Final review: startup probe, error messages, refusal exit, docs

A startup probe that failed with anything but OSError (llama-server not in
router mode, an empty model list) crashed the daemon at boot, against its
own comment; it is caught like the per-request failures now. llama-server's
reasons reach the client: an HTTP error carries its body and an error chunk
mid-stream its message, where the client used to see 'choices'. A daemon
that refuses to start, or fails before serving, exits 1 instead of 0.
assistant.sh no longer mistakes a --test run for the daemon.

AGENTS.md said every section from Hardware to Kokoro was voice-only, which
included findings the daemon still applies; it now names the voice ones.
It also claimed a stopped reply emits nothing after done, while a late ctx
can. The spec lists every error message, the example config no longer
shows a non-default temperature as the default, and the updates tool stops
telling the model not to read lists aloud. The spec is marked implemented.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

1 files changed, 24 insertions, 4 deletions

diff --git a/assistant.py b/assistant.py
index 937700a..db527a5 100644
--- a/assistant.py
+++ b/assistant.py
@@ -488,11 +488,20 @@ def ask(messages, calls, tools=None):
         body["temperature"] = CFG["temperature"]
     req = urllib.request.Request(CFG["llm"] + "/chat/completions", json.dumps(body).encode(),
                                  {"Content-Type": "application/json"})
-    with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=300) as r:
+    try:
+        r = urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=300)
+    except urllib.error.HTTPError as e:
+        # The body says why (a full context, a bad request); the status alone does not.
+        raise RuntimeError(f"llama-server {e.code}: "
+                           f"{e.read().decode(errors='replace')[:300]}") from None
+    with r:
         for line in r:
             if not line.startswith(b"data: ") or line.strip() == b"data: [DONE]":
                 continue
             chunk = json.loads(line[6:])
+            if "error" in chunk:          # a failure mid-stream arrives as a chunk
+                err = chunk["error"]
+                raise RuntimeError(err.get("message", str(err)) if isinstance(err, dict) else str(err))
             if chunk.get("usage"):
                 # How full the model's context is: history, tool results and
                 # tool definitions all count.
@@ -626,7 +635,7 @@ def main():
         DB = db_open(DB_PATH)
         try:
             context_size(llm_model())     # so the first hello has it
-        except OSError:
+        except Exception:
             pass                          # llama-server down: asked again per request
         serve()
         served = True
@@ -635,6 +644,8 @@ def main():
             signal.pause()
     except (KeyboardInterrupt, SystemExit) as e:
         log(f"exit: {type(e).__name__} {e}".rstrip())
+        if not served:
+            raise SystemExit(1)           # refused or failed before serving: not a clean stop
     except BaseException:
         log("crashed:\n" + traceback.format_exc().rstrip())
         raise
@@ -744,12 +755,13 @@ def test():
             self.wfile.write(json.dumps(body).encode())
 
         def do_POST(self):
-            self.rfile.read(int(self.headers["Content-Length"]))
+            script["body"] = json.loads(self.rfile.read(int(self.headers["Content-Length"])))
             self.send_response(200)
             self.end_headers()
             try:
                 for delta in script["replies"].pop(0):
-                    self.wfile.write(b"data: " + json.dumps({"choices": [{"delta": delta}]})
+                    self.wfile.write(delta.encode() if isinstance(delta, str) else
+                                     b"data: " + json.dumps({"choices": [{"delta": delta}]})
                                      .encode() + b"\n\n")
                     self.wfile.flush()
                     time.sleep(script["delay"])
@@ -801,12 +813,20 @@ def test():
                        ("state", "thinking"), ("token", "It is "), ("token", "noon."),
                        ("done", None)], got
         assert until("state")[-1]["state"] == "idle"
+        assert script["body"]["chat_template_kwargs"]["enable_thinking"] is True
         conv = cur["id"]
         assert load_conv(DB, conv)[1] == [{"user": "what time is it", "reply": "It is noon.",
                                            "tools": ["now"]}]
         # The tool result went to the model but history keeps a placeholder.
         assert load_conv(DB, conv)[0][0][2] == {"role": "tool", "tool_call_id": "c1",
                                                 "content": "(shown to the user at the time)"}
+        # An error chunk mid-stream reaches the client with its message.
+        script["replies"] = [['data: {"error": {"message": "context full"}}\n\n']]
+        CFG["thinking"] = False
+        send(type="ask", text="too much")
+        assert until("error")[-1]["message"] == "context full"
+        assert script["body"]["chat_template_kwargs"]["enable_thinking"] is False
+        CFG["thinking"] = True
         # Stop mid-stream: no token after done, nothing saved.
         script["replies"] = [[{"content": f"w{i} "} for i in range(50)]]
         script["delay"] = 0.02