[BUG] Cowork voice dictation: mic activates briefly on 2nd attempt, then stops (Windows 11)

[gunterhetzner-ui]

Preflight Checklist

• I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

On Windows 11, voice dictation in Claude Cowork (Desktop app — NOT a terminal/CLI; "Other" selected under Terminal/Shell because there is no Desktop option) works on the first use, but breaks on every subsequent attempt. On the second try the microphone activates briefly (icon turns active) and then the recording session stops on its own after a moment, before anything can be dictated. No error UI is shown.

This looks like an audio-session/stream teardown problem: the first dictation session does not release the MediaStream / AudioContext cleanly, so the next acquisition is torn down immediately after it starts.

What Should Happen?

A second (and every subsequent) dictation should start and keep recording, exactly like the first one, until I stop it.

Error Messages/Logs

No error UI is shown. If reproducible, attach the excerpt from logs/claude.ai-web.log at the moment of the second attempt (watch for a "ScriptProcessorNode is deprecated" warning at click time).

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open the Claude Desktop app on Windows 11 and switch to Cowork.
2. Click into the input field and start voice dictation. Speak — works fine.
3. Stop dictation.
4. Trigger voice dictation a second time.
5. Observe: the mic icon activates briefly, then recording stops on its own; no text is dictated.

Claude Model

Not sure / Multiple models

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

No response

Claude Code Version

1.15962.1.0

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

Cross-checks already done:

• Win + H (Windows built-in voice typing) works into the same field → mic hardware and OS permissions are healthy.
• Microphone access for desktop apps is enabled under Settings > Privacy & security > Microphone.
• Fully quitting (via Task Manager) and relaunching restores the first dictation; only the second one breaks → points to a per-session teardown issue, not setup/permissions.

[github-actions]

Found 1 possible duplicate issue:

1. [BUG] Cmd+D voice dictation stops working after first response (Desktop app) #40197

This issue will be automatically closed as a duplicate in 3 days.

• If your issue is a duplicate, please close it and 👍 the existing issue instead
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🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[gunterhetzner-ui]

Additional log evidence from logs/claude.ai-web.log (renderer log).

Each dictation attempt re-initializes the audio capture node — visible as a recurring "ScriptProcessorNode is deprecated" warning. Note the cluster of three starts within 9 seconds, which matches the "mic activates briefly, stops, retry" behavior:

12:13:33 [warn] The ScriptProcessorNode is deprecated. Use AudioWorkletNode instead.
12:14:19 [warn] The ScriptProcessorNode is deprecated. Use AudioWorkletNode instead.
12:23:35 [warn] The ScriptProcessorNode is deprecated. Use AudioWorkletNode instead.
12:23:39 [warn] The ScriptProcessorNode is deprecated. Use AudioWorkletNode instead.
12:23:44 [warn] The ScriptProcessorNode is deprecated. Use AudioWorkletNode instead.
12:24:38 [warn] The ScriptProcessorNode is deprecated. Use AudioWorkletNode instead.
12:24:54 [warn] The ScriptProcessorNode is deprecated. Use AudioWorkletNode instead.

Key point: at the moment dictation aborts, NO error/teardown line is logged in this renderer log — no getUserMedia exception, no MediaStream error, no transcription error. The failure is silent here, so the root cause is either in main.log or not logged at all. The audio pipeline clearly starts each time; the recording is just torn down again before producing output.

App version: Claude Desktop 1.15962.1.0 (Windows 11, MSIX install).

[TonyEight]

Hi ! Same issue here. Have you found a workaround ?

[arturogavilano]

I'm hitting the same issue on Windows 11, Claude desktop app (Cowork). Voice dictation works fine the first time in a new chat, but on every subsequent attempt the mic icon activates for a couple of seconds and then stops on its own — no error shown, nothing gets transcribed. Opening a new chat resets it and it works once again, then breaks the same way. Confirmed it's not a Windows/driver/permission issue (mic permissions, default input device, and OS-level mic test all check out fine) — points to the same MediaStream/AudioContext teardown problem described above.

[github-actions]

Closing for now — inactive for too long. Please open a new issue if this is still relevant.