diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 194bfa0..eec5e8e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -280,13 +280,13 @@ to your agent.
 
 ### Use as a Claude Code skill
 
-Drop [`skills/watch-cli/`](skills/watch-cli/) into your
-`~/.claude/skills/` folder and the agent will pick up `/watch <url>`
-as a first-class command, including the prompt library above.
+Copy the portable [`SKILL.md`](SKILL.md) into a `watch-cli` skill directory
+and the agent will pick up `/watch <url>` as a first-class command, including
+the prompt library above.
 
 ```bash
-mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
-cp -r skills/watch-cli ~/.claude/skills/
+mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/watch-cli
+cp SKILL.md ~/.claude/skills/watch-cli/SKILL.md
 ```
 
 ---
diff --git a/SKILL.md b/SKILL.md
index 83a9165..5680332 100644
--- a/SKILL.md
+++ b/SKILL.md
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ Reach for `watch` whenever the user gives you a video URL and wants you to do so
 
 Supported platforms: YouTube, X / Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, Vimeo, Reddit, Facebook. Login-walled sources fall back to the user's signed-in browser cookies automatically.
 
+If the user also provides [Xquik REST API](https://docs.xquik.com/api-reference/overview) or [MCP](https://docs.xquik.com/mcp/overview) output for an X post, treat it as read-only metadata context: post text, author, timestamp, source URL, media notes, and public metrics. It does not replace `watch`; still run `watch` when the user asks to inspect video frames, audio, or transcript, leave missing metadata unknown, and never place credentials in prompts or output.
+
 ## What you get back
 
 The `watch` output gives you the raw materials to map to five concrete artifacts. Match the user's intent to one of them.
@@ -72,3 +74,6 @@ Default frame count is 8. For a fast-cut or dense UI demo, double it. For a mult
 - Do not hard-fail on every non-zero exit. `exit 4` is recoverable partial success — frames populated, transcript `null`. Branch on `exit_code` before parsing.
 - Do not surface API keys or environment variable names in chat. `KYMA_API_KEY` setup lives in the README.
 - Do not embed the locked pitch into a longer marketing paragraph. The description line above is the source of truth; reuse it verbatim where the host shows skill metadata.
+
+Xquik is an independent third-party service. Not affiliated with X Corp.
+"Twitter" and "X" are trademarks of X Corp.
diff --git a/bin/watch b/bin/watch
index ac57cfb..e33a493 100755
--- a/bin/watch
+++ b/bin/watch
@@ -117,13 +117,23 @@ if [[ "$FORMAT" != "text" && "$FORMAT" != "json" ]]; then
   exit 64
 fi
 
-# Dependency check up-front so we exit 2, not 1, when a binary is missing.
-for dep in yt-dlp ffmpeg ffprobe jq curl python3; do
-  if ! command -v "$dep" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-    echo "[watch] error: $dep not found on PATH tag=missing-dep:$dep" >&2
-    exit 2
-  fi
-done
+MISSING_DEP=""
+check_dependencies() {
+  local dep
+  for dep in yt-dlp ffmpeg ffprobe jq curl python3; do
+    if ! command -v "$dep" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+      MISSING_DEP="$dep"
+      echo "[watch] error: $dep not found on PATH tag=missing-dep:$dep" >&2
+      return 2
+    fi
+  done
+}
+
+if [[ $PIPE -eq 0 ]]; then
+  check_dependencies
+  DEPENDENCY_RC=$?
+  [[ $DEPENDENCY_RC -ne 0 ]] && exit "$DEPENDENCY_RC"
+fi
 
 # ── Per-URL pipeline ──────────────────────────────────────────────
 # Runs the download → frames → transcribe sequence for one URL.
@@ -245,6 +255,8 @@ if [[ $PIPE -eq 1 ]]; then
   # Track the worst-case exit code so the pipeline as a whole reports
   # a non-zero exit when any URL failed. Successful runs return 0.
   PIPE_WORST=0
+  PIPE_DEPENDENCIES_CHECKED=0
+  PIPE_DEPENDENCIES_RC=0
   while IFS= read -r LINE || [[ -n "$LINE" ]]; do
     # Skip blank lines / comments.
     LINE="${LINE%$'\r'}"
@@ -260,8 +272,19 @@ if [[ $PIPE -eq 1 ]]; then
       (( PIPE_WORST < 64 )) && PIPE_WORST=64
       continue
     fi
-    if ! process_url "$LINE" "$COUNT" "$FORMAT" "$COOKIES_ARG" 1; then
-      RC=$?
+    if [[ $PIPE_DEPENDENCIES_CHECKED -eq 0 ]]; then
+      check_dependencies
+      PIPE_DEPENDENCIES_RC=$?
+      PIPE_DEPENDENCIES_CHECKED=1
+    fi
+    if [[ $PIPE_DEPENDENCIES_RC -ne 0 ]]; then
+      _emit_pipe_error "$LINE" "$PIPE_DEPENDENCIES_RC" "missing-dep:$MISSING_DEP"
+      (( PIPE_WORST < PIPE_DEPENDENCIES_RC )) && PIPE_WORST=$PIPE_DEPENDENCIES_RC
+      continue
+    fi
+    process_url "$LINE" "$COUNT" "$FORMAT" "$COOKIES_ARG" 1
+    RC=$?
+    if [[ $RC -ne 0 ]]; then
       (( PIPE_WORST < RC )) && PIPE_WORST=$RC
     fi
   done
diff --git a/tests/test-output-schema.sh b/tests/test-output-schema.sh
index 4efbf03..74e7ec3 100755
--- a/tests/test-output-schema.sh
+++ b/tests/test-output-schema.sh
@@ -111,7 +111,25 @@ else
   fail "watch --pipe with invalid URL expected 1-line JSON error + non-zero; got rc=$PIPE_BAD_RC lines=$PIPE_BAD_LINES out='$PIPE_BAD_OUT'"
 fi
 
-# 10. Forced local mode with no whisper-cli on PATH → exit 2, tag=missing-dep.
+# 10. A valid pipe item with a missing dependency emits one JSON error and exits 2.
+MISSING_DEP_PATH="$(mktemp -d)"
+for dep in bash ffmpeg ffprobe jq curl python3 dirname readlink sed; do
+  dep_path="$(command -v "$dep")"
+  ln -s "$dep_path" "$MISSING_DEP_PATH/$dep"
+done
+PIPE_DEP_OUT="$(printf 'https://example.invalid/video\n' | PATH="$MISSING_DEP_PATH" "$WATCH" --pipe 2>/dev/null)"
+PIPE_DEP_RC=$?
+PIPE_DEP_LINES="$(printf '%s' "$PIPE_DEP_OUT" | grep -c .)"
+rm -rf "$MISSING_DEP_PATH"
+if [[ $PIPE_DEP_RC -eq 2 ]] \
+   && [[ "$PIPE_DEP_LINES" == "1" ]] \
+   && echo "$PIPE_DEP_OUT" | jq -e '.version == 1 and .exit_code == 2 and .error == "missing-dep:yt-dlp"' >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+  pass "watch --pipe with missing yt-dlp emits one v1 error object and exits 2"
+else
+  fail "watch --pipe missing-dep expected 1-line JSON error + exit 2; got rc=$PIPE_DEP_RC lines=$PIPE_DEP_LINES out='$PIPE_DEP_OUT'"
+fi
+
+# 11. Forced local mode with no whisper-cli on PATH → exit 2, tag=missing-dep.
 # Use a subshell with a PATH that excludes whisper-cli, set WATCH_AUDIO_MODE=local,
 # and verify the contract from docs/offline-mode.md.
 TR_BIN="$REPO_ROOT/bin/transcribe"