diff --git a/PLATFORMS.md b/PLATFORMS.md
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index 0000000..1af3130
--- /dev/null
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@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+# Platform support
+
+McSpeak's engines (Kokoro/Piper/Orpheus) are cross-platform; only the
+**audio I/O** is OS-specific. Everything the mic/speaker touches goes through
+four subprocess touch-points in `platform_audio.py`, so porting to a new OS is
+adding a branch there — the queue, VAD, secretary, tones, and progress logic
+never change. Every backend's recorder emits the **same wire format** (raw
+`s16`, mono, 16 kHz, streamed to stdout), so the VAD frame loop in `audio.py`
+is byte-for-byte identical everywhere.
+
+| Touch-point | Linux (default) | macOS | Windows (planned) |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| Play WAV | `pw-play` | `afplay` | `winsound.PlaySound` (stdlib, in-process) |
+| Record → s16 PCM/stdout | `pw-record -` | Swift/AVFoundation binary | `sounddevice` (PortAudio) or `ffmpeg -f dshow` |
+| Transcode / resample | `ffmpeg` | `afconvert` (m4a) / `ffmpeg` | `ffmpeg` or in-process `soundfile` |
+| Duck other apps | `pactl` (per-app) | none — deliberate no-op¹ | `pycaw` (per-app) |
+
+¹ macOS ducking is intentionally a no-op: the only built-in volume control
+(`osascript`) is system-wide and would dim our own `afplay` voice. Per-app
+ducking needs CoreAudio, a future native-helper task.
+
+## Linux (current production)
+
+Runs in Docker with the host PipeWire socket bind-mounted
+(`/run/user/1000/pulse`). `make up` builds + starts. This is the tested,
+shipping path — unchanged by the cross-platform work.
+
+## macOS (audio backend done; native run TBD)
+
+Status: the four audio touch-points are implemented. Headless mic capture is
+**verified** on an Apple-Silicon Mac over SSH (TCC does not block it). Not yet
+done: running the server natively + a live speech test.
+
+Requirements (all present on the target Mac, all built-in except the venv):
+- **Xcode command-line tools** (`xcode-select --install`) for `swiftc` — the
+  recorder is compiled once, cached in `~/.cache/mcspeak/`.
+- `afplay`, `afconvert`, `osascript` ship with macOS.
+- `uv` for the venv (no Docker — Docker Desktop containers can't reach
+  CoreAudio, which is why the Mac already runs its ML services natively).
+
+Deployment sketch (native, as the console user who owns the audio session):
+```bash
+uv sync                       # or a minimal env for listen-only testing:
+                              # numpy webrtcvad-wheels httpx pydantic-settings
+uv run mcspeak                # server picks the macOS backend automatically
+```
+`generate_audio` in mp3/ogg/flac needs `brew install ffmpeg`; wav and m4a work
+with built-ins alone.
+
+## Windows (designed, not implemented)
+
+The abstraction has the slots; the work is filling the four touch-points:
+- **Play**: `winsound.PlaySound` — Python stdlib, zero deps, WAV only.
+- **Record**: the real gap (same as macOS had). `sounddevice` (PortAudio pip
+  wheel) is the cleanest — it streams numpy frames that feed `webrtcvad`
+  directly; `ffmpeg -f dshow` is the subprocess alternative.
+- **Transcode**: `ffmpeg`, or do it in-process with `soundfile`/`numpy`.
+- **Duck**: `pycaw` (per-app WASAPI), or degrade to the no-op.
+
+`sounddevice` could cover both Windows *and* macOS recording with one library
+if we ever want to drop the Swift compile step — macOS stays built-ins-only
+for now to keep it zero-dependency.
diff --git a/src/mcspeak/server.py b/src/mcspeak/server.py
index 3342177..a1fc7c0 100644
--- a/src/mcspeak/server.py
+++ b/src/mcspeak/server.py
@@ -147,6 +147,16 @@ async def app_lifespan(server: FastMCP):
         health = await eng.check_health()
         print(f"  {name}: {health['status']}", file=sys.stderr)
 
+    # On macOS, pre-compile the Swift mic recorder now so the first listen()
+    # isn't slowed by swiftc and any build error surfaces here, not mid-call.
+    from . import platform_audio
+    if platform_audio.IS_MACOS:
+        try:
+            rec = platform_audio.ensure_macos_recorder()
+            print(f"  macOS mic recorder ready: {rec}", file=sys.stderr)
+        except platform_audio.AudioBackendError as e:
+            print(f"  macOS mic recorder unavailable (listen will fail): {e}", file=sys.stderr)
+
     # Generate tones and resolve which ones to use
     tone_paths = generate_tones(settings.output_dir)
     entry_tone = resolve_tone(settings.entry_tone, tone_paths, "entry_tone", default="heartbeat")