video-publish

Video publish

Turns a finished render into something ready to post. It prepares files and checks text; it never uploads, logs in or contacts a platform. <skill> below is the folder that holds this SKILL.md.

Use when

• A project has a final render in out/, a passing video-qa report and credits.json, and the user wants it ready for one or more platforms.
• A checked video is ready to prepare for --platforms youtube,shorts,reels,tiktok,linkedin.

Don't use when

• The render is missing or QA has not passed. Name the step to run; do not work around the gate. The user may override a failed QA in words with a reason; use --override-qa "<reason>", never decide for them.
• The user wants the video uploaded. Say this skill cannot, and the pack is for uploading by hand.
• The video is the wrong shape for the platform (a 16:9 video for Reels). Say so; render it again in the platform's format (meta.format).

Steps

1. Read brief.json, script.md and facts.md (once). Write publish/copy.json with title, description and hashtags (references/copy.md). Use only words and numbers from the script and facts.
2. Run node <skill>/scripts/publish.mjs <project> --platforms <list> (add --no-card to skip the designed thumbnail). It checks the QA gate, the shape and length per platform and your text, and writes nothing if anything fails.
3. If it printed REFUSED lines, fix each (the text, the shape, a missing QA or credits) and run it again. Do not edit platforms.json to make a limit pass.
4. Show the pack: platforms, files, the kids answer, and any note. Read exports/<platform>/disclosure.md and tell the user which questions they must answer on the platform.
5. Remind the user to upload by hand and that platform rules change (references/platforms.md).

Budget

• Search first (grep, glob, symbol search). Read line ranges, not whole files.

• Read at most 8 files per step. If you need more, write down what you learned and narrow the question.

• Do not re-read a file you just wrote or edited.

• Prefer the smallest command output that answers the question: head, tail, quiet flags, filtered lists.

• Run the script once per set of changes. Do not open the encoded video or thumbnails to check them; the manifest has hashes and sizes.

Output

• The platforms written, the number of files each, and the kids answer (yes, no or ask).
• Every note the script printed (a skipped card, no chapters) and the override, if one was used.
• That nothing was uploaded.

Done when

• The script exited 0, exports/publish.json exists with "uploaded": false, and the user was told what to answer on each platform.
• No figure in the text came from anywhere but the script or facts, and nothing was sent anywhere.