diff --git a/skills/website-to-hyperframes/SKILL.md b/skills/website-to-hyperframes/SKILL.md
index 4f76d8b0e..8a96b5bb1 100644
--- a/skills/website-to-hyperframes/SKILL.md
+++ b/skills/website-to-hyperframes/SKILL.md
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ Build each composition following the storyboard. After each one: self-review for
 
 **Read:** [references/step-7-validate.md](references/step-7-validate.md)
 
-Lint, validate, preview. Deliver the final render.
+Lint, validate, snapshot, preview. Deliver the preview to the user first — only render to MP4 on explicit request.
 
 **Gate:** `npx hyperframes lint` and `npx hyperframes validate` pass with zero errors.
 
diff --git a/skills/website-to-hyperframes/references/step-7-validate.md b/skills/website-to-hyperframes/references/step-7-validate.md
index 1ed5bddbc..6b70e851b 100644
--- a/skills/website-to-hyperframes/references/step-7-validate.md
+++ b/skills/website-to-hyperframes/references/step-7-validate.md
@@ -71,9 +71,13 @@ npx hyperframes preview
 
 Open the studio in a browser. Scrub through every beat.
 
-## Render
+## Render (on-demand only)
 
-Once preview looks correct, render to MP4. **Always pass `--output renders/<project-name>.mp4`** so the final file has a predictable name — do not rely on the timestamped default (`<project>_YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS.mp4`), which makes files hard to reference from docs/handoffs/CI.
+**Do NOT render automatically as part of the pipeline.** Preview is the delivery — the user scrubs, spots anything they want tweaked, and you iterate. Rendering to MP4 takes minutes of wall-clock time per pass and is wasted work if the user wants changes.
+
+Only run `hyperframes render` when the user **explicitly asks** — e.g. "render it", "make the final", "export the MP4", "I'm happy, produce the file". Until then, stop at preview + snapshots.
+
+When the user does ask to render, always pass `--output renders/<project-name>.mp4` so the final file has a predictable, human-readable name. The CLI default is timestamped (`<project>_YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS.mp4`) which is hard to reference from docs or later iterations.
 
 ```bash
 npx hyperframes render --output renders/<project-name>.mp4
@@ -81,6 +85,4 @@ npx hyperframes render --output renders/<project-name>.mp4
 
 Example: `npx hyperframes render --output renders/stripe-launch.mp4`
 
-For social-media vertical output, add `--format` or `--viewport 1080x1920` (depending on CLI flag support); check `npx hyperframes render --help`.
-
-If the final MP4 exceeds ~15 MB for a 30-second video, consider `--quality medium` or `--crf 23` to compress — but verify the quality trade-off on a snapshot pass before accepting.
+For social-media vertical output, check `npx hyperframes render --help` for viewport/format flags.