diff --git a/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md b/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
index 17a8bcb75..0d631dac8 100644
--- a/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
+++ b/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
@@ -27,8 +27,17 @@ changed. -->
 - **Verified live by:**
 - **Did NOT test:**
 
+## Liveness proof (required)
+
+<!-- Attach a screenshot of your own machine with the text `GSTACK PR` typed LIVE
+into a real surface — terminal prompt, a shell command, your browser
+address/search bar, an editor buffer. It must be TYPED INTO A LIVE UI, not drawn,
+overlaid, or edited onto the image. A painted-on `GSTACK PR` is an automatic
+close. This confirms a human opened this PR. -->
+
 ## Checklist
 
+- [ ] Liveness screenshot attached: `GSTACK PR` typed live into a real surface (not edited onto the image)
 - [ ] Commits are signed off (`git commit -s`) — DCO
 - [ ] This is not a generated-file-only diff (I edited the source/template and regenerated)
 - [ ] No ETHOS.md edits, and no changes to voice / founder perspective / YC references
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 88891443b..5ca77f914 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -107,6 +107,13 @@ holds us to internally: **prove it or don't say it.** "Pre-existing failure,"
    submit it. Unsigned commits do not merge.
 4. **A scope statement.** Three lines: what changed, how you verified it *live*,
    what you did not test.
+5. **A liveness screenshot.** Attach a screenshot of your own machine with the
+   text `GSTACK PR` typed **live** into a real surface — your terminal prompt, a
+   shell command, your browser's address/search bar, an editor buffer, anything
+   genuinely on screen. It must be *typed into a live UI*, **not** drawn,
+   overlaid, or edited onto the image afterward. This proves a human on a real
+   machine opened this PR. A screenshot with `GSTACK PR` painted onto the pixels
+   instead of typed into a live surface is an automatic close.
 
 ### Auto-closed, no discussion
 
@@ -130,10 +137,10 @@ A linked issue you are fixing, a failing test you make pass, a live transcript
 showing the improvement, a tight scope statement, and a signed commit. That PR
 gets reviewed the same day.
 
-> **Coming with the Changesets migration:** the four requirements above will be
-> enforced in CI — a required changeset (carrying the human "why"), a DCO check,
-> and a generated-file-only-diff guard. Until then they are reviewer-enforced,
-> and reviewers will hold the line.
+> These requirements are reviewer-enforced. The DCO check and the
+> generated-file-only-diff guard are the pieces we will move into CI; the human
+> "why," the live evidence, and the liveness screenshot stay reviewer-judged.
+> Reviewers hold the line — especially on the screenshot.
 
 ## Quick start