feat(A.1 #1): surface active compute device + runtime-warning banner

Extends get_runtime_capabilities() with three new fields:
  - activeComputeDevice: {kind, label, reason} — "GPU (Vulkan)" on
    the happy path, "CPU (fallback)" with a reason when the Vulkan
    loader is absent at runtime. libloading::Library::new probes
    libvulkan.so.1 / vulkan-1.dll / libMoltenVK.dylib per target OS.
  - cpuFeatures: { avx2, avx512f, fma, sse4_2, neon, hasGgmlBaseline }
    sourced from the new probe_cpu_features() helper. hasGgmlBaseline
    is the one flag the Settings banner actually reads.
  - parallelModeAvailable: placeholder false until Phase A.4 lands
    the real GPU VRAM probe + GpuGuard semaphore permit logic.

Adds emit_runtime_warnings(&AppHandle) called once at setup() after
prewarm_default_model. Emits a runtime-warning event with kind
"avx2-missing" or "vulkan-loader-missing" so Workstream B can
render a dismissible Settings banner without polling capabilities.

Contract matches docs/whisper-ecosystem/workstream-A.md §Item #1 for
Workstream B to consume without waiting for Phase A.2 to land the
real whisper_print_system_info bridge.

Co-authored-by: jars <jakejars@users.noreply.github.com>

src-tauri/Cargo.toml

@@ -39,6 +39,12 @@ serde_json = "1"
 tokio = { version = "1", features = ["rt", "sync"] }
 arboard = "3.6.1"
 
+# Runtime shared-library probe for the Vulkan loader (active compute
+# device detection, brief item #1). We do not call any vulkan symbols
+# — we only need to answer "is libvulkan resolvable from the loader's
+# default search path right now?".
+libloading = "0.8"
+
 # SqlitePool is named directly from src-tauri/src/lib.rs (the AppState
 # stores it). Must be unconditional, not Linux-only — naming a type from
 # a transitive dep requires the dep be listed here too.

src-tauri/src/commands/models.rs

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ use serde::Serialize;
 use tauri::Emitter;
 
 use crate::AppState;
+use kon_core::hardware::{self, CpuFeatures};
 use kon_core::model_registry::{self, Engine, LanguageSupport, ModelEntry};
 use kon_core::types::ModelId;
 use kon_transcription::model_manager;
@@ -195,6 +196,59 @@ pub fn prewarm_default_model(whisper_engine: Arc<LocalEngine>) {
 pub struct RuntimeCapabilities {
     pub accelerators: Vec<String>,
     pub engines: Vec<EngineRuntimeCapabilities>,
+    /// Which compute device Whisper / whisper.cpp actually booted against.
+    /// Distinct from `accelerators` (which lists what the _build_ supports):
+    /// a Vulkan-built binary on a CPU-only box reports accelerators=[cpu, vulkan]
+    /// but activeComputeDevice.kind = "cpu" with a reason.
+    pub active_compute_device: ActiveComputeDevice,
+    /// Runtime-detected CPU feature flags. Surfaced so Settings can warn
+    /// the user that performance will be poor without AVX2 / FMA.
+    pub cpu_features: CpuFeaturesInfo,
+    /// True when the detected hardware can sustain Whisper + LLM on the
+    /// same GPU concurrently (≥16 GB VRAM). Item #28 gates a user-facing
+    /// toggle on this.
+    pub parallel_mode_available: bool,
+}
+
+/// Serialisable summary of whichever backend whisper.cpp / ggml wired
+/// up on this boot. For MVP (Phase A.1) we derive this from
+/// compile-time features + a runtime Vulkan loader probe; Phase A.2
+/// wires `whisper_print_system_info` for the real answer.
+#[derive(Serialize, Clone, Debug)]
+#[serde(rename_all = "camelCase")]
+pub struct ActiveComputeDevice {
+    /// One of "cuda" | "vulkan" | "metal" | "cpu".
+    pub kind: String,
+    /// Human-readable label, e.g. "GPU (Vulkan)" or "CPU (fallback)".
+    pub label: String,
+    /// Set only when we fell back from a richer backend, explains why
+    /// (e.g. "Vulkan loader not found"). None on the happy path.
+    pub reason: Option<String>,
+}
+
+#[derive(Serialize, Clone, Debug)]
+#[serde(rename_all = "camelCase")]
+pub struct CpuFeaturesInfo {
+    pub avx2: bool,
+    pub avx512f: bool,
+    pub fma: bool,
+    pub sse4_2: bool,
+    pub neon: bool,
+    /// Shortcut for Settings: false means we fall back to a slow path.
+    pub has_ggml_baseline: bool,
+}
+
+impl From<CpuFeatures> for CpuFeaturesInfo {
+    fn from(f: CpuFeatures) -> Self {
+        Self {
+            avx2: f.avx2,
+            avx512f: f.avx512f,
+            fma: f.fma,
+            sse4_2: f.sse4_2,
+            neon: f.neon,
+            has_ggml_baseline: f.has_ggml_baseline(),
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 #[derive(Serialize)]
@@ -224,6 +278,127 @@ pub struct LanguageSupportInfo {
     pub language_count: u16,
 }
 
+/// Best-effort probe for the Vulkan loader shared library.
+///
+/// whisper.cpp's Vulkan backend refuses to initialise if `vulkan-1.dll`
+/// (Windows) / `libvulkan.so.1` (Linux) / the MoltenVK bundle (macOS)
+/// is missing at runtime. We probe via `libloading::Library::new`;
+/// failure means whisper.cpp will silently drop back to CPU, and the
+/// user deserves to know before they start wondering why a 14-second
+/// clip takes two minutes.
+fn vulkan_loader_available() -> bool {
+    #[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
+    let candidates: &[&str] = &["libvulkan.so.1", "libvulkan.so"];
+    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
+    let candidates: &[&str] = &["vulkan-1.dll"];
+    #[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
+    let candidates: &[&str] = &["libvulkan.1.dylib", "libMoltenVK.dylib"];
+    #[cfg(not(any(target_os = "linux", target_os = "windows", target_os = "macos")))]
+    let candidates: &[&str] = &[];
+
+    for name in candidates {
+        // SAFETY: libloading::Library::new loads a shared library and returns
+        // a handle that is dropped at the end of this iteration. No symbols
+        // from it are called, so we just need the open-for-probe semantics.
+        match unsafe { libloading::Library::new(*name) } {
+            Ok(_lib) => return true,
+            Err(_) => continue,
+        }
+    }
+    false
+}
+
+/// Report which backend whisper.cpp was actually able to initialise
+/// against. The whisper-rs build here is compiled with the `vulkan`
+/// feature unconditionally; on macOS that's still Metal via MoltenVK,
+/// on Linux/Windows it's Vulkan. If the Vulkan loader is missing
+/// we surface the CPU fallback path explicitly so the UI can warn.
+pub fn detect_active_compute_device() -> ActiveComputeDevice {
+    #[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
+    {
+        if vulkan_loader_available() {
+            return ActiveComputeDevice {
+                kind: "metal".into(),
+                label: "GPU (Metal via MoltenVK)".into(),
+                reason: None,
+            };
+        }
+        return ActiveComputeDevice {
+            kind: "cpu".into(),
+            label: "CPU (fallback)".into(),
+            reason: Some(
+                "MoltenVK / Vulkan loader not found — install the Vulkan SDK runtime."
+                    .into(),
+            ),
+        };
+    }
+
+    #[cfg(not(target_os = "macos"))]
+    {
+        if vulkan_loader_available() {
+            return ActiveComputeDevice {
+                kind: "vulkan".into(),
+                label: "GPU (Vulkan)".into(),
+                reason: None,
+            };
+        }
+        return ActiveComputeDevice {
+            kind: "cpu".into(),
+            label: "CPU (fallback)".into(),
+            reason: Some(
+                "Vulkan loader not found — install the Vulkan runtime (Windows) or \
+                 libvulkan1 (Linux) to enable GPU acceleration."
+                    .into(),
+            ),
+        };
+    }
+}
+
+#[derive(Serialize, Clone, Debug)]
+#[serde(rename_all = "camelCase", tag = "kind", content = "message")]
+pub enum RuntimeWarning {
+    /// CPU lacks AVX2 / FMA on x86_64 — ggml fallback path will be
+    /// dramatically slower. User should install a non-AVX2 build or
+    /// accept the hit.
+    Avx2Missing(String),
+    /// Vulkan loader is missing at runtime. Emitted once at startup
+    /// when `active_compute_device.reason` includes a loader-missing
+    /// message.
+    VulkanLoaderMissing(String),
+    /// CUDA driver mismatch forced a fallback (future-proofed for
+    /// when we add CUDA-detect; not emitted today).
+    #[allow(dead_code)]
+    CudaFallback(String),
+}
+
+/// Emit any runtime warnings the frontend should surface as a banner.
+/// Called once at setup() after `prewarm_default_model`.
+pub fn emit_runtime_warnings(app: &tauri::AppHandle) {
+    let cpu_features = hardware::probe_cpu_features();
+    let device = detect_active_compute_device();
+
+    if !cpu_features.has_ggml_baseline() {
+        let _ = app.emit(
+            "runtime-warning",
+            RuntimeWarning::Avx2Missing(
+                "Your CPU is missing AVX2/FMA. Whisper and the local LLM will run on a \
+                 dramatically slower fallback path — expect 5–10× the latency of a \
+                 2015-or-newer CPU."
+                    .into(),
+            ),
+        );
+    }
+
+    if device.kind == "cpu" {
+        if let Some(reason) = device.reason.as_ref() {
+            let _ = app.emit(
+                "runtime-warning",
+                RuntimeWarning::VulkanLoaderMissing(reason.clone()),
+            );
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 #[tauri::command]
 pub fn get_runtime_capabilities(
     state: tauri::State<'_, AppState>,
@@ -242,6 +417,9 @@ pub fn get_runtime_capabilities(
         .map(|entry| model_capability(entry, &parakeet))
         .collect();
 
+    let active_compute_device = detect_active_compute_device();
+    let cpu_features: CpuFeaturesInfo = hardware::probe_cpu_features().into();
+
     // Kon's desktop build links transcribe-rs with the `whisper-vulkan`
     // feature unconditionally (see crates/transcription/Cargo.toml), so
     // whisper.cpp boots with Vulkan backend on any machine with a Vulkan
@@ -268,6 +446,13 @@ pub fn get_runtime_capabilities(
                 models: parakeet_models,
             },
         ],
+        active_compute_device,
+        cpu_features,
+        // Phase A.1 ships detection of the VRAM budget only via
+        // hardware::probe_gpu; that currently returns None, so we
+        // default to sequential. When Phase A.4 (GpuGuard) and the
+        // real probe_gpu land, flip this based on detected VRAM ≥ 16 GB.
+        parallel_mode_available: false,
     })
 }
 

src-tauri/src/lib.rs

@@ -229,6 +229,11 @@ pub fn run() {
                 crate::commands::models::prewarm_default_model(whisper);
             }
 
+            // Runtime-warning banner: push CPU-feature + Vulkan-loader
+            // fallbacks to the frontend so Settings can render a one-line
+            // hint. No-ops on a fully-supported box.
+            crate::commands::models::emit_runtime_warnings(&app.handle());
+
             if let Err(e) = tray::setup(app) {
                 eprintln!("Failed to setup tray: {e}");
             }