Feedback: guides-terminate_realtime_programmatically

Documentation Feedback

Original URL: https://www.assemblyai.com/docs/guides/terminate_realtime_programmatically
Category: guides
Generated: 05/08/2025, 4:35:33 pm

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Claude Sonnet 4 Feedback

Generated: 05/08/2025, 4:35:32 pm

Technical Documentation Review: Terminate Streaming Session After Inactivity

Overall Assessment

This documentation covers a valuable use case but has several areas for improvement in structure, clarity, and completeness. Here’s my detailed analysis:

🔴 Critical Issues

1. Broken Code Example

# This appears in the step-by-step section:
ickstart  # <-- This is broken/corrupted text
import logging

Fix: Remove the corrupted “ickstart” text and ensure proper formatting.

2. Security Risk

The code shows api_key = "<YOUR_API_KEY>" as a hardcoded string. Fix: Add a security section showing environment variable usage:

import os
api_key = os.getenv("ASSEMBLYAI_API_KEY")
if not api_key:
    raise ValueError("Please set ASSEMBLYAI_API_KEY environment variable")

🟡 Structure & Organization Issues

3. Confusing Document Flow

The current structure jumps from full code → setup → partial code explanations. Recommended structure:

1. Overview & Prerequisites
2. Setup & Installation
3. Core Concepts Explanation
4. Step-by-step Implementation
5. Complete Working Example
6. Customization Options
7. Troubleshooting

4. Redundant Code Sections

The full code appears twice with slight variations. Fix: Show complete code once at the end, with focused snippets during explanation.

🟡 Missing Information

5. Prerequisites Section Needs Details

Current: “make sure you have an AssemblyAI account” Add:

• Python version requirements (3.7+?)
• Required dependencies versions
• System requirements for microphone access
• Network connectivity requirements

6. No Error Handling Guidance

Add section covering:

• Common error scenarios
• Network disconnection handling
• Microphone permission issues
• API rate limiting

7. Missing Configuration Options

Add explanations for:

• Why sample_rate=16000 is chosen
• Other supported sample rates
• Alternative audio input sources beyond microphone
• Different timeout strategies

🟡 Code Quality Issues

8. Global Variables Anti-pattern

last_transcript_received = datetime.now()
terminated = False

Better approach: Wrap in a class or use closure:

class StreamingSessionManager:
    def __init__(self, timeout_seconds=5):
        self.timeout_seconds = timeout_seconds
        self.last_transcript_received = datetime.now()
        self.terminated = False

    def on_turn(self, client, event):
        # Implementation here

9. Hardcoded Magic Numbers

silence_duration > 5 appears without explanation. Fix: Make it configurable and explain the reasoning.

🟡 User Experience Issues

10. Unclear Expected Behavior

Users don’t know:

• What happens to partial transcripts when terminated
• If the session can be restarted
• How to handle the termination gracefully in larger applications

11. No Testing Guidance

Add section:

• How to test without speaking (simulate silence)
• How to verify the timeout works correctly
• Sample input/output examples

📋 Specific Actionable Improvements

1. Add a “How It Works” Section

## How It Works

The termination mechanism relies on three key components:

1. **Turn Event Monitoring**: The SDK emits `TurnEvent` objects when speech is detected
2. **Timestamp Tracking**: We record when the last meaningful transcript was received
3. **Timeout Logic**: If silence exceeds the threshold, we call `disconnect(terminate=True)`

### Why This Approach Works
- Turn events only fire during speech activity
- Empty transcripts (just whitespace) don't reset the timer
- Clean disconnection prevents resource leaks

2. Add Configuration Examples

# Different timeout values for different use cases
QUICK_TIMEOUT = 3    # For interactive applications
STANDARD_TIMEOUT = 5 # Default recommendation
PATIENT_TIMEOUT = 10 # For users who pause frequently

3. Add Troubleshooting Section

## Troubleshooting

### Session Terminates Too Quickly
- Check if background noise is being filtered out
- Increase the timeout value
- Verify microphone sensitivity

### Session Never Terminates
- Check if `event.transcript.strip()` logic is working
- Add debug logging to see event frequency
- Verify network connectivity isn't causing delays

4. Add Complete Working Example with Error Handling

Include a production-ready version that handles:

• Environment variable configuration
• Graceful error recovery
• Proper logging
• Resource cleanup

5. Improve Code Comments

Add inline comments explaining:

• Why certain parameters are chosen
• What each event handler does
• Edge cases being handled

🎯 Priority Recommendations

High Priority (Fix First):

1. Fix the corrupted code example
2. Remove global variables anti-pattern
3. Add proper error handling
4. Restructure the document flow

Medium Priority:

1. Add troubleshooting section
2. Explain configuration options
3. Add security best practices
4. Include testing guidance

Low Priority:

1. Add advanced customization examples
2. Performance optimization tips
3. Integration patterns with other services

This documentation has good foundational content but needs significant improvements in structure, code quality, and user guidance to be truly effective.

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