diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 38bbedd2..47a84d08 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -103,8 +103,32 @@ else
 fi
 AC_SUBST([TUN_LIBS])
 
+# ==================== WHISPER (OPTIONAL) ====================
+AC_ARG_WITH([whisper],
+    AS_HELP_STRING([--with-whisper], [Enable Whisper speech-to-text (requires libwhisper)]),
+    [with_whisper=$withval],
+    [with_whisper=no])
+
+if test "x$with_whisper" = "xyes"; then
+    AC_CHECK_HEADER([whisper.h], [
+        AC_CHECK_LIB([whisper], [whisper_init_from_file_with_params], [
+            WHISPER_LIBS="-lwhisper -lggml -lggml-base"
+            AC_DEFINE([HAVE_WHISPER], [1], [Define to enable Whisper speech-to-text])
+            AC_MSG_NOTICE([Whisper enabled])
+        ], [
+            AC_MSG_WARN([libwhisper not found, disabling whisper])
+            with_whisper=no
+        ])
+    ], [
+        AC_MSG_WARN([whisper.h not found, disabling whisper])
+        with_whisper=no
+    ])
+fi
+AM_CONDITIONAL([HAVE_WHISPER], [test "x$with_whisper" = "xyes"])
+AC_SUBST([WHISPER_LIBS])
+
 # Checks for header files, typedefs, functions...
-AC_CHECK_HEADERS([arpa/inet.h fcntl.h limits.h netinet/in.h stdlib.h string.h sys/ioctl.h sys/socket.h unistd.h])
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS([arpa/inet.h fcntl.h limits.h netinet/in.h stdint.h stdlib.h string.h sys/ioctl.h sys/socket.h unistd.h])
 AC_TYPE_SIZE_T
 AC_TYPE_SSIZE_T
 AC_TYPE_UINT16_T
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index e2264834..9170e490 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -181,8 +181,6 @@ utun_CFLAGS = \
 	-DSQLITE_THREADSAFE=1 \
 	$(DEBUG_FLAGS)
 
-utun_chat_whisper_CFLAGS = $(utun_CFLAGS) -DHAVE_WHISPER
-
 # Libraries
 utun_LDADD = \
 	libutun.a \
@@ -191,9 +189,13 @@ utun_LDADD = \
 	-lpthread \
 	-lm \
 	-lcrypto \
-	-lwhisper -lggml -lggml-base \
 	$(utun_TUN_LIBS)
 
+if HAVE_WHISPER
+utun_CFLAGS += -DHAVE_WHISPER
+utun_LDADD += @WHISPER_LIBS@
+endif
+
 # Copy binary to project root after building
 all-local: copy-to-root
 
diff --git a/src/chat/chat_whisper.c b/src/chat/chat_whisper.c
index 1ba387be..63084ddc 100644
--- a/src/chat/chat_whisper.c
+++ b/src/chat/chat_whisper.c
@@ -31,8 +31,10 @@
 
 /* ─── состояние ─── */
 
-static struct whisper_context* g_whisper_ctx = NULL;
-static int                      g_initialized  = 0;
+#ifdef HAVE_WHISPER
+static struct whisper_context *g_whisper_ctx = NULL;
+#endif
+static int                       g_initialized  = 0;
 
 /* очередь транскрипций: whisper не thread-safe, обрабатываем по одной */
 struct wh_job {
@@ -234,6 +236,12 @@ static void chat_whisper_transcribe_async_impl(
     uint64_t reply_to_ts, uint64_t reply_to_node,
     chat_whisper_done_fn done_cb, void* done_arg);
 
+static void chat_whisper_transcribe_async(
+    struct media_async* ma, struct UASYNC* ua,
+    const char* audio_path, const char* channel_id,
+    uint64_t reply_to_ts, uint64_t reply_to_node,
+    chat_whisper_done_fn done_cb, void* done_arg);
+
 struct wh_work_ctx {
     struct wh_job    job;
     char*            text;     /* результат транскрипции (u_malloc) */
diff --git a/tools/chatgui/transport/node_config.cpp b/tools/chatgui/transport/node_config.cpp
index b9e05905..0ed47db6 100644
--- a/tools/chatgui/transport/node_config.cpp
+++ b/tools/chatgui/transport/node_config.cpp
@@ -305,6 +305,9 @@ bool NodeConfig::load() {
             else if (key == "debug_file") m_debugFile = val;
             else if (key == "debug_level") m_debugLevel = val;
             else if (key == "debug_categories") m_debugCategories = val;
+        } else if (debugSection) {
+            if (!m_debugCategories.isEmpty()) m_debugCategories += ',';
+            m_debugCategories += key + '=' + val;
         }
     }
     f.close();
@@ -354,6 +357,16 @@ bool NodeConfig::saveFull() {
     out << "debug_level=" << (m_debugLevel.isEmpty() ? "info" : m_debugLevel) << "\n";
     out << "debug_categories=" << m_debugCategories << "\n\n";
 
+    if (!m_debugCategories.isEmpty()) {
+        out << "[debug]\n";
+        QStringList dbg = m_debugCategories.split(',', Qt::SkipEmptyParts);
+        for (const QString& d : dbg) {
+            int eq = d.indexOf('=');
+            if (eq > 0) out << d.left(eq).trimmed() << '=' << d.mid(eq + 1).trimmed() << '\n';
+        }
+        out << '\n';
+    }
+
     out << "[allowed_keys]\n";
     out << "allow_all=yes\n\n";
 
@@ -404,6 +417,14 @@ bool NodeConfig::save() {
     config_update_in_lines(lines, "gui", "debug_level", m_debugLevel.isEmpty() ? "info" : m_debugLevel, true);
     config_update_in_lines(lines, "gui", "debug_categories", m_debugCategories, true);
 
+    /* [debug] section: each category=level as separate line */
+    QStringList dbg = m_debugCategories.split(',', Qt::SkipEmptyParts);
+    for (const QString& d : dbg) {
+        int eq = d.indexOf('=');
+        if (eq > 0)
+            config_update_in_lines(lines, "debug", d.left(eq).trimmed(), d.mid(eq + 1).trimmed(), true);
+    }
+
     if (!f.open(QIODevice::WriteOnly | QIODevice::Text | QIODevice::Truncate)) return false;
     QTextStream out(&f);
     for (int i = 0; i < lines.size(); i++)