clipbin-desktop/docs/validation.md

# Recording foundation validation

The first recording milestone proves the OBS capture, encoder and segment
pipeline before the UI is built (SPEC.md, "Implementation validation before
building out the UI"). `clipbin-probe` drives the real `clipbin-obs` engine and
prints `key=value` lines; the scripts in `scripts/validate/` turn them into
pass/fail results.

| Where | Script | Status |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Linux, headless rig (Wayland portal + Xwayland) | `scripts/validate/linux-rig.sh` | All 9 scenarios pass on devbox (Intel UHD 770, VA-API) |
| Linux, real session (CachyOS, Hyprland, RX 9070 XT, 1440p60) | `scripts/validate/linux-hardware.sh` | 2026-10-08: H.264, HEVC and AV1 usable; restore token works |
| Windows (Game Capture, NVENC/AMF/QSV) | `scripts/validate/windows.ps1` | Not run yet; script untested |

## Probe commands

```sh
cargo run -p clipbin-probe -- encoders --verify          # hardware encoders per codec, proven by encoding
cargo run -p clipbin-probe -- record --target monitor     # records; prints status, health and segments
cargo run -p clipbin-probe -- check                       # keyframes, codec, durations, cross-boundary remux
```

`record` targets `monitor`, `window` or `game` (Game Capture on Windows; the
same as `window` elsewhere). On Windows and X11, `--window` takes OBS's window
identifier; on Wayland the portal picker chooses and `--restore-token` reuses
an earlier choice. See the top of `crates/clipbin-probe/src/main.rs` for all
options. `check` needs FFmpeg's `ffprobe` and `ffmpeg` on `PATH`.

## Linux headless rig

`scripts/rig/headless.sh [--x11] <command>` runs a command inside a private
D-Bus session with PipeWire, a virtual audio sink, headless Sway on the GPU,
xdg-desktop-portal-wlr (auto-selecting the only output) and a 60 FPS test
pattern with a tone. `--x11` runs the game and command on Sway's Xwayland.

Arch packages: `sway xdg-desktop-portal xdg-desktop-portal-wlr xorg-xwayland
xorg-xwininfo pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber libpulse ffmpeg` plus a VA-API
driver (`intel-media-driver` or `libva-mesa-driver`).

The suite covers:

1. Encoder verification: H.264 must be usable; HEVC and AV1 are reported.
2. Wayland monitor capture in H.264 and HEVC: segments start on keyframes,
   last 2 s, remux to MP4 across boundaries, decode cleanly, carry the tone.
3. X11 window capture (Xcomposite).
4. Failures that must end in `status=failed`: PipeWire stream lost, captured
   X11 window closed, segment directory unwritable, free space below the margin.
5. A portal that refuses the request fails with an actionable reason and
   never reports `Recording`.

Segment checks run with `--expect-motion`, so black or frozen footage (which
still makes valid segments) fails.

## Linux hardware sign-off

Run `scripts/validate/linux-hardware.sh` from the Hyprland session. It verifies
encoders at 1440p60, records the monitor with each usable codec (the first run
shows the portal picker; later runs pass the restore token and ask whether the
picker stayed away), records a window, and asks you to close a window
mid-recording. Send back `report.txt` from the output directory.

### First hardware run (2026-10-08)

CachyOS 7.2.9, Hyprland, RX 9070 XT, 1440p60, OBS 32.0.4:

- H.264, HEVC and AV1 all encode through VA-API (`*_ffmpeg_vaapi_tex`).
  Monitor and window capture recorded keyframe-aligned 2 s segments that
  remuxed across boundaries with no decode errors.
- The restore token came back on one of three runs, probably because the
  "Allow a restore token" box in the picker was ticked only once. The script
  now has a dedicated restore step.
- One run never got a portal selection: the picker either did not appear or
  was not answered, and the probe stayed in `Waiting for capture` for 20 s
  while writing black segments that `check` passed. `check --expect-motion`
  now catches black footage; a refused request now fails at once.
- Closing the captured window (Super+W) is not visible to capture: xdph keeps
  the PipeWire stream `streaming` and OBS repeats the window's last frame.
  See findings.

### Second hardware run (2026-10-08)

- The restore token works: the restored run started recording in 2 s without
  showing the picker.
- Hyprland's portal backend (xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland) wedged in
  `SelectSources` during this run and answered nothing afterwards, until
  restarted; the earlier "no selection" runs were likely the same hang.
  xdph shows its picker during `SelectSources`, so a hang there looks the same
  as a user still choosing. A 10 s timeout tried in afc54b3 would cut users
  off mid-pick and was removed. Recording stays honestly in `Waiting for
  capture`; the app needs a prompt to choose a source (or restart the portal)
  while it waits.
- The motion check sampled a segment from before capture started (the user
  took 16 s in the picker); it now uses the segment with the most motion.
- A portrait monitor (Hyprland transform 3) is captured as 1440x2560 and
  pillarboxed in the 2560x1440 canvas.

## Windows

Run `scripts/validate/windows.ps1 -GameWindow "<title>:<class>:<exe>"` with a
game running. It assembles the official OBS 32.0.4 runtime, checks the Game
Capture hook signatures, builds the probe, verifies NVENC/AMF/QSV encoders and
records Monitor, Game and Window Capture.

Windows status:

- `clipbin-core`, `clipbin-obs` and `clipbin-probe` pass `cargo clippy` for
  `x86_64-pc-windows-msvc` (cross-checked from Linux). Nothing has been linked
  or run on Windows.
- The GPUI desktop crate has not been checked for Windows; its `ring`
  dependency needs the MSVC C toolchain.
- The assembled runtime keeps the six Game Capture hook binaries byte-identical
  to the release, with their Authenticode signatures present; signature
  validity has not been checked on Windows.
- Unvalidated: encoder ids and settings for NVENC, AMF and QSV; Game Capture
  hooking and its loss detection (the engine expects the source size to drop
  to 0); WASAPI audio; `obs-ffmpeg-mux.exe` beside the executable; linking
  `dstr_vprintf` through the libobs crate's `obs.lib`.

## Findings for the next milestones

- **Plugin loading.** libobs always adds default plugin paths: the build-time
  install prefix on Linux and `../../obs-plugins/64bit` relative to the
  working directory on Windows. Searching would load other OBS installations'
  plugins or load ours twice, so the engine opens exactly the bundled
  allowlist (`runtime::PLUGINS`) by path.
- **Segment timestamps.** The FFmpeg muxer restarts each segment's video and
  audio timestamps at zero independently. Concatenating segments naively leaves
  22–43 ms video gaps at boundaries. Video is constant frame rate and AAC
  packets are continuous, so a segment's exact session offset is the count of
  earlier frames and audio packets; the A/V offset stays within one AAC packet
  (≤21 ms) and does not drift. The timeline and export work must place
  segments this way.
- **Availability.** With 1 s keyframes and 2 s segments, splits happen on
  schedule every 2.0 s, so the newest complete footage is about 2 s behind
  plus finalisation: inside the spec's 2–5 s window.
- **Honest status needs more than OBS's counters.** OBS kept counting bytes
  into a dead muxer process, and once reported a clean stop after the disk
  filled. Status therefore requires footage to grow on disk, and recording
  stops while 1 GB remains so the last segment can be finalised.
- **PipeWire source loss.** OBS's PipeWire capture keeps its size and renders
  its last frame after the stream stops, and only logs the stream state. The
  engine reads that log line (stable for the pinned OBS version). A more robust
  follow-up is watching the PipeWire node state directly.
- **Closed windows on Wayland.** With Hyprland's portal, closing a captured
  window leaves the stream running on its last frame, with no state change or
  error. Capture cannot tell this apart from a static window, so sessions must
  end from game process exit (SPEC: "Stop/finalise the session when its game
  exits"), which the Steam/process detection milestone provides.
- **Writing while waiting for capture.** The output starts before the source
  has a picture, so a source that never arrives produces black segments. The
  session timeline should show that time as missing footage, or the output
  should start only once capture is usable.
- **Canvas orientation.** The output canvas is fixed by the configured
  resolution, so portrait or other-aspect sources are letterboxed. Decide
  whether the canvas should follow the captured source.
- **Audio capture failures are not detected yet.** When the PulseAudio server
  was unreachable, recording continued with a silent track.
- **Linux runtime dependencies.** The Linux OBS build links the system's
  FFmpeg, PipeWire and other libraries, so it is tied to the distribution it
  was built on. Packaging (for example Flatpak, or bundling FFmpeg) is an open
  decision; OBS 32.0 needs mbedtls 3 (`mbedtls3` on Arch).
- **OBS objects.** Scenes and sources are created private (OBS 31+ otherwise
  registers scenes with the main canvas, which keeps them alive), unknown
  source types fail instead of becoming placeholders, and shutdown drains
  libobs's destroy queue first.
- **Plugin configuration.** libobs is started without a module config path;
  set one under the app's config directory before plugins that save settings
  are added.