diff --git a/daemon/CMakeLists.txt b/daemon/CMakeLists.txt
index 9dde650..8c5b237 100644
--- a/daemon/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/daemon/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -28,6 +28,20 @@ find_package(PkgConfig REQUIRED)
 pkg_check_modules(FFMPEG REQUIRED IMPORTED_TARGET
 	libavformat libavcodec libavutil)
 
+# daedalus-fourier — VC VII (V3D) + ARM NEON back-end kernel library.
+# Linked statically.  Today only the no-QPU smoke-test path is wired
+# (a ctx_create_no_qpu at daemon startup, log-and-destroy at exit);
+# follow-up patches (per daedalus-v4l2#11) substitute the
+# `daedalus_recipe_dispatch_h264_*` family for libavcodec's per-MB
+# pixel primitives, one cycle at a time.
+#
+# We bypass IMPORTED_TARGET and consume pkg-config's static variables
+# (--static --libs path) directly so we control the link order:
+# libdaedalus_core.a must precede -lvulkan because the static archive
+# references vulkan symbols and the linker resolves left-to-right.
+pkg_check_modules(DAEDALUS_FOURIER REQUIRED daedalus-fourier)
+find_package(Vulkan REQUIRED)
+
 add_executable(daedalus_v4l2_daemon
 	src/main.c
 	src/ffmpeg_loader.c
@@ -45,13 +59,23 @@ target_include_directories(daedalus_v4l2_daemon
 		src
 		${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/../include
 		${FFMPEG_INCLUDE_DIRS}
+		${DAEDALUS_FOURIER_INCLUDE_DIRS}
 )
 
 # dl for dlopen, pthread for future threading work.
+target_link_directories(daedalus_v4l2_daemon
+	PRIVATE
+		${DAEDALUS_FOURIER_LIBRARY_DIRS}
+)
+
 target_link_libraries(daedalus_v4l2_daemon
 	PRIVATE
 		dl
 		pthread
+		# Order matters: libdaedalus_core.a first (so its undefined
+		# vulkan symbols register), then -lvulkan to satisfy them.
+		${DAEDALUS_FOURIER_LIBRARIES}
+		Vulkan::Vulkan
 )
 
 install(TARGETS daedalus_v4l2_daemon
diff --git a/daemon/src/main.c b/daemon/src/main.c
index eb12eb3..b3459ae 100644
--- a/daemon/src/main.c
+++ b/daemon/src/main.c
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@
 
 #include <libavutil/log.h>
 
+#include <daedalus.h>
+
 static volatile sig_atomic_t g_terminate = 0;
 
 static void on_signal(int sig)
@@ -120,6 +122,26 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	/* Mute FFmpeg's own chattiness unless the user asked. */
 	fm.av_log_set_level(verbose ? AV_LOG_INFO : AV_LOG_WARNING);
 
+	/*
+	 * Initialise daedalus-fourier early so we can log substrate
+	 * availability up front.  daedalus_ctx_create_no_qpu() skips
+	 * the V3D Vulkan probe — we're not dispatching any kernels
+	 * yet, this is just the linkage sanity check + a marker in the
+	 * journal that the binary is wired against the right
+	 * daedalus-fourier version.  Future work (per daedalus-v4l2#11)
+	 * promotes to daedalus_ctx_create() once shader-path resolution
+	 * is wired through the public API.
+	 */
+	daedalus_ctx *df_ctx = daedalus_ctx_create_no_qpu();
+	if (df_ctx) {
+		log_info("daedalus-fourier: linked, ctx alive (no_qpu mode; "
+			 "has_qpu=%d)",
+			 daedalus_ctx_has_qpu(df_ctx));
+	} else {
+		log_warn("daedalus-fourier: ctx_create_no_qpu returned NULL "
+			 "(out of memory?) — continuing without backend kernels");
+	}
+
 	int rc;
 	const char *cmd = argv[i++];
 	if (strcmp(cmd, "parse") == 0) {
@@ -132,6 +154,8 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 		rc = 2;
 	}
 
+	if (df_ctx)
+		daedalus_ctx_destroy(df_ctx);
 	ffmpeg_loader_cleanup(&fm);
 	log_cleanup();
 	return rc;