diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 0487d8d..9d69aae 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
   "scripts": {
     "test": "npx mocha test/auth.test.js",
     "start": "node index.js",
+    "dev": "node --watch index.js",
     "live-captions:test-sender": "node scripts/liveCaptionsTestSender.js",
     "docker": "docker compose up -d",
     "docker_restore": "docker-compose exec mongo mongorestore --db EMI_SOCIAL /dump/EMI_SOCIAL/",
diff --git a/routes/liveCaptions.js b/routes/liveCaptions.js
index 04490d6..07d6537 100644
--- a/routes/liveCaptions.js
+++ b/routes/liveCaptions.js
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ const sessionChecker = require("../middleware/sessionChecker.js");
 const MAX_BUFFER_SIZE = 300;
 const DEFAULT_INITIAL_LIMIT = 40;
 const MAX_INITIAL_LIMIT = 120;
-const CAPTION_META_KEYS = new Set(["sequence", "createdAt", "original"]);
+const CAPTION_META_KEYS = new Set(["sequence", "createdAt", "original", "draft", "sourceLang", "lang", "isDraft", "status", "translations"]);
 
 const liveCaptionState = {
     startedAt: Date.now(),
@@ -33,8 +33,23 @@ const normalizeTranslations = (translations) => {
     return normalized;
 };
 
+const readText = (value) => {
+    if (typeof value === "string") return value.trim();
+    return "";
+};
+
+const extractDraftText = (body = {}) => {
+    const directDraft = readText(body?.draft);
+    if (directDraft) return directDraft;
+    const nestedDraft = readText(body?.draft?.text);
+    if (nestedDraft) return nestedDraft;
+    const fallbackText = readText(body?.text);
+    if (fallbackText) return fallbackText;
+    return "";
+};
+
 const buildTranslationsFromFlatPayload = (payload) => {
-    const ignoredKeys = new Set(["original", "sourceLang", "translations"]);
+    const ignoredKeys = new Set(["original", "draft", "sourceLang", "lang", "isDraft", "status", "translations"]);
     const normalized = {};
     for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(payload || {})) {
         if (ignoredKeys.has(key)) continue;
@@ -103,16 +118,22 @@ router.get("/stream", sessionChecker, async (req, res) => {
 router.post("/ingest", async (req, res) => {
     try {
         // TODO: Add basic auth/API key validation before production roll-out.
-        const original = typeof req.body?.original === "string" ? req.body.original.trim() : "";
+        const draft = extractDraftText(req.body || {});
+        const originalFromPayload = readText(req.body?.original);
+        const original = originalFromPayload || draft;
+        const requestedLang = normalizeLang(req.body?.lang);
+        const sourceLangFromRequest = normalizeLang(req.body?.sourceLang || (requestedLang && requestedLang !== "draft" ? requestedLang : ""));
+        const isDraft = !!draft || requestedLang === "draft" || sourceLangFromRequest === "draft" || req.body?.isDraft === true || req.body?.status === "draft";
         const mapFromNested = normalizeTranslations(req.body?.translations);
         const mapFromFlat = buildTranslationsFromFlatPayload(req.body);
-        const translations = { ...mapFromNested, ...mapFromFlat };
-        const sourceLang = normalizeLang(req.body?.sourceLang || inferSourceLangFromTranslations(original, translations));
+        const translations = isDraft ? {} : { ...mapFromNested, ...mapFromFlat };
+        const inferredSource = inferSourceLangFromTranslations(original, translations);
+        const sourceLang = isDraft ? "" : (sourceLangFromRequest || inferredSource);
 
         if (!original) {
             return res.status(400).json({ status: "Original text is required" });
         }
-        if (sourceLang && sourceLang !== "original" && !translations[sourceLang]) {
+        if (sourceLang && sourceLang !== "original" && sourceLang !== "draft" && !translations[sourceLang]) {
             translations[sourceLang] = original;
         }
 
@@ -121,6 +142,10 @@ router.post("/ingest", async (req, res) => {
             sequence,
             createdAt: new Date().toISOString(),
             original,
+            sourceLang: sourceLang || undefined,
+            lang: isDraft ? "draft" : (sourceLang || undefined),
+            isDraft,
+            status: isDraft ? "draft" : "final",
             ...translations,
         };
 
diff --git a/scripts/liveCaptionsTestSender.js b/scripts/liveCaptionsTestSender.js
index 80c7633..8957884 100644
--- a/scripts/liveCaptionsTestSender.js
+++ b/scripts/liveCaptionsTestSender.js
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ const axios = require("axios");
 
 const baseUrl = (process.env.CAPTION_TEST_BASE_URL || process.env.BASE_URL || "http://localhost:3000").replace(/\/+$/, "");
 const ingestUrl = `${baseUrl}/live-captions/ingest`;
-const intervalMs = 5000;
+const intervalMs = 6000;
 
 const samples = [
     {
@@ -37,9 +37,8 @@ const samples = [
 let sampleIndex = 0;
 let timer = null;
 
-const sendNextSample = async () => {
-    const payload = samples[sampleIndex];
-    sampleIndex = (sampleIndex + 1) % samples.length;
+const postPayload = async (payload) => {
+    const kind = payload?.draft ? "draft" : "final";
 
     try {
         const response = await axios.post(ingestUrl, payload, {
@@ -47,7 +46,8 @@ const sendNextSample = async () => {
             timeout: 10000,
         });
         const seq = response?.data?.caption?.sequence || response?.data?.latestSequence || "?";
-        console.log(`[live-captions:test-sender] sent sequence=${seq} original="${payload.original}"`);
+        const text = payload?.draft || payload?.original || "";
+        console.log(`[live-captions:test-sender] sent ${kind} sequence=${seq} text="${text}"`);
     } catch (error) {
         const status = error?.response?.status;
         const body = error?.response?.data;
@@ -56,6 +56,21 @@ const sendNextSample = async () => {
     }
 };
 
+const sendNextSample = async () => {
+    const payload = samples[sampleIndex];
+
+    const draftWords = String(payload?.original || "").split(" ").filter(Boolean);
+    if (draftWords.length > 2) {
+        await postPayload({ draft: draftWords.slice(0, 2).join(" ") });
+        await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 550));
+        await postPayload({ draft: draftWords.slice(0, 4).join(" ") });
+        await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 550));
+    }
+
+    await postPayload(payload);
+    sampleIndex = (sampleIndex + 1) % samples.length;
+};
+
 const start = async () => {
     console.log(`[live-captions:test-sender] posting to ${ingestUrl} every ${intervalMs / 1000}s`);
     await sendNextSample();