Persist engine URLs and custom cards server-side (survive browser restarts)

Engine URL inputs (Ollama, vLLM, faster-whisper, etc.), custom engine
cards, and the refinement/conversation LLM URLs were stored only in
localStorage and lost on browser data clear. All four are now synced
to settings.json via _patchSettings() with localStorage as fast
initial fallback.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

server.py

@@ -326,6 +326,8 @@ _SETTINGS_KEYS = {
     "captures_default_voice",
     "client_voice_bindings",
     "llm_url",
+    # Browser-persistent UI state
+    "engine_local_urls", "custom_engine_cards", "refine_llm_url", "conv_llm_url",
 }
 
 
@@ -488,6 +490,10 @@ def _normalize_settings(s: dict) -> dict:
         s["output_dir"] = str(scan_dir / "active_voices")
     if s.get("tts_stream_mode") not in {"auto", "streaming", "buffered"}:
         s["tts_stream_mode"] = "auto"
+    if not isinstance(s.get("engine_local_urls"), dict):
+        s["engine_local_urls"] = {}
+    if not isinstance(s.get("custom_engine_cards"), list):
+        s["custom_engine_cards"] = []
     return s
 
 
@@ -532,6 +538,10 @@ def _load_settings() -> dict:
         "captures_default_voice": "",
         "client_voice_bindings":  {},
         "llm_url":                "http://localhost:11434/v1",
+        "engine_local_urls":      {},
+        "custom_engine_cards":    [],
+        "refine_llm_url":         "",
+        "conv_llm_url":           "",
     }
     if CONFIG_FILE.exists():
         try:

static/app.js

@@ -1955,6 +1955,23 @@ async function refreshTtsBackendAvailability(selected = '') {
   return _ttsBackends;
 }
 
+async function _patchSettings(patch) {
+  try {
+    await fetch('/api/settings', { method: 'POST', headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' }, body: JSON.stringify(patch) });
+  } catch (e) { console.warn('[settings] patch failed', e); }
+}
+
+let _engineUrlSaveTimer = null;
+function _saveEngineLocalUrls() {
+  clearTimeout(_engineUrlSaveTimer);
+  _engineUrlSaveTimer = setTimeout(() => {
+    const urls = {};
+    document.querySelectorAll('[data-llm-local-key]').forEach(i => { if (i.value) urls[i.dataset.llmLocalKey] = i.value; });
+    _patchSettings({ engine_local_urls: urls });
+    if (_appSettings) _appSettings.engine_local_urls = urls;
+  }, 800);
+}
+
 async function loadSettings() {
   const s = await fetch('/api/settings').then(r => r.json());
   $('s-whisper-url').value           = s.whisper_url          || '';
@@ -1968,6 +1985,19 @@ async function loadSettings() {
   $('s-xtts-url').value              = s.xtts_url             || '';
   const llmUrlEl = $('s-llm-url'); if (llmUrlEl) llmUrlEl.value = s.llm_url || '';
   _appSettings = s;
+
+  // Restore engine URL inputs from server (overrides localStorage fallback)
+  const savedEngineUrls = s.engine_local_urls || {};
+  document.querySelectorAll('[data-llm-local-key]').forEach(inp => {
+    const v = savedEngineUrls[inp.dataset.llmLocalKey];
+    if (v) inp.value = v;
+  });
+
+  // Restore LLM URLs for refinement and conversation panels
+  const refineInp = $('refine-llm-url');
+  if (refineInp && s.refine_llm_url) refineInp.value = s.refine_llm_url;
+  const convInp = $('conv-llm-url');
+  if (convInp && s.conv_llm_url) convInp.value = s.conv_llm_url;
   $('s-tts-stream-url').value   = s.tts_stream_url       || '';
   $('s-customvoice-url').value   = s.customvoice_url       || 'http://host.docker.internal:8022';
   $('s-nvidia-router-url').value = s.nvidia_router_url     || 'http://host.docker.internal:8090';
@@ -6842,11 +6872,15 @@ loadLocalContainers();
 
 // ── Custom engine card storage helpers ────────────────────────────────────
 function loadCustomEngineCards() {
+  if (_appSettings && Array.isArray(_appSettings.custom_engine_cards) && _appSettings.custom_engine_cards.length)
+    return _appSettings.custom_engine_cards;
   try { return JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('engines-custom-cards') || '[]'); }
   catch (e) { return []; }
 }
 function saveCustomEngineCards(cards) {
   localStorage.setItem('engines-custom-cards', JSON.stringify(cards));
+  if (_appSettings) _appSettings.custom_engine_cards = cards;
+  _patchSettings({ custom_engine_cards: cards });
 }
 
 // Settings key per docker container name; role fallback for custom cards
@@ -7303,9 +7337,9 @@ document.querySelectorAll('.dc-refresh-btn').forEach(b => b.addEventListener('cl
     if (!card) return;
     const btn  = card.querySelector('.llm-local-ping');
 
-    const savedUrl = localStorage.getItem('llm-local-url-' + key);
+    const savedUrl = (_appSettings && _appSettings.engine_local_urls && _appSettings.engine_local_urls[key]) || localStorage.getItem('llm-local-url-' + key);
     if (savedUrl) inp.value = savedUrl;
-    inp.addEventListener('input', () => { localStorage.setItem('llm-local-url-' + key, inp.value); });
+    inp.addEventListener('input', () => { localStorage.setItem('llm-local-url-' + key, inp.value); _saveEngineLocalUrls(); });
 
     if (localStorage.getItem('llm-local-con-' + key) === '1') applyCardState(card, key, true, false);
 
@@ -7979,10 +8013,15 @@ let _refineOriginal = null;
 (function initLlmRefinement() {
   const inp = $('refine-llm-url');
   if (!inp) return;
-  const saved = localStorage.getItem('refine-llm-url');
+  // loadSettings() will overwrite with the server value; localStorage is the fast initial fallback
+  const saved = (_appSettings && _appSettings.refine_llm_url) || localStorage.getItem('refine-llm-url');
   if (saved) inp.value = saved;
-  else inp.value = localStorage.getItem('llm-local-url-ollama') || 'http://localhost:11434/v1';
-  inp.addEventListener('input', () => localStorage.setItem('refine-llm-url', inp.value));
+  else inp.value = (_appSettings && _appSettings.engine_local_urls && _appSettings.engine_local_urls['ollama']) || localStorage.getItem('llm-local-url-ollama') || 'http://localhost:11434/v1';
+  inp.addEventListener('input', () => {
+    localStorage.setItem('refine-llm-url', inp.value);
+    _patchSettings({ refine_llm_url: inp.value });
+    if (_appSettings) _appSettings.refine_llm_url = inp.value;
+  });
 })();
 
 function updateRefineButtonState() {
@@ -8149,6 +8188,13 @@ $('s-import-voices-file')?.addEventListener('change', async function () {
   const turnHistory   = $('conv-turn-history');
   if (!chatWindow || !micBtn) return;
 
+  // Restore conv LLM URL from server settings
+  if (llmUrlInp && _appSettings && _appSettings.conv_llm_url) llmUrlInp.value = _appSettings.conv_llm_url;
+  if (llmUrlInp) llmUrlInp.addEventListener('input', () => {
+    _patchSettings({ conv_llm_url: llmUrlInp.value });
+    if (_appSettings) _appSettings.conv_llm_url = llmUrlInp.value;
+  });
+
   let mediaRecorder = null;
   let recChunks = [];
   let recTimerInterval = null;