fix(recording): replace blocking dialog with toast for mic not available errors

[ManthanNimodiya]

When the selected mic isn't available, a blocking native dialog caused a loop on multi-monitor setups, user dismisses, overlay re-appears, clicks again, repeat 5-7 times.

Fix: catch startRecording errors in the overlay and show a toast instead.
Skip the blocking dialog in handle_spawn_failure for DeviceNotFound so the overlay stays interactive.

Greptile Summary

This PR fixes a UX loop on multi-monitor setups where a blocking native dialog for mic-unavailable errors would repeatedly re-appear after dismissal. It replaces that dialog with a non-blocking toast on the frontend and suppresses the native dialog in the Rust backend for DeviceNotFound errors.

• recording.rs: handle_spawn_failure now skips the MessageDialogBuilder / blocking_show path when the error message contains "no longer available" or "DeviceNotFound", keeping the overlay interactive.
• target-select-overlay.tsx: A .catch handler is added to the startRecording call that shows a friendly toast for mic errors and a generic fallback for any other rejection; the same two substrings are checked independently on this side, creating a duplicated classification that could drift if either side is updated.

Confidence Score: 4/5

Safe to merge — the change addresses a real, reproducible loop and the fallback path (generic toast) is still shown for any unrecognised error.

Both changed files have contained, low-risk edits. The only concerns are that the two substring guards are independently maintained in Rust and TypeScript, and the new catch block lacks a console.error call. Neither affects correctness today.

The string-matching in recording.rs and target-select-overlay.tsx should stay in sync; if the underlying audio library changes its error messages, one side will diverge silently.

Important Files Changed

Filename	Overview
apps/desktop/src-tauri/src/recording.rs	Wraps the blocking native dialog in a condition that skips it for DeviceNotFound errors (detected via substring match), allowing the recording overlay to remain interactive; duplicates the same substrings checked on the TypeScript side.
apps/desktop/src/routes/target-select-overlay.tsx	Adds a .catch handler to startRecording that shows a user-friendly toast for mic-unavailable errors and a generic fallback for others; missing console.error logging and duplicates the Rust-side string matching.

Prompt To Fix All With AI

Fix the following 2 code review issues. Work through them one at a time, proposing concise fixes.

---

### Issue 1 of 2
apps/desktop/src-tauri/src/recording.rs:2373-2376
**Duplicate string-matching across Rust and TypeScript**

The same two substrings (`"no longer available"` and `"DeviceNotFound"`) are now hard-coded in both `recording.rs` (to suppress the native dialog) and `target-select-overlay.tsx` (to show the friendly toast). If the underlying audio library changes either error message, the two guards will diverge: the Rust side might still suppress the dialog while the TypeScript side falls through to the generic "Failed to start recording: …" message, or vice-versa. Centralising the classification — e.g., via a dedicated Tauri error variant instead of string matching — would make both sites resilient to message changes.

### Issue 2 of 2
apps/desktop/src/routes/target-select-overlay.tsx:1745-1766
Add `console.error` to match the pattern used by the screenshot error handler and other catch blocks in this file, so there is always a log trail even when the toast copy differs from the raw error.

```suggestion
								commands
									.startRecording({
										capture_target: props.target,
										mode: rawOptions.mode,
										capture_system_audio: rawOptions.captureSystemAudio,
									})
									.catch((e: unknown) => {
										console.error("Failed to start recording", e);
										const msg =
											e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e);
										if (
											msg.includes("no longer available") ||
											msg.includes("DeviceNotFound")
										) {
											toast.error(
												"Selected microphone is not available. Please select a different microphone in settings.",
											);
										} else {
											toast.error(
												`Failed to start recording: ${msg}`,
											);
										}
									});
```

_{Reviews (1): Last reviewed commit: "fix(recording): show toast instead of bl..." | Re-trigger Greptile}

Greptile also left 2 inline comments on this PR.

[tembo]

The substring match here feels a bit brittle (casing/format can vary). Normalizing once keeps it from missing variants.

Suggested change

	let is_device_not_found = message.contains("no longer available")
	|| message.contains("DeviceNotFound");
	let normalized_message = message.to_lowercase();
	let is_device_not_found = normalized_message.contains("no longer available")
	|| normalized_message.contains("devicenotfound");

[tembo]

Worth logging the underlying error here too (like the screenshot path does) so we don’t lose stack/context when users report this.

Suggested change

	const msg =
	e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e);
	const msg = e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e);
	console.error("Failed to start recording", e);

[tembo]

Given the original report mentions repeated clicks/loops, adding a stable id prevents a stack of identical toasts.

Suggested change

	toast.error(
	"Selected microphone is not available. Please select a different microphone in settings.",
	);
	toast.error(
	"Selected microphone is not available. Please select a different microphone in settings.",
	{ id: "mic-device-not-found" },
	);

[tembo]

Same idea for the generic failure path — stable id keeps the UI from getting flooded if this happens repeatedly.

Suggested change

	toast.error(
	`Failed to start recording: ${msg}`,
	);
	toast.error(
	`Failed to start recording: ${msg}`,
	{ id: "start-recording-failed" },
	);

[greptile-apps]

Duplicate string-matching across Rust and TypeScript

The same two substrings ("no longer available" and "DeviceNotFound") are now hard-coded in both recording.rs (to suppress the native dialog) and target-select-overlay.tsx (to show the friendly toast). If the underlying audio library changes either error message, the two guards will diverge: the Rust side might still suppress the dialog while the TypeScript side falls through to the generic "Failed to start recording: …" message, or vice-versa. Centralising the classification — e.g., via a dedicated Tauri error variant instead of string matching — would make both sites resilient to message changes.

Prompt To Fix With AI

This is a comment left during a code review.
Path: apps/desktop/src-tauri/src/recording.rs
Line: 2373-2376

Comment:
**Duplicate string-matching across Rust and TypeScript**

The same two substrings (`"no longer available"` and `"DeviceNotFound"`) are now hard-coded in both `recording.rs` (to suppress the native dialog) and `target-select-overlay.tsx` (to show the friendly toast). If the underlying audio library changes either error message, the two guards will diverge: the Rust side might still suppress the dialog while the TypeScript side falls through to the generic "Failed to start recording: …" message, or vice-versa. Centralising the classification — e.g., via a dedicated Tauri error variant instead of string matching — would make both sites resilient to message changes.

How can I resolve this? If you propose a fix, please make it concise.

Note: If this suggestion doesn't match your team's coding style, reply to this and let me know. I'll remember it for next time!

[greptile-apps]

Add console.error to match the pattern used by the screenshot error handler and other catch blocks in this file, so there is always a log trail even when the toast copy differs from the raw error.

Suggested change

	commands
	.startRecording({
	capture_target: props.target,
	mode: rawOptions.mode,
	capture_system_audio: rawOptions.captureSystemAudio,
	})
	.catch((e: unknown) => {
	const msg =
	e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e);
	if (
	msg.includes("no longer available") ||
	msg.includes("DeviceNotFound")
	) {
	toast.error(
	"Selected microphone is not available. Please select a different microphone in settings.",
	);
	} else {
	toast.error(
	`Failed to start recording: ${msg}`,
	);
	}
	});
	commands
	.startRecording({
	capture_target: props.target,
	mode: rawOptions.mode,
	capture_system_audio: rawOptions.captureSystemAudio,
	})
	.catch((e: unknown) => {
	console.error("Failed to start recording", e);
	const msg =
	e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e);
	if (
	msg.includes("no longer available") ||
	msg.includes("DeviceNotFound")
	) {
	toast.error(
	"Selected microphone is not available. Please select a different microphone in settings.",
	);
	} else {
	toast.error(
	`Failed to start recording: ${msg}`,
	);
	}
	});

Prompt To Fix With AI

This is a comment left during a code review.
Path: apps/desktop/src/routes/target-select-overlay.tsx
Line: 1745-1766

Comment:
Add `console.error` to match the pattern used by the screenshot error handler and other catch blocks in this file, so there is always a log trail even when the toast copy differs from the raw error.

```suggestion
								commands
									.startRecording({
										capture_target: props.target,
										mode: rawOptions.mode,
										capture_system_audio: rawOptions.captureSystemAudio,
									})
									.catch((e: unknown) => {
										console.error("Failed to start recording", e);
										const msg =
											e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e);
										if (
											msg.includes("no longer available") ||
											msg.includes("DeviceNotFound")
										) {
											toast.error(
												"Selected microphone is not available. Please select a different microphone in settings.",
											);
										} else {
											toast.error(
												`Failed to start recording: ${msg}`,
											);
										}
									});
```

How can I resolve this? If you propose a fix, please make it concise.

Note: If this suggestion doesn't match your team's coding style, reply to this and let me know. I'll remember it for next time!