# NousResearch/hermes-agent · audio capture read_available stall fixes and fallbacks

## Open now

- Nothing open on GitHub.

These items address a bug where polling read_available stalls indefinitely on certain audio backends (notably DirectSound on Windows), causing wake-word detection and voice capture to hang. Fixes introduce fallback to blocking reads when the poll makes no progress.

## TL;DR

- 3 member(s): 0 open issue(s), 1 closed issue(s), 0 open PR(s), 1 merged PR(s), 1 PR(s) closed without merging.
- A fix was merged to main in PR #127197. Verify it addresses your case.
- **Recommended:** read PR #127197 (and any competing PRs below) before filing. Confirm the merged change covers your symptom.

## Maintainer resolution verdict

- Internal-tracker verdict over this cluster's issue members: `resolved` · deciding PR(s): `pr-127197`. This is distinct from the fix status above. Weigh it yourself.

## How this cluster was grouped

- Link evidence (`STRUCTURAL_SPANNING`): every member is connected by structural evidence: shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference.
- Pairwise link density `0.67`: the share of member pairs that carry a link, counting a structural link in full and a relevance-only link at 0.36. `1.00` means every pair is linked.

## Closed / duplicate issues

- #118552: \[Bug\]: Wake-word never fires on Windows — \`_Capture.read()\`'s \`read_available\` poll spins forever on DirectSound devices (regression from #117096 fix)

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#127197: fix(wake): recover transient capture read failures and fall back to blocking reads when read_available stalls**. merged to main · fix tier `verified`
  - maintainer direction: category `merged`
  - files: `tests/tools/test_wake_word.py`, `tests/tools/test_wake_word_stream_recovery.py`, `tools/wake_word.py`
- **#118560: fix(voice): fall back to blocking reads when read_available never advances**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `implemented_elsewhere`; implication `superseded`; refs `d79de94195`, `#127197`

## Fix status

- Merged to main in PR #127197 (cited above). No release data is tracked. Verify downstream.
- Fix last verified (merged) `2026-09-30`.