diff --git a/server/reflector/hatchet/broadcast.py b/server/reflector/hatchet/broadcast.py
index 317b5dbb..e9439e61 100644
--- a/server/reflector/hatchet/broadcast.py
+++ b/server/reflector/hatchet/broadcast.py
@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ async def broadcast_event(transcript_id: str, event: TranscriptEvent) -> None:
     try:
         ws_manager = get_ws_manager()
 
-        # Broadcast to transcript room
         await ws_manager.send_json(
             room_id=f"ts:{transcript_id}",
             message=event.model_dump(mode="json"),
@@ -38,7 +37,6 @@ async def broadcast_event(transcript_id: str, event: TranscriptEvent) -> None:
             event_type=event.event,
         )
 
-        # Also broadcast to user room for certain events
         if event.event in USER_ROOM_EVENTS:
             transcript = await transcripts_controller.get_by_id(transcript_id)
             if transcript and transcript.user_id:
diff --git a/server/reflector/hatchet/workflows/diarization_pipeline.py b/server/reflector/hatchet/workflows/diarization_pipeline.py
index f8121901..e5aba59a 100644
--- a/server/reflector/hatchet/workflows/diarization_pipeline.py
+++ b/server/reflector/hatchet/workflows/diarization_pipeline.py
@@ -90,11 +90,6 @@ diarization_pipeline = hatchet.workflow(
 )
 
 
-# ============================================================================
-# Helper Functions
-# ============================================================================
-
-
 @asynccontextmanager
 async def fresh_db_connection():
     """Context manager for database connections in Hatchet workers."""
@@ -177,11 +172,6 @@ def with_error_handling(step_name: str, set_error_status: bool = True) -> Callab
     return decorator
 
 
-# ============================================================================
-# Pipeline Tasks
-# ============================================================================
-
-
 @diarization_pipeline.task(execution_timeout=timedelta(seconds=60), retries=3)
 @with_error_handling("get_recording")
 async def get_recording(input: PipelineInput, ctx: Context) -> RecordingResult:
@@ -350,7 +340,6 @@ async def process_tracks(input: PipelineInput, ctx: Context) -> ProcessTracksRes
 
     results = await asyncio.gather(*child_coroutines)
 
-    # Get target_language for later use in detect_topics
     target_language = participants_data.get("target_language", "en")
 
     # Collect results from each track (don't mutate lists while iterating)
@@ -440,13 +429,11 @@ async def mixdown_tracks(input: PipelineInput, ctx: Context) -> MixdownResult:
     if not valid_urls:
         raise ValueError("No valid padded tracks to mixdown")
 
-    # Detect sample rate from tracks
     target_sample_rate = detect_sample_rate_from_tracks(valid_urls, logger=logger)
     if not target_sample_rate:
         logger.error("Mixdown failed - no decodable audio frames found")
         raise ValueError("No decodable audio frames in any track")
 
-    # Create temp file and writer for MP3 output
     output_path = tempfile.mktemp(suffix=".mp3")
     duration_ms = [0.0]  # Mutable container for callback capture
 
@@ -455,7 +442,6 @@ async def mixdown_tracks(input: PipelineInput, ctx: Context) -> MixdownResult:
 
     writer = AudioFileWriterProcessor(path=output_path, on_duration=capture_duration)
 
-    # Run mixdown using shared utility
     await mixdown_tracks_pyav(
         valid_urls,
         writer,
@@ -465,7 +451,6 @@ async def mixdown_tracks(input: PipelineInput, ctx: Context) -> MixdownResult:
     )
     await writer.flush()
 
-    # Upload to storage
     file_size = Path(output_path).stat().st_size
     storage_path = f"{input.transcript_id}/audio.mp3"
 
@@ -474,7 +459,6 @@ async def mixdown_tracks(input: PipelineInput, ctx: Context) -> MixdownResult:
 
     Path(output_path).unlink(missing_ok=True)
 
-    # Update DB with audio location
     async with fresh_db_connection():
         from reflector.db.transcripts import transcripts_controller  # noqa: PLC0415
 
diff --git a/server/reflector/hatchet/workflows/models.py b/server/reflector/hatchet/workflows/models.py
index ad28edb4..13b34e07 100644
--- a/server/reflector/hatchet/workflows/models.py
+++ b/server/reflector/hatchet/workflows/models.py
@@ -9,16 +9,16 @@ from typing import Any
 
 from pydantic import BaseModel
 
-# ============================================================================
-# Track Processing Results (track_processing.py)
-# ============================================================================
+from reflector.utils.string import NonEmptyString
 
 
 class PadTrackResult(BaseModel):
     """Result from pad_track task."""
 
-    padded_key: str  # S3 key (not presigned URL) - presign on demand to avoid stale URLs on replay
-    bucket_name: str | None  # None means use default transcript storage bucket
+    padded_key: NonEmptyString  # S3 key (not presigned URL) - presign on demand to avoid stale URLs on replay
+    bucket_name: (
+        NonEmptyString | None
+    )  # None means use default transcript storage bucket
     size: int
     track_index: int
 
@@ -30,16 +30,11 @@ class TranscribeTrackResult(BaseModel):
     track_index: int
 
 
-# ============================================================================
-# Diarization Pipeline Results (diarization_pipeline.py)
-# ============================================================================
-
-
 class RecordingResult(BaseModel):
     """Result from get_recording task."""
 
-    id: str | None
-    mtg_session_id: str | None
+    id: NonEmptyString | None
+    mtg_session_id: NonEmptyString | None
     duration: float
 
 
@@ -48,15 +43,15 @@ class ParticipantsResult(BaseModel):
 
     participants: list[dict[str, Any]]
     num_tracks: int
-    source_language: str
-    target_language: str
+    source_language: NonEmptyString
+    target_language: NonEmptyString
 
 
 class PaddedTrackInfo(BaseModel):
     """Info for a padded track - S3 key + bucket for on-demand presigning."""
 
-    key: str
-    bucket_name: str | None  # None = use default storage bucket
+    key: NonEmptyString
+    bucket_name: NonEmptyString | None  # None = use default storage bucket
 
 
 class ProcessTracksResult(BaseModel):
@@ -66,14 +61,14 @@ class ProcessTracksResult(BaseModel):
     padded_tracks: list[PaddedTrackInfo]  # S3 keys, not presigned URLs
     word_count: int
     num_tracks: int
-    target_language: str
-    created_padded_files: list[str]
+    target_language: NonEmptyString
+    created_padded_files: list[NonEmptyString]
 
 
 class MixdownResult(BaseModel):
     """Result from mixdown_tracks task."""
 
-    audio_key: str
+    audio_key: NonEmptyString
     duration: float
     tracks_mixed: int
 
@@ -106,7 +101,7 @@ class SummaryResult(BaseModel):
 class FinalizeResult(BaseModel):
     """Result from finalize task."""
 
-    status: str
+    status: NonEmptyString
 
 
 class ConsentResult(BaseModel):
diff --git a/server/reflector/hatchet/workflows/track_processing.py b/server/reflector/hatchet/workflows/track_processing.py
index b5aaa87e..45873daf 100644
--- a/server/reflector/hatchet/workflows/track_processing.py
+++ b/server/reflector/hatchet/workflows/track_processing.py
@@ -43,7 +43,6 @@ class TrackInput(BaseModel):
     language: str = "en"
 
 
-# Get hatchet client and define workflow
 hatchet = HatchetClientManager.get_client()
 
 track_workflow = hatchet.workflow(name="TrackProcessing", input_validator=TrackInput)
@@ -76,7 +75,6 @@ async def pad_track(input: TrackInput, ctx: Context) -> PadTrackResult:
             aws_secret_access_key=settings.TRANSCRIPT_STORAGE_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY,
         )
 
-        # Get presigned URL for source file
         source_url = await storage.get_file_url(
             input.s3_key,
             operation="get_object",
@@ -84,7 +82,6 @@ async def pad_track(input: TrackInput, ctx: Context) -> PadTrackResult:
             bucket=input.bucket_name,
         )
 
-        # Open container and extract start time
         with av.open(source_url) as in_container:
             start_time_seconds = extract_stream_start_time_from_container(
                 in_container, input.track_index, logger=logger
@@ -103,7 +100,6 @@ async def pad_track(input: TrackInput, ctx: Context) -> PadTrackResult:
                     track_index=input.track_index,
                 )
 
-            # Create temp file for padded output
             with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(suffix=".webm", delete=False) as temp_file:
                 temp_path = temp_file.name
 
diff --git a/server/reflector/pipelines/main_file_pipeline.py b/server/reflector/pipelines/main_file_pipeline.py
index aff6e042..85719be5 100644
--- a/server/reflector/pipelines/main_file_pipeline.py
+++ b/server/reflector/pipelines/main_file_pipeline.py
@@ -97,13 +97,8 @@ class PipelineMainFile(PipelineMainBase):
                 },
             )
 
-        # Extract audio and write to transcript location
         audio_path = await self.extract_and_write_audio(file_path, transcript)
-
-        # Upload for processing
         audio_url = await self.upload_audio(audio_path, transcript)
-
-        # Run parallel processing
         await self.run_parallel_processing(
             audio_path,
             audio_url,
@@ -197,7 +192,6 @@ class PipelineMainFile(PipelineMainBase):
         transcript_result = results[0]
         diarization_result = results[1]
 
-        # Handle errors - raise any exception that occurred
         self._handle_gather_exceptions(results, "parallel processing")
         for result in results:
             if isinstance(result, Exception):
@@ -212,7 +206,6 @@ class PipelineMainFile(PipelineMainBase):
             transcript=transcript_result, diarization=diarization_result or []
         )
 
-        # Store result for retrieval
         diarized_transcript: Transcript | None = None
 
         async def capture_result(transcript):
@@ -348,7 +341,6 @@ async def task_pipeline_file_process(*, transcript_id: str):
     try:
         await pipeline.set_status(transcript_id, "processing")
 
-        # Find the file to process
         audio_file = next(transcript.data_path.glob("upload.*"), None)
         if not audio_file:
             audio_file = next(transcript.data_path.glob("audio.*"), None)
diff --git a/server/reflector/pipelines/main_multitrack_pipeline.py b/server/reflector/pipelines/main_multitrack_pipeline.py
index 72efbf5a..abfaac57 100644
--- a/server/reflector/pipelines/main_multitrack_pipeline.py
+++ b/server/reflector/pipelines/main_multitrack_pipeline.py
@@ -159,7 +159,6 @@ class PipelineMainMultitrack(PipelineMainBase):
                     with open(temp_path, "rb") as padded_file:
                         await storage.put_file(storage_path, padded_file)
                 finally:
-                    # Clean up temp file
                     Path(temp_path).unlink(missing_ok=True)
 
                 padded_url = await storage.get_file_url(
@@ -196,7 +195,6 @@ class PipelineMainMultitrack(PipelineMainBase):
         offsets_seconds: list[float] | None = None,
     ) -> None:
         """Multi-track mixdown using PyAV filter graph (amix), reading from S3 presigned URLs."""
-        # Detect sample rate from tracks
         target_sample_rate = detect_sample_rate_from_tracks(
             track_urls, logger=self.logger
         )
@@ -204,7 +202,6 @@ class PipelineMainMultitrack(PipelineMainBase):
             self.logger.error("Mixdown failed - no decodable audio frames found")
             raise Exception("Mixdown failed: No decodable audio frames in any track")
 
-        # Run mixdown using shared utility
         await mixdown_tracks_pyav(
             track_urls,
             writer,