Live streaming

live-streaming

This is an example domain skill included with the public template of studio-skills. The structure is real and reusable; the specifics (hardware names, relay regions, bitrate caps) are illustrative. Adapt to your own equipment and workflow.

The first concrete domain skill in this collection. Covers live streaming operations using a bonding router (e.g. cellular bonding hardware that combines multiple SIMs into a single uplink) to a hosted SRT/RTMP relay server, with OBS as the encoder.

When to invoke this skill

• Configuring OBS for a stream
• Planning a live event involving streaming
• Troubleshooting bitrate, jitter, or connection issues mid-stream
• Deciding which uplink combination to use for a bonded connection
• Briefing a client on streaming capabilities and constraints
• Reviewing past lessons in .learnings/ before any major streaming event

Hardware stack (example)

• Encoder: OBS Studio running on a workstation
• Bonding router: A cellular bonding device that accepts multiple SIM cards (and optional Ethernet/Wi-Fi), bonds them into a single uplink
• Relay server: A cloud-hosted SRT/RTMP receiver — primary plus fallback for redundancy
• CDN: Vimeo, YouTube, or custom RTMP target depending on event
• Network path: OBS → bonding router → bonded uplink → relay → CDN

Real IPs, hostnames, ports, credentials, and stream keys live in .learnings/private/ (gitignored). Never in this file.

Pre-stream checklist

Run through this list before any live event. Order matters.

1. Verify relay server is responsive. Test with low-bitrate stream 30+ minutes before showtime.
2. Confirm uplink card status. All active SIMs/uplinks are paid up, signal-checked, and not blocked.
3. Set OBS bitrate to the relay's reliable cap. See references/server-routing.md.
4. Set OBS encoder to CBR. Variable bitrate causes jitter on bonded uplinks.
5. Set keyframe interval to 2 seconds. Required by most CDN ingest endpoints.
6. Enable auto-reconnect in OBS. Connection drops are not a question of if but when.
7. Verify NO video calls (Zoom, Teams, Meet) are routed through the bonding router. They will starve the stream.
8. Confirm fallback relay is reachable. If primary fails, you switch in seconds, not minutes.
9. Check CDN content rating / age gate — silently blocks some regions if mis-set.
10. Run a 5-minute trial stream end-to-end. Validate everything actually works before the audience arrives.

Real-time monitoring rules

While the stream is live:

• Watch the OBS dropped-frames counter. Above 1% sustained = lower bitrate immediately.
• Watch the bonding router dashboard for uplink degradation. A SIM dropping to 2G can take down the bonded total.
• Don't tune anything mid-stream that you didn't tune in the trial. No experiments live.
• Keep a fallback OBS scene ready with a static "we'll be right back" card in case you need to drop and reconnect.

Failure-mode quick reference

Symptom	Likely cause	Action
Dropped frames climbing	Bitrate too high for current relay capacity	Lower bitrate to your relay's reliable cap
Stream connects then disconnects after a few minutes	Jitter on a specific uplink	Check bonding router dashboard, drop the offending uplink
Stream connects but viewers see freezes	CDN-side issue or keyframe-interval mismatch	Confirm 2s keyframe; check CDN status page
Some regions can't watch	CDN content rating not set correctly	Set rating before publishing
Audio drift accumulating	Encoder clock vs CDN clock drift	Reset stream every ~3 hours for long events
All uplinks show signal but bonded throughput is low	Carrier throttling, OR an uplink has degraded	Disable suspect uplink; re-enable after testing

Where the rules live

This SKILL.md carries the stable, well-earned rules — content that was promoted from the lesson library after recurring patterns were observed.

The active lesson library is in .learnings/:

• .learnings/LEARNINGS.md — corrections, knowledge gaps, best practices
• .learnings/ERRORS.md — command/tool/API failures
• .learnings/FEATURE_REQUESTS.md — capabilities that don't exist yet

Read .learnings/ before any major event. New lessons get added there during sessions; once they hit the promotion threshold (see skills/self-improvement/references/promotion-criteria.md), they graduate into this SKILL.md.

How to add a new lesson during a stream

When something happens worth logging during a live event:

1. Stop the stream first if needed — the lesson can wait, the audience can't.
2. At the next break or after the event ends, the self-improvement skill's REFLECT phase will ask you about it.
3. Don't try to log mid-stream. It's distracting and the lesson will be lower-quality.

For the rare case where a critical safety issue surfaces mid-stream (e.g. you discover a credential is exposed), stop and ask the user what to do — don't log silently.

File map

skills/live-streaming/
├── SKILL.md                      (this file)
├── .learnings/
│   ├── LEARNINGS.md              (active lesson library)
│   ├── ERRORS.md                 (active error library)
│   └── FEATURE_REQUESTS.md       (active feature request library)
├── examples/
│   └── obs-config-example.md     (annotated working OBS config)
└── references/
    ├── m4-mini-rules.md          (generic do/don't list for the bonding router)
    └── server-routing.md         (relay architecture concept)