v2.0.0 - Hybrid Speech-to-Text with Whisper Integration (November 26, 2025)

🚀 Major New Features:

• Offline Speech Recognition: OpenAI Whisper "tiny" model (MIT licensed) for fully offline operation
• Hybrid Engine Architecture: Auto-switch between Google (online) and Whisper (offline) based on connectivity
• Engine Selection Menu: System tray submenu to manually choose Auto-Detect, Whisper, or Google engines
• About Menu: New "About" section showing version, author, current engine, and Whisper status
• Batch Launchers: run.bat (normal mode) and run-debug.bat (troubleshooting mode) for easy startup

🔧 Technical Implementation:

• faster-whisper: 4x faster than vanilla Whisper with CTranslate2 backend
• INT8 Quantization: CPU-optimized for speed (greedy decoding, beam_size=1)
• Lazy Model Loading: Whisper loads on first use (~70MB one-time download)
• Model Cache: Stored in %APPDATA%\stt-cli\models for persistence
• Settings Persistence: Engine preference saved across sessions
• Hidden Imports: PyInstaller bundles av, faster_whisper, numpy, ctranslate2

⚡ Performance:

• Whisper Latency: ~1-2s transcription time (tiny model)
• Google Latency: ~0.5s transcription time (faster but requires internet)
• Model Size: 75MB (tiny model, one-time download)
• Executable Size: ~150MB (includes all Whisper dependencies)

🎯 Use Cases:

• Corporate Environments: Bypass Win+H restrictions with offline capability
• Air-Gapped Networks: Work completely offline with Whisper mode
• Privacy-Focused: Audio never leaves your machine in Whisper mode
• Variable Connectivity: Auto-switch between Google (accurate) and Whisper (offline)

📚 Documentation:

• Comprehensive architecture documentation in /docs
• Whisper model download and caching explained
• Threading model and flow diagrams
• Batch launcher usage guide

All v1.4.0 functionality remains intact:

• Auto-start on Windows Boot
• Double-tap Left Alt hotkey
• System tray operation
• Balloon notifications
• CLI window detection
• No admin rights required