Fix empty history records and improve UI/UX

TalkFlow/Features/History/HistoryStorage.swift

@@ -131,10 +131,22 @@ final class HistoryStorage: HistoryStorageProtocol, @unchecked Sendable {
             Logger.shared.info("Database migration: added source, model, metadata columns", component: "HistoryStorage")
         }
 
+        // Clean up empty transcription records that were accidentally saved
+        migrator.registerMigration("cleanupEmptyRecords") { db in
+            try db.execute(sql: "DELETE FROM transcriptions WHERE TRIM(text) = ''")
+            Logger.shared.info("Database migration: cleaned up empty transcription records", component: "HistoryStorage")
+        }
+
         try migrator.migrate(dbQueue!)
     }
 
     func save(_ record: TranscriptionRecord) async throws {
+        // Skip empty transcriptions
+        guard !record.text.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespacesAndNewlines).isEmpty else {
+            Logger.shared.debug("Skipping save for empty transcription record", component: "HistoryStorage")
+            return
+        }
+
         try await dbQueue?.write { db in
             try record.insert(db)
         }

TalkFlow/Features/Shortcut/ShortcutManager.swift

@@ -125,15 +125,20 @@ final class ShortcutManager: KeyEventMonitorDelegate {
 
         keyDownTime = Date()
 
-        // Start hold timer
-        let holdDuration = Double(configurationManager.configuration.minimumHoldDurationMs) / 1000.0
-        holdTimer = Timer.scheduledTimer(withTimeInterval: holdDuration, repeats: false) { [weak self] _ in
-            Task { @MainActor in
-                self?.startRecording()
+        // Start recording immediately if instant mode, otherwise use hold timer
+        let holdDurationMs = configurationManager.configuration.minimumHoldDurationMs
+        if holdDurationMs == 0 {
+            startRecording()
+            Logger.shared.debug("Key down detected, instant recording started", component: "ShortcutManager")
+        } else {
+            let holdDuration = Double(holdDurationMs) / 1000.0
+            holdTimer = Timer.scheduledTimer(withTimeInterval: holdDuration, repeats: false) { [weak self] _ in
+                Task { @MainActor in
+                    self?.startRecording()
+                }
             }
+            Logger.shared.debug("Key down detected, starting hold timer", component: "ShortcutManager")
         }
-
-        Logger.shared.debug("Key down detected, starting hold timer", component: "ShortcutManager")
     }
 
     func keyEventMonitor(_ monitor: KeyEventMonitor, didDetectKeyUp keyCode: UInt16, flags: CGEventFlags) {
@@ -299,6 +304,16 @@ final class ShortcutManager: KeyEventMonitorDelegate {
                     finalText = self.stripPunctuation(from: finalText)
                 }
 
+                // Skip empty transcriptions
+                if finalText.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespacesAndNewlines).isEmpty {
+                    await MainActor.run {
+                        indicator.showNoSpeech()
+                        self.isProcessing = false
+                    }
+                    Logger.shared.info("Transcription returned empty text, skipping", component: "ShortcutManager")
+                    return
+                }
+
                 await MainActor.run {
                     // Output text
                     outputManager.insert(finalText)

TalkFlow/Services/KeychainService.swift

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ protocol KeychainServiceProtocol {
     func getAPIKey() -> String?
     func deleteAPIKey()
     func hasAPIKey() -> Bool
+    func hasAPIKeyWithoutFetch() -> Bool
     func migrateIfNeeded()
 }
 
@@ -82,4 +83,22 @@ final class KeychainService: KeychainServiceProtocol {
     func hasAPIKey() -> Bool {
         return getAPIKey() != nil
     }
+
+    /// Check if an API key exists without retrieving its value.
+    /// This avoids triggering the Keychain permission dialog by only querying
+    /// for attributes rather than the actual data.
+    func hasAPIKeyWithoutFetch() -> Bool {
+        let query: [String: Any] = [
+            kSecClass as String: kSecClassGenericPassword,
+            kSecAttrService as String: service,
+            kSecAttrAccount as String: apiKeyAccount,
+            kSecReturnAttributes as String: true,
+            kSecMatchLimit as String: kSecMatchLimitOne
+        ]
+
+        var result: AnyObject?
+        let status = SecItemCopyMatching(query as CFDictionary, &result)
+
+        return status == errSecSuccess
+    }
 }

TalkFlow/UI/Indicator/IndicatorState.swift

@@ -137,8 +137,9 @@ final class IndicatorStateManager: @unchecked Sendable {
         hideTimer?.invalidate()
         hideTimer = Timer.scheduledTimer(withTimeInterval: 2.5, repeats: false) { [weak self] _ in
             Task { @MainActor in
-                // Don't hide if we're in a persistent state
-                if self?.state.isPersistent == false {
+                // Only hide if we're still in a transient state (success, error, noSpeech)
+                // This prevents hiding if a new recording has started since the timer was scheduled
+                if self?.state.isTransient == true {
                     self?.state = .idle
                 }
             }

TalkFlow/UI/MainWindow/MainWindowView.swift

@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ struct MainWindowView: View {
             // Content area with inset styling
             contentAreaView
         }
-        .frame(minWidth: 600, minHeight: 400)
+        .frame(minWidth: 900, minHeight: 600)
         .background(DesignConstants.sidebarBackground)
         .environment(\.colorScheme, .light)
         .tint(DesignConstants.accentColor)  // Apply brand accent to system controls
@@ -617,7 +617,7 @@ struct MainWindowView_Previews: PreviewProvider {
         MainWindowView(onboardingManager: OnboardingManager())
             .environment(\.historyStorage, HistoryStorage())
             .environment(\.configurationManager, ConfigurationManager())
-            .frame(width: 800, height: 600)
+            .frame(width: 900, height: 600)
     }
 }
 #endif

TalkFlow/UI/Settings/AppearanceSettingsView.swift

@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ private struct AppearanceSettingsContent: View {
                         Spacer()
                         Toggle("", isOn: $manager.configuration.indicatorVisibleWhenIdle)
                             .labelsHidden()
+                            .tint(DesignConstants.accentColor)
                     }
 
                     Text("When enabled, the status indicator will always be visible. When disabled, it only appears during recording and processing.")

TalkFlow/UI/Settings/GeneralSettingsView.swift

@@ -41,6 +41,8 @@ private struct GeneralSettingsContent: View {
                             .foregroundColor(DesignConstants.primaryText)
                         Spacer()
                         Picker("", selection: $manager.configuration.minimumHoldDurationMs) {
+                            Text("Instant").tag(0)
+                            Text("50ms").tag(50)
                             Text("100ms").tag(100)
                             Text("200ms").tag(200)
                             Text("300ms (Default)").tag(300)

TalkFlow/UI/Settings/TranscriptionSettingsView.swift

@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ struct TranscriptionSettingsView: View {
     @State private var apiKey: String = ""
     @State private var isAPIKeyVisible = false
     @State private var showingSaveConfirmation = false
+    @State private var hasStoredKey = false
+    @State private var hasLoadedActualKey = false
 
     private let keychainService = KeychainService()
 
@@ -17,20 +19,25 @@ struct TranscriptionSettingsView: View {
                 apiKey: $apiKey,
                 isAPIKeyVisible: $isAPIKeyVisible,
                 showingSaveConfirmation: $showingSaveConfirmation,
+                hasStoredKey: $hasStoredKey,
+                hasLoadedActualKey: $hasLoadedActualKey,
                 keychainService: keychainService
             )
             .onAppear {
-                loadAPIKey()
+                checkForStoredKey()
             }
         } else {
             Text("Configuration not available")
                 .foregroundColor(DesignConstants.secondaryText)
         }
     }
 
-    private func loadAPIKey() {
-        if let key = keychainService.getAPIKey() {
-            apiKey = String(repeating: "*", count: min(key.count, 20))
+    /// Check if an API key exists without triggering Keychain permission dialog
+    private func checkForStoredKey() {
+        hasStoredKey = keychainService.hasAPIKeyWithoutFetch()
+        if hasStoredKey && !hasLoadedActualKey {
+            // Show placeholder asterisks without actually loading the key
+            apiKey = String(repeating: "•", count: 20)
         }
     }
 }
@@ -41,6 +48,8 @@ private struct TranscriptionSettingsContent: View {
     @Binding var apiKey: String
     @Binding var isAPIKeyVisible: Bool
     @Binding var showingSaveConfirmation: Bool
+    @Binding var hasStoredKey: Bool
+    @Binding var hasLoadedActualKey: Bool
     let keychainService: KeychainService
 
     @State private var showDownloadSuccessAlert = false
@@ -65,6 +74,7 @@ private struct TranscriptionSettingsContent: View {
                         Spacer()
                         Toggle("", isOn: localModeBinding)
                             .labelsHidden()
+                            .tint(DesignConstants.accentColor)
                             .disabled(modelManager.isDownloading)
                     }
 
@@ -100,7 +110,7 @@ private struct TranscriptionSettingsContent: View {
                                     .foregroundColor(DesignConstants.primaryText)
                             }
 
-                            Button(action: { isAPIKeyVisible.toggle() }) {
+                            Button(action: { toggleAPIKeyVisibility() }) {
                                 Image(systemName: isAPIKeyVisible ? "eye.slash" : "eye")
                                     .foregroundColor(DesignConstants.secondaryText)
                             }
@@ -176,6 +186,7 @@ private struct TranscriptionSettingsContent: View {
                         Spacer()
                         Toggle("", isOn: $manager.configuration.stripPunctuation)
                             .labelsHidden()
+                            .tint(DesignConstants.accentColor)
                     }
 
                     Text("Remove periods, commas, and other punctuation from transcriptions. Capitalization is preserved.")
@@ -354,14 +365,32 @@ private struct TranscriptionSettingsContent: View {
 
     // MARK: - Actions
 
+    private func toggleAPIKeyVisibility() {
+        if !isAPIKeyVisible {
+            // User wants to reveal the key - load from Keychain if not already loaded
+            if hasStoredKey && !hasLoadedActualKey {
+                if let key = keychainService.getAPIKey() {
+                    apiKey = key
+                    hasLoadedActualKey = true
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        isAPIKeyVisible.toggle()
+    }
+
     private func saveAPIKey() {
-        if apiKey.allSatisfy({ $0 == "*" }) {
+        // Don't save if it's just placeholder dots
+        if apiKey.allSatisfy({ $0 == "•" || $0 == "*" }) {
             return
         }
 
         keychainService.setAPIKey(apiKey)
         showingSaveConfirmation = true
-        apiKey = String(repeating: "*", count: min(apiKey.count, 20))
+        hasStoredKey = true
+        hasLoadedActualKey = true
+        // Mask the key after saving
+        apiKey = String(repeating: "•", count: min(apiKey.count, 20))
+        isAPIKeyVisible = false
     }
 
     private func downloadModel(_ modelId: String) {

TalkFlowTests/HistoryStorageTests.swift

@@ -88,4 +88,19 @@ final class HistoryStorageTests: XCTestCase {
         fetched = await storage.fetchAll()
         XCTAssertEqual(fetched.count, 0)
     }
+
+    func testSaveEmptyRecordSkipped() async throws {
+        try await storage.save(TranscriptionRecord(text: ""))
+
+        let fetched = await storage.fetchAll()
+        XCTAssertEqual(fetched.count, 0, "Empty records should not be saved")
+    }
+
+    func testSaveWhitespaceOnlyRecordSkipped() async throws {
+        try await storage.save(TranscriptionRecord(text: "   "))
+        try await storage.save(TranscriptionRecord(text: "\n\t"))
+
+        let fetched = await storage.fetchAll()
+        XCTAssertEqual(fetched.count, 0, "Whitespace-only records should not be saved")
+    }
 }

TalkFlowTests/Mocks/MockKeychainService.swift

@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@ final class MockKeychainService: KeychainServiceProtocol {
         return storedAPIKey != nil
     }
 
+    func hasAPIKeyWithoutFetch() -> Bool {
+        return storedAPIKey != nil
+    }
+
     func migrateIfNeeded() {
         // No-op for mock
     }