release v0.2.1

Fixes: volume voice command no longer hangs in the thinking spinner (gong
stops holding the busy state), and the butler filler is reworded to avoid
a text-to-speech mid-phrase pause.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01LKPbR6DY2JygHbyLjxm7Uu

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -8,6 +8,16 @@ until the first tagged release.
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## [0.2.1] — 2026-07-15
+
+### Fixed
+
+- A spoken volume command no longer leaves the face stuck in the thinking
+  spinner — the feedback gong is a UI cue and no longer holds the busy state,
+  so the return-to-idle isn't swallowed.
+- The butler filler line reads as one phrase instead of two — reworded to "Let
+  me check on that, sir." to avoid a text-to-speech pause before "for you".
+
 ## [0.2.0] — 2026-07-15
 
 ### Added

firmware/main/audio.c

@@ -161,8 +161,10 @@ static void audio_task(void *arg)
          * returns, preventing a playback-boundary false wake. */
         if (job == JOB_GONG && s_gong != NULL) {
             /* Play in chunks so a new request (a fresh volume change) cuts the
-             * current gong off and restarts, instead of queueing another 5 s. */
-            s_playing = true;
+             * current gong off and restarts, instead of queueing another 5 s.
+             * Note: the gong is a UI cue, not "playback" — it deliberately does
+             * NOT set s_playing, so a following state:idle isn't swallowed (that
+             * guard is for reply audio) and it doesn't gate wake for 5 s. */
             uint32_t gen;
             do {
                 gen = s_gong_gen;
@@ -172,7 +174,6 @@ static void audio_task(void *arg)
                     esp_codec_dev_write(s_spk, s_gong + off, n * sizeof(int16_t));
                 }
             } while (s_gong_gen != gen);   /* a new request arrived mid-play → restart */
-            s_playing = false;
             s_gong_active = false;
         } else if (job == JOB_CHIME && s_chime != NULL) {
             s_playing = true;

gateway/pyproject.toml

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [project]
 name = "desklock-gateway"
-version = "0.2.0"
+version = "0.2.1"
 description = "Voice gateway bridging the DeskLock device to the Tatlock butler (STT/chat/TTS)"
 requires-python = ">=3.11"
 dependencies = [

gateway/src/desklock_gateway/config.py

@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
     tts_voice: str = "bm_george"
 
     # Spoken immediately after a query is accepted, to fill the long Tatlock wait.
-    filler_text: str = "Let me check on that for you, sir."
+    # Avoid "for you" — Kokoro inserts an unnatural mid-phrase pause before it.
+    filler_text: str = "Let me check on that, sir."
 
     # embedded fallback only (requires the [speech] extra)
     embedded_stt_model: str = "small"