Wait for the first streamed word before playing

poc/src/audio-service.ts

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
  * them in the transcript, and runs speech to text when a provider is set.
  */
 
-import { statSync } from "node:fs";
+import { statSync, unlinkSync } from "node:fs";
 import { AudioManager } from "./audio.js";
 import type { CaptureSegment } from "./capture.js";
 import { CapturePipeline } from "./capture.js";
@@ -147,17 +147,35 @@ export class AudioService {
         return { queued: true, id, position: this.queue.length };
     }
 
-    /** Wait for the wrapper's streaming file to appear, then play it while it grows. */
+    /**
+     * Wait until the wrapper's streaming file has real audio in it, then play it while it
+     * grows. The wrapper touches `<file>.ready` after the first word, which is the reliable
+     * signal; a size threshold and a timeout cover providers that do not mark readiness.
+     */
     private async playWhenReady(file: string): Promise<void> {
         for (let attempt = 0; attempt < 400; attempt++) {
             try {
-                if (statSync(file).size > 44) break;
+                if (statSync(`${file}.ready`).size >= 0) break;
+            } catch {
+                // no marker yet
+            }
+            try {
+                if (statSync(file).size > 100_000) break;
             } catch {
                 // not created yet
             }
             await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 25));
         }
-        await this.manager.play(file);
+
+        try {
+            await this.manager.play(file);
+        } finally {
+            try {
+                unlinkSync(`${file}.ready`);
+            } catch {
+                // best effort
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     stop(): void {