# YouTube Final Preflight Checklist — Manual Upload Only

Status: `youtube_final_preflight_checklist_manual_upload_only_closed_until_human_yes`  
Namespace: `Sonic-Forage`  
Mode: review-only, local/manual, no upload/post/stream/payment/provider action.

This checklist compresses the existing Sonic-Forage YouTube release pack, captions/transcripts, thumbnail QA, caption readability screen path, browser visual QA fallback, and Shorts script pack into one final awake-operator route. It is not publication approval.

## Exact approval question

Do you approve using this Sonic-Forage final YouTube preflight checklist to decide whether a separate human should manually upload after reviewing the exact video, title, caption, thumbnail, and transcript?

## 60-second manual preflight route

1. Run the verifier:
   ```bash
   PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1 python3 scripts/verify_site.py
   ```
   Expected highlight: `VERIFY OK afterparty explainer site`.
2. Open `docs/youtube/FACELESS_YOUTUBE_TRAINING_RELEASE_PACK.md` and confirm the title, description, chapter map, transcript stub, and proof links match the video that would be uploaded later.
3. Open `docs/youtube/CAPTIONS_TRANSCRIPTS_PACK.md`; spot-check the VTT/SRT files and transcript copy.
4. Open `docs/youtube/CAPTION_READABILITY_SCREEN_PATH.md`; run the phone/desktop caption readability pass.
5. Open `docs/youtube/THUMBNAIL_ALT_CAPTION_QA.md`; confirm thumbnail alt text, caption stub, safe wording, and do-not-say lines.
6. If the browser preview is blank or visually suspect, use `docs/youtube/BROWSER_VISUAL_QA_FALLBACK.md` before trusting the visual proof.
7. Optional: open `docs/youtube/SHORTS_SCRIPT_PACK.md` only as manual future copy. Do not post or schedule it.
8. Stop unless an awake human approves one exact external action.

## Safe wording

- Manual-upload-only preflight checklist.
- The proof hub contains review artifacts, not public-launch approval.
- Captions, thumbnail, Shorts copy, and release metadata remain local drafts until a human approves the exact upload/post.
- No revenue, affiliation, live-customer, partnership, or dataset-publication claim is made by this checklist.

## Do not say

- The YouTube video is uploaded.
- Posting is scheduled.
- Revenue is expected or guaranteed.
- Sonic-Forage is affiliated with OpenAI or YouTube.
- The private dataset is public.
- GPU generation or model training started.
- A stream, Space, or recording is live.

## Closed gates

- `youtube_upload=false`
- `caption_upload=false`
- `public_posting=false`
- `auto_scheduling=false`
- `paid_promotion=false`
- `outreach=false`
- `publishes_stream=false`
- `records_audio=false`
- `uploads_private_media=false`
- `public_dataset_release=false`
- `starts_gpu=false`
- `starts_paid_api=false`
- `downloads_models=false`
- `starts_training=false`
- `claim_revenue=false`
- `claim_openai_affiliation=false`
- `payment_links=false`
- `wallet_actions=false`
- `secret_exposure=false`
- `mutates_cron=false`

## Blocked without approval

- Opening YouTube Studio upload flow with an intent to publish.
- Uploading captions, thumbnails, videos, Shorts, or private media to any platform.
- Posting or scheduling on X, YouTube, Twitch, Kick, Spaces, Discord, or other public channels.
- Starting OBS, RTMP, Twitch, Kick, Spaces, livestreams, recording, or voice-to-shell.
- Making datasets public, uploading to Hugging Face, downloading models, starting GPU jobs, training, or eval runs.
- Creating payment links, invoices, paid promotion, buyer outreach, revenue claims, or affiliation claims.
- Printing secrets, stream keys, provider tokens, private URLs, or credentials.
- Creating, updating, pausing, removing, or scheduling cron jobs.

## Proof paths

- `docs/youtube/FACELESS_YOUTUBE_TRAINING_RELEASE_PACK.md`
- `docs/youtube/CAPTIONS_TRANSCRIPTS_PACK.md`
- `docs/youtube/CAPTION_READABILITY_SCREEN_PATH.md`
- `docs/youtube/THUMBNAIL_ALT_CAPTION_QA.md`
- `docs/youtube/BROWSER_VISUAL_QA_FALLBACK.md`
- `docs/youtube/SHORTS_SCRIPT_PACK.md`
- `docs/data/youtube-final-preflight-checklist.json`
- `docs/assets/thumbnails/afterparty_forge_youtube_thumbnail_clean.png`
- `scripts/verify_site.py`

## Verification commands

```bash
PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1 python3 scripts/verify_site.py
python3 -m json.tool docs/data/youtube-final-preflight-checklist.json >/dev/null
git diff --check
```

Morning operator next step: run the verifier, open the proof hub and checklist, then either keep everything closed or ask one exact human approval question for a manual upload/post action.