@@ -84,6 +84,23 @@ tmp/
 # added there). No trailing slash so it still matches the symlink, not just dirs.
 /public
 
+# Video never goes to GitHub (docs/media-assets.md). The only tracked moving
+# images are the GIFs a public page embeds, in docs/images/; masters, promo cuts,
+# drafts and captures live in the local media library pr/media/ (ignored above).
+# The promo branch tracks its Remotion render inputs, so those stay addable.
+# A deliberate exception elsewhere takes `git add -f`.
+*.mp4
+*.webm
+*.mov
+*.m4v
+*.mkv
+*.avi
+*.gif
+!/docs/images/*.gif
+!/scripts/remotion/public/**/*.mp4
+!/scripts/remotion/public/**/*.webm
+!/scripts/remotion/public/**/*.gif
+
 # Opt-in gesture overlay runtime assets: large MediaPipe wasm + model (~27 MB)
 # fetched at build/install by scripts/fetch-gesture-assets.mjs, kept out of git.
 # (The gesture bundle itself, gesture-codeman.js, IS tracked — built from
 
@@ -302,6 +302,8 @@ All in `~/.codeman/`: `state.json` (sessions, settings, respawn, orchestrator, c
 
 **Generated top-level dirs** (all gitignored — don't edit or commit): `dist/` (esbuild output), `out/`, `coverage/`, `test-results/`, `tmp/`, `screenshots-echo-diag/`. The committed gesture bundle (`src/web/public/gesture/gesture-codeman.js`) IS tracked, but its runtime wasm/model assets (`src/web/public/gesture/wasm/`, `*.task`) are fetched and gitignored.
 
+**Videos and GIFs**: only GIFs a public page embeds are tracked (`docs/images/`), and `.gitignore` blocks `*.mp4`/`*.webm`/`*.mov`/`*.gif` everywhere else. Masters, promo cuts, drafts and captures live in the local, gitignored media library `pr/media/` (guide `pr/media/README.md`, generated `INVENTORY.md` via `node pr/media/inventory.mjs`); never leave a render in `tmp/` or `out/`. A GIF leaving `docs/images/` needs a hotlink check first (articles embed raw `master` URLs). → `docs/media-assets.md`
+
 ## Testing
 
 **`npm test` is the gate and is safe to run bare** — it runs `config/vitest.ci.config.ts`, exactly what CI runs, so local green means CI green.
 
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+# Media assets: videos and GIFs
+
+Codeman produces a lot of video: README GIFs, website loops, release-note clips, promo videos and their drafts, raw screen captures. This page says where each kind lives and which of them belong in git.
+
+## The rule
+
+**Only media that a public page embeds is pushed to GitHub. Everything else stays on the maintainer's machine, in the local media library.**
+
+| Kind | Where it lives | On GitHub? |
+| --- | --- | --- |
+| GIFs the README, the wiki or a published article embeds | `docs/images/` on `master` | yes |
+| Release-note and media-kit clips | the orphan `design-assets` branch | yes, but never on `master` |
+| getcodeman.com videos and GIFs | `pr/website/assets/` (local, deployed to Cloudflare Pages) | no |
+| Masters, promo videos, drafts, shorts, feature clips, raw captures | `pr/media/` (the local media library) | no |
+| Remotion render inputs for the promo videos | `scripts/remotion/public/` on the unpushed promo branch | no |
+
+`.gitignore` enforces it: `*.mp4`, `*.webm`, `*.mov`, `*.m4v`, `*.mkv`, `*.avi` and `*.gif` are ignored everywhere except `docs/images/*.gif`, plus `scripts/remotion/public/`, whose render inputs the promo branch tracks. A video that really must be committed needs `git add -f`, which makes the exception visible in review.
+
+A GIF that leaves `docs/images/` stays in git history, so removing it does not shrink a clone. The rule keeps new weight out and the tree honest about what is actually used.
+
+## Tracked GIFs (`docs/images/`)
+
+| File | Embedded in | Shows |
+| --- | --- | --- |
+| `tiles-crt-stats-1600-20261010.gif` | README hero (en + zh-CN) | six live agents in the tile grid, powering on and off with the CRT animation, header stats on |
+| `tile-grid-20261009.gif` | README, Tile Grid section | the Tiles button opening six live sessions side by side, and closing them |
+| `zerolag-demo-20260728.gif` | README, wiki `Input-And-Voice`, `packages/xterm-zerolag-input/README.md`, CHANGELOG, getcodeman.com docs | instant local echo next to slow server echo, on two phones |
+| `codeman-tab-states-20261010.gif` | README, Tab Alerts section | annotated tab states: working, blocked on a question, idle |
+| `codeman-skill-crt-20261010.gif` | README, agent skill section | one prompt to Claude Code spawning and driving two worker sessions through the skill |
+| `subagent-demo-20260724.gif` | the "mission control" article on dev.to, Hashnode and Medium (hotlinked from `master`) | subagent windows fanning out |
+
+Before removing one, search for hotlinks: `README*.md`, `docs/wiki/`, `packages/*/README.md`, `CHANGELOG.md`, the site (`pr/website/`), and published articles, which link `raw.githubusercontent.com/Ark0N/Codeman/master/docs/images/<file>` and break silently.
+
+On 2026-10-13, seven GIFs that no page embedded left `docs/images/` and moved into the library: `codeman-demo.gif`, `codeman-skill-20261010.gif`, `subagent-demo-new.gif`, `subagent-demo-opt.gif`, `tab-alerts-glow-20260815.gif`, `tiles-crt-20261010.gif`, `tiles-crt-stats-20261010.gif`.
+
+### Adding or replacing a README GIF
+
+1. Keep the master (the lossless MP4 or the full-size GIF) in `pr/media/clips/<feature>/`, or in the project folder it came from.
+2. Commit only the size the README shows, named `<feature>-<YYYYMMDD>.gif`, and keep it lean: the current ones are 0.8 to 7 MB.
+3. A replaced GIF leaves `docs/images/` in the same commit, unless something outside the repo hotlinks it (see above).
+
+## Website media (getcodeman.com)
+
+The site is built and deployed from `pr/website/` (gitignored) with `pr/deploy-site.sh`. Its videos and GIFs sit in `pr/website/assets/` because that directory is what gets uploaded: they are web cuts (1280 to 1600 px wide, high CRF, posters next to them) derived from masters in the library. `pr/site-notes.md` records how each one was cut and from which master. A few superseded files stay deployed on purpose, so links that point at them keep resolving.
+
+## Release notes and the media kit (`design-assets` branch)
+
+GitHub releases and the Announcements discussions embed clips from the orphan `design-assets` branch (`release-1.40/`, `release-1.41/`, `media-kit-2026-10/`). They are referenced by a commit-pinned raw URL, so the branch can change later without breaking old notes, and none of it ever touches `master`.
+
+## The local media library (`pr/media/`)
+
+`pr/` is gitignored, so the library is never pushed. It holds every master, every finished promo cut and every superseded draft in one tree:
+
+```
+pr/media/
+  README.md          curated guide: what each collection is, which cut is current, where it is published
+  INVENTORY.md       generated list of every file (size, length, resolution, fps, date, published-or-not)
+  inventory.mjs      regenerates INVENTORY.md: node pr/media/inventory.mjs
+  videos/<production>/        finished promo videos; superseded renders in drafts/
+  shorts/<episode>/           per-feature cuts of a promo; older sets in drafts/
+  clips/<feature>/            feature loops and GIF masters (README / site / release clips start here)
+  crt-gifs/                   CRT tile-animation loops
+  files-one-click-20261011/   the Files panel loop project (own README)
+  screenshots-hq/             high-res stills and their capture masters
+  raw-captures/               unedited screen recordings, safe to prune
+```
+
+Two working directories keep files the library only archives, because tools read them from fixed paths: `pr/website/assets/` (the deploy upload) and the promo worktree's `scripts/remotion/public/` (Remotion's `staticFile()` inputs). Renders still land in `scripts/remotion/out/` and are filed into `pr/media/videos/<production>/` once checked. A finished render never goes to `tmp/`.