.

Best for: Desktop operators and technical administrators.

Before you start

Requires the desktop app, compatible hardware, local/offline entitlement where applicable, and downloaded local resources.

  • Use a non-production event for commissioning.
  • Record the current build and workstation owner.
  • Prepare a documented fallback before making changes.
  • Use a production-capable workstation with adequate CPU/GPU, memory, storage, cooling, and power.
  • Download all required resources before the venue loses internet.
  • Prepare the exact microphone, channel, language, and custom vocabulary.

Planning guide

  1. Open Event Setup and set Speech engine to Offline (legacy label Whisper Local/Edge maps to Offline).
  2. The desktop app initializes the bundled forallcli sidecar on loopback port 8787.
  3. Confirm /health succeeds and audio devices load from /api/audio/devices.
  4. Select Qwen3-ASR-1.7B-bf16 (repository model ID mlx-community/Qwen3-ASR-1.7B-bf16).
  5. Select the stable device UID and zero-based input channel; default sample rate for the local request is 16 kHz.
  6. Choose language, decide whether on-device diarization is enabled, and load custom vocabulary if required.
  7. Start a rehearsal and verify connecting → connected → running, partial transcripts, final transcripts, speaker attribution, and stop.
  8. Disconnect the external network in a controlled test and verify the exact offline scope before travel.

What success looks like: The local sidecar recognizes the intended microphone and produces partial/final captions without relying on cloud STT during the tested scenario.

Check your setup

  • Sidecar health and WebSocket ws://127.0.0.1:8787/ws/realtime work.
  • The model is available locally.
  • Correct device/channel are used.
  • Thermals and latency stay acceptable through a sustained rehearsal.

Troubleshooting

  • No devices: restart sidecar/app and regrant microphone access.
  • Health fails: endpoint security may block forallcli or port 8787.
  • Model load fails: reconnect and complete/cache the resource before offline operation.
  • High latency: reduce competing load and use supported hardware.

Security and operational notes

Important: Offline STT does not automatically make the entire SaaS workflow offline. Sharing, translation, account checks, remote control, and synchronization may still require network services.