Fix empty thinking panels for vLLM builds using a bare "reasoning" key (v1.14.9)

Confirmed by directly probing a streaming response from vllm-0.23.1rc1:
its delta objects carry reasoning text under "reasoning", not the more
common "reasoning_content" key every reasoning-display code path was
checking for. Added a shared _reasoning_text() helper that checks both,
used by the Conversation Playground, audiobook casting's live view, and
character sheets.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -9,6 +9,13 @@ Follows [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/) · versioned wi
 
 ---
 
+## [1.14.9] — 2026-07-09
+
+### Fixed
+- **"Thinking" panels stayed empty for models served by some vLLM builds** (confirmed on `vllm-0.23.1rc1`) — those backends stream reasoning under a plain `reasoning` key instead of the more common `reasoning_content` key. Every place that reads reasoning text (Conversation Playground, audiobook casting's live view, character sheets) now checks both, via a shared `_reasoning_text()` helper. Root-caused by directly probing the model's raw streaming response and finding `"delta":{"reasoning":"..."}` instead of the expected field name.
+
+---
+
 ## [1.14.8] — 2026-07-09
 
 ### Changed

VERSION

@@ -1 +1 @@
-1.14.8
+1.14.9

routes/conversation.py

@@ -114,6 +114,13 @@ def _sentence_split(buf: str) -> int:
 
 # ── LLM helpers ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
+def _reasoning_text(obj: dict) -> str:
+    """Extract chain-of-thought text from a message or delta dict. Most
+    OpenAI-compatible backends use `reasoning_content`, but some vLLM builds
+    (observed: vllm-0.23.1rc1) use a plain `reasoning` key instead — check both."""
+    return obj.get("reasoning_content") or obj.get("reasoning") or ""
+
+
 def _rewrite_with_persona_sync(text: str, persona: str, llm_url: str, model: str = "") -> str:
     """Inline synchronous persona rewrite; raises RuntimeError on failure."""
     settings = _load_settings()
@@ -140,7 +147,7 @@ def _rewrite_with_persona_sync(text: str, persona: str, llm_url: str, model: str
     )
     resp.raise_for_status()
     _msg = resp.json()["choices"][0]["message"]
-    result = (_msg.get("content") or _msg.get("reasoning_content") or "").strip()
+    result = (_msg.get("content") or _reasoning_text(_msg) or "").strip()
     if result.startswith('"') and result.endswith('"'):
         result = result[1:-1].strip()
     return result
@@ -287,7 +294,7 @@ async def refine_text(request: Request):
         )
         resp.raise_for_status()
         _msg = resp.json()["choices"][0]["message"]
-        refined = (_msg.get("content") or _msg.get("reasoning_content") or "").strip()
+        refined = (_msg.get("content") or _reasoning_text(_msg) or "").strip()
         if refined.startswith('"') and refined.endswith('"'):
             refined = refined[1:-1].strip()
         return {"text": refined, "original": text}
@@ -348,7 +355,7 @@ async def rewrite_with_persona(request: Request):
         )
         resp.raise_for_status()
         _msg = resp.json()["choices"][0]["message"]
-        result = (_msg.get("content") or _msg.get("reasoning_content") or "").strip()
+        result = (_msg.get("content") or _reasoning_text(_msg) or "").strip()
         if result.startswith('"') and result.endswith('"'):
             result = result[1:-1].strip()
         return {"text": result, "original": text, "persona": persona}
@@ -431,7 +438,7 @@ async def analyze_characters(request: Request):
         )
         resp.raise_for_status()
         _msg = resp.json()["choices"][0]["message"]
-        raw = (_msg.get("content") or _msg.get("reasoning_content") or "").strip()
+        raw = (_msg.get("content") or _reasoning_text(_msg) or "").strip()
         content = re.sub(r"<think>.*?</think>", "", raw, flags=re.DOTALL).strip() or raw
         for candidate in (content, _extract_json_block(content)):
             if not candidate:
@@ -529,7 +536,7 @@ async def match_characters_voices(request: Request):
             )
             resp.raise_for_status()
             _msg = resp.json()["choices"][0]["message"]
-            raw = (_msg.get("content") or _msg.get("reasoning_content") or "").strip()
+            raw = (_msg.get("content") or _reasoning_text(_msg) or "").strip()
             break
         except requests.exceptions.ConnectionError as e:
             # llama-swap (and similar) often drop the first request while swapping/loading
@@ -795,7 +802,7 @@ async def character_sheets(request: Request):
             _attribution_llm_lock.release()
         resp.raise_for_status()
         _msg = resp.json()["choices"][0]["message"]
-        raw = (_msg.get("content") or _msg.get("reasoning_content") or "").strip()
+        raw = (_msg.get("content") or _reasoning_text(_msg) or "").strip()
     except HTTPException:
         raise
     except Exception as e:
@@ -873,7 +880,7 @@ async def character_sheets_stream(request: Request):
                         delta = json.loads(chunk)["choices"][0]["delta"]
                     except Exception:
                         continue
-                    t = delta.get("reasoning_content") or delta.get("content") or ""
+                    t = _reasoning_text(delta) or delta.get("content") or ""
                     if delta.get("content"):
                         raw_parts.append(delta["content"])
                     if t:
@@ -957,7 +964,7 @@ async def character_deep_analysis(request: Request):
         )
         resp.raise_for_status()
         _msg = resp.json()["choices"][0]["message"]
-        raw = (_msg.get("content") or _msg.get("reasoning_content") or "").strip()
+        raw = (_msg.get("content") or _reasoning_text(_msg) or "").strip()
     except Exception as e:
         raise HTTPException(502, f"LLM deep analysis failed: {e}")
 
@@ -1090,7 +1097,7 @@ async def character_generate_prompts(request: Request):
             )
             resp.raise_for_status()
             _msg = resp.json()["choices"][0]["message"]
-            raw = (_msg.get("content") or _msg.get("reasoning_content") or "").strip()
+            raw = (_msg.get("content") or _reasoning_text(_msg) or "").strip()
         except Exception as e:
             print(f"[character-generate-prompts] LLM call failed for {fields}: {e}")
             return {}
@@ -1310,7 +1317,7 @@ async def attribute_dialogue(request: Request):
             )
             return _fallback_attribute_response(text)
         msg = resp.json()["choices"][0]["message"]
-        raw = (msg.get("content") or msg.get("reasoning_content") or "").strip()
+        raw = (msg.get("content") or _reasoning_text(msg) or "").strip()
     except HTTPException:
         raise
     except Exception as e:
@@ -1443,10 +1450,11 @@ async def attribute_dialogue_stream(request: Request):
                         delta = json.loads(chunk)["choices"][0]["delta"]
                     except Exception:
                         continue
-                    # Reasoning models emit thoughts via reasoning_content; the
-                    # answer JSON arrives via content. Forward both to the viewer,
-                    # but only content counts toward the parseable answer.
-                    t = delta.get("reasoning_content") or delta.get("content") or ""
+                    # Reasoning models emit thoughts via reasoning_content (or, on
+                    # some vLLM builds, a plain "reasoning" key — see _reasoning_text);
+                    # the answer JSON arrives via content. Forward both to the
+                    # viewer, but only content counts toward the parseable answer.
+                    t = _reasoning_text(delta) or delta.get("content") or ""
                     if delta.get("content"):
                         raw_parts.append(delta["content"])
                     if t:
@@ -2084,7 +2092,7 @@ async def conversation_turn(
                     try:
                         obj = json.loads(payload_str)
                         d_obj = ((obj.get("choices") or [{}])[0].get("delta") or {})
-                        reasoning = d_obj.get("reasoning_content") or ""
+                        reasoning = _reasoning_text(d_obj)
                         content = d_obj.get("content") or ""
                         if not content and not reasoning and isinstance(obj.get("message"), dict):
                             content = obj["message"].get("content") or ""

static/index.html

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
   <meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no">
   <meta name="color-scheme" content="light dark">
   <meta name="theme-color" content="#2563EB">
-  <meta name="app-version" content="1.14.8">
+  <meta name="app-version" content="1.14.9">
   <link rel="manifest" href="/manifest.webmanifest">
   <link rel="icon" href="/static/icon.svg" type="image/svg+xml">
   <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/static/icon.svg">
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 
   <!-- ── Core styles (local — no CDN dependency for first paint) ────────── -->
   <link rel="stylesheet" href="/static/vendor/mdi/materialdesignicons.min.css">
-  <link rel="stylesheet" href="/static/style.css?v=1.14.8">
+  <link rel="stylesheet" href="/static/style.css?v=1.14.9">
 
 
   <!-- ── Flag icons — non-blocking (loaded async, icons appear after JS) ── -->
@@ -365,7 +365,7 @@ window.toggleNavTree = function(treeId, chevronId) {
 </script>
 
 <!-- loader.js: fetches sections → loads JS modules → removes skeleton -->
-<script src="/static/loader.js?v=1.14.8"></script>
+<script src="/static/loader.js?v=1.14.9"></script>
 
 </body>
 </html>