diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index c803b62..f6ea711 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,20 +1,21 @@
-# compiled objects
-*.o
 
+/build/
 # compiled binaries (match Makefile clean + all build targets)
-qxmx_info
-qxmx_load
-qxmx_tok
-qxmx_diff
-qxmx_run
-qxmx_ref_run
+# compiled objects
+deltanet_gpu_test
+esimd_crash_repro
+fused_test
 gemm
 gemv
 gemvprobe
+ktest
+*.o
 profgemm
-profgemm_target
 profgemm_stream_target
-deltanet_gpu_test
-esimd_crash_repro
-ktest
-fused_test
+profgemm_target
+qxmx_diff
+qxmx_info
+qxmx_load
+qxmx_ref_run
+qxmx_run
+qxmx_tok
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
deleted file mode 100644
index b13329b..0000000
--- a/Makefile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,109 +0,0 @@
-# qxmx: dedicated SYCL/Xe2 inference engine for Ternary-Bonsai-27B
-# (prism-ml, GGUF Q2_0_g64) on Intel Arc Pro B70.
-#
-# Build tiers:
-#   make tools   -> CPU-only loader/binder/validation (no GPU needed)
-#   make all     -> + SYCL engine (needs icpx + oneAPI, B70)
-
-MAKEFLAGS += -j$(shell nproc)
-
-CC     ?= cc
-NVCC   ?= icpx            # SYCL via DPC++ (rename later when kernels land)
-CFLAGS ?= -O2 -Wall -Wextra -Wno-unused-parameter
-
-# SYCL/ESIMD build (needs oneAPI + the gcc-install-dir workaround: -fsycl's
-# autodetect picks the i686 gcc-cross; pin to the x86_64 system gcc).
-SYCC   ?= icpx
-SYFLAGS = -fsycl -O2 -std=c++17 \
-          -Ithird_party \
-          --gcc-install-dir=/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/14
-
-# ---- CPU validation tools (build + run anywhere) -----------------------
-.PHONY: tools
-tools: qxmx_info
-
-qxmx_info: qxmx_info.c qxmx_model.c gguf.c qxmx.h qxmx_model.h gguf.h
-	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -lm $^ -o $@
-
-# ---- SYCL GEMM probe (build on the B70) ---------------------------------
-gemm: gemm.cpp qxmx.h
-	$(SYCC) $(SYFLAGS) $< -o $@
-
-# ---- SYCL decode GEMV (batch=1) ------------------------------------------
-gemv: gemv.cpp qxmx.h
-	$(SYCC) $(SYFLAGS) $< -o $@
-
-# ---- M1: weight residency (SYCL + model loader) ---------------------------
-# C sources (gguf, qxmx_model) are compiled with cc and linked into the SYCL
-# binary -- -fsycl forces the C++ frontend, which rejects several C idioms in
-# the readers.  The C headers carry extern "C" guards for clean interop.
-qxmx_model.o: qxmx_model.c qxmx.h qxmx_model.h gguf.h
-	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c $< -o $@
-gguf.o: gguf.c gguf.h
-	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c $< -o $@
-
-qxmx_load: qxmx_load.cpp qxmx_device.cpp qxmx_model.o gguf.o qxmx_device.h
-	$(SYCC) $(SYFLAGS) qxmx_load.cpp qxmx_device.cpp qxmx_model.o gguf.o -o $@
-
-# ---- M4.5 spike: standalone DeltaNet GPU kernel vs CPU oracle --------------
-deltanet_gpu_test: deltanet_gpu_test.cpp qxmx_model.o gguf.o qxmx.h qxmx_ref.h
-	$(SYCC) $(SYFLAGS) $< qxmx_model.o gguf.o -o $@
-
-# ---- M4 debug: ESIMD crash minimal reproduction --------------------------
-esimd_crash_repro: esimd_crash_repro.cpp qxmx_model.o gguf.o qxmx.h
-	$(SYCC) $(SYFLAGS) $< qxmx_model.o gguf.o -o $@
-
-# ---- M4 debug: per-layer diff engine vs CPU ref ---------------------------
-qxmx_diff: qxmx_diff.cpp qxmx_gpu.cpp qxmx_ref.cpp qxmx_model.o gguf.o \
-           qxmx_tokenizer.cpp third_party/unicode.cpp third_party/unicode-data.cpp \
-           qxmx_gpu.h qxmx_engine.h qxmx_ref.h qxmx_tokenizer.h qxmx_model.h gguf.h qxmx.h
-	$(SYCC) $(SYFLAGS) qxmx_diff.cpp qxmx_gpu.cpp qxmx_ref.cpp qxmx_tokenizer.cpp \
-	        third_party/unicode.cpp third_party/unicode-data.cpp \
-	        qxmx_model.o gguf.o -o $@
-
-# ---- M4: B70 decode engine + CPU oracle, runtime-selectable ----------------
-qxmx_run: qxmx_run.cpp qxmx_gpu.cpp qxmx_cpu.cpp qxmx_ref.cpp qxmx_model.o gguf.o \
-          qxmx_tokenizer.cpp third_party/unicode.cpp third_party/unicode-data.cpp \
-          qxmx_gpu.h qxmx_cpu.h qxmx_engine.h qxmx_ref.h qxmx_tokenizer.h qxmx_model.h gguf.h qxmx.h
-	$(SYCC) $(SYFLAGS) qxmx_run.cpp qxmx_gpu.cpp qxmx_cpu.cpp qxmx_ref.cpp qxmx_tokenizer.cpp \
-	        third_party/unicode.cpp third_party/unicode-data.cpp \
-	        qxmx_model.o gguf.o -o $@
-
-# ---- M3: CPU forward reference (the correctness oracle) -------------------
-qxmx_ref_run: qxmx_ref_run.cpp qxmx_ref.cpp qxmx_model.o gguf.o \
-              qxmx_tokenizer.cpp third_party/unicode.cpp third_party/unicode-data.cpp \
-              qxmx_ref.h qxmx_tokenizer.h qxmx_model.h gguf.h qxmx.h
-	$(SYCC) $(SYFLAGS) qxmx_ref_run.cpp qxmx_ref.cpp qxmx_tokenizer.cpp \
-	        third_party/unicode.cpp third_party/unicode-data.cpp \
-	        qxmx_model.o gguf.o -o $@
-
-# ---- M2: tokenizer (links vendored llama.cpp unicode tables) ----------------
-qxmx_tok: qxmx_tok.cpp qxmx_tokenizer.cpp third_party/unicode.cpp \
-          qxmx_model.o gguf.o qxmx_tokenizer.h qxmx_model.h gguf.h
-	$(SYCC) $(SYFLAGS) qxmx_tok.cpp qxmx_tokenizer.cpp \
-	        third_party/unicode.cpp third_party/unicode-data.cpp \
-	        qxmx_model.o gguf.o -o $@
-
-# ---- GEMV limiter probe (load-only isolator) ---------------------------
-gemvprobe: gemvprobe.cpp qxmx.h
-	$(SYCC) $(SYFLAGS) $< -o $@
-
-# ---- SYCL GEMM profiling microbench -------------------------------------
-profgemm: profgemm.cpp qxmx.h
-	$(SYCC) $(SYFLAGS) $< -o $@
-
-# ---- VTune profiling target (loops the real GEMM for ~5s) ----------------
-profgemm_target: profgemm_target.cpp qxmx.h
-	$(SYCC) $(SYFLAGS) $< -o $@
-
-profgemm_stream_target: profgemm_stream_target.cpp qxmx.h
-	$(SYCC) $(SYFLAGS) $< -o $@
-
-.PHONY: test
-test: qxmx_info
-	./qxmx_info $(MODEL)
-
-.PHONY: clean
-clean:
-	rm -f qxmx_info qxmx_load qxmx_tok gemm gemv gemvprobe profgemm \
-	      profgemm_target profgemm_stream_target qxmx_model.o gguf.o
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2aeb427
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+# qxmx: SYCL/ESIMD inference engine for Ternary-Bonsai-27B on Intel Arc Pro B70.
+#
+# Setup:
+#   meson setup build --native-file meson/icpx.ini
+#   meson compile -C build
+#
+# Core targets: qxmx_run, qxmx_diff, gemv, qxmx_tok, qxmx_info.
+# The SYCL toolchain (oneAPI icpx + -fsycl) is pinned via the native file
+# meson/icpx.ini.  C sources (gguf.c, qxmx_model.c) are compiled with the
+# system cc because icpx's -fsycl C++ frontend rejects several C idioms in
+# the readers (same split as the former Makefile).
+
+project('qxmx', 'c', 'cpp',
+  version : '0.1',
+  default_options : [
+    'c_std=gnu11',         # gnu11 (not strict c11): gguf.c uses madvise() which needs _DEFAULT_SOURCE
+    'cpp_std=c++17',
+    'warning_level=2',     # -Wall -Wextra
+    'buildtype=release',   # -O2 (matches Makefile CFLAGS/SYFLAGS)
+  ])
+
+# oneAPI workaround: -fsycl's autodetect picks the i686 gcc-cross; pin to the
+# x86_64 system gcc.  The --gcc-install-dir flag lives in the native file's
+# [built-in options] (it must apply to meson's sanity probe).  -fsycl itself
+# is per-target: only the SYCL binaries need it (qxmx_tok and the C-only tool
+# do not).
+sycl_args = ['-fsycl']
+
+inc = include_directories('third_party')
+c_compiler = meson.get_compiler('c')
+libm = c_compiler.find_library('m', required : false)
+
+# ---- C objects (compiled with cc, linked into SYCL binaries) ------------
+# The -Wno-unused-parameter matches the Makefile (the C readers have a few).
+c_warn = ['-Wno-unused-parameter']
+libgguf  = static_library('gguf',       'gguf.c',       c_args : c_warn)
+libmodel = static_library('qxmx_model', 'qxmx_model.c', c_args : c_warn)
+
+# ---- qxmx_info: CPU-only loader (no SYCL, pure C) -----------------------
+executable('qxmx_info',
+  sources : 'qxmx_info.c',
+  link_with : [libgguf, libmodel],
+  dependencies : libm)
+
+# ---- qxmx_tok: tokenizer tool (C++, no SYCL, links C objects) -----------
+# Compiled with the cpp compiler (icpx via native file) for consistency with
+# the SYCL targets that share the tokenizer; does not itself need -fsycl.
+tok_sources = ['qxmx_tok.cpp', 'qxmx_tokenizer.cpp',
+               'third_party/unicode.cpp', 'third_party/unicode-data.cpp']
+executable('qxmx_tok',
+  sources : tok_sources,
+  link_with : [libgguf, libmodel],
+  include_directories : inc)
+
+# ---- gemv: standalone SYCL/ESIMD decode-gemv harness --------------------
+executable('gemv',
+  sources : 'gemv.cpp',
+  cpp_args : sycl_args,
+  link_args : sycl_args,
+  include_directories : inc)
+
+# ---- Shared engine sources (SYCL via qxmx_gpu.cpp) ----------------------
+engine_sources_common = [
+  'qxmx_gpu.cpp', 'qxmx_ref.cpp', 'qxmx_tokenizer.cpp',
+  'third_party/unicode.cpp', 'third_party/unicode-data.cpp',
+]
+
+executable('qxmx_run',
+  sources : ['qxmx_run.cpp', 'qxmx_cpu.cpp'] + engine_sources_common,
+  link_with : [libgguf, libmodel],
+  cpp_args : sycl_args,
+  link_args : sycl_args,
+  include_directories : inc)
+
+executable('qxmx_diff',
+  sources : ['qxmx_diff.cpp'] + engine_sources_common,
+  link_with : [libgguf, libmodel],
+  cpp_args : sycl_args,
+  link_args : sycl_args,
+  include_directories : inc)
diff --git a/meson/icpx.ini b/meson/icpx.ini
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0ab4382
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meson/icpx.ini
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# Native file pinning the C/C++ compilers and the oneAPI gcc workaround.
+#
+#   meson setup build --native-file meson/icpx.ini
+#
+# C uses the system cc; C++ uses oneAPI icpx (provides -fsycl / ESIMD).
+# --gcc-install-dir MUST be in [built-in options] (not just per-target) so it
+# applies to meson's compiler sanity probe — without it icpx auto-detects the
+# i686 gcc-cross and fails to link a trivial program.
+#
+# If icpx is not on PATH, set the full path here or export it.
+# If your system gcc major differs from 14, update both gcc_install_dir paths
+# (or pass -Dgcc_install_dir=... to meson setup and edit cpp_args/cpp_link_args).
+
+[binaries]
+c = 'cc'
+cpp = 'icpx'
+
+[built-in options]
+cpp_args = ['--gcc-install-dir=/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/14']
+cpp_link_args = ['--gcc-install-dir=/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/14']
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..333a0fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+option('gcc_install_dir',
+  type : 'string',
+  value : '/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/14',
+  description : 'Path passed to icpx --gcc-install-dir (oneAPI -fsycl workaround: pins the x86_64 system gcc instead of the i686 cross). Override if your system gcc major differs.')