Voice mode: configurable recording duration and silence timeout

Resolved 💬 3 comments Opened Mar 12, 2026 by antonkor Closed Apr 22, 2026

Problem

The /voice command has a fixed recording duration/silence timeout that cuts off users who speak at a slower pace. There's currently no way to configure how long the recording runs before it stops.

This affects users who:

  • Speak slowly or deliberately
  • Pause to think mid-sentence before continuing
  • Have speech patterns with natural gaps (e.g., non-native speakers, people with speech differences)
  • Want to dictate longer, more detailed prompts

Proposed Solution

Add configurable settings for voice recording, for example:

  • VOICE_MAX_DURATION_MS — maximum recording length (default could stay as-is, but allow extending to e.g. 60s or 120s)
  • VOICE_SILENCE_TIMEOUT_MS — how long silence is tolerated before auto-stopping (e.g. default 2s, configurable to 3-5s for slower speakers)

These could live in settings.json or as environment variables, consistent with how other timeouts (BASH_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_MS, etc.) are configured.

Use Case

Users who speak slowly, pause to think mid-sentence, or have speech patterns with natural gaps get cut off before finishing their thought. This is especially relevant for accessibility — not everyone speaks at the same pace.

Related Issues

This is part of a broader cluster of voice mode UX requests:

  • #30761 — Toggle/continuous listening mode (solve the "holding Space is tiring" problem)
  • #33025 — Press-to-start/stop behavior for longer dictation
  • #33393 — Rebindable push-to-talk key
  • #33621 — Voice response output

The silence timeout config specifically would complement all of these — whether push-to-talk, toggle, or continuous mode, users still need configurable pause tolerance.

Alternatives Considered

  • Speaking in shorter chunks (hold-release-hold) — works but breaks natural speech flow and thought process
  • No workaround exists for the silence timeout specifically

View original on GitHub ↗

This issue has 3 comments on GitHub. Read the full discussion on GitHub ↗