diff --git a/cmd/mavend/capture.go b/cmd/mavend/capture.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..de53a70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/mavend/capture.go
@@ -0,0 +1,263 @@
+// mavend/capture.go — core's half of the meeting recorder (Vikunja #253,
+// docs/plans/08-hearing.md).
+//
+// The split: a client that has a microphone (mavenclient, or a phone on the PWA)
+// is told to start, streams frames over ipc.MethodCaptureAppend, and is told to
+// stop. Core keeps the PCM, stores it as a WAV blob under the same media store
+// and the same retention as images, transcribes it through the ONE STT Maven has
+// (mavsttd's whisper.cpp, reused — not a second engine), and summarises the
+// transcript on the resident model in windows that fit n_ctx 4096.
+//
+// # Off unless configured, twice over
+//
+// No `media` block ⇒ nowhere to keep audio ⇒ the four capture methods do not
+// exist. No `capture` block with enabled ⇒ they still do not exist. On an
+// unconfigured box there is no wire path that starts a recording, which is the
+// only guarantee worth making about a capability like this one.
+//
+// # What this file refuses to do
+//
+//   - Nothing listens. There is no VAD hook here, no wake-word branch, no
+//     "start when you hear a meeting". The plan document's keyword-triggered
+//     recorder is refused in internal/capture's package comment for the reason
+//     that applies here too: noticing a keyword requires listening, which is
+//     the behaviour this capability must not have.
+//   - No transcript note by default. The summary is written where he will read
+//     it; the verbatim record of what other people said takes a deliberate
+//     capture.save_transcript.
+//   - The transcript is never search input beyond this box, and the audio never
+//     leaves it at all.
+package main
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"log"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/capture"
+	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/config"
+	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/ipc"
+	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/llm"
+	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/phraser"
+	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/router"
+	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/store"
+)
+
+// captureSummaryTimeout — the budget for one Stop, which is a map-reduce over
+// the whole meeting: one model call per transcript window plus a reduce, each of
+// which is seconds on this box. Forty windows is the configured ceiling, so the
+// budget has to be minutes, not the 60s the reply path uses.
+const captureSummaryTimeout = 20 * time.Minute
+
+// llmCompleter adapts *llm.Client to capture.Completer. The pure package names
+// the two strings it needs and stays free of the llm request struct; the client
+// itself is the swap-aware one from llmClientFor, so a model swap re-points it.
+type llmCompleter struct {
+	c         *llm.Client
+	maxTokens int
+}
+
+func (l llmCompleter) Complete(ctx context.Context, system, user string) (string, error) {
+	return l.c.Complete(ctx, llm.Req{System: system, User: user, MaxTokens: l.maxTokens})
+}
+
+// captureWiring — the recorder plus what it needs to write the result down.
+type captureWiring struct {
+	rec *capture.Recorder
+	st  *store.Store
+	emb router.Embedder
+	cfg *config.CaptureConfig
+	now func() time.Time
+}
+
+// newCaptureWiring returns nil when the recorder should not exist: no media
+// store, no capture block, capture disabled, or no STT to transcribe with.
+//
+// A missing llama-server is NOT a reason to return nil. Without one the
+// recording is still made, stored and transcribed, and the summary is simply
+// absent — the honest degradation, and much better than refusing to record a
+// meeting that is happening now.
+func newCaptureWiring(keeper *mediaKeeper, st *store.Store, voiceW *voiceWiring, phr phraser.Phraser, emb router.Embedder, cfg *config.Config) *captureWiring {
+	if keeper == nil || !cfg.Capture.Records() {
+		return nil
+	}
+	tr := transcriberOf(voiceW)
+	if tr == nil {
+		// Voice off ⇒ no STT client ⇒ nothing could turn the audio into words.
+		// Storing hours of unreadable audio of other people is worse than not
+		// recording, so this is a refusal, not a degradation.
+		log.Printf("capture: enabled but voice/stt is not wired — meeting capture disabled")
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	cc := cfg.Capture
+	var sum *capture.Summarizer
+	if lp, ok := phr.(*phraser.LLMPhraser); ok {
+		client := llmClientFor(lp, captureSummaryTimeout)
+		sum = capture.NewSummarizer(
+			llmCompleter{c: client, maxTokens: 512},
+			cc.ChunkRunes, cc.MaxChunks, contextBlockFn(cfg, time.Now),
+		)
+	} else {
+		log.Printf("capture: no llama-server phraser — meetings are transcribed, not summarised")
+	}
+
+	rec, err := capture.New(keeper.store, tr, sum, capture.Config{
+		MaxDuration: cc.MaxDuration(),
+		STTWindow:   time.Duration(cc.STTWindow),
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Printf("capture: %v — meeting capture disabled", err)
+		return nil
+	}
+	log.Printf("capture: enabled, sessions capped at %s", rec.MaxDuration())
+	return &captureWiring{rec: rec, st: st, emb: emb, cfg: cc, now: time.Now}
+}
+
+// start handles ipc.MethodCaptureStart.
+func (c *captureWiring) start(_ context.Context, req ipc.CaptureStartReq) (ipc.CaptureStartResp, error) {
+	s, err := c.rec.Start(req.Label)
+	if err != nil {
+		return ipc.CaptureStartResp{}, err
+	}
+	// The label is logged; nothing that was said ever is.
+	log.Printf("capture: started %q", s.Label)
+	return ipc.CaptureStartResp{
+		Label:      s.Label,
+		Started:    s.Started,
+		MaxSeconds: int(c.rec.MaxDuration().Seconds()),
+	}, nil
+}
+
+// append handles ipc.MethodCaptureAppend. ErrExpired is reported as a successful
+// response with Expired set rather than an error: the cap firing is the designed
+// behaviour, and the client needs the flag to stop sending and call stop.
+func (c *captureWiring) append(_ context.Context, req ipc.CaptureAppendReq) (ipc.CaptureAppendResp, error) {
+	err := c.rec.Append(req.Audio)
+	st := c.rec.Status()
+	if errors.Is(err, capture.ErrExpired) {
+		log.Printf("capture: %q hit the %s cap — stopping", st.Label, c.rec.MaxDuration())
+		return ipc.CaptureAppendResp{Seconds: st.Duration.Seconds(), Expired: true}, nil
+	}
+	if err != nil {
+		return ipc.CaptureAppendResp{}, err
+	}
+	return ipc.CaptureAppendResp{Seconds: st.Duration.Seconds()}, nil
+}
+
+// stop handles ipc.MethodCaptureStop.
+//
+// The error handling here mirrors vision's, and for the same reason: the audio is
+// stored first, so a transcription or summary failure returns what exists rather
+// than nothing. A response can carry a blob id with no transcript (STT failed,
+// re-runnable), or a transcript with no summary (the model failed, the words are
+// kept) — both are degraded successes and neither is an error to the caller.
+func (c *captureWiring) stop(ctx context.Context, req ipc.CaptureStopReq) (ipc.CaptureStopResp, error) {
+	if req.Discard {
+		// "забудь, не записывай" — nothing is stored, transcribed or noted.
+		if !c.rec.Abort() {
+			return ipc.CaptureStopResp{}, capture.ErrNoSession
+		}
+		log.Printf("capture: session discarded on request")
+		return ipc.CaptureStopResp{Discarded: true}, nil
+	}
+
+	res, err := c.rec.Stop(ctx)
+	resp := ipc.CaptureStopResp{
+		BlobID:     res.BlobID,
+		Label:      res.Label,
+		Started:    res.Started,
+		Seconds:    res.Duration.Seconds(),
+		Transcript: res.Transcript,
+		Summary:    res.Summary,
+		Chunks:     res.Chunks,
+	}
+	if err != nil {
+		if res.BlobID == "" && res.Transcript == "" {
+			// Nothing survived: no session, or an empty recording. There is
+			// nothing to hand back, so this is a real error.
+			return ipc.CaptureStopResp{}, err
+		}
+		log.Printf("capture: %q partially finished: %v", res.Label, err)
+	}
+
+	if id, werr := c.writeNotes(ctx, res); werr != nil {
+		log.Printf("capture: note write for %q failed: %v", res.Label, werr)
+	} else {
+		resp.NoteID = id
+	}
+	log.Printf("capture: finished %q — %s of audio, %d summary chunk(s)",
+		res.Label, res.Duration.Round(time.Second), res.Chunks)
+	return resp, nil
+}
+
+// writeNotes stores the summary as a note, and the transcript too when
+// capture.save_transcript is set. Returns the summary note's id, or 0 when there
+// was no summary to write.
+//
+// The note source carries the blob id, which is the only link back to the audio.
+// When retention prunes the blob the note remains — words about a meeting are a
+// far lighter thing to keep than a recording of it.
+func (c *captureWiring) writeNotes(ctx context.Context, res capture.Result) (int64, error) {
+	source := "capture:meeting"
+	if res.BlobID != "" {
+		source = "capture:meeting:" + res.BlobID[:12]
+	}
+	var id int64
+	if text := res.Summary; text != "" {
+		var err error
+		id, err = c.writeNote(ctx, text, source)
+		if err != nil {
+			return 0, fmt.Errorf("summary note: %w", err)
+		}
+	}
+	if c.cfg.SaveTranscript && res.Transcript != "" {
+		if _, err := c.writeNote(ctx, res.Transcript, source+":transcript"); err != nil {
+			return id, fmt.Errorf("transcript note: %w", err)
+		}
+	}
+	return id, nil
+}
+
+func (c *captureWiring) writeNote(ctx context.Context, text, source string) (int64, error) {
+	var vec []float32
+	if c.emb != nil {
+		// EmbedPassage, not Embed: this is text being searched FOR, and the e5
+		// embedder is asymmetric. Backwards here makes the meeting unfindable by
+		// the question that should have matched it.
+		var err error
+		vec, err = router.EmbedPassage(ctx, c.emb, text)
+		if err != nil {
+			return 0, fmt.Errorf("embed: %w", err)
+		}
+	}
+	return c.st.WriteNote(ctx, c.now(), text, vec, source)
+}
+
+// status handles ipc.MethodCaptureStatus.
+func (c *captureWiring) status(_ context.Context) (ipc.CaptureStatusResp, error) {
+	st := c.rec.Status()
+	return ipc.CaptureStatusResp{
+		Running: st.Running,
+		Label:   st.Label,
+		Started: st.Started,
+		Seconds: st.Duration.Seconds(),
+		Bytes:   st.Bytes,
+	}, nil
+}
+
+// wireCapture installs the four IPC hooks, or leaves them nil so every capture
+// method reports ErrUnknownMethod. Takes the media keeper wireVision already
+// opened: one blob store, one retention loop, images and audio side by side.
+func wireCapture(srv *ipc.Server, keeper *mediaKeeper, st *store.Store, voiceW *voiceWiring, phr phraser.Phraser, cfg *config.Config) {
+	cw := newCaptureWiring(keeper, st, voiceW, phr, embedderOf(voiceW), cfg)
+	if cw == nil {
+		return
+	}
+	srv.CaptureStartFn = cw.start
+	srv.CaptureAppendFn = cw.append
+	srv.CaptureStopFn = cw.stop
+	srv.CaptureStatusFn = cw.status
+}
diff --git a/cmd/mavend/feeds.go b/cmd/mavend/feeds.go
index 7797697..99d9d8f 100644
--- a/cmd/mavend/feeds.go
+++ b/cmd/mavend/feeds.go
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/ipc"
 	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/router"
 	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/rss"
+	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/stt"
 	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/webfetch"
 )
 
@@ -116,6 +117,17 @@ func embedderOf(w *voiceWiring) router.Embedder {
 	return w.embedder
 }
 
+// transcriberOf — the STT the voice path is using, or nil when voice is off.
+// The meeting recorder reuses it rather than dialling mavsttd a second time:
+// Maven has one speech-to-text engine and adding a second would mean two
+// whisper contexts competing for the same iGPU.
+func transcriberOf(w *voiceWiring) stt.Transcriber {
+	if w == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return w.transcriber
+}
+
 // feedFetcher adapts webfetch to rss.Fetcher — the pure package names the two
 // fields it needs and stays free of net/http.
 type feedFetcher struct{ f *webfetch.Fetcher }
diff --git a/cmd/mavend/main.go b/cmd/mavend/main.go
index f020711..16c4921 100644
--- a/cmd/mavend/main.go
+++ b/cmd/mavend/main.go
@@ -335,7 +335,11 @@ func run(args []string) error {
 		wireModelSwap(srv, phr, cfg)
 		// Vision + the media blob store (Vikunja #252). Both stay dark without a
 		// media block; MethodDescribeImage answers ErrUnknownMethod then.
-		wireVision(ctx, srv, st, embedderOf(voiceW), cfg)
+		keeper := wireVision(ctx, srv, st, embedderOf(voiceW), cfg)
+		// The meeting recorder (Vikunja #253) shares that blob store and its
+		// retention loop. Off unless a capture block enables it, in which case
+		// all four capture methods answer ErrUnknownMethod.
+		wireCapture(srv, keeper, st, voiceW, phr, cfg)
 	}
 
 	// WrapKeyFn — wraps the env key with a passkey credential public key and
@@ -479,7 +483,8 @@ func run(args []string) error {
 			srv.Check = (&auth.Gate{Enrollment: auth.NewFloorEnrollment(), Session: passkeySess}).Check
 			wireMailIntake(srv, st, phr, cfg)
 			wireModelSwap(srv, phr, cfg)
-			wireVision(ctx, srv, st, embedderOf(voiceW), cfg)
+			keeper := wireVision(ctx, srv, st, embedderOf(voiceW), cfg)
+			wireCapture(srv, keeper, st, voiceW, phr, cfg)
 
 			// Start voice server.
 			if voiceW != nil {
diff --git a/cmd/mavend/vision.go b/cmd/mavend/vision.go
index 5516e7f..93b0c2d 100644
--- a/cmd/mavend/vision.go
+++ b/cmd/mavend/vision.go
@@ -236,16 +236,22 @@ func sourceOrDefault(s string) string {
 // hook nil so ipc.MethodDescribeImage reports ErrUnknownMethod. Called on both
 // startup paths (unlocked boot and passkey unlock) so vision behaves the same
 // either way.
-func wireVision(ctx context.Context, srv *ipc.Server, st *store.Store, emb router.Embedder, cfg *config.Config) {
+//
+// Returns the media keeper so the meeting recorder can share it: one blob store
+// with one retention loop holds both the images and the audio, which is the
+// whole point of internal/media being a shared package. nil ⇒ no media block,
+// and neither capability exists.
+func wireVision(ctx context.Context, srv *ipc.Server, st *store.Store, emb router.Embedder, cfg *config.Config) *mediaKeeper {
 	keeper := openMediaStore(cfg)
 	if keeper == nil {
-		return
+		return nil
 	}
 	go keeper.runPrune(ctx)
 
 	vi := newVisionIntake(keeper, st, emb, cfg)
 	if vi == nil {
-		return
+		return keeper
 	}
 	srv.DescribeImageFn = vi.describe
+	return keeper
 }
diff --git a/cmd/mavend/voicewire.go b/cmd/mavend/voicewire.go
index 77e787e..5b4a60a 100644
--- a/cmd/mavend/voicewire.go
+++ b/cmd/mavend/voicewire.go
@@ -40,6 +40,11 @@ type voiceWiring struct {
 	// mavsttd / mavttsd don't keep a stale conn into a restarting daemon.
 	sttClient *worker.Client
 	ttsClient *worker.Client
+	// transcriber — the STT in use, exposed so the meeting recorder
+	// (cmd/mavend/capture.go) can reuse it. Maven has exactly one STT and does
+	// not grow a second one for capture: this is the same whisper.cpp worker the
+	// voice path talks to.
+	transcriber stt.Transcriber
 	// mcp — the MCP client, nil unless the `mcp` block configures an enabled
 	// server (Vikunja #251). Its tools land in the same allowlist as every
 	// other act, so nothing else here has to know about it.
@@ -92,6 +97,7 @@ func wireVoice(cfg *config.Config, coreAPI ipc.CoreAPI, phr phraser.Phraser, mem
 	} else {
 		transcriber = stt.NewStub()
 	}
+	w.transcriber = transcriber
 
 	// ----- tts (Stub in-process OR Remote) -----
 	var synthesizer tts.Synthesizer
diff --git a/docs/plans/08-hearing.md b/docs/plans/08-hearing.md
index a7cb69f..41c30a0 100644
--- a/docs/plans/08-hearing.md
+++ b/docs/plans/08-hearing.md
@@ -1,28 +1,121 @@
-# Plan: Hearing — Audio Stream Monitoring & Meeting Summarization
+# Plan: Hearing — Meeting Capture & Summarisation
 
-**Goal:** Maven can "hear" ambient audio from workpc — microphone input during meetings, system audio — and on demand (or on trigger) produce transcripts, summaries, or extract action items. A typical use case: "Maven, запиши встречу" starts capture, "хватит" stops it, and Maven writes a summary note.
+**Goal:** "Maven, запиши встречу" starts a recording, "хватит" stops it, and she writes a
+summary note. The audio stays on the box, is pruned by retention, and nothing is recorded that
+nobody asked for.
 
-**Done when:**
-- `internal/audio/capture.go` — remote microphone capture client (receives PCM stream from workpc over WebSocket or the existing voice TCP protocol)
-- `internal/stt/` — streaming transcription (uses existing `stt.Transcriber` interface, extended with streaming support)
-- Meeting capture triggered by voice command (IntentCapture) or configurable keyword ("maven record")
-- Raw audio is either streamed to STT in real-time or saved to a WAV file and transcribed after capture ends
-- Transcription + LLM summary is written as a note (`source:capture:meeting`) through `ipc.CoreAPI`
-- New `mavheary` module (`cmd/mavheard/`) — the workpc-side agent that captures mic/speaker audio and streams it to mavend
+**Status (2026-08-01):** the recorder, the storage, the chunked transcription, the map-reduce
+summariser, the config seam and the four IPC methods are shipped and tested. What is not
+shipped is the workpc-side microphone agent and the router intent — see "Still open".
 
-**Scope:**
-- New `cmd/mavheard/` — workpc-side agent: captures microphone (PortAudio or ALSA `arecord`), streams over WebSocket to mavend
-- `internal/audio/` extended with capture types: `MicCapture`, `SystemCapture`, `FileCapture`
-- `internal/stt/stt.go` extended with `StreamingTranscriber` interface (or reuse existing with chunked input)
-- Router: new `IntentCapture` intent for start/stop commands
-- Reuses `internal/llm.Client` for summarization
-- Reuses `internal/voice/server.go` TCP protocol for streaming audio
+## What shipped
 
-**Steps:**
-1. Create `cmd/mavheard/main.go` — workpc-side daemon: captures microphone via `arecord` pipe or PortAudio, opens WebSocket or TCP connection to mavend, streams PCM frames
-2. Create `internal/audio/capture.go` — `Capture` interface: `Start()`, `Stop()`, `AudioCh <-chan Audio`; implement `MicCapture` (reads from `mavheard` stream) and `FileCapture` (reads WAV)
-3. Extend `internal/stt/stt.go` — add `TranscribeStream(ctx, audio <-chan Audio) (string, error)` to `Transcriber` interface; `Stub` returns empty; `Remote` forwards chunks to worker socket
-4. Add `IntentCapture` to `internal/router/intent.go` — slots: `Action` ("start"/"stop"/"status"), `Duration`
-5. Wire capture handler in `cmd/mavend/voice.go:reactiveHandler` — start = spawn goroutine receiving audio, stream to STT; stop = finalize, send to LLM for summarization, write note via `WriteNote`
-6. Add capture config to `voice` block in `config.Config` — `{capture_enabled, capture_timeout}`
-7. Test with a recorded WAV file — simulate a meeting, verify transcription + summary note is created
+| Piece | Where |
+|---|---|
+| Session state machine: start / append / stop / abort / status | `internal/capture/capture.go` |
+| Map-reduce summarisation against `n_ctx` 4096 | `internal/capture/summarize.go` |
+| Audio blobs in the shared store, pruned by `media.retention` | `internal/media` (from #252) |
+| Config block `capture`, off by default | `internal/config/config.go` |
+| IPC `capture_start` / `capture_append` / `capture_stop` / `capture_status` | `internal/ipc/{wire,api,client,server}.go` |
+| Authority: the three write methods `AuthWrite`, status `AuthRead` | `internal/auth/policy.go` |
+| Daemon wiring, note write, STT reuse | `cmd/mavend/capture.go` |
+
+The audio lands in the same content-addressed blob store as images, under the same retention
+loop, because #252 and #253 have the same intake problem and solving it twice would mean two
+directories to remember to prune.
+
+## The refusals, and why
+
+**Nothing listens.** The original step 8 called for capture "triggered by voice command
+(IntentCapture) **or configurable keyword ('maven record')**". The keyword half is refused.
+Noticing a keyword requires listening to the room continuously, which is precisely the
+behaviour this capability must not have, and the refusal is in the code rather than in a
+comment: `Recorder.Append` is the only way audio enters, and it returns `ErrNoSession` unless
+someone explicitly started a session. Audio arriving at an idle core is dropped, not buffered
+"just in case".
+
+**Off unless configured, twice over.** No `media` block ⇒ nowhere to keep audio ⇒ the four
+methods do not exist. No `capture` block with `enabled: true` ⇒ they still do not exist. On an
+unconfigured box there is no wire path at all that begins a recording. That is the only
+guarantee worth making here, and it is the reason the hooks use the nil-hook ⇒
+`ErrUnknownMethod` pattern rather than an in-handler check.
+
+**A forgotten session ends itself.** `max_minutes` defaults to 120 and is checked on every
+append, not on a timer that could be missed. Past the cap `Append` returns `ErrExpired`
+permanently, so a client that ignores the error cannot grow the recording; the audio collected
+before the cap is kept and `Stop` still works.
+
+**"Забудь, не записывай" leaves nothing behind.** `capture_stop` with `discard: true` throws
+the session away without storing, transcribing or summarising anything — not a blob with a note
+saying it was abandoned. Nothing.
+
+**The transcript is not saved by default.** The summary is written where he will read it; the
+verbatim record of what other people said in a room is a heavier thing to keep and takes a
+deliberate `save_transcript: true`. The audio blob is pruned by `media.retention` either way.
+
+**No second STT.** Step 3 of the original plan extended the `Transcriber` interface with
+streaming. Not needed and not done: whisper.cpp already runs as `mavsttd`, and `internal/capture`
+takes the ordinary `stt.Transcriber` the voice path already holds (exposed as
+`voiceWiring.transcriber`). Long recordings are handed over in five-minute windows —
+`chunkAudio`, cut on sample boundaries — for the same reason whisper itself works in 30-second
+windows: an hour of PCM in one call either times out or blocks the voice path for minutes.
+Capture with voice off is refused rather than degraded, because storing hours of unreadable
+audio of other people is worse than not recording.
+
+**Not `AuthStepUp`.** Recording people is invasive enough to argue for the top rung, and it is
+still wrong: step-up needs a passkey gesture, which the voice path cannot make, so
+"запиши встречу" could never work by voice — the only way he will actually use this. `AuthWrite`
+plus the off-unless-configured gate is the honest combination.
+
+## Long audio against a 4096-token context
+
+The resident model is a Thinking variant at `n_ctx` 4096, so an hour of transcript does not fit
+in one prompt and never will. `summarize.go` does map-reduce and nothing cleverer: split the
+transcript on sentence boundaries into 3000-rune windows (about 1100 Qwen tokens of Russian,
+leaving room for the persona block, the reasoning and the answer), summarise each, then
+summarise the summaries. A transcript that fits in one window skips the reduce step.
+
+Truncation was the alternative and is rejected: a truncated meeting summary reads as complete
+and is not, and he would act on it. Past `max_chunks` (40, roughly the two-hour cap) the
+transcript *is* cut, and the summary says so in the note.
+
+Two degradations are deliberate and both are reported rather than hidden:
+
+- No llama-server ⇒ transcript, no summary. The words exist.
+- The reduce call fails ⇒ the per-chunk summaries are returned joined. Real work, not thrown
+  away over the last call.
+
+The map and reduce prompts contain no first person at all, so the persona's feminine-form rules
+have nothing to get wrong in them; the reply she actually gives him is phrased by the ordinary
+replier, which does carry the persona.
+
+## Config
+
+```json
+"media": { "dir": "media", "retention": "168h" },
+"capture": {
+  "enabled": true,
+  "max_minutes": 120,
+  "stt_window": "5m",
+  "chunk_runes": 3000,
+  "max_chunks": 40,
+  "save_transcript": false
+}
+```
+
+Both absent by default. `capture` alone does nothing without `media`.
+
+## Still open
+
+- **`cmd/mavheard`** — the workpc-side microphone agent. Deferred, not refused: the core half
+  is the part with the invariants in it, and a mic client is straightforward once there is a
+  stable wire to stream at. It should be an explicit-start process, not a resident one, for the
+  same reason the recorder has no keyword trigger. The four IPC methods are the wire it will
+  use; `mavenclient` already has the mic plumbing to borrow.
+- **Router intent.** "запиши встречу" / "хватит" does not route anywhere yet. It needs the
+  `system` intent plus slots, and it needs care: "хватит" is also how someone tells her to stop
+  talking, so the recorder's stop and the speech barge-in must not collide.
+- **A `/dash` panel** showing a running session, so a recording is visible on a surface and not
+  only in a log line.
+- **Speaker attribution** — who said what — is #255 and is blocked on a model; see
+  `docs/plans/10-speaker-recognition.md`.
diff --git a/internal/auth/auth_test.go b/internal/auth/auth_test.go
index 67907af..cf13d1a 100644
--- a/internal/auth/auth_test.go
+++ b/internal/auth/auth_test.go
@@ -416,3 +416,29 @@ func TestRequirement_SwapModel(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("SwapModel with no asserted step-up = %v; want ErrForbidden", err)
 	}
 }
+
+// TestRequirement_Capture — recording other people is a write, not a read: it
+// puts audio of them on disk. The read side, "что ты записываешь?", is not.
+//
+// It is deliberately NOT AuthStepUp. Step-up needs a passkey gesture, which the
+// voice path cannot make, so putting it there would mean "запиши встречу" could
+// never work by voice. The real gate on this capability is that the methods do
+// not exist at all unless the operator enabled a capture block.
+func TestRequirement_Capture(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, m := range []ipc.Method{
+		ipc.MethodCaptureStart, ipc.MethodCaptureAppend, ipc.MethodCaptureStop,
+	} {
+		if got := Requirement(m); got != AuthWrite {
+			t.Errorf("%s authority = %v; want AuthWrite", m, got)
+		}
+	}
+	if got := Requirement(ipc.MethodCaptureStatus); got != AuthRead {
+		t.Errorf("CaptureStatus authority = %v; want AuthRead", got)
+	}
+	// Voice can start one: it is the surface he will actually use to say
+	// "запиши встречу", and it carries AuthWrite.
+	voice := Scope{Surface: SurfaceVoice, Module: "voice", SourceScope: []string{"*"}}
+	if err := Can(ipc.MethodCaptureStart, voice, nil); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("voice starting a capture = %v; want allowed", err)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/auth/policy.go b/internal/auth/policy.go
index a22ecd4..809bf04 100644
--- a/internal/auth/policy.go
+++ b/internal/auth/policy.go
@@ -60,6 +60,21 @@ func Requirement(m ipc.Method) Authority {
 		// and for the same reason: nothing Maven says or does may reach it.
 		// MethodModelStatus is only the read side, so it stays at AuthRead.
 		return AuthStepUp
+	case ipc.MethodCaptureStart, ipc.MethodCaptureAppend, ipc.MethodCaptureStop:
+		// Recording a meeting (Vikunja #253). AuthWrite, not AuthRead: it puts
+		// audio of other people on disk, which is a heavier thing than reading a
+		// fact, and it is not something a read-only surface should be able to
+		// begin. Append and Stop sit on the same rung as Start deliberately —
+		// a surface that may not start a recording has no business feeding or
+		// harvesting one either.
+		//
+		// Not AuthStepUp, and this is the interesting line: step-up needs a
+		// passkey gesture, which the voice path cannot make. Putting it here
+		// would mean "запиши встречу" could never work by voice, and the real
+		// gate on this capability is elsewhere and stronger — the methods do not
+		// exist at all unless the operator enabled a capture block, and no
+		// recording can begin without someone saying so.
+		return AuthWrite
 	case ipc.MethodWriteFact:
 		return AuthWrite
 	case ipc.MethodAssertStepUp:
@@ -95,6 +110,9 @@ func Requirement(m ipc.Method) Authority {
 		// the box, which internal/vision enforces by refusing a non-private
 		// endpoint.
 		ipc.MethodDescribeImage,
+		// "что ты записываешь?" — the read side of the recorder. It reports a
+		// label, a start time and a byte count, begins nothing and keeps nothing.
+		ipc.MethodCaptureStatus,
 		// The read side of the model swap: which model is resident, which ones are
 		// allowlisted. It loads nothing and changes nothing.
 		ipc.MethodModelStatus:
diff --git a/internal/capture/capture.go b/internal/capture/capture.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c9cb852
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/capture/capture.go
@@ -0,0 +1,404 @@
+// Package capture is Maven's meeting recorder (Vikunja #253,
+// docs/plans/08-hearing.md).
+//
+// One session at a time, with an explicit start and an explicit stop:
+//
+//	Start("встреча")  → audio frames appended → Stop() → transcript → summary
+//
+// # Nothing here listens
+//
+// This is the most invasive capability in the backlog and the design is
+// constrained accordingly. The constraints are the code, not a preamble:
+//
+//   - There is no ambient path. `Session.Append` is the only way audio enters,
+//     and it only accepts frames while a session someone started is running.
+//     A keyword-triggered recorder ("maven record" heard in the room) was in the
+//     plan document and is refused: it requires listening in order to notice the
+//     keyword, which is the exact behaviour this capability must not have.
+//   - A session that is not stopped stops itself. MaxDuration is a hard cap
+//     checked on every Append, not a suggestion; a forgotten recording is a
+//     recording that ends, not one that runs until the disk is full.
+//   - Audio is stored under internal/media, which means retention prunes it and
+//     it never leaves the box. Both the audio blob and the transcript stay
+//     local; only the summary is written where he will read it.
+//   - The transcript is never search input for anything outside this box. It is
+//     text about a conversation with other people in it.
+//
+// # Long audio against a 4096-token context
+//
+// The resident model is a Thinking variant at n_ctx 4096, so an hour of meeting
+// transcript does not fit in one prompt and never will. summarize.go does the
+// obvious map-reduce: split the transcript on sentence boundaries into windows
+// that fit, summarise each, then summarise the summaries. That is handled
+// explicitly rather than by truncation, because a truncated meeting summary is
+// worse than none — it looks complete and is not.
+//
+// # Transcription
+//
+// There is exactly one STT in Maven and this package does not add a second: it
+// takes an stt.Transcriber, which in deploy is the whisper.cpp worker behind
+// cmd/mavsttd. Long audio is transcribed in windows too (see chunkAudio), for
+// the same reason whisper itself works in 30s windows — handing a worker an hour
+// of PCM in one call is a request that either times out or blocks everything
+// else for minutes.
+package capture
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
+	"sync"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/audio"
+	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/media"
+	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/stt"
+)
+
+// DefaultMaxDuration — how long one capture may run before it stops itself.
+// Two hours covers a long meeting and bounds the damage of a forgotten session:
+// at 16 kHz mono that is about 230 MB of PCM, which is over media's default
+// per-blob cap, so a session at the limit is stored truncated rather than
+// refused. That trade is deliberate — a partial recording of a meeting he asked
+// for beats an error after two hours.
+const DefaultMaxDuration = 2 * time.Hour
+
+// DefaultSTTWindow — how much audio goes to the transcriber in one call. Five
+// minutes of 16 kHz mono is under 10 MB, transcribes in well under whisper's
+// own timeout on this box, and keeps the worker responsive to the voice path
+// between windows.
+const DefaultSTTWindow = 5 * time.Minute
+
+// Errors callers distinguish.
+var (
+	// ErrDisabled — capture is not configured. A capability is off unless
+	// configured, and a recorder most of all.
+	ErrDisabled = errors.New("capture: not configured")
+	// ErrBusy — a session is already running. One at a time: two concurrent
+	// recordings would make "хватит" ambiguous.
+	ErrBusy = errors.New("capture: a session is already running")
+	// ErrNoSession — stop or append with nothing running.
+	ErrNoSession = errors.New("capture: nothing is being recorded")
+	// ErrBadFormat — a frame is not the canonical 16 kHz mono PCM shape.
+	ErrBadFormat = errors.New("capture: audio format not supported")
+	// ErrEmptyCapture — the session ended with no audio in it.
+	ErrEmptyCapture = errors.New("capture: nothing was recorded")
+	// ErrExpired — the session hit MaxDuration and was closed. Returned from
+	// Append so the caller stops sending; the audio collected so far is kept.
+	ErrExpired = errors.New("capture: session reached its time limit")
+)
+
+// Session — one recording in progress. Not created directly; Recorder.Start
+// makes it. Guarded by a mutex because frames arrive from a network goroutine
+// while a status call may read from another.
+type Session struct {
+	Label   string
+	Started time.Time
+
+	mu      sync.Mutex
+	pcm     []byte
+	format  audio.Format
+	expired bool
+}
+
+// Duration is how much audio has been collected, from the bytes rather than the
+// wall clock: a stream that dropped frames should report the audio that exists,
+// not the time that passed.
+func (s *Session) Duration() time.Duration {
+	s.mu.Lock()
+	defer s.mu.Unlock()
+	return s.duration()
+}
+
+func (s *Session) duration() time.Duration {
+	a := audio.Audio{Format: s.format, Bytes: s.pcm}
+	return time.Duration(a.Duration() * float64(time.Second))
+}
+
+// Bytes is how much PCM has been collected. For a status line.
+func (s *Session) Bytes() int {
+	s.mu.Lock()
+	defer s.mu.Unlock()
+	return len(s.pcm)
+}
+
+// Status — what a "что записываешь?" answer needs, and what /dash shows. It is
+// the read side of a running session and is safe to ask for at any time.
+type Status struct {
+	Running  bool          `json:"running"`
+	Label    string        `json:"label,omitempty"`
+	Started  time.Time     `json:"started,omitempty"`
+	Duration time.Duration `json:"duration,omitempty"`
+	Bytes    int           `json:"bytes,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// Recorder owns the single session slot, the blob store and the two models a
+// finished capture needs. Build it with New; a zero Recorder is not usable.
+type Recorder struct {
+	blobs       *media.Store
+	tr          stt.Transcriber
+	sum         *Summarizer
+	maxDuration time.Duration
+	sttWindow   time.Duration
+	now         func() time.Time
+
+	mu      sync.Mutex
+	current *Session
+}
+
+// Config — the recorder's knobs, built from config.CaptureConfig by the daemon.
+type Config struct {
+	// MaxDuration — hard cap on one session. 0 ⇒ DefaultMaxDuration.
+	MaxDuration time.Duration
+	// STTWindow — audio per transcription call. 0 ⇒ DefaultSTTWindow.
+	STTWindow time.Duration
+}
+
+// New builds a Recorder. blobs and tr are required — a recorder with nowhere to
+// put the audio, or nothing to transcribe it with, is not a recorder. sum may be
+// nil: the transcript is still produced and stored, and the summary is simply
+// absent, which is the honest degradation when there is no llama-server.
+func New(blobs *media.Store, tr stt.Transcriber, sum *Summarizer, cfg Config) (*Recorder, error) {
+	if blobs == nil {
+		return nil, errors.New("capture: no blob store")
+	}
+	if tr == nil {
+		return nil, errors.New("capture: no transcriber")
+	}
+	maxDur := cfg.MaxDuration
+	if maxDur <= 0 {
+		maxDur = DefaultMaxDuration
+	}
+	window := cfg.STTWindow
+	if window <= 0 {
+		window = DefaultSTTWindow
+	}
+	return &Recorder{
+		blobs:       blobs,
+		tr:          tr,
+		sum:         sum,
+		maxDuration: maxDur,
+		sttWindow:   window,
+		now:         time.Now,
+	}, nil
+}
+
+// MaxDuration is the configured hard cap. For the reply that tells him how long
+// she will keep going if he forgets to say "хватит".
+func (r *Recorder) MaxDuration() time.Duration { return r.maxDuration }
+
+// Start opens a session. label is what the meeting is called ("встреча с
+// подрядчиком"); it ends up in the summary note so the note is findable.
+// ErrBusy if one is already running — the caller says so rather than silently
+// discarding the first recording.
+func (r *Recorder) Start(label string) (*Session, error) {
+	r.mu.Lock()
+	defer r.mu.Unlock()
+	if r.current != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: %q since %s", ErrBusy, r.current.Label,
+			r.current.Started.Format(time.Kitchen))
+	}
+	s := &Session{
+		Label:   strings.TrimSpace(label),
+		Started: r.now().UTC(),
+		format:  audio.PCM16kMono,
+	}
+	r.current = s
+	return s, nil
+}
+
+// Append adds one frame to the running session. ErrNoSession when nothing is
+// running, which is the guard that makes an ambient path impossible: a stream
+// arriving at a Recorder nobody started is refused frame by frame.
+//
+// ErrExpired once the session is at MaxDuration. The audio collected so far is
+// kept and Stop still works — the cap ends the recording, it does not throw it
+// away.
+func (r *Recorder) Append(a audio.Audio) error {
+	if !a.Format.IsValid() {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%w: %+v", ErrBadFormat, a.Format)
+	}
+	r.mu.Lock()
+	s := r.current
+	r.mu.Unlock()
+	if s == nil {
+		return ErrNoSession
+	}
+
+	s.mu.Lock()
+	defer s.mu.Unlock()
+	if s.expired {
+		return ErrExpired
+	}
+	s.pcm = append(s.pcm, a.Bytes...)
+	if s.duration() >= r.maxDuration {
+		s.expired = true
+		return ErrExpired
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// Status reports the running session, or Running=false.
+func (r *Recorder) Status() Status {
+	r.mu.Lock()
+	s := r.current
+	r.mu.Unlock()
+	if s == nil {
+		return Status{}
+	}
+	return Status{
+		Running:  true,
+		Label:    s.Label,
+		Started:  s.Started,
+		Duration: s.Duration(),
+		Bytes:    s.Bytes(),
+	}
+}
+
+// Result — a finished capture.
+type Result struct {
+	// BlobID — the stored audio, content-addressed. Empty only if storing failed.
+	BlobID string
+	// Label / Started / Duration — what was recorded and when.
+	Label    string
+	Started  time.Time
+	Duration time.Duration
+	// Transcript — the full text, joined across STT windows.
+	Transcript string
+	// Summary — the map-reduced summary, or empty when no summarizer was wired
+	// or the model failed. Empty summary with a non-empty transcript is a
+	// degraded success, not a failure: the words are there.
+	Summary string
+	// Chunks — how many windows the transcript was summarised in. 1 means it fit
+	// in one prompt. Reported so a suspiciously vague summary can be explained.
+	Chunks int
+}
+
+// Stop ends the session and produces the result: store the audio, transcribe it
+// in windows, summarise it in windows. The session slot is freed before any of
+// the slow work starts, so a stuck model cannot block the next recording.
+//
+// The order matters and is the same as vision's: the audio is stored FIRST. If
+// transcription or summarisation fails, the recording is still on disk and can
+// be run again; a meeting that happened once must not be lost to a model error.
+func (r *Recorder) Stop(ctx context.Context) (Result, error) {
+	r.mu.Lock()
+	s := r.current
+	r.current = nil
+	r.mu.Unlock()
+	if s == nil {
+		return Result{}, ErrNoSession
+	}
+
+	s.mu.Lock()
+	pcm := s.pcm
+	format := s.format
+	s.mu.Unlock()
+
+	res := Result{Label: s.Label, Started: s.Started}
+	if len(pcm) == 0 {
+		return res, ErrEmptyCapture
+	}
+	full := audio.Audio{Format: format, Bytes: pcm}
+	res.Duration = time.Duration(full.Duration() * float64(time.Second))
+
+	// Stored as WAV, not headerless PCM: a blob on disk that `aplay` and whisper
+	// can both open without being told the format is worth 44 bytes.
+	wav, err := audio.WAVFromPCM(format, pcm)
+	if err != nil {
+		return res, fmt.Errorf("capture: wav: %w", err)
+	}
+	blob, err := r.blobs.Put(media.KindAudio, "audio/wav", "capture:meeting", wav)
+	if err != nil {
+		// Over the per-blob cap is the expected case for a very long meeting.
+		// Report it and keep going: a transcript without the audio still beats
+		// nothing, and the words are what he will read.
+		return res, fmt.Errorf("capture: store audio: %w", err)
+	}
+	res.BlobID = blob.ID
+
+	text, err := r.transcribe(ctx, full)
+	if err != nil {
+		return res, fmt.Errorf("capture: transcribe: %w", err)
+	}
+	res.Transcript = text
+	if strings.TrimSpace(text) == "" {
+		return res, ErrEmptyCapture
+	}
+
+	if r.sum == nil {
+		return res, nil
+	}
+	summary, chunks, err := r.sum.Summarize(ctx, s.Label, text)
+	res.Chunks = chunks
+	if err != nil {
+		// Degraded success: the transcript is real and stored, only the summary
+		// is missing. The caller writes the transcript note and says so.
+		return res, fmt.Errorf("capture: summarize: %w", err)
+	}
+	res.Summary = summary
+	return res, nil
+}
+
+// Abort throws the running session away without transcribing or storing it.
+// This is what "забудь, не записывай" must map to: a recording someone changed
+// their mind about leaves nothing behind, not a blob with a note saying it was
+// abandoned. Returns whether anything was running.
+func (r *Recorder) Abort() bool {
+	r.mu.Lock()
+	defer r.mu.Unlock()
+	if r.current == nil {
+		return false
+	}
+	r.current = nil
+	return true
+}
+
+// transcribe runs the transcriber over the audio in windows and joins the text.
+// A window that fails is fatal: a summary of a meeting with a silent hole in the
+// middle is a summary that misleads.
+func (r *Recorder) transcribe(ctx context.Context, a audio.Audio) (string, error) {
+	windows := chunkAudio(a, r.sttWindow)
+	parts := make([]string, 0, len(windows))
+	for i, w := range windows {
+		text, _, err := r.tr.Transcribe(ctx, w)
+		if err != nil {
+			return "", fmt.Errorf("window %d/%d: %w", i+1, len(windows), err)
+		}
+		if t := strings.TrimSpace(text); t != "" {
+			parts = append(parts, t)
+		}
+	}
+	return strings.Join(parts, " "), nil
+}
+
+// chunkAudio splits audio into windows of at most window duration, cut on
+// sample boundaries. A window shorter than one sample is impossible; audio
+// shorter than one window comes back as a single element, so the caller never
+// special-cases the short case.
+func chunkAudio(a audio.Audio, window time.Duration) []audio.Audio {
+	bytesPerSample := a.Format.SampleBits / 8 * a.Format.Channels
+	if bytesPerSample <= 0 || a.Format.SampleRate <= 0 || window <= 0 {
+		return []audio.Audio{a}
+	}
+	per := int(window.Seconds()) * a.Format.SampleRate * bytesPerSample
+	if per <= 0 || len(a.Bytes) <= per {
+		return []audio.Audio{a}
+	}
+	var out []audio.Audio
+	for off := 0; off < len(a.Bytes); off += per {
+		end := off + per
+		if end > len(a.Bytes) {
+			end = len(a.Bytes)
+		}
+		// Never cut mid-sample: a split inside an int16 shifts every following
+		// sample by a byte and turns the tail of the window into noise.
+		end -= (end - off) % bytesPerSample
+		if end <= off {
+			break
+		}
+		out = append(out, audio.Audio{Format: a.Format, Bytes: a.Bytes[off:end]})
+	}
+	return out
+}
diff --git a/internal/capture/capture_test.go b/internal/capture/capture_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e1c4268
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/capture/capture_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,363 @@
+package capture
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/audio"
+	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/media"
+)
+
+// fakeTranscriber returns a fixed phrase per call so a windowed transcription is
+// visible in the joined output.
+type fakeTranscriber struct {
+	calls  int
+	err    error
+	phrase string
+}
+
+func (f *fakeTranscriber) Transcribe(_ context.Context, a audio.Audio) (string, float64, error) {
+	f.calls++
+	if f.err != nil {
+		return "", 0, f.err
+	}
+	p := f.phrase
+	if p == "" {
+		p = "окно"
+	}
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s%d", p, f.calls), 1.0, nil
+}
+
+// fakeCompleter records prompts and replies from a script.
+type fakeCompleter struct {
+	replies []string
+	systems []string
+	users   []string
+	err     error
+}
+
+func (f *fakeCompleter) Complete(_ context.Context, system, user string) (string, error) {
+	f.systems = append(f.systems, system)
+	f.users = append(f.users, user)
+	if f.err != nil {
+		return "", f.err
+	}
+	if len(f.replies) == 0 {
+		return "итог", nil
+	}
+	r := f.replies[0]
+	f.replies = f.replies[1:]
+	return r, nil
+}
+
+// frame builds n seconds of silence in the canonical format.
+func frame(seconds float64) audio.Audio {
+	n := int(seconds*16000) * 2
+	return audio.Audio{Format: audio.PCM16kMono, Bytes: make([]byte, n)}
+}
+
+func testRecorder(t *testing.T, tr *fakeTranscriber, sum *Summarizer, cfg Config) (*Recorder, *media.Store) {
+	t.Helper()
+	blobs, err := media.Open(t.TempDir(), 0, 0)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	r, err := New(blobs, tr, sum, cfg)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	return r, blobs
+}
+
+func TestNewRequiresStoreAndTranscriber(t *testing.T) {
+	blobs, err := media.Open(t.TempDir(), 0, 0)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if _, err := New(nil, &fakeTranscriber{}, nil, Config{}); err == nil {
+		t.Error("recorder built with no blob store")
+	}
+	if _, err := New(blobs, nil, nil, Config{}); err == nil {
+		t.Error("recorder built with no transcriber")
+	}
+}
+
+// The invariant that matters most: audio arriving at a recorder nobody started
+// is refused. There is no ambient path in.
+func TestAppendWithoutStartIsRefused(t *testing.T) {
+	r, _ := testRecorder(t, &fakeTranscriber{}, nil, Config{})
+	if err := r.Append(frame(1)); !errors.Is(err, ErrNoSession) {
+		t.Fatalf("got %v, want ErrNoSession", err)
+	}
+	if r.Status().Running {
+		t.Error("a refused frame started a session")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestStopWithoutStartIsRefused(t *testing.T) {
+	r, _ := testRecorder(t, &fakeTranscriber{}, nil, Config{})
+	if _, err := r.Stop(context.Background()); !errors.Is(err, ErrNoSession) {
+		t.Fatalf("got %v, want ErrNoSession", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestOneSessionAtATime(t *testing.T) {
+	r, _ := testRecorder(t, &fakeTranscriber{}, nil, Config{})
+	if _, err := r.Start("встреча"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if _, err := r.Start("вторая"); !errors.Is(err, ErrBusy) {
+		t.Fatalf("got %v, want ErrBusy", err)
+	}
+	if _, err := r.Stop(context.Background()); !errors.Is(err, ErrEmptyCapture) {
+		t.Fatalf("empty stop: %v", err)
+	}
+	// The slot is free again after a stop, even a failed one.
+	if _, err := r.Start("третья"); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("slot not released: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestRoundTripStoresAudioTranscriptAndSummary(t *testing.T) {
+	tr := &fakeTranscriber{phrase: "совещание"}
+	sum := NewSummarizer(&fakeCompleter{replies: []string{"— решили купить насос"}}, 0, 0, nil)
+	r, blobs := testRecorder(t, tr, sum, Config{})
+
+	if _, err := r.Start("встреча с подрядчиком"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	for i := 0; i < 3; i++ {
+		if err := r.Append(frame(2)); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+	res, err := r.Stop(context.Background())
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("stop: %v", err)
+	}
+	if res.BlobID == "" {
+		t.Error("no audio blob stored")
+	}
+	blob, data, err := blobs.Read(res.BlobID)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("blob unreadable: %v", err)
+	}
+	if blob.Kind != media.KindAudio || blob.Source != "capture:meeting" {
+		t.Errorf("blob metadata = %+v", blob)
+	}
+	if string(data[:4]) != "RIFF" {
+		t.Error("audio was not stored as a playable WAV")
+	}
+	if res.Transcript == "" {
+		t.Error("no transcript")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(res.Summary, "насос") {
+		t.Errorf("summary = %q", res.Summary)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(res.Summary, "встреча с подрядчиком") {
+		t.Errorf("label missing from summary: %q", res.Summary)
+	}
+	if res.Duration != 6*time.Second {
+		t.Errorf("duration = %v, want 6s", res.Duration)
+	}
+}
+
+// A forgotten session stops itself, and the audio collected before the cap is
+// kept rather than thrown away.
+func TestMaxDurationEndsTheSessionAndKeepsAudio(t *testing.T) {
+	tr := &fakeTranscriber{}
+	r, _ := testRecorder(t, tr, nil, Config{MaxDuration: 4 * time.Second})
+	if _, err := r.Start("длинная"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if err := r.Append(frame(3)); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("first frame: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := r.Append(frame(3)); !errors.Is(err, ErrExpired) {
+		t.Fatalf("got %v, want ErrExpired", err)
+	}
+	// Further frames keep being refused, so a client that ignores the error
+	// cannot grow the recording past the cap.
+	if err := r.Append(frame(3)); !errors.Is(err, ErrExpired) {
+		t.Fatalf("post-expiry frame: %v", err)
+	}
+	res, err := r.Stop(context.Background())
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("stop after expiry: %v", err)
+	}
+	if res.Duration != 6*time.Second {
+		t.Errorf("duration = %v, want the 6s collected before the cap", res.Duration)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAppendRejectsWrongFormat(t *testing.T) {
+	r, _ := testRecorder(t, &fakeTranscriber{}, nil, Config{})
+	if _, err := r.Start("x"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	bad := audio.Audio{Format: audio.Format{SampleRate: 44100, Channels: 2, SampleBits: 16, Encoding: "pcm_s16le"}, Bytes: make([]byte, 100)}
+	if err := r.Append(bad); !errors.Is(err, ErrBadFormat) {
+		t.Fatalf("got %v, want ErrBadFormat", err)
+	}
+}
+
+// "забудь, не записывай" must leave nothing behind — no blob, no transcript.
+func TestAbortLeavesNothing(t *testing.T) {
+	tr := &fakeTranscriber{}
+	r, blobs := testRecorder(t, tr, nil, Config{})
+	if _, err := r.Start("зря начали"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if err := r.Append(frame(5)); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if !r.Abort() {
+		t.Fatal("Abort reported nothing running")
+	}
+	if r.Status().Running {
+		t.Error("session survived Abort")
+	}
+	list, err := blobs.List(media.KindAudio)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if len(list) != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("Abort stored %d blob(s)", len(list))
+	}
+	if tr.calls != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("Abort transcribed anyway (%d calls)", tr.calls)
+	}
+	if r.Abort() {
+		t.Error("second Abort reported a session")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestStatusReportsTheRunningSession(t *testing.T) {
+	r, _ := testRecorder(t, &fakeTranscriber{}, nil, Config{})
+	if got := r.Status(); got.Running {
+		t.Error("idle recorder reports running")
+	}
+	if _, err := r.Start("планёрка"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if err := r.Append(frame(10)); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	st := r.Status()
+	if !st.Running || st.Label != "планёрка" {
+		t.Fatalf("status = %+v", st)
+	}
+	if st.Duration != 10*time.Second {
+		t.Errorf("duration = %v", st.Duration)
+	}
+	if st.Bytes != 10*16000*2 {
+		t.Errorf("bytes = %d", st.Bytes)
+	}
+}
+
+// Long audio goes to the transcriber in windows: handing a whisper worker an
+// hour of PCM in one call blocks the voice path for minutes.
+func TestLongAudioIsTranscribedInWindows(t *testing.T) {
+	tr := &fakeTranscriber{}
+	r, _ := testRecorder(t, tr, nil, Config{STTWindow: 2 * time.Second})
+	if _, err := r.Start("длинная"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if err := r.Append(frame(9)); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	res, err := r.Stop(context.Background())
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("stop: %v", err)
+	}
+	if tr.calls != 5 { // 2+2+2+2+1
+		t.Errorf("transcriber called %d times, want 5", tr.calls)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(res.Transcript, "окно5") {
+		t.Errorf("last window missing from transcript: %q", res.Transcript)
+	}
+}
+
+// A hole in the middle of a meeting summary would mislead, so a failed window is
+// fatal — but the audio is already stored and re-runnable.
+func TestTranscriptionFailureKeepsTheAudio(t *testing.T) {
+	tr := &fakeTranscriber{err: errors.New("whisper is down")}
+	r, blobs := testRecorder(t, tr, nil, Config{})
+	if _, err := r.Start("встреча"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if err := r.Append(frame(2)); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	res, err := r.Stop(context.Background())
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("transcription failure was not reported")
+	}
+	if res.BlobID == "" {
+		t.Fatal("no blob id to retry with")
+	}
+	if _, _, err := blobs.Read(res.BlobID); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("audio was not kept: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+// No llama-server ⇒ transcript only. That is the honest degradation, not an
+// error.
+func TestNoSummarizerStillProducesATranscript(t *testing.T) {
+	r, _ := testRecorder(t, &fakeTranscriber{}, nil, Config{})
+	if _, err := r.Start("встреча"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if err := r.Append(frame(1)); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	res, err := r.Stop(context.Background())
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("stop: %v", err)
+	}
+	if res.Transcript == "" {
+		t.Error("no transcript")
+	}
+	if res.Summary != "" {
+		t.Errorf("summary appeared from nowhere: %q", res.Summary)
+	}
+}
+
+// A summariser failure is a degraded success: the words exist and are returned.
+func TestSummaryFailureStillReturnsTheTranscript(t *testing.T) {
+	sum := NewSummarizer(&fakeCompleter{err: errors.New("llama is down")}, 0, 0, nil)
+	r, _ := testRecorder(t, &fakeTranscriber{}, sum, Config{})
+	if _, err := r.Start("встреча"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if err := r.Append(frame(1)); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	res, err := r.Stop(context.Background())
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("summary failure was not reported")
+	}
+	if res.Transcript == "" {
+		t.Error("transcript lost to a summary failure")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestChunkAudioNeverCutsMidSample(t *testing.T) {
+	a := audio.Audio{Format: audio.PCM16kMono, Bytes: make([]byte, 16000*2*5+1)}
+	for _, w := range chunkAudio(a, 2*time.Second) {
+		if len(w.Bytes)%2 != 0 {
+			t.Fatalf("window of %d bytes cuts an int16 in half", len(w.Bytes))
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestChunkAudioShortInputIsOneWindow(t *testing.T) {
+	a := frame(1)
+	if got := chunkAudio(a, time.Minute); len(got) != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("got %d windows, want 1", len(got))
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/capture/summarize.go b/internal/capture/summarize.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d539472
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/capture/summarize.go
@@ -0,0 +1,261 @@
+package capture
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
+	"unicode"
+)
+
+// DefaultChunkRunes — how much transcript goes into one summarisation prompt.
+//
+// The resident model runs at n_ctx 4096 and is a Thinking variant, so reasoning
+// tokens need room too. Russian runs roughly 2.5–3 characters per token on a
+// Qwen tokenizer, so 3000 runes is about 1100 tokens of transcript, leaving the
+// prompt, the persona block, the reasoning and the answer comfortable space.
+// This is the same reasoning internal/crawl used to land on 4000 runes, tightened
+// because a meeting transcript is denser in named entities than a web page and
+// the reduce step has to fit several summaries at once.
+const DefaultChunkRunes = 3000
+
+// DefaultMaxChunks — how many windows one meeting may be summarised in. Forty
+// chunks at 3000 runes is roughly a two-hour meeting, which is MaxDuration; past
+// that the transcript is truncated and the summary says so, because forty-one
+// sequential model calls on this box is half an hour of work nobody is waiting
+// through.
+const DefaultMaxChunks = 40
+
+// ErrNoSummary — the model returned nothing usable for every chunk.
+var ErrNoSummary = errors.New("capture: model produced no summary")
+
+// Completer is the one thing the summarizer needs from a model: text in, text
+// out. It is an interface rather than an *llm.Client so this package stays pure
+// and testable, and so the daemon can pass whatever it already has.
+type Completer interface {
+	Complete(ctx context.Context, system, user string) (string, error)
+}
+
+// Summarizer turns a transcript into something worth reading. It is map-reduce
+// and nothing cleverer: summarise each window, then summarise the summaries.
+//
+// Truncation was the alternative and is rejected. A truncated meeting summary
+// reads as complete and is not, which is worse than no summary at all — he would
+// act on it.
+type Summarizer struct {
+	llm        Completer
+	chunkRunes int
+	maxChunks  int
+	// context is the persona/context block the daemon prepends to every prompt,
+	// or empty. Passed in rather than built here so this package does not import
+	// internal/persona and the feminine self-reference rules stay in one place.
+	context func() string
+}
+
+// NewSummarizer wires a summarizer. llm nil ⇒ nil Summarizer, which Recorder
+// treats as "transcript only", the honest degradation with no llama-server.
+// chunkRunes ≤ 0 ⇒ DefaultChunkRunes; maxChunks ≤ 0 ⇒ DefaultMaxChunks.
+func NewSummarizer(llm Completer, chunkRunes, maxChunks int, contextBlock func() string) *Summarizer {
+	if llm == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	if chunkRunes <= 0 {
+		chunkRunes = DefaultChunkRunes
+	}
+	if maxChunks <= 0 {
+		maxChunks = DefaultMaxChunks
+	}
+	if contextBlock == nil {
+		contextBlock = func() string { return "" }
+	}
+	return &Summarizer{llm: llm, chunkRunes: chunkRunes, maxChunks: maxChunks, context: contextBlock}
+}
+
+// chunkPrompt — the map step. Deliberately plain: this is not Maven speaking to
+// him, it is a model condensing text, so there is no first person in it at all
+// and therefore nothing for the persona's gender rules to get wrong. The reply
+// she gives him afterwards is phrased by the ordinary replier, which does carry
+// the persona.
+const chunkPrompt = `Ты обрабатываешь фрагмент расшифровки разговора.
+Сожми его до 2-4 пунктов: о чём говорили, какие решения приняли, какие задачи назвали.
+Без вступлений и выводов. Только по тексту — не придумывай того, чего в нём нет.
+Если во фрагменте нет ничего содержательного, ответь одним словом: пусто.`
+
+// reducePrompt — the reduce step. Same rules, over the chunk summaries.
+const reducePrompt = `Ниже — конспекты фрагментов одной встречи, по порядку.
+Собери из них один короткий итог: о чём была встреча, какие решения приняли, что кому делать.
+Не повторяйся, не придумывай, не добавляй вступлений.`
+
+// emptyMarker — what the map step answers for a chunk with nothing in it. Such
+// chunks are dropped before the reduce step rather than padding it with noise.
+const emptyMarker = "пусто"
+
+// Summarize returns the summary and the number of chunks the transcript was
+// split into. One chunk means it fit in a single prompt and the reduce step was
+// skipped, which is the common case for a short meeting and saves a model call.
+func (s *Summarizer) Summarize(ctx context.Context, label, transcript string) (string, int, error) {
+	if s == nil {
+		return "", 0, ErrDisabled
+	}
+	chunks := ChunkText(transcript, s.chunkRunes)
+	if len(chunks) == 0 {
+		return "", 0, ErrEmptyCapture
+	}
+	truncated := false
+	if len(chunks) > s.maxChunks {
+		chunks = chunks[:s.maxChunks]
+		truncated = true
+	}
+
+	system := s.context() + chunkPrompt
+	parts := make([]string, 0, len(chunks))
+	for i, c := range chunks {
+		out, err := s.llm.Complete(ctx, system, c)
+		if err != nil {
+			return "", len(chunks), fmt.Errorf("chunk %d/%d: %w", i+1, len(chunks), err)
+		}
+		out = strings.TrimSpace(out)
+		if out == "" || strings.EqualFold(out, emptyMarker) {
+			continue
+		}
+		parts = append(parts, out)
+	}
+	if len(parts) == 0 {
+		return "", len(chunks), ErrNoSummary
+	}
+
+	summary := parts[0]
+	if len(parts) > 1 {
+		joined := strings.Join(parts, "\n\n")
+		reduced, err := s.llm.Complete(ctx, s.context()+reducePrompt, joined)
+		if err != nil {
+			// The per-chunk summaries are real work; hand them over rather than
+			// losing them to a failure in the last step.
+			return joined, len(chunks), fmt.Errorf("reduce: %w", err)
+		}
+		if r := strings.TrimSpace(reduced); r != "" {
+			summary = r
+		} else {
+			summary = joined
+		}
+	}
+	if label != "" {
+		summary = label + "\n\n" + summary
+	}
+	if truncated {
+		// Said in the note, not swallowed: a summary that silently covers the
+		// first hour of a three-hour meeting is the failure mode this guards.
+		summary += fmt.Sprintf("\n\n(расшифровка обрезана: обработано %d фрагментов из большего числа)", s.maxChunks)
+	}
+	return summary, len(chunks), nil
+}
+
+// ChunkText splits text into windows of at most maxRunes runes, cutting on
+// sentence boundaries where it can and on a word boundary otherwise. Exported
+// because it is the part worth testing on its own and the part a future
+// transcript viewer will want.
+//
+// A sentence longer than maxRunes (a transcript with no punctuation at all,
+// which whisper does produce) is cut on whitespace rather than dropped or run
+// past the limit.
+func ChunkText(text string, maxRunes int) []string {
+	text = strings.TrimSpace(text)
+	if text == "" {
+		return nil
+	}
+	if maxRunes <= 0 {
+		maxRunes = DefaultChunkRunes
+	}
+	if len([]rune(text)) <= maxRunes {
+		return []string{text}
+	}
+
+	var out []string
+	var cur []rune
+	flush := func() {
+		if s := strings.TrimSpace(string(cur)); s != "" {
+			out = append(out, s)
+		}
+		cur = cur[:0]
+	}
+	for _, sent := range splitSentences(text) {
+		sr := []rune(sent)
+		if len(sr) > maxRunes {
+			// Oversized sentence: emit what is buffered, then cut this one on
+			// word boundaries.
+			flush()
+			for _, piece := range splitWords(sr, maxRunes) {
+				out = append(out, piece)
+			}
+			continue
+		}
+		if len(cur)+len(sr) > maxRunes {
+			flush()
+		}
+		cur = append(cur, sr...)
+	}
+	flush()
+	return out
+}
+
+// splitSentences cuts on sentence-ending punctuation followed by a space,
+// keeping the punctuation with the sentence it ends. Good enough for a
+// transcript: whisper emits periods and question marks, and being wrong about an
+// abbreviation costs a slightly uneven chunk, nothing more.
+func splitSentences(text string) []string {
+	runes := []rune(text)
+	var out []string
+	start := 0
+	for i := 0; i < len(runes); i++ {
+		if runes[i] != '.' && runes[i] != '!' && runes[i] != '?' && runes[i] != '\n' {
+			continue
+		}
+		// Consume a run of punctuation ("?!", "...") so it stays together.
+		j := i
+		for j+1 < len(runes) && isSentenceEnd(runes[j+1]) {
+			j++
+		}
+		if j+1 < len(runes) && !unicode.IsSpace(runes[j+1]) {
+			i = j
+			continue
+		}
+		end := j + 1
+		for end < len(runes) && unicode.IsSpace(runes[end]) {
+			end++
+		}
+		out = append(out, string(runes[start:end]))
+		start = end
+		i = end - 1
+	}
+	if start < len(runes) {
+		out = append(out, string(runes[start:]))
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+func isSentenceEnd(r rune) bool {
+	return r == '.' || r == '!' || r == '?'
+}
+
+// splitWords cuts an oversized run on whitespace, falling back to a hard cut
+// when a single "word" is itself longer than the limit.
+func splitWords(runes []rune, maxRunes int) []string {
+	var out []string
+	for len(runes) > maxRunes {
+		cut := maxRunes
+		for cut > 0 && !unicode.IsSpace(runes[cut]) {
+			cut--
+		}
+		if cut == 0 {
+			cut = maxRunes
+		}
+		if s := strings.TrimSpace(string(runes[:cut])); s != "" {
+			out = append(out, s)
+		}
+		runes = runes[cut:]
+	}
+	if s := strings.TrimSpace(string(runes)); s != "" {
+		out = append(out, s)
+	}
+	return out
+}
diff --git a/internal/capture/summarize_test.go b/internal/capture/summarize_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e5e633a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/capture/summarize_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,244 @@
+package capture
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestNilSummarizerWithoutAModel(t *testing.T) {
+	if s := NewSummarizer(nil, 0, 0, nil); s != nil {
+		t.Fatal("a summarizer with no model is not nil")
+	}
+	var s *Summarizer
+	if _, _, err := s.Summarize(context.Background(), "x", "текст"); !errors.Is(err, ErrDisabled) {
+		t.Fatalf("got %v, want ErrDisabled", err)
+	}
+}
+
+// The common case: a short meeting fits in one prompt, so there is exactly one
+// model call and no reduce step.
+func TestShortTranscriptSkipsTheReduceStep(t *testing.T) {
+	f := &fakeCompleter{replies: []string{"— договорились о смете"}}
+	s := NewSummarizer(f, 0, 0, nil)
+	out, chunks, err := s.Summarize(context.Background(), "смета", "Обсудили смету. Решили подписать.")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if chunks != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("chunks = %d, want 1", chunks)
+	}
+	if len(f.users) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("%d model calls, want 1", len(f.users))
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(out, "смете") || !strings.HasPrefix(out, "смета") {
+		t.Errorf("summary = %q", out)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestLongTranscriptIsMappedThenReduced(t *testing.T) {
+	f := &roleCompleter{mapReply: "часть", reduceReply: "общий итог"}
+	s := NewSummarizer(f, 40, 0, nil)
+	long := strings.Repeat("Говорили про насос и трубы. ", 12)
+	out, chunks, err := s.Summarize(context.Background(), "", long)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if chunks < 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("chunks = %d, want the transcript split", chunks)
+	}
+	// One map call per chunk, then exactly one reduce.
+	if f.maps != chunks {
+		t.Errorf("%d map calls for %d chunks", f.maps, chunks)
+	}
+	if f.reduces != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("%d reduce calls, want 1", f.reduces)
+	}
+	if out != "общий итог" {
+		t.Errorf("summary = %q, want the reduced text", out)
+	}
+}
+
+// Losing every per-chunk summary because the last call failed would throw away
+// most of the work.
+func TestReduceFailureReturnsTheJoinedParts(t *testing.T) {
+	f := &roleCompleter{mapReply: "часть", reduceFails: true}
+	s := NewSummarizer(f, 40, 0, nil)
+	long := strings.Repeat("Говорили про насос и трубы. ", 12)
+	out, _, err := s.Summarize(context.Background(), "", long)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("reduce failure was not reported")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(out, "часть1") || !strings.Contains(out, "часть2") {
+		t.Errorf("per-chunk work was lost: %q", out)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestChunkFailureIsReported(t *testing.T) {
+	f := &fakeCompleter{err: errors.New("llama is down")}
+	s := NewSummarizer(f, 0, 0, nil)
+	if _, _, err := s.Summarize(context.Background(), "", "текст"); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("chunk failure was not reported")
+	}
+}
+
+// "пусто" chunks are noise; they must not pad the reduce prompt, and a
+// transcript that is entirely empty chunks is an honest ErrNoSummary rather than
+// an invented summary.
+func TestEmptyChunksAreDropped(t *testing.T) {
+	f := &roleCompleter{mapReply: "пусто", literalMap: true, reduceReply: "не должно вызываться"}
+	s := NewSummarizer(f, 40, 0, nil)
+	long := strings.Repeat("Тишина в комнате. ", 12)
+	if _, _, err := s.Summarize(context.Background(), "", long); !errors.Is(err, ErrNoSummary) {
+		t.Fatalf("got %v, want ErrNoSummary", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestEmptyTranscriptIsRefused(t *testing.T) {
+	s := NewSummarizer(&fakeCompleter{}, 0, 0, nil)
+	if _, _, err := s.Summarize(context.Background(), "", "   \n "); !errors.Is(err, ErrEmptyCapture) {
+		t.Fatalf("got %v, want ErrEmptyCapture", err)
+	}
+}
+
+// A summary that silently covers the first fraction of a long meeting is the
+// failure mode; it has to say so.
+func TestTruncationIsStatedInTheSummary(t *testing.T) {
+	f := &fakeCompleter{replies: []string{"a", "b", "итог"}}
+	s := NewSummarizer(f, 30, 2, nil)
+	long := strings.Repeat("Говорили про насос и про трубы. ", 20)
+	out, chunks, err := s.Summarize(context.Background(), "", long)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if chunks != 2 {
+		t.Errorf("chunks = %d, want the cap of 2", chunks)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(out, "обрезана") {
+		t.Errorf("truncation not stated: %q", out)
+	}
+}
+
+// The persona block belongs to the daemon, not this package, and must reach the
+// model when it is supplied.
+func TestContextBlockIsPrependedToEveryPrompt(t *testing.T) {
+	f := &fakeCompleter{replies: []string{"итог"}}
+	s := NewSummarizer(f, 0, 0, func() string { return "ПЕРСОНА\n\n" })
+	if _, _, err := s.Summarize(context.Background(), "", "Обсудили смету."); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	for i, sys := range f.systems {
+		if !strings.HasPrefix(sys, "ПЕРСОНА") {
+			t.Errorf("call %d lost the context block: %q", i, sys)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// The map/reduce prompts must contain no first person at all: the persona's
+// feminine forms live in the replier, and a first-person instruction here is a
+// place for the model to write "я рад".
+func TestPromptsHaveNoFirstPerson(t *testing.T) {
+	for name, p := range map[string]string{"chunk": chunkPrompt, "reduce": reducePrompt} {
+		for _, bad := range []string{" я ", "рад", "поняла", "мне ", "вы ", "ваш"} {
+			if strings.Contains(strings.ToLower(" "+p+" "), bad) {
+				t.Errorf("%s prompt contains %q", name, bad)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestChunkTextSplitsOnSentenceBoundaries(t *testing.T) {
+	text := "Раз два три. Четыре пять шесть. Семь восемь девять."
+	got := ChunkText(text, 20)
+	if len(got) != 3 {
+		t.Fatalf("got %d chunks: %q", len(got), got)
+	}
+	for _, c := range got {
+		if !strings.HasSuffix(c, ".") {
+			t.Errorf("chunk does not end on a sentence: %q", c)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestChunkTextPacksSentencesUpToTheLimit(t *testing.T) {
+	text := "Раз. Два. Три. Четыре."
+	got := ChunkText(text, 12)
+	if len(got) < 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("nothing was split: %q", got)
+	}
+	for _, c := range got {
+		if n := len([]rune(c)); n > 12 {
+			t.Errorf("chunk of %d runes exceeds the limit: %q", n, c)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// whisper does emit long unpunctuated runs; those must be cut on whitespace, not
+// dropped and not run past the context limit.
+func TestChunkTextCutsUnpunctuatedRuns(t *testing.T) {
+	text := strings.TrimSpace(strings.Repeat("слово ", 50))
+	got := ChunkText(text, 30)
+	if len(got) < 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("unpunctuated run was not split: %d chunks", len(got))
+	}
+	total := 0
+	for _, c := range got {
+		if n := len([]rune(c)); n > 30 {
+			t.Errorf("chunk of %d runes exceeds the limit", n)
+		}
+		total += strings.Count(c, "слово")
+	}
+	if total != 50 {
+		t.Errorf("%d of 50 words survived chunking", total)
+	}
+}
+
+// A single token longer than the window must still come out, hard-cut.
+func TestChunkTextHandlesOneOversizedWord(t *testing.T) {
+	text := strings.Repeat("я", 70)
+	got := ChunkText(text, 20)
+	if len(got) != 4 {
+		t.Fatalf("got %d chunks, want 4", len(got))
+	}
+	if joined := strings.Join(got, ""); len([]rune(joined)) != 70 {
+		t.Errorf("%d runes survived, want 70", len([]rune(joined)))
+	}
+}
+
+func TestChunkTextShortInputAndEmpty(t *testing.T) {
+	if got := ChunkText("коротко", 100); len(got) != 1 || got[0] != "коротко" {
+		t.Errorf("got %q", got)
+	}
+	if got := ChunkText("   ", 100); got != nil {
+		t.Errorf("blank text produced %q", got)
+	}
+}
+
+// roleCompleter answers by which prompt it was handed, so a test does not have
+// to predict how many chunks the text splits into. Map replies are numbered
+// ("часть1", "часть2", …) unless literalMap is set.
+type roleCompleter struct {
+	mapReply    string
+	literalMap  bool
+	reduceReply string
+	reduceFails bool
+	maps        int
+	reduces     int
+}
+
+func (f *roleCompleter) Complete(_ context.Context, system, _ string) (string, error) {
+	if strings.Contains(system, "конспекты фрагментов") {
+		f.reduces++
+		if f.reduceFails {
+			return "", errors.New("llama fell over")
+		}
+		return f.reduceReply, nil
+	}
+	f.maps++
+	if f.literalMap {
+		return f.mapReply, nil
+	}
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s%d", f.mapReply, f.maps), nil
+}
diff --git a/internal/config/config.go b/internal/config/config.go
index 4381c6a..5940110 100644
--- a/internal/config/config.go
+++ b/internal/config/config.go
@@ -205,6 +205,13 @@ type Config struct {
 	// in this repo holds a recording only in memory. See MediaConfig.
 	Media *MediaConfig `json:"media,omitempty"`
 
+	// Capture — meeting recording and summarisation (Vikunja #253). nil /
+	// absent ⇒ the recorder does not exist: the start/stop methods are not
+	// served at all, so nothing on this box can begin a recording. This is the
+	// most invasive capability Maven has and it is the one most firmly off by
+	// default. See CaptureConfig.
+	Capture *CaptureConfig `json:"capture,omitempty"`
+
 	// MCP — Model Context Protocol servers Maven connects OUT to (Vikunja
 	// #251). nil / absent / no enabled server ⇒ no connection is made and no
 	// tool is discovered, like every other capability that reaches outside the
@@ -558,6 +565,60 @@ func (v *VisionConfig) LooksAtImages() bool {
 	return v != nil && v.Enabled && strings.TrimSpace(v.Endpoint) != ""
 }
 
+// CaptureConfig — the meeting recorder (internal/capture,
+// docs/plans/08-hearing.md).
+//
+// Absent, or enabled=false, ⇒ the recorder is not wired and the capture methods
+// return "unknown method", so no client can start a recording however it asks.
+// A media block is required too: audio is never held only in memory.
+//
+// There is deliberately no "auto", no keyword trigger and no duration default
+// long enough to be forgotten about. Recording other people is an explicit act
+// with a start, a stop, and a cap.
+type CaptureConfig struct {
+	// Enabled — may she record a meeting when asked. Default false.
+	Enabled bool `json:"enabled,omitempty"`
+
+	// MaxMinutes — hard cap on one session; it stops itself there. 0 ⇒
+	// capture.DefaultMaxDuration (120 minutes).
+	MaxMinutes int `json:"max_minutes,omitempty"`
+
+	// STTWindow — audio handed to whisper per call. 0 ⇒
+	// capture.DefaultSTTWindow (5m). Larger windows transcribe slightly better
+	// and block the STT worker for longer.
+	STTWindow Duration `json:"stt_window,omitempty"`
+
+	// ChunkRunes — transcript runes per summarisation prompt. 0 ⇒
+	// capture.DefaultChunkRunes (3000), sized for the resident model's n_ctx of
+	// 4096. Raise this only if the resident model's context grows.
+	ChunkRunes int `json:"chunk_runes,omitempty"`
+
+	// MaxChunks — how many windows one meeting may be summarised in before the
+	// transcript is truncated and the summary says so. 0 ⇒
+	// capture.DefaultMaxChunks (40).
+	MaxChunks int `json:"max_chunks,omitempty"`
+
+	// SaveTranscript — write the full transcript as a note alongside the
+	// summary. Default false: a verbatim record of what other people said in a
+	// room is a heavier thing to keep than a four-line summary, so it takes a
+	// deliberate yes. The audio blob is pruned by media.retention either way.
+	SaveTranscript bool `json:"save_transcript,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// Records reports whether the recorder should be wired. Safe on a nil receiver.
+func (c *CaptureConfig) Records() bool {
+	return c != nil && c.Enabled
+}
+
+// MaxDuration is the configured session cap as a duration, or 0 for the
+// package default. Safe on a nil receiver.
+func (c *CaptureConfig) MaxDuration() time.Duration {
+	if c == nil || c.MaxMinutes <= 0 {
+		return 0
+	}
+	return time.Duration(c.MaxMinutes) * time.Minute
+}
+
 // WeatherConfig configures the weather provider for voice queries.
 type WeatherConfig struct {
 	Provider        string `json:"provider,omitempty"`         // "open-meteo" or "" → stub
diff --git a/internal/config/senses_test.go b/internal/config/senses_test.go
index b0cc5aa..3997cc0 100644
--- a/internal/config/senses_test.go
+++ b/internal/config/senses_test.go
@@ -16,6 +16,70 @@ func TestSensesOffByDefault(t *testing.T) {
 	if cfg.Vision.LooksAtImages() {
 		t.Error("vision is on with no vision block")
 	}
+	if cfg.Capture.Records() {
+		t.Error("the recorder is on with no capture block")
+	}
+	if cfg.Capture.MaxDuration() != 0 {
+		t.Error("a nil capture block invented a duration")
+	}
+}
+
+// The recorder is the capability that most needs its default to be off, so it
+// gets its own test rather than a line in the one above.
+func TestCaptureIsOffUntilExplicitlyEnabled(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		name string
+		c    *CaptureConfig
+		want bool
+	}{
+		{"absent", nil, false},
+		{"present but not enabled", &CaptureConfig{MaxMinutes: 60}, false},
+		{"enabled", &CaptureConfig{Enabled: true}, true},
+	}
+	for _, c := range cases {
+		if got := c.c.Records(); got != c.want {
+			t.Errorf("%s: Records() = %v, want %v", c.name, got, c.want)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestCaptureBlockParsesFromJSON(t *testing.T) {
+	raw := `{"capture":{"enabled":true,"max_minutes":45,"stt_window":"2m",
+	  "chunk_runes":2000,"max_chunks":10,"save_transcript":true}}`
+	var cfg Config
+	if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(raw), &cfg); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unmarshal: %v", err)
+	}
+	if !cfg.Capture.Records() {
+		t.Fatal("capture did not parse as enabled")
+	}
+	if cfg.Capture.MaxDuration() != 45*time.Minute {
+		t.Errorf("max duration = %v", cfg.Capture.MaxDuration())
+	}
+	if time.Duration(cfg.Capture.STTWindow) != 2*time.Minute {
+		t.Errorf("stt window = %v", time.Duration(cfg.Capture.STTWindow))
+	}
+	if cfg.Capture.ChunkRunes != 2000 || cfg.Capture.MaxChunks != 10 {
+		t.Errorf("summariser limits = %+v", cfg.Capture)
+	}
+	if !cfg.Capture.SaveTranscript {
+		t.Error("save_transcript did not parse")
+	}
+}
+
+// Keeping the verbatim record of what other people said is the heavier act, so
+// it is separately opt-in from recording at all.
+func TestTranscriptIsNotSavedByDefault(t *testing.T) {
+	var cfg Config
+	if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(`{"capture":{"enabled":true}}`), &cfg); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if cfg.Capture.SaveTranscript {
+		t.Error("transcripts are saved without anyone asking")
+	}
+	if cfg.Capture.MaxDuration() != 0 {
+		t.Error("max_minutes defaulted in config instead of in the package")
+	}
 }
 
 // enabled with nothing to talk to is a misconfiguration, not a capability.
diff --git a/internal/ipc/api.go b/internal/ipc/api.go
index ae6f69a..1e961b7 100644
--- a/internal/ipc/api.go
+++ b/internal/ipc/api.go
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"errors"
 	"time"
+
+	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/audio"
 )
 
 // DTOs — wire-level data. Decoupled from internal/store so the protocol is
@@ -221,6 +223,84 @@ type DescribeImageResp struct {
 	NoteID      int64  `json:"note_id,omitempty"`
 }
 
+// CaptureStartReq — begin recording a meeting (Vikunja #253).
+//
+// Label is what the meeting is called ("встреча с подрядчиком"); it goes into
+// the summary note so the note is findable later. Empty is allowed.
+//
+// There is no "auto", no keyword and no schedule in this request, and there will
+// not be: the only way audio enters the recorder is a client that was told to
+// start, appending frames it was told to append. All four capture methods answer
+// ErrUnknownMethod unless the operator enabled a capture block, so a surface
+// cannot start a recording by asking nicely.
+type CaptureStartReq struct {
+	Label string `json:"label,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// CaptureStartResp — the session that opened. MaxSeconds is the hard cap after
+// which it stops itself; the caller tells him, so a forgotten recording is his
+// own informed choice rather than a surprise.
+type CaptureStartResp struct {
+	Label      string    `json:"label,omitempty"`
+	Started    time.Time `json:"started"`
+	MaxSeconds int       `json:"max_seconds"`
+}
+
+// CaptureAppendReq — one chunk of audio for the running session. Refused with
+// "nothing is being recorded" when no session is open, which is the guard that
+// makes an ambient path impossible: audio arriving at an idle core is dropped on
+// the floor, not buffered "just in case".
+type CaptureAppendReq struct {
+	Audio audio.Audio `json:"audio"`
+}
+
+// CaptureAppendResp — how much has been collected, so a client can show a timer
+// and notice the cap coming. Expired means the session hit its limit and closed;
+// stop sending and call capture_stop, the audio so far is kept.
+type CaptureAppendResp struct {
+	Seconds float64 `json:"seconds"`
+	Expired bool    `json:"expired,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// CaptureStopReq — end the running session.
+//
+// Discard throws the recording away without transcribing, storing or
+// summarising anything. This is what "забудь, не записывай" maps to, and it is a
+// flag rather than a separate method so the client that says "stop" and the
+// client that says "stop and forget" take the same path to the same session.
+type CaptureStopReq struct {
+	Discard bool `json:"discard,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// CaptureStopResp — the finished capture. BlobID is the stored WAV, kept under
+// media.retention like any other blob and pruned with it.
+//
+// A response with a Transcript and an empty Summary is a degraded success: the
+// words exist, only the model failed. A response with a BlobID and neither is
+// the audio surviving a transcription failure — the same id can be run again.
+// Discarded is true when nothing was kept.
+type CaptureStopResp struct {
+	BlobID     string    `json:"blob_id,omitempty"`
+	Label      string    `json:"label,omitempty"`
+	Started    time.Time `json:"started,omitempty"`
+	Seconds    float64   `json:"seconds,omitempty"`
+	Transcript string    `json:"transcript,omitempty"`
+	Summary    string    `json:"summary,omitempty"`
+	Chunks     int       `json:"chunks,omitempty"`
+	NoteID     int64     `json:"note_id,omitempty"`
+	Discarded  bool      `json:"discarded,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// CaptureStatusResp — what "что ты записываешь?" needs, and what /dash shows.
+// Running=false with everything else empty is the normal state.
+type CaptureStatusResp struct {
+	Running bool      `json:"running"`
+	Label   string    `json:"label,omitempty"`
+	Started time.Time `json:"started,omitempty"`
+	Seconds float64   `json:"seconds,omitempty"`
+	Bytes   int       `json:"bytes,omitempty"`
+}
+
 // SwapModelReq — load another resident model without restarting the daemon
 // (Vikunja #250). ModelPath must be one of the paths in phraser.swap_models;
 // anything else is ErrForbidden, and an unconfigured allowlist makes the whole
diff --git a/internal/ipc/capture_test.go b/internal/ipc/capture_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..11ce16f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/ipc/capture_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+package ipc
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"errors"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/kami/maven/internal/audio"
+)
+
+// The load-bearing default for the most invasive capability Maven has: on a core
+// that was never configured to record, there is no wire path that starts a
+// recording, feeds one, or harvests one. Every one of the four methods refuses.
+func TestCapture_OffUnlessConfigured(t *testing.T) {
+	_, _, cli, _ := newServerWithStore(t)
+	ctx := context.Background()
+
+	if _, err := cli.CaptureStart(ctx, CaptureStartReq{Label: "встреча"}); !errors.Is(err, ErrUnknownMethod) {
+		t.Errorf("CaptureStart error = %v, want ErrUnknownMethod", err)
+	}
+	if _, err := cli.CaptureAppend(ctx, CaptureAppendReq{}); !errors.Is(err, ErrUnknownMethod) {
+		t.Errorf("CaptureAppend error = %v, want ErrUnknownMethod", err)
+	}
+	if _, err := cli.CaptureStop(ctx, CaptureStopReq{}); !errors.Is(err, ErrUnknownMethod) {
+		t.Errorf("CaptureStop error = %v, want ErrUnknownMethod", err)
+	}
+	if _, err := cli.CaptureStatus(ctx); !errors.Is(err, ErrUnknownMethod) {
+		t.Errorf("CaptureStatus error = %v, want ErrUnknownMethod", err)
+	}
+}
+
+// With the hooks wired, a whole session crosses the boundary intact: the label
+// out, the audio in, the summary back.
+func TestCapture_RoundTrip(t *testing.T) {
+	_, srv, cli, _ := newServerWithStore(t)
+	ctx := context.Background()
+
+	started := time.Now().UTC().Truncate(time.Second)
+	var gotLabel string
+	var gotBytes int
+	var gotDiscard bool
+
+	srv.CaptureStartFn = func(_ context.Context, req CaptureStartReq) (CaptureStartResp, error) {
+		gotLabel = req.Label
+		return CaptureStartResp{Label: req.Label, Started: started, MaxSeconds: 7200}, nil
+	}
+	srv.CaptureAppendFn = func(_ context.Context, req CaptureAppendReq) (CaptureAppendResp, error) {
+		gotBytes = len(req.Audio.Bytes)
+		return CaptureAppendResp{Seconds: 1.5}, nil
+	}
+	srv.CaptureStopFn = func(_ context.Context, req CaptureStopReq) (CaptureStopResp, error) {
+		gotDiscard = req.Discard
+		return CaptureStopResp{BlobID: "abc", Summary: "— решили купить насос", Chunks: 1}, nil
+	}
+	srv.CaptureStatusFn = func(context.Context) (CaptureStatusResp, error) {
+		return CaptureStatusResp{Running: true, Label: "встреча", Seconds: 1.5}, nil
+	}
+
+	start, err := cli.CaptureStart(ctx, CaptureStartReq{Label: "встреча с подрядчиком"})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("CaptureStart: %v", err)
+	}
+	if gotLabel != "встреча с подрядчиком" || start.MaxSeconds != 7200 {
+		t.Errorf("start = %+v (label seen: %q)", start, gotLabel)
+	}
+	if !start.Started.Equal(started) {
+		t.Errorf("started = %v, want %v", start.Started, started)
+	}
+
+	// Audio must survive the JSON round trip byte for byte — a base64 mistake
+	// here would be silence in the transcript, not a visible error.
+	pcm := []byte{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}
+	ap, err := cli.CaptureAppend(ctx, CaptureAppendReq{
+		Audio: audio.Audio{Format: audio.PCM16kMono, Bytes: pcm},
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("CaptureAppend: %v", err)
+	}
+	if gotBytes != len(pcm) {
+		t.Errorf("%d bytes arrived, sent %d", gotBytes, len(pcm))
+	}
+	if ap.Seconds != 1.5 || ap.Expired {
+		t.Errorf("append resp = %+v", ap)
+	}
+
+	st, err := cli.CaptureStatus(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("CaptureStatus: %v", err)
+	}
+	if !st.Running || st.Label != "встреча" {
+		t.Errorf("status = %+v", st)
+	}
+
+	stop, err := cli.CaptureStop(ctx, CaptureStopReq{})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("CaptureStop: %v", err)
+	}
+	if gotDiscard {
+		t.Error("a plain stop arrived as a discard")
+	}
+	if stop.BlobID != "abc" || stop.Summary == "" {
+		t.Errorf("stop = %+v", stop)
+	}
+}
+
+// "забудь, не записывай" has to reach core as a discard, not as an ordinary
+// stop that quietly keeps everything.
+func TestCapture_DiscardCrossesTheWire(t *testing.T) {
+	_, srv, cli, _ := newServerWithStore(t)
+	var gotDiscard bool
+	srv.CaptureStopFn = func(_ context.Context, req CaptureStopReq) (CaptureStopResp, error) {
+		gotDiscard = req.Discard
+		return CaptureStopResp{Discarded: req.Discard}, nil
+	}
+	resp, err := cli.CaptureStop(context.Background(), CaptureStopReq{Discard: true})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("CaptureStop: %v", err)
+	}
+	if !gotDiscard || !resp.Discarded {
+		t.Errorf("discard lost: sent true, core saw %v, resp %+v", gotDiscard, resp)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/ipc/client.go b/internal/ipc/client.go
index 9f0ca88..6e8bd0f 100644
--- a/internal/ipc/client.go
+++ b/internal/ipc/client.go
@@ -473,6 +473,48 @@ func (c *Client) DescribeImage(ctx context.Context, req DescribeImageReq) (Descr
 	return r, nil
 }
 
+// CaptureStart begins recording a meeting (Vikunja #253). ErrUnknownMethod
+// means the operator has not enabled capture — the caller should say so and stop
+// asking, not retry.
+func (c *Client) CaptureStart(ctx context.Context, req CaptureStartReq) (CaptureStartResp, error) {
+	var r CaptureStartResp
+	if err := c.call(ctx, MethodCaptureStart, req, &r); err != nil {
+		return CaptureStartResp{}, err
+	}
+	return r, nil
+}
+
+// CaptureAppend hands one chunk of audio to the running session. An error means
+// the frame was not kept: either nothing is being recorded, or the session hit
+// its time limit. Either way the client stops sending.
+func (c *Client) CaptureAppend(ctx context.Context, req CaptureAppendReq) (CaptureAppendResp, error) {
+	var r CaptureAppendResp
+	if err := c.call(ctx, MethodCaptureAppend, req, &r); err != nil {
+		return CaptureAppendResp{}, err
+	}
+	return r, nil
+}
+
+// CaptureStop ends the session. Slow — it transcribes and summarises the whole
+// recording — so pass a context with room. Set Discard to throw the recording
+// away instead.
+func (c *Client) CaptureStop(ctx context.Context, req CaptureStopReq) (CaptureStopResp, error) {
+	var r CaptureStopResp
+	if err := c.call(ctx, MethodCaptureStop, req, &r); err != nil {
+		return CaptureStopResp{}, err
+	}
+	return r, nil
+}
+
+// CaptureStatus reports the running session, if any.
+func (c *Client) CaptureStatus(ctx context.Context) (CaptureStatusResp, error) {
+	var r CaptureStatusResp
+	if err := c.call(ctx, MethodCaptureStatus, nil, &r); err != nil {
+		return CaptureStatusResp{}, err
+	}
+	return r, nil
+}
+
 // SwapModel asks core to load another resident model (Vikunja #250).
 // ErrUnknownMethod means core has no phraser.swap_models allowlist configured;
 // ErrForbidden means the path is not on it, or step-up was not asserted. A
diff --git a/internal/ipc/server.go b/internal/ipc/server.go
index ebce760..15b380a 100644
--- a/internal/ipc/server.go
+++ b/internal/ipc/server.go
@@ -459,6 +459,20 @@ type Server struct {
 	// other CoreAPI implementation should have to carry it.
 	DescribeImageFn DescribeImageFunc
 
+	// Capture* — the meeting recorder (Vikunja #253). Set by the daemon only
+	// when a media store is configured AND capture.enabled is true; nil ⇒ all
+	// four methods answer ErrUnknownMethod. That is the load-bearing default for
+	// this capability: on an unconfigured box there is no wire path that begins a
+	// recording, so nothing can be recorded by accident, by a bug in a surface,
+	// or by a model deciding it would be helpful.
+	//
+	// They bypass CoreAPI because a recorder needs a blob store, an STT worker
+	// and a llama-server, none of which is a store operation.
+	CaptureStartFn  CaptureStartFunc
+	CaptureAppendFn CaptureAppendFunc
+	CaptureStopFn   CaptureStopFunc
+	CaptureStatusFn CaptureStatusFunc
+
 	// UnlockFn — unwraps the store encryption key from the wrapped blob using
 	// the passkey credential public key, opens the encrypted store, and wires
 	// the rest of the daemon (voice, loop, delivery). Set by the daemon when
@@ -489,6 +503,13 @@ type IngestMailFunc func(ctx context.Context, req IngestMailReq) (IngestMailResp
 // DescribeImageFunc — core-side image intake + description.
 type DescribeImageFunc func(ctx context.Context, req DescribeImageReq) (DescribeImageResp, error)
 
+// CaptureStartFunc / CaptureAppendFunc / CaptureStopFunc / CaptureStatusFunc —
+// the four core-side halves of the meeting recorder.
+type CaptureStartFunc func(ctx context.Context, req CaptureStartReq) (CaptureStartResp, error)
+type CaptureAppendFunc func(ctx context.Context, req CaptureAppendReq) (CaptureAppendResp, error)
+type CaptureStopFunc func(ctx context.Context, req CaptureStopReq) (CaptureStopResp, error)
+type CaptureStatusFunc func(ctx context.Context) (CaptureStatusResp, error)
+
 // CheckFunc — the auth hook signature. Wired by the daemon (auth.Gate.Check
 // satisfies this); dispatch calls it once per request after param-unmarshal
 // independence (it gets the raw params, may unmarshal what it needs — ipc
@@ -657,10 +678,11 @@ func withoutParams[R any](fn func(ctx context.Context, api CoreAPI) (R, error))
 // is still honored on the very next request with no extra plumbing here.
 //
 // MethodAssertStepUp, MethodStoreEncryptionKey, MethodUnlock,
-// MethodIngestMail, MethodSwapModel, MethodModelStatus and
-// MethodDescribeImage are NOT in this table: they bypass CoreAPI entirely
-// (s.StepUp / s.WrapKeyFn / s.UnlockFn / s.IngestMailFn / s.DescribeImageFn),
-// so dispatch special-cases them before consulting the table.
+// MethodIngestMail, MethodSwapModel, MethodModelStatus,
+// MethodDescribeImage and the four MethodCapture* methods are NOT in this
+// table: they bypass CoreAPI entirely (s.StepUp / s.WrapKeyFn / s.UnlockFn /
+// s.IngestMailFn / s.DescribeImageFn / s.Capture*Fn), so dispatch
+// special-cases them before consulting the table.
 var methodTable = map[Method]handlerFunc{
 	MethodWriteFact: withParams(func(ctx context.Context, api CoreAPI, p WriteFactReq) (idResp, error) {
 		id, err := api.WriteFact(ctx, p)
@@ -950,6 +972,58 @@ func (s *Server) dispatch(ctx context.Context, req Request) (json.RawMessage, er
 		}
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: %s", ErrUnknownMethod, req.Method)
 
+	case MethodCaptureStart:
+		if s.CaptureStartFn != nil {
+			var p CaptureStartReq
+			if err := unmarshalParams(req.Params, &p); err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			resp, err := s.CaptureStartFn(ctx, p)
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			return marshalResult(resp), nil
+		}
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: %s", ErrUnknownMethod, req.Method)
+
+	case MethodCaptureAppend:
+		if s.CaptureAppendFn != nil {
+			var p CaptureAppendReq
+			if err := unmarshalParams(req.Params, &p); err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			resp, err := s.CaptureAppendFn(ctx, p)
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			return marshalResult(resp), nil
+		}
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: %s", ErrUnknownMethod, req.Method)
+
+	case MethodCaptureStop:
+		if s.CaptureStopFn != nil {
+			var p CaptureStopReq
+			if err := unmarshalParams(req.Params, &p); err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			resp, err := s.CaptureStopFn(ctx, p)
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			return marshalResult(resp), nil
+		}
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: %s", ErrUnknownMethod, req.Method)
+
+	case MethodCaptureStatus:
+		if s.CaptureStatusFn != nil {
+			resp, err := s.CaptureStatusFn(ctx)
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			return marshalResult(resp), nil
+		}
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: %s", ErrUnknownMethod, req.Method)
+
 	case MethodModelStatus:
 		if s.ModelStatusFn != nil {
 			resp, err := s.ModelStatusFn(ctx)
diff --git a/internal/ipc/wire.go b/internal/ipc/wire.go
index 7a351ff..da56b80 100644
--- a/internal/ipc/wire.go
+++ b/internal/ipc/wire.go
@@ -55,6 +55,10 @@ const (
 	MethodSwapModel              Method = "swap_model"
 	MethodModelStatus            Method = "model_status"
 	MethodDescribeImage          Method = "describe_image"
+	MethodCaptureStart           Method = "capture_start"
+	MethodCaptureAppend          Method = "capture_append"
+	MethodCaptureStop            Method = "capture_stop"
+	MethodCaptureStatus          Method = "capture_status"
 )
 
 // Request — one frame from module to core. Params is the JSON-encoded argument