UNI Broadcast Studio — Operator Manual

The Colony & the Method · docs/STUDIO_OPERATOR_MANUAL.md @ 44baf03d5041 (gen2-runtime) — opens the published snapshot ac338733bbba

1 value was removed from this page. Each one is marked in place as [redacted: category] — 1 private address. Nothing else was altered. The document is otherwise exactly as it is written in the repository, and the sha256 below is of the original, so what was ingested stays checkable.

Three ways to read this page. Precise is the document itself, exactly as it is written in the repository. Plain and Clear were written for this website to help you meet that document — they are about it. They are not it, and they are not evidence.

Eighty-four pages about the colony. Each agent is an Elixir process holding a generative model and doing inference, attached to a body that logs into a Minecraft world as an ordinary player. Around that sit the broadcast suite that films them and the runbooks that keep the whole thing running. There are typed specifications for each organ of the model, plus the world and genome specs. There are also the adversarial review personas used to attack a proposed change before it ships.

It is for the reader curious how a running system is put together and how it is held to account. The accountability half is the more distinctive. There is a lab protocol governing evidence and attribution, and a claim fence that restricts the vocabulary a claim is allowed to use. There is a public gate log. And there is a standing invitation to reproduce any verdict from the commit and the seed named in its receipt.

Start with the public read, then the lab protocol, then the falsification invitation. If you want the mathematics rather than the operations, go straight to the typed organ specs.

What it is not: a description of a mind, and not all one kind of document. A large part of this corpus is design and planning — specs marked as proposed rather than applied, organs designed but not built, plans that were later superseded — and each page states which it is. A specification is not a running system, and these pages are careful about the difference; the reader should be too. Eight documents were withheld from publication because they describe private infrastructure.

PlainClearPrecise

Your browser cannot switch reading levels, so the document itself is shown.

This is the document. Rendered from the repository at the commit above, with nothing rewritten for the web. A gate re-renders it on every deploy and fails the build if a single byte differs.

⚠️ P7 CORRECTION (2026-07-12) — read ADR-PROD-011 + ADR-PROD-012 + STUDIO_SYSTEMS.md first. §10 "Going live" now describes THINKER → node2 RTMP push (native Windows OBS pushes one encode to rtmp://[redacted: private-address]:1935/uni/program; node2 runOnReady tees it to YouTube + Twitch). Typed CONFIRM in the command_center GO LIVE / OFF AIR fields is the ONE control (G-PA). A new §10.5 Broadcast test exists: press ▶ BROADCAST TEST on the command_center; a 5-stage visible loop cycles BARS_TONE → every template with lower-third → live cameras → STANDBY on the program monitor, PRIVATE by default (loopback, no fan-out re-point). A new §11 Publisher upgrades covers the mute / cam-toggle / PTT / level-meter / test-tone / mid-session device swap / LIVE badge / WS reconnect / OverconstrainedError recovery / cue-from-studio controls in pub.html. Any older §10 text describing a "System 2 MCP path" is stale.

STATUS (2026-07-11): operates SYSTEM 1 — the v1 dev studio (interim/dev only). Read STUDIO_SYSTEMS.md FIRST for the two-systems map + binding claim rules (incl. the overlay proof gate: node viewer\verify_overlays.cjs). Production = System 2.

How to run a show. For booting the machine (start sequence, restreamer, shutdown) see RUNBOOK_STUDIO.md. Runbook = "turn it on"; this manual = "operate it".

Everything honest here obeys the claim fence: on-screen text describes UNI's behaviour / viability-learning, never experience or consciousness. Science ledger at time of writing: P1 novelty = PARTIAL, P2 metabolism = PROVISIONAL.

1. Mental model

OBS is the vision mixer. It composites one 1920×1080@30 program. You never touch OBS directly during a show — you drive it from the command center (http://127.0.0.1:8098).
Templates are pre-built scenes (camera + content arrangements). You pick one, it lands in PREVIEW; TAKE puts it on PROGRAM (what viewers see).
Camera roles A / B / C are on-screen positions; you assign any camera or remote slot to a role, and every template that uses that role updates at once.
The projector window (OBS's own program window, "OPEN SMOOTH 30fps MONITOR") is your true live monitor. The panels in the command center are lightweight snapshots, not video.
Air truth is computed from real OBS state every second and shown in the top banner and on the UNI-lab glass cockpit badge:
- OFF AIR — nothing is broadcast.
- REHEARSAL — a camera/mic is up but you are NOT streaming.
- LIVE STREAMING — public, but you (camera/mic) are not on it.
- LIVE LIVE — public AND you are visible and/or audible. (The pulsing red one.)

2. Bring-up (short)

See RUNBOOK_STUDIO.md. In order: Minecraft → Phoenix node (iex.bat …) → OBS (Run in Normal Mode) → studio_channels.ps1 (colony+glass windows) → throttle_colony.cjs → overlay_server.cjs → studio_stage.cjs → command_center.cjs → open http://127.0.0.1:8098 → publisher.cjs for remote sources. (WS5's one-command bringup wraps this.) Run the overlay proof gate: node viewer\verify_overlays.cjs (must exit 0 + write overlay_proof.png).

3. The command center, top to bottom

Air banner — the four air-truth states + a ? button for this quick guide.
PREVIEW / TAKE / PROGRAM — the switcher. Click a template = preview; TAKE = to air; double-click a card = hot cut. OPEN SMOOTH 30fps MONITOR pops OBS's real program window.
Template grid — grouped by show mode (below). Each card shows a real frame after you preview it (or run PREFLIGHT once); hover for what it is.
Camera roles — three dropdowns (A/B/C). Each lists the PC camera + all 10 remote slots (● = a slot that is publishing right now). PC camera is always video-only.
Voice — which microphone is on air. Hot only in talk templates. Muted automatically when the PC camera is the only camera on program (owner rule).
Music bed / AUTO / UNI FEED — background music level; auto-rotation (beats = TEMPLATE:secs); mirror the colony Producer's narration into the ticker/caption.
Web feed — show any URL full / +host / +side.
YouTube clip — re-air your own videos: FULL / +HOST / +SIDE / +PIP, optional auto-return, ★ favorites, ↻ recents.
Window shares — list windows, pick one, bind to slot 1/2/3 (feeds DESK/SHARE/SHARE_MULTI/TEACH).
On-screen text — lower-third / caption / ticker, claim-fenced; FORCE overrides (logged).
Broadcast — CONFIRM + GO LIVE / OFF AIR.
Health + PREFLIGHT — the automated broadcast engineer (section 9).

4. Template catalog (by show mode)

33 templates in 11 groups, plus three camera-role scenes (ROLE_A/ROLE_B/ROLE_C) which are plumbing rather than shots you cut to.

Corrected 2026-08-01. This catalog listed 9 groups and was missing three things an operator would have gone looking for and not found: the whole MUSIC group (MUSIC_HOUR, MUSIC_CARD, COLONY_SIDE_MUSIC), the whole CAMERAS group (GRID), and two thirds of UTILITY — it said "UTILITY — STANDBY" when there is also BARS_TONE, which is the sound-check and the opening beat of the BROADCAST TEST, and STANDBY_OFFLINE.

viewer/runtime/templates.json is generated output, written by viewer/studio_stage.cjs from its SCENES and GROUPS (studio_stage.cjs:571-573) — so the builder is the source of truth and that file is its current print-out. The build reports its own tally on every run. If this page and the console ever disagree, the console is right; check it in one line from the repo root:

node -e "console.log(Object.keys(require('./viewer/studio_stage.cjs').SCENES).length)"

Groups:

SOLO — CAM_A you full-frame.
COLONY — COLONY (world hero) · CAM_PIP (world + you PIP) · COLONY_SIDE (you + world side-by-side) · PIP (world + live data inset).
TEACH / DEMO — SHARE (screen + you corner) · DESK (you + screen split) · GLASS_TALK (cockpit + you PIP) · SHARE_MULTI (share wall) · TEACH (screen hero + you/colony/clip rail).
WEB — WEB_HOST (page + you corner) · WEB_SIDE (you + page split).
VIDEO CLIP — CLIP_HOST (clip + you corner) · CLIP_SIDE (clip + you split) · CLIP_PIP (you full + clip PIP — the react-to-a-video shot). All carry the clip's own audio.
DESK / MULTI — NEWSDESK (you anchor + colony & clip monitors) · ANCHOR (you big + a rail of clip/colony/glass).
FULL SCREEN — GLASS_OS · OVERLOOK · WEB · CLIP.
MULTI-CAM (demoted) — DUAL_AB (interview two-shot) · TRIO (panel) · DUAL_WORLD · CAM_B. Two/three cameras of you — kept only for real interviews/panels.
CAMERAS — GRID (up to 10 remote cameras at once, a 5x2 monitor wall).
MUSIC — MUSIC_HOUR (full-screen cover + up-next + store QR codes; no camera) · MUSIC_CARD (you on the left, music card on the right — mic and music both on program) · COLONY_SIDE_MUSIC (colony hero + music card, world runs and music airs, no camera).
UTILITY — BARS_TONE (SMPTE bars + 1 kHz tone; the sound check, and the SEEN-sweep opener for BROADCAST TEST) · STANDBY (honest slate, silent — no music bed, no overlays) · STANDBY_OFFLINE (fallback slate when the music service is unreachable; uses the local file bed, an honest degrade rather than a frozen card).

⚠ PIP_AB is in NO group — and that has a consequence

That is 32 scenes. The 33rd, PIP_AB (camera A full-frame + camera B as a PIP), is built and described but belongs to no group, so allTemplates() excludes it and /api/preview returns 400 for it. The only route to it is /api/camlayout {layout:"pip"}, whose default branch cuts straight to air (command_center.cjs:1641-1653).

The one scene you cannot preview is reachable only by putting it on air. Treat that as a rule of the room, not a curiosity: an anxious first-time operator must never be handed a shot they cannot look at first. It is fenced rather than left to memory — verify_rundown.cjs check 2 fails if any rundown row names a scene that cannot be previewed, and the first show's rundown records the same finding under measured_2026_07_29.orphan. If you do want the A/B picture-in-picture, arm it as a preview first by passing {preview:true}; the default branch is a hot cut.

5. Camera roles & voice

A = host, B = guest, C = third. Assign any camera or live remote slot to a role from its dropdown; reassigning updates every template using that role, live. The PC camera is video-only by rule. Remote cameras carry their own microphone. Voice follows whichever mic you pick; it is the single audio truth (offscreen "voice anchors" keep the primary remote cameras' audio alive across cuts so a cut never drops the mic). When the PC camera is the only camera on program, voice auto-mutes.

6. Content sources

Web — an OBS browser source; the console navigates it (no separate window). Defaults to the master-plan board. Heavy WebGL pages may not render — keep web feeds 2D.
YouTube clip — an OBS browser source that plays with its own audio. Full / host / side / PIP. In SIDE/PIP the clip audio and your mic are both live — ride them with the mute matrix / music slider.
Window shares — bind up to three windows into slots for the DESK / SHARE / TEACH layouts.
Panel pages — colony (Minecraft hero), glass cockpit (best-looking data panel), overlooker (science/evidence board), master-plan (the roadmap + honest ledger = the web default).

7. Remote sources (the other computer — no install)

Open https://:8443/ in any browser on the LAN/mesh (accept the certificate once). Pick Camera / Screen-share / Video-file / Video-URL, choose the device, pick a slot (1–10), add a label, press Publish. It appears in the console's role dropdowns (● = live). Off-air it sends a tiny heartbeat + thumbnail; when you preview or air it, it ramps to full resolution automatically. The LAN can only publish camera slots — never the program stream.

8. Overlays & the claim fence

Lower-third / caption / ticker / on-air pill are honest 2D pages. The console lints your text against the claim fence (proven / conscious / aware / alive / …). If blocked, reword to behaviour language, or tick FORCE only when the exact claim has a committed receipt (every force is logged to viewer/runtime/fence_overrides.log).

9. Health & PREFLIGHT (the automated engineer)

The Health panel checks OBS, the restreamer, each remote camera (codec-aware — it prints the H264-pinned republish link if a camera publishes AV1 that OBS can't decode), the browser-source channels, overlays, the colony stack, and the glass badge — with one-click FIX buttons. PREFLIGHT renders every template and verifies non-blank + runs all critical checks → GO / NO-GO. Run it before every show.

10. Going live (System-1 DEV preview ONLY)

This is a dev/rehearsal preview stream (local restreamer → your own YouTube/Twitch test), NOT the worldwide go-live. The worldwide public go-live runs on System 2: the operator human-types start_broadcast on the production MCP (:8095), keys in /etc/uni/runtime.env, never git. See production/docs/P1-BRINGUP.md + docs/SYSTEM_OVERVIEW.md.

In a shell: $env:YT_KEY = '…'; $env:TWITCH_KEY = '…' then powershell -File viewer\restream.ps1.
Confirm restream.ps1 -Status shows the path ready.
In the console: type CONFIRM, press GO LIVE. The banner + glass badge go red.
Verify both platform dashboards are receiving. Rotate scenes, watch the projector.
To end: OFF AIR (CONFIRM), then restream.ps1 -Stop.

Keys live only in that shell's environment — never on disk or in git.

11. Troubleshooting

Remote camera is black → it's publishing AV1; republish with the H264-pinned link the Health panel shows (…:8443/ picks H264 automatically).
A web/clip/overlook scene is black → a heavy WebGL page hit the OBS-CEF limit; use a simpler page, or (rare) fall back to a window capture.
Overlays vanished → they hide themselves ~8s after the console stops writing (honest staleness). Check overlay_server.cjs and the spool.
Console feels slow → the live monitor is the projector, not the panels; the panels are snapshots by design. If the whole box is loaded, confirm throttle_colony.cjs ran (colony capped at 30fps).
Voice dropped on a cut → shouldn't happen (voice anchors); if it does, re-pick the voice.

12. Glossary

Program / Preview / TAKE (switcher), Role (A/B/C camera position), Slot (a remote source 1–10), WHIP (browser→studio publish), Claim fence (honesty lint), Air truth (OFF / REHEARSAL / LIVE STREAMING / LIVE LIVE), Projector (OBS's real 30fps monitor), Restreamer (MediaMTX dual fan-out).

sha256 f48566dde54535e6 — of the original file, so what was ingested stays checkable.

Written for this website — not the document. This is a plain-language retelling, written to help you meet the document. It is not the source, and it is not evidence. It has not yet been checked by a person. Read the document itself → (or choose Precise in the reading-level control above)

This is the manual for running a show, as opposed to switching the machine on, which is a separate document.

It opens with the mental model, and that is the part worth reading even if you never touch the studio. One application composites a single picture. You never touch it directly during a show; you drive it from a console. Scenes are pre-built arrangements that land in a preview first and only reach the audience when you take them. Camera roles are positions rather than devices, so reassigning a role updates every scene at once. And the true live monitor is the mixer's own window, because the panels in the console are lightweight snapshots rather than video.

The air state has four named readings, computed every second from the mixer rather than assumed, and the difference between being public and being visible on the air is kept distinct.

A claim fence — a limit on what may be said — governs anything that appears on screen.

Plain · written 2026-08-01 by claude-opus-5 · not yet checked by a person · about the document whose sha256 is f48566dde54535e6

Written for this website — not the document. This is a clearer retelling, written to help you meet the document. It is not the source, and it is not evidence. It has not yet been checked by a person. Read the document itself → (or choose Precise in the reading-level control above)

This is the operator's manual for running a show. A sibling runbook covers switching the machine on; this document covers driving it once it is up. A line near the top binds everything that follows: on-screen text describes behaviour and viability learning, never experience or awareness, and the science record at the time of writing is quoted with two results that are partial and provisional.

Two banners correct the body. One updates the section on going live to describe the current path, names the single control that puts a show on air, and adds two new sections. The other marks the whole manual as operating an interim system and names the map that overrides it, to read first.

The mental model is the most valuable section and it is short. One application composites a single picture. The operator never touches it directly during a show, but drives it from a console. Scenes are pre-built arrangements which land in a preview and only reach the audience when taken. Camera roles are positions rather than devices, so assigning a camera to a role updates every scene that uses it at once. And the true live monitor is the mixer's own window, because the console panels are deliberately lightweight snapshots rather than video.

The air state is defined as four named readings computed every second from the mixer's real state rather than assumed. It keeps two things apart that are easy to conflate: being publicly streaming, and being visible or audible on that stream.

The remaining sections work through the console top to bottom, the catalogue of scenes by show mode, camera roles and voice, and content sources. Then connecting a remote camera from another computer with nothing to install, overlays and the honesty check applied to their text, a health panel with an automated preflight, going live, troubleshooting and a glossary. One scene is singled out as belonging to no group, with the consequence spelled out rather than left as a surprise.

The troubleshooting section is the most practical part, because each entry names a symptom and its actual cause rather than a generic remedy. A remote camera showing black is publishing in a format the mixer cannot take, and there is a link that pins a compatible one. A page-based scene showing black has hit a rendering limit, so use a simpler page or fall back to capturing a window. Overlays vanishing is not a fault at all: they hide themselves a few seconds after the console stops writing, which is deliberate staleness handling rather than a bug. A console that feels slow is expected, because the panels are snapshots and the real monitor is elsewhere.

A glossary at the end defines the switching vocabulary, the roles and slots, the publish route from a browser, the honesty check, the four air readings, the real monitor and the fan-out.

Clear · written 2026-08-01 by claude-opus-5 · not yet checked by a person · about the document whose sha256 is f48566dde54535e6