Highlights

• .NET 10 support across the library, tests, and CI (including refreshed MAUI test suite and runner images).
• New ISpeechToTextClient implementation (WhisperSpeechToTextClient) for Microsoft.Extensions.AI consumers.
• Native interop hardened (UTF-8 handling, safer marshaling) and whisper.cpp bumped to 1.8.2 with prompt-carry fix; added dedicated Metal runtime and static iOS libs.

New features & capabilities

• Added Microsoft.Extensions.AI-compatible speech-to-text client plus factory/extensions, demo integration, and thorough unit coverage.
• Introduced WaveParserOptions with a permissive parsing mode for less strictly formatted WAV inputs.
• Updated whisper.cpp to 1.8.2 and carry-initial-prompt handling to avoid reuse-related memory issues.
• Shipped a Metal runtime NuGet and switched iOS builds to static libs to simplify mobile linking and app store deployment.
• Upgraded CUDA tooling/runtime to 13.0.1 for GPU builds.

Bug fixes & stability

• Native failures now surface as WhisperProcessingException with clearer error reporting and cancellation behavior.
• Fixed a concurrent collection access crash in WhisperProcessor.
• Addressed native resource handling issues (CoreML library loading, OpenVINO path string lifetime) and tightened interop safety.
• Test reliability improvements (model download in fixtures, reduced obsolete target matrices).
• Dependency and security hygiene updates via routine package bumps.

Compatibility & tooling

• Primary targets and CI pipelines updated for .NET 10; test projects and runners aligned with the new SDK images.
• MAUI test project migrated to a .NET 10-ready layout with refreshed device profiles and runner configuration.
• Added CUDA, CodeQL, and native build workflow updates to match new toolchain versions.

What's Changed

• Version bump by @sandrohanea in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/374
• Bump System.Memory and Microsoft.NETFramework.ReferenceAssemblies in /examples by @dependabot[bot] in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/375
• Add ISpeechToTextClient implementation support by @rogerbarreto in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/376
• Add missing integration tests for ISpeechToTextClient. by @rogerbarreto in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/377
• Fix/nullable netstandard2 by @sandrohanea in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/378
• Bump Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.WebAssembly from 9.0.3 to 9.0.4 in /examples by @dependabot[bot] in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/381
• Bump Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.WebAssembly.Server from 9.0.3 to 9.0.4 in /examples by @dependabot[bot] in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/380
• Bump Microsoft.Bcl.AsyncInterfaces and Microsoft.NETFramework.ReferenceAssemblies in /examples by @dependabot[bot] in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/379
• Fixing CI after bump ubuntu runners by @sandrohanea in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/382
• Fixed #386 Coreml loading library by @sandrohanea in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/391
• Bump Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.WebAssembly and 3 others by @dependabot[bot] in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/398
• Add artifact upload release workflow by @sandrohanea in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/399
• Build artifacts fix for native libraries by @sandrohanea in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/400
• Tests were isolated so that we don't run out of memory anymore by @sandrohanea in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/401
• Split iOS build job by @sandrohanea in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/402
• Fix memory management for OpenVINO init by @sandrohanea in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/397
• Merged back tvos and ios builds by @sandrohanea in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/404
• Bump Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.WebAssembly and 3 others by @dependabot[bot] in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/405
• Fix artifact workflow submodule checkout by @sandrohanea in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/406
• Update Windows runner version by @sandrohanea in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/408
• Add permissive wave parser option by @sandrohanea in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/407
• Fixed concurrent collection access crash by @rodgers-r in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/422
• Bump Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.WebAssembly and 3 others by @dependabot[bot] in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/414

Thanks to the new Contributors

• @rogerbarreto made their first contribution in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/376
• @rodgers-r made their first contribution in https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/pull/422

Full Changelog: https://github.com/sandrohanea/whisper.net/compare/1.8.1...1.9.0