diff --git a/HANDOFF.md b/HANDOFF.md
index f91844d..cd059a2 100644
--- a/HANDOFF.md
+++ b/HANDOFF.md
@@ -1,21 +1,20 @@
-# HANDOFF — 2026-11-04 (Day 2 reconciliation and YouTube status color)
+# HANDOFF — 2026-11-04 (Day 2 and YouTube live-state color)
 
 ## State
 
-- `main`; recent commits: Logs `a6aea5b`, close-out dialog ownership `76e8c22`, vertical scaling via
-  FFmpeg `6310f50`.
-- Day 2 documentation reconciliation is verified and pending its own commit. It retires unused
-  `StreamConfig` defaults, records the vertical resolution-only check, and updates visibility/tier policy.
-- Top-bar status color is implemented and its focused test passes: normal ON-AIR stays red until
-  YouTube reports `live`, then turns green; TEST remains gold; stopping restores the idle color.
-- Full verification: clean app build, 522/523 tests (the one failure was the known
-  `AudioPipelineTests.Mix_HonorsProviderGains_AndGameMute_KillsTheLoopback`), scope check passed.
+- `main`; relevant commits: dialog ownership `76e8c22`, vertical scaling through FFmpeg `6310f50`,
+  Day 2 documentation reconciliation `f921c01`.
+- The top menu background follows YouTube's broadcast status: normal ON-AIR starts red and turns
+  green only at `lifeCycleStatus=live`; TEST stays gold; stopping restores the idle surface color.
+  The focused test passes; the change is included in this work unit.
+- The focused top-bar test passes. The last full verification had a clean build and 522/523 tests;
+  the only failure was the known `AudioPipelineTests.Mix_HonorsProviderGains_AndGameMute_KillsTheLoopback`.
 - Four untracked `Assets/llamacasty-*` files remain untouched.
 
 ## Next action
 
-- Commit the pending Day 2 documentation unit and the top-bar color unit separately.
-- Then continue TASK 53: enumerate output tiers and pin their geometry. Do not push absent a checkpoint request.
+- TASK 53 remains the next queued output task: inventory emitted tiers and pin their geometry.
+- Do not push absent a checkpoint request.
 
 ## Landmines
 
diff --git a/ViewModels/MainViewModel.Streaming.Operations.cs b/ViewModels/MainViewModel.Streaming.Operations.cs
index 5b4886c..27287dd 100644
--- a/ViewModels/MainViewModel.Streaming.Operations.cs
+++ b/ViewModels/MainViewModel.Streaming.Operations.cs
@@ -234,6 +234,12 @@ public partial class MainViewModel : ViewModelBase
         EditingActive = false;
         await _framePump.StartAsync(); // never throws; failures log + surface via Failed
 
+        // Check promptly until YouTube confirms the broadcast is live. Health
+        // polling returns to its normal interval after that confirmation.
+        _healthPollTimer.Interval = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2);
+        _healthPollTimer.Start();
+        _ = PollHealthAsync();
+
         string? liveChatId = null;
         try
         {
@@ -264,10 +270,6 @@ public partial class MainViewModel : ViewModelBase
             AppLog.Write($"Test session dock open for {_currentBroadcastId}");
         }
 
-        // Health polling (TASK 5 item 3): poll immediately, then every 30s while
-        // live. Report-by-exception — a banner appears only on warning/error.
-        _healthPollTimer.Start();
-        _ = PollHealthAsync();
     }
 
     private void OnHealthPollTick(object? sender, EventArgs e) => _ = PollHealthAsync();
@@ -293,19 +295,21 @@ public partial class MainViewModel : ViewModelBase
             {
                 AppLog.Write("Stream health poll failed; check the OAuth session",
                     AppLogMessageType.Error, AppLogErrorClass.Class2);
-                return;
             }
-            CurrentHealth.HealthStatus = health.HealthStatus;
-            CurrentHealth.HealthMessage = health.HealthStatus;
-            CurrentHealth.ConfigurationIssues.Clear();
-            CurrentHealth.ConfigurationIssues.AddRange(health.ConfigurationIssues);
-            OnPropertyChanged(nameof(CurrentHealth));
-            ApplyHealthIssue(health.ConfigurationIssues);
+            else
+            {
+                CurrentHealth.HealthStatus = health.HealthStatus;
+                CurrentHealth.HealthMessage = health.HealthStatus;
+                CurrentHealth.ConfigurationIssues.Clear();
+                CurrentHealth.ConfigurationIssues.AddRange(health.ConfigurationIssues);
+                OnPropertyChanged(nameof(CurrentHealth));
+                ApplyHealthIssue(health.ConfigurationIssues);
+            }
 
             if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(_currentBroadcastId) && !_broadcastSeenLive)
             {
                 var lifeCycle = await _youtubeStream.LogBroadcastDiagnosticsAsync(_currentBroadcastId, _reusableStream.Id);
-                if (lifeCycle is "live" or "liveStarting") _broadcastSeenLive = true;
+                ApplyBroadcastLifecycleStatus(lifeCycle);
             }
         }
         catch (Exception ex)
@@ -505,17 +509,23 @@ public partial class MainViewModel : ViewModelBase
     private void UpdateLiveVisuals()
     {
         var live = IsLive;
-        // A live TEST broadcast wears gold, not the live red — the TEST badge +
-        // gold are the "this is a rehearsal" cue (TASK 41).
+        // TEST keeps its gold identity. For a normal ON-AIR session, green means
+        // YouTube has confirmed live; before then it keeps the existing red color.
         TopBarBackground = live
-            ? ThemeBrush.Hex(IsTestStream ? "Brush.TestContainer" : "Brush.Primary")
+            ? IsTestStream
+                ? ThemeBrush.Hex("Brush.TestContainer")
+                : ThemeBrush.Hex(_youtubeBroadcastLive ? "Brush.Positive" : "Brush.Primary")
             : ThemeBrush.Hex("Brush.SurfaceContainer");
         PreviewGlowBrush = live
             ? ThemeBrush.Hex(IsTestStream ? "Brush.TestContainer" : "Brush.Primary")
             : "Transparent";
         PreviewGlowThickness = live ? new Thickness(3) : new Thickness(0);
 
-        if (!live) _healthPollTimer.Stop();
+        if (!live)
+        {
+            _healthPollTimer.Stop();
+            _healthPollTimer.Interval = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30);
+        }
 
         // NOTE: the branding credit is deliberately NOT started/stopped here.
         // CREATOR RULING 2026-09-26 — it must appear in EVERY scene and in
diff --git a/ViewModels/MainViewModel.Streaming.cs b/ViewModels/MainViewModel.Streaming.cs
index ee09929..c735bf1 100644
--- a/ViewModels/MainViewModel.Streaming.cs
+++ b/ViewModels/MainViewModel.Streaming.cs
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ public partial class MainViewModel : ViewModelBase
     /// <summary>Latches once the broadcast reaches live so the per-poll broadcast
     /// diagnostic stops logging (2026-10-04). Reset at broadcast creation.</summary>
     private bool _broadcastSeenLive;
+    private bool _youtubeBroadcastLive;
     private string? _reusableStreamUrl;
     private ReusableStream? _reusableStream;
     private string? _healthIssueBanner;
@@ -63,6 +64,7 @@ public partial class MainViewModel : ViewModelBase
         {
             if (SetProperty(ref _streamStatus, value))
             {
+                _youtubeBroadcastLive = false;
                 OnPropertyChanged(nameof(IsOffline));
                 OnPropertyChanged(nameof(IsLive));
                 OnPropertyChanged(nameof(IsEditMode));
@@ -373,6 +375,22 @@ public partial class MainViewModel : ViewModelBase
         set => SetProperty(ref _topBarBackground, value);
     }
 
+    internal void ApplyBroadcastLifecycleStatus(string? lifeCycleStatus)
+    {
+        if (!IsLive) return;
+        if (!string.Equals(lifeCycleStatus, "live", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
+        {
+            if (!_broadcastSeenLive)
+                _healthPollTimer.Interval = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2);
+            return;
+        }
+
+        _broadcastSeenLive = true;
+        _youtubeBroadcastLive = true;
+        _healthPollTimer.Interval = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30);
+        UpdateLiveVisuals();
+    }
+
     public string PreviewGlowBrush
     {
         get => _previewGlowBrush;
diff --git a/docs/ai/ui-surface.md b/docs/ai/ui-surface.md
index 4c616b8..55c9fd5 100644
--- a/docs/ai/ui-surface.md
+++ b/docs/ai/ui-surface.md
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ The app is a **director's control surface**, not an editor. This replaces the OB
 
 - **Left panel:** `EditingActive` is an explicit `EDIT` toggle, not a mode inferred from `StreamStatus`. On = scene layers + properties; off = a two-tab panel with **Live Chat** first/default and **Logs** second. Logs is a read-only view of up to 500 `AppLog` entries captured in this process; it does not load older `startup.log` contents or change file logging/rotation. Entries wrap and use the theme's type colors. Explicit Class 1/2 severity is independent of message type/source: Class 1 sorts above Class 2 in the pinned group; acknowledging unpins the entry but retains it in the chronological list. The staged scene is the preview/edit target; `LiveScene` is the program output.
 - **Settings is a right-edge drawer, not a modal (2026-11-01):** the gear rail tab opens `Controls/SettingsDrawer` in the same animated-width stack as Stream Settings / YPP / Socials / TEST (`SettingsDrawerOpen`, exclusive with the other four). Categories are section headings with their controls indented under them — Zoom holds *Zoom view shape* and *Zoom box follows*. The app menu (Report Bug / Feature Request / About) hangs off a **right-click on the LlamaCasty wordmark**; left-click still opens About. The modal shell keeps only Bug / Feature / About, which is why it no longer needs a scroll viewer.
-- **Top bar:** the `EDIT` toggle sits beside the REC/ON-AIR session controls; the brand and account surfaces remain at the sides. Its **right edge aligns with the layers panel below** (`TopBar` column 0 is a fixed **352** = work-area margin 8 + 360px column − the bar's own 16px padding), so the button and the panel share an edge. The **settings gear moved to the preview rail** (2026-11-01): first tab, orange (`Brush.Attention`), gear icon only — left-click opens the app menu (Settings / Bug / Feature / About), right-click goes straight to App Settings.
+- **Top bar:** the `EDIT` toggle sits beside the REC/ON-AIR session controls; the brand and account surfaces remain at the sides. Its background uses the idle surface color when stopped. Normal ON-AIR stays `Brush.Primary` red while connecting and turns `Brush.Positive` green only after YouTube reports the broadcast `live`; stopping restores the idle color. TEST stays gold for the entire test session. Its **right edge aligns with the layers panel below** (`TopBar` column 0 is a fixed **352** = work-area margin 8 + 360px column − the bar's own 16px padding), so the button and the panel share an edge. The **settings gear moved to the preview rail** (2026-11-01): first tab, orange (`Brush.Attention`), gear icon only — left-click opens the app menu (Settings / Bug / Feature / About), right-click goes straight to App Settings.
 - **Preview gestures (2026-11-01):** *edit mode* — left selects/drags/resizes, right opens the context menu, **Ctrl+right toggles the zoom box**. *Preview mode* — **left toggles the zoom box**, right opens the context menu; **Ctrl+right does nothing at all** (no chord while live or recording — one hand, always). ⚠️ **Both the Down and the Up event must be handled for a Ctrl+right-click**: WPF's `PopupControlService` opens a context menu on right-button-**up**, so suppressing only the down event leaves the menu appearing under the gesture (found 2026-11-01 in edit mode). Menus exist on the webcam layer and the backdrop; every other layer right-clicks through to the backdrop menu. Left-dragging with the zoom box open moves it, in both modes. **Ctrl-down closes it**: pressing Ctrl while the box is open dismisses it, so the same hand that opened it can put it away (`MainWindow_PreviewKeyDown`; the box cannot cancel itself on creation because Ctrl is already down before it exists). **Follow mode** is a Settings pill, default **off = Anchor**: with Follow on, dragging re-anchors the capture to the box centre (`ZoomFollowsBox`, persisted as the `Zoom.FollowBox` setting). **The gesture activates the box at the cursor**, not merely dismisses it: `ActivateZoom` no longer refuses when idle (it used to return unless `IsLive || IsRecording`, and `ToggleZoom` only ever dismissed — so the gesture did nothing at all outside a session until 2026-11-01). The social bar consumes its own click (toggle top ⇄ bottom), and the preview's tunnelling handler steps aside for it — otherwise the bar is unclickable in preview mode and drags the layer beneath it in edit mode.
 - **Preview undo/redo (2026-11-01):** `Ctrl+Z` / `Ctrl+Shift+Z`, window-level bindings, live only while `EditingActive` — undo with the preview showing program output would rewrite a scene nobody is looking at. `Models/PreviewHistory` snapshots element **references** plus geometry, visibility, order and membership, so move / resize / reorder / add / remove / hide all undo in one step per gesture (`PushPreviewUndo` is called once at drag or resize start, never inside the move loop). Property edits (colour, opacity, border, font) are **not** captured yet — stated in the type's doc comment so nobody assumes otherwise. The stack clears on layout load. Guard: `ytLive.Tests/PreviewHistoryTests.cs`.
 - **Developer affordances are compiled out of release, not hidden.** Any control that must never ship (today: the all-resolutions override) lives in its own `UserControl` whose `Page` and `Compile` items are removed by `ytLive.csproj` when `$(Configuration) != 'Debug'`, and is added to its host at runtime inside `#if DEBUG` (`OverlayHost`). A collapsed row still exists in the visual tree of every shipped copy; "not compiled" is the only claim worth making. Label such rows with `Brush.Attention` (orange) while they are visible in Debug. Guard: `ytLive.Tests/OutputProfileTests.cs` asserts the build rule, and `Helpers/DevBuild.cs` is the single source for "is this a dev build".
diff --git a/ytLive.Tests/OnAirSignTests.cs b/ytLive.Tests/OnAirSignTests.cs
index 7a696bc..8f3c8b8 100644
--- a/ytLive.Tests/OnAirSignTests.cs
+++ b/ytLive.Tests/OnAirSignTests.cs
@@ -1,22 +1,21 @@
 using System;
 using System.ComponentModel;
 using Xunit;
+using ytLive.Helpers;
 using ytLive.Models;
 using ytLive.ViewModels;
 
 namespace ytLive.Tests;
 
 /// <summary>
-/// The ON-AIR sign (right of REC in the top bar): gray offline, red when
-/// streaming public, green when streaming private. Driven through the real
-/// MainViewModel so StreamStatus/StreamVisibility notification wiring is
-/// exercised, not just the computed property.
+/// The ON-AIR sign and menu-bar color follow the real MainViewModel state,
+/// including the YouTube lifecycle confirmation before the bar turns green.
 /// </summary>
 [Collection("RealApp")]
 public sealed class OnAirSignTests
 {
     [Fact]
-    public void OnAirBrush_Follows_Offline_Public_And_Private()
+    public void OnAirBrush_And_TopBarBackground_Follow_YouTube_Live_State()
     {
         _app.Run(Run);
     }
@@ -38,6 +37,7 @@ public sealed class OnAirSignTests
 
             Assert.Equal(StreamStatus.Offline, vm.StreamStatus);
             Assert.Equal("#5b6478", vm.OnAirBrush);
+            var idleBackground = vm.TopBarBackground;
 
             var raised = 0;
             vm.PropertyChanged += (_, e) => { if (e.PropertyName == nameof(MainViewModel.OnAirBrush)) raised++; };
@@ -47,11 +47,28 @@ public sealed class OnAirSignTests
 
             vm.StreamStatus = StreamStatus.Streaming;
             Assert.Equal("#ff5451", vm.OnAirBrush);
+            Assert.Equal(ThemeBrush.Hex("Brush.Primary"), vm.TopBarBackground);
+
+            vm.ApplyBroadcastLifecycleStatus("liveStarting");
+            Assert.Equal(ThemeBrush.Hex("Brush.Primary"), vm.TopBarBackground);
 
             vm.StreamVisibility = "Private";
             Assert.Equal("#22c55e", vm.OnAirBrush);
 
             Assert.Equal(3, raised);
+            vm.ApplyBroadcastLifecycleStatus("live");
+            Assert.Equal(ThemeBrush.Hex("Brush.Positive"), vm.TopBarBackground);
+
+            vm.StreamStatus = StreamStatus.Offline;
+            Assert.Equal(idleBackground, vm.TopBarBackground);
+
+            vm.IsTestStream = true;
+            vm.StreamStatus = StreamStatus.Streaming;
+            Assert.Equal(ThemeBrush.Hex("Brush.TestContainer"), vm.TopBarBackground);
+            vm.ApplyBroadcastLifecycleStatus("live");
+            Assert.Equal(ThemeBrush.Hex("Brush.TestContainer"), vm.TopBarBackground);
+            vm.StreamStatus = StreamStatus.Offline;
+            Assert.Equal(idleBackground, vm.TopBarBackground);
         }
         finally
         {