We shipped Groq Orpheus TTS to production - here's what broke.

from groq import Groq

client = Groq(api_key=os.environ["GROQ_API_KEY"])

response = client.audio.speech.create(
    model="canopylabs/orpheus-arabic-saudi",
    voice="noura",
    input="مرحبا بكم في تطبيقنا",
    response_format="wav"
)

# Save or stream the audio
with open("output.wav", "wb") as f:
    f.write(response.content)

socket.on('tts-request', async (text) => {
  // Problem 1: Creating a new WebSocket every time
  // Old connections were never explicitly closed
  const groqWs = new WebSocket(GROQ_STREAMING_URL);
  
  groqWs.on('message', (audioChunk) => {
    socket.emit('audio-chunk', audioChunk);
  });
  
  // Problem 2: Adding listeners without removing old ones
  socket.on('stop', () => {
    groqWs.close(); // Best effort, not guaranteed
  });
  
  // Problem 3: Stream end was implicit
  groqWs.on('close', () => {
    socket.emit('stream-end');
  });
});

// Store the external connection on the socket itself
function cleanupExternalConnection(socket) {
  // Idempotent - safe to call multiple times
  if (socket.data.groqWs) {
    socket.data.groqWs.removeAllListeners();
    if (socket.data.groqWs.readyState === WebSocket.OPEN) {
      socket.data.groqWs.close();
    }
    socket.data.groqWs = null;
  }
  // Only send end signal once
  if (!socket.data.endSignalSent) {
    socket.data.endSignalSent = true;
    socket.emit('stream-end');
  }
}

socket.on('tts-request', async (text) => {
  // ALWAYS clean up previous session first
  cleanupExternalConnection(socket);
  // Reset state for new session
  socket.data.endSignalSent = false;
  socket.removeAllListeners('stop');
  // Create new connection with explicit ownership
  const groqWs = new WebSocket(GROQ_STREAMING_URL);
  socket.data.groqWs = groqWs;
  // ... rest of implementation
});

class AudioStreamPlayer {
  constructor() {
    this.audioContext = new AudioContext();
    this.nextStartTime = 0;
    this.activeSources = new Set();
    this.streamEnded = false;
  }
  reset() {
    // Stop all active sources
    this.activeSources.forEach(source => {
      try { source.stop(); } catch (e) { }
    });
    this.activeSources.clear();
    this.nextStartTime = this.audioContext.currentTime;
    this.streamEnded = false;
  }
  async playChunk(pcmData) {
    // Schedule on timeline (not "now")
    const startTime = Math.max(
      this.nextStartTime,
      this.audioContext.currentTime
    );
    source.start(startTime);
    this.nextStartTime = startTime + audioBuffer.duration;
  }
}