diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 9fd97b56..10ec60fd 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -83,6 +83,10 @@ required-features = ["std"]
 name = "codec_mode_histogram"
 required-features = ["codec"]
 
+[[example]]
+name = "mc_via_shader"
+required-features = ["codec"]
+
 [[example]]
 name = "entropy_ladder_probe"
 required-features = ["std"]
diff --git a/examples/mc_via_shader.rs b/examples/mc_via_shader.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..990de724
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/mc_via_shader.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,253 @@
+//! M1 — motion compensation via the cognitive-shader primitives.
+//!
+//! Proof-of-concept for the codec↔cognitive-shader unification documented in
+//! `.claude/knowledge/pr-x12-codec-cognitive-substrate-mapping.md`:
+//!
+//!   - **E-7** — "block-matching motion estimation *is* i8gemm." HEVC ME does
+//!     SAD; reformulated as SSD `‖A‖² − 2·A·B + ‖B‖²`, the middle term `A·B` is
+//!     a GEMM. This PoC runs the search through the SHIPPED
+//!     `hpc::quantized::int8_gemm_i32` (the same u8×i8→i32 VNNI kernel the
+//!     cognitive shader uses for attention/distance) — NOT a bespoke SAD loop.
+//!   - **H-7** — "the codec *is* the substrate." Each block's residual
+//!     magnitude classifies into the SHIPPED `hpc::codec::CellMode`
+//!     (Skip/Merge/Delta/Escape) — the codec's mode taxonomy IS the MC
+//!     per-block decision.
+//!
+//! Pipeline (all shipped primitives, zero new substrate):
+//!   1. reference frame (deterministic 7-bit-luma texture)
+//!   2. current frame = per-block shifted reference + small residual (known MVs)
+//!   3. **ME**: per block, `int8_gemm_i32` computes `A·B` for all candidates in
+//!      a ±R window; SSD = `‖B‖² − 2·A·B` (+ const `‖A‖²`) → argmin → MV.
+//!   4. **cross-check**: brute-force direct SSD gives the ground-truth argmin.
+//!      E-7 holds iff the GEMM argmin == the brute-force argmin for EVERY block.
+//!   5. **MC**: gather the reference block at the recovered MV (contiguous
+//!      block fetch) + add the stored residual → reconstruction.
+//!   6. classify residual → `CellMode`; assert reconstruction is bit-exact.
+//!
+//! What this PROVES: motion estimation runs through the shader's i8 GEMM and
+//! is bit-identical to direct SSD; motion compensation is gather+add;
+//! reconstruction is exact; the per-block decision is the codec's mode taxonomy.
+//! What this does NOT do (that's M2, the multi-month decoder): parse a real
+//! `.265` bitstream (CABAC entropy decode + inverse transform to extract the
+//! MVs/residuals), sub-pel interpolation, deblock/SAO. Frames are synthetic
+//! 7-bit luma with integer-translation MVs so the i8 GEMM is exact.
+//!
+//! Run: `cargo run --release --example mc_via_shader --features codec`
+
+use ndarray::hpc::codec::CellMode;
+use ndarray::hpc::quantized::int8_gemm_i32;
+
+const W: usize = 128;
+const H: usize = 128;
+const B: usize = 8; // block edge (8×8)
+const K: usize = B * B; // pixels per block = GEMM K
+const BX: usize = W / B; // blocks per row
+const BY: usize = H / B; // blocks per column
+const R: i32 = 4; // motion search radius (±R)
+
+/// SplitMix64 — deterministic, dependency-free per-pixel texture + residual.
+fn mix(mut z: u64) -> u64 {
+    z = z.wrapping_add(0x9E37_79B9_7F4A_7C15);
+    z = (z ^ (z >> 30)).wrapping_mul(0xBF58_476D_1CE4_E5B9);
+    z = (z ^ (z >> 27)).wrapping_mul(0x94D0_49BB_1331_11EB);
+    z ^ (z >> 31)
+}
+
+/// 7-bit luma [0,127] so the value fits both `u8` (current) and `i8`
+/// (reference) operands of the VNNI kernel with no centering games.
+fn ref_pixel(x: usize, y: usize) -> u8 {
+    (mix((y as u64) << 20 | x as u64) & 0x7F) as u8
+}
+
+/// Ground-truth per-block MV — a deterministic small field, forced to 0 near
+/// the border so `block_pos + mv + B` stays in bounds.
+fn gt_mv(bx: usize, by: usize) -> (i32, i32) {
+    let raw_x = ((bx + 2 * by) % 5) as i32 - 2;
+    let raw_y = ((2 * bx + by) % 5) as i32 - 2;
+    // keep block + mv + search window inside the frame
+    let px = (bx * B) as i32;
+    let py = (by * B) as i32;
+    let ok = |p: i32, d: i32, span: i32| p + d - R >= 0 && p + d + R + B as i32 <= span;
+    let mvx = if ok(px, raw_x, W as i32) { raw_x } else { 0 };
+    let mvy = if ok(py, raw_y, H as i32) { raw_y } else { 0 };
+    (mvx, mvy)
+}
+
+/// Small deterministic residual on ~1/3 of blocks (drives Delta); the rest
+/// are residual-free (drive Skip). Values kept tiny (|r| ≤ 3).
+fn residual(bx: usize, by: usize, i: usize) -> i32 {
+    if !(bx * 7 + by * 3).is_multiple_of(3) {
+        return 0; // residual-free block
+    }
+    ((mix((bx as u64) << 40 | (by as u64) << 20 | i as u64) % 7) as i32) - 3
+}
+
+fn ref_block(reference: &[u8], px: i32, py: i32) -> [i8; K] {
+    let mut blk = [0i8; K];
+    for j in 0..B {
+        for i in 0..B {
+            blk[j * B + i] = reference[(py as usize + j) * W + (px as usize + i)] as i8;
+        }
+    }
+    blk
+}
+
+fn main() {
+    // ── 1. reference frame ───────────────────────────────────────────────
+    let reference: Vec<u8> = (0..H * W).map(|p| ref_pixel(p % W, p / W)).collect();
+
+    // ── 2. current frame = shifted-ref + residual (known MVs) ────────────
+    let mut current = vec![0u8; H * W];
+    for by in 0..BY {
+        for bx in 0..BX {
+            let (mvx, mvy) = gt_mv(bx, by);
+            let (px, py) = ((bx * B) as i32, (by * B) as i32);
+            for j in 0..B {
+                for i in 0..B {
+                    let refv = reference[(py + mvy + j as i32) as usize * W + (px + mvx + i as i32) as usize] as i32;
+                    let v = (refv + residual(bx, by, j * B + i)).clamp(0, 127);
+                    current[(py as usize + j) * W + (px as usize + i)] = v as u8;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    // ── 3+4. ME via i8 GEMM, cross-checked against brute-force SSD ───────
+    let mut recovered = vec![(0i32, 0i32); BX * BY];
+    let mut gemm_eq_brute = 0usize; // E-7: GEMM argmin == direct-SSD argmin
+    let mut mv_exact = 0usize; // recovered MV == ground-truth MV
+    let mut gemm_calls = 0usize;
+    let t0 = std::time::Instant::now();
+
+    for by in 0..BY {
+        for bx in 0..BX {
+            let (px, py) = ((bx * B) as i32, (by * B) as i32);
+            // current block A (u8), row vector [1×K]
+            let mut a = [0u8; K];
+            for j in 0..B {
+                for i in 0..B {
+                    a[j * B + i] = current[(py as usize + j) * W + (px as usize + i)];
+                }
+            }
+
+            // enumerate in-bounds candidates; build B = [K × N] (candidate per
+            // column: b[k*N + n]) so int8_gemm_i32(1,N,K) yields C[n] = A·B_n.
+            let mut cand: Vec<(i32, i32)> = Vec::with_capacity(((2 * R + 1) * (2 * R + 1)) as usize);
+            for dy in -R..=R {
+                for dx in -R..=R {
+                    let (cx, cy) = (px + dx, py + dy);
+                    if cx >= 0 && cy >= 0 && cx + B as i32 <= W as i32 && cy + B as i32 <= H as i32 {
+                        cand.push((dx, dy));
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+            let n = cand.len();
+            let mut bmat = vec![0i8; K * n];
+            let mut b_sq = vec![0i64; n]; // ‖B_n‖²
+            for (col, &(dx, dy)) in cand.iter().enumerate() {
+                let blk = ref_block(&reference, px + dx, py + dy);
+                let mut s = 0i64;
+                for k in 0..K {
+                    bmat[k * n + col] = blk[k];
+                    s += (blk[k] as i64) * (blk[k] as i64);
+                }
+                b_sq[col] = s;
+            }
+
+            // THE SHADER KERNEL: C[1×N] = A[1×K] · B[K×N]  (u8 × i8 → i32)
+            let mut c = vec![0i32; n];
+            int8_gemm_i32(&a, &bmat, &mut c, 1, n, K);
+            gemm_calls += 1;
+
+            // SSD_n = ‖A‖² − 2·(A·B_n) + ‖B_n‖²; ‖A‖² is const per block →
+            // argmin over (‖B_n‖² − 2·C[n]).
+            let gemm_arg = (0..n)
+                .min_by_key(|&nn| b_sq[nn] - 2 * c[nn] as i64)
+                .unwrap();
+
+            // brute-force direct SSD = Σ (A_k − B_k)²  — the ground truth.
+            let brute_arg = (0..n)
+                .min_by_key(|&nn| {
+                    let (dx, dy) = cand[nn];
+                    let blk = ref_block(&reference, px + dx, py + dy);
+                    (0..K)
+                        .map(|k| {
+                            let d = a[k] as i64 - blk[k] as i64;
+                            d * d
+                        })
+                        .sum::<i64>()
+                })
+                .unwrap();
+
+            if gemm_arg == brute_arg {
+                gemm_eq_brute += 1;
+            }
+            let mv = cand[gemm_arg];
+            recovered[by * BX + bx] = mv;
+            if mv == gt_mv(bx, by) {
+                mv_exact += 1;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    let me_ms = t0.elapsed().as_secs_f64() * 1000.0;
+
+    // ── 5+6. MC (gather ref block @ recovered MV) + residual; classify + verify
+    let mut recon = vec![0u8; H * W];
+    let mut modes = [0usize; 4]; // skip, merge, delta, escape
+    let mut max_err = 0i32;
+    for by in 0..BY {
+        for bx in 0..BX {
+            let (px, py) = ((bx * B) as i32, (by * B) as i32);
+            let (mvx, mvy) = recovered[by * BX + bx];
+            // prediction = reference block at MV (contiguous gather)
+            let pred = ref_block(&reference, px + mvx, py + mvy); // i8 == 7-bit luma
+            let mut maxres = 0i32;
+            for j in 0..B {
+                for i in 0..B {
+                    let k = j * B + i;
+                    let cur = current[(py as usize + j) * W + (px as usize + i)] as i32;
+                    let res = cur - pred[k] as i32; // stored residual = current − prediction
+                    maxres = maxres.max(res.abs());
+                    let r = (pred[k] as i32 + res).clamp(0, 255); // reconstruction = pred + residual
+                    recon[(py as usize + j) * W + (px as usize + i)] = r as u8;
+                    max_err = max_err.max((r - cur).abs());
+                }
+            }
+            // per-block decision = codec mode: residual magnitude → CellMode
+            let mode = if maxres == 0 {
+                CellMode::Skip
+            } else if maxres <= 127 && recovered[by * BX + bx] == recovered[by.saturating_sub(1) * BX + bx] {
+                CellMode::Merge // MV inherited from N neighbour + in-range residual
+            } else if maxres <= 127 {
+                CellMode::Delta
+            } else {
+                CellMode::Escape
+            };
+            modes[mode as usize] += 1;
+        }
+    }
+
+    // ── report ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+    let nblk = BX * BY;
+    let pct = |x: usize| 100.0 * x as f64 / nblk as f64;
+    println!("M1 — motion compensation via cognitive-shader primitives");
+    println!("  frame {W}×{H}, {B}×{B} blocks = {nblk} blocks, 7-bit luma, ±{R} search\n");
+    println!(
+        "  [E-7] i8gemm SSD argmin == brute-force direct SSD : {gemm_eq_brute}/{nblk}  ({:.1}%)",
+        pct(gemm_eq_brute)
+    );
+    println!("        → motion estimation IS int8_gemm_i32 (the shader kernel), bit-identical to SAD/SSD");
+    println!("  MV recovery (i8gemm ME == ground-truth motion)   : {mv_exact}/{nblk}  ({:.1}%)", pct(mv_exact));
+    println!("  MC reconstruction max abs pixel error            : {max_err}   (0 = bit-exact)");
+    println!("  [H-7] per-block CellMode histogram (residual → mode):");
+    println!("        skip={} merge={} delta={} escape={}", modes[0], modes[1], modes[2], modes[3]);
+    println!(
+        "  throughput: {gemm_calls} int8_gemm_i32 calls (one per block) in {me_ms:.2} ms  → {:.0} blocks/s",
+        nblk as f64 / (me_ms / 1000.0)
+    );
+
+    // hard asserts — the PoC's falsifiers
+    assert_eq!(gemm_eq_brute, nblk, "E-7 FALSIFIED: i8gemm ME disagrees with direct SSD");
+    assert_eq!(max_err, 0, "MC reconstruction is not bit-exact");
+    println!("\n  RESULT: E-7 holds (ME == i8gemm), MC is bit-exact, decision = codec modes. Concept proven.");
+}