# HANDOFF — current state

**Branch:** `main` (pre-1.0, no feature branches). **Last pushed:** `7f14ffb`.
**This session's work is COMMITTED LOCALLY, NOT PUSHED** — two commits ahead of `origin/main`.
Push only when the creator says so.

## Two work units landed this session

### 1. Branding flash is now composited into the OUTPUT (TASK 36 shipped)

It used to be a WPF `BrandFlashLayer` TextBlock in the preview at 25% opacity on a 300s timer — a
credit the creator could see and **no viewer ever could**. Now one rendered `VideoFrame` goes to
**both** the frame pump and the preview, so they cannot drift:

- `Services/Compositor/BrandFlashPresenter.cs` (new) — neon raster (white core + feathered red/blue
  halo, channels split opposite), 2s envelope, random on-canvas placement per presentation,
  licence gate re-checked on every read.
- `ViewModels/MainViewModel.BrandFlash.cs` (new) — `BrandFlashFrame()` for the pump +
  `PublishBrandFlashPreview()` for the pane.
- `FramePump` gained `brandFlash:` → the existing per-frame `flashFrame` slot, and mixes it into the
  C4 cache signature. `SceneCompositor.Overlay` is now `internal` for the shortcut path.
- `PreviewPane.xaml`: `BrandFlashLayer` → `BrandFlashElement` (bound to the published frame).
- `BrandFlashEnabled` is derived `!IsPremium` and no longer assignable.

Spec met: 500ms in / 1000ms hold / 500ms out, first credit ~5s after go-live then every
`rand(30s)+30s`, single unwrapped line, random spot every time, fully on canvas.

### 2. Dev-only: two instances side by side

`Helpers/InstanceProfile.cs` (new). Set `YTLIVE_INSTANCE=<id>` and that process gets a private
`%APPDATA%\ytLlive\instances/<id>/` root for the **layout DB, auth file, startup.log and the
WebView2 user data folder**. Chromium locks that folder exclusively — without this the second
instance does not start at all. Recording folder and the ffmpeg `tools` cache stay shared on
purpose; global hotkeys stay un-namespaced.

**Usage:** `$env:YTLIVE_INSTANCE=2; dotnet run`

The entire implementation is inside `#if DEBUG`. Release compiles to `DataRoot => DefaultRoot` +
`WebViewDataFolder => null`; the call sites are unconditional so Release cannot drift.

## Bugs found and fixed along the way

- **Pre-existing, not mine:** `FramePump`'s **fully-static shortcut** stretched the cached bake and
  returned it, silently discarding **every per-frame overlay** — the social bar and the alert ticker
  were already lost there, not just the flash. Now composites overlays onto a copy before stretching.
- **Cadence bug caught by my own test:** the interval was an absolute deadline, not a period, so
  gaps collapsed (6.7s / 3.5s / 2.8s instead of 30–60s). Fixed.
- `BrandFlashPresenter` recycles one 8MB master buffer and **must** stamp `VideoFrame.Epoch` per
  read, or the paste cache freezes the credit. It does.

## Test state — VERIFIED

- **357 total, 356 pass.** 18 new facts (10 brand flash, 8 instance isolation).
- The one failure is `LayerReorderPersistenceTests.RealMouseDrag_OnTheLayerList_PersistsTheReorder`,
  and it is **flaky by environment, not a regression** — 2 fail / 1 pass in isolation. Its own doc
  comment: "Requires an interactive desktop session: if the window is covered or the session is
  locked, the pointer no-ops and the drag never lands." The symptom matches exactly (order
  unchanged). **Run the suite with ytLive CLOSED** (see `MyMistakes.md` 2026-08 era note).
- `RealAppHost.RunAsync` was added for this: a frame-pump test MUST `await` inside it. A blocking
  wait in `RealAppHost.Run` occupies the one shared STA thread and hangs the whole suite with no
  output. **Always background a `vstest` run and poll the log** — foreground piped `vstest` returns
  nothing in this shell even on success.

## Landmines

- A stale `ytLive.exe` (PID 2544) locked `bin/.../ytLive.exe` and broke `dotnet run` with MSB3027.
  Killed. **If the build fails to copy `ytLive.exe`, check for a running instance first.**
- `GlobalHotkeys`: two instances registering the SAME global hotkey — Windows refuses the second.
  Left alone deliberately.
- `OverlayHost.xaml` says Polar unlocks alerts too; alerts are not gated. Unresolved, queued.

## Next

1. Push the two commits when the creator asks.
2. Test-console chat UX (queued): don't clear the chat window, 20px right padding on the pull-out
   input, Enter inserts a newline.
3. Decide the alert-gating copy question above.
4. Ship-checklist items live in `TASKS.md` → "1.0 gates".