Thisper/LEGACY_HARDWARE_VALIDATION.md

Legacy Hardware Validation

This report exists to close the remaining release-candidate validation work against the target profile: older desktop hardware with limited RAM where Thisper must remain responsive and low-overhead.

Validation Checklist

Background Stability

• Scenario: Leave Thisper running in the tray/background for an extended period.
• Acceptance target: No crash, no hotkey loss, no visible UI freeze when restoring the window.
• Current evidence: User-reported runtime of more than 20 hours without API or stability failures.
• Status: partially validated

Repeated Cross-App Rewrite

• Scenario: Use Ctrl + Alt + R repeatedly across plain-text targets such as Notepad, browser text boxes, and lightweight game chat surfaces.
• Acceptance target: No destructive replacement on provider failure, no clipboard corruption after failures, stable repeated use without restart.
• Current evidence: Informal real-world usage is positive across multiple programs and even some games. One known host-app incompatibility exists where the T3 Chat app steals focus on the hotkey path.
• Status: partially validated

Long-Form Desktop Rewrite

• Scenario: Rewrite a multi-paragraph block through the main window and inspect diff/output toggles.
• Acceptance target: UI remains responsive during rewrite and the diff view reflects only actual edits.
• Current evidence: Main UI rewrite has been used successfully in normal writing flow, but no structured timing pass is logged yet.
• Status: partially validated

Successive Rewrites Without Restart

• Scenario: Perform multiple rewrites in sequence from both the main UI and the global shortcut flow.
• Acceptance target: No cumulative instability, no stale model state, no stuck loading state, and no credential-loss regression after restart.
• Current evidence: Runtime observability and secure key persistence are in place. Informal usage is positive, but the pass itself is not fully recorded yet.
• Status: partially validated

Resource Footprint

• Scenario: Observe memory use and responsiveness on constrained hardware during idle, active rewrite, and tray-hidden states.
• Acceptance target: No runaway memory growth and acceptable perceived latency for short text.
• Current evidence: Development footprint is dominated by build artifacts in target/, so the meaningful missing data is runtime memory and release-build behavior on older hardware.
• Status: remaining

Known Compatibility Notes

• T3 Chat: hotkey path can defocus the text box because the host app reacts to the shortcut first
• rich editors and secure fields: still best-effort and may not behave like plain-text targets

What To Record During The Pass

• idle memory use
• active rewrite latency for short and medium inputs
• whether the tray/hotkey path remains responsive after long idle time
• whether clipboard restoration remains correct after both success and failure
• whether secure credential persistence survives multiple app restarts
• any target app classes that consistently fail or behave inconsistently

Completion Rule

The desktop release candidate is fully validated when each scenario above has an explicit observed result recorded here, including failures or caveats.