diff --git a/circuitforge_core/video/__init__.py b/circuitforge_core/video/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..627b0f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/circuitforge_core/video/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+"""
+circuitforge_core.video — cf-video service: video VLM inference via Marlin-2B.
+
+Exposes a FastAPI process (managed by cf-orch) with endpoints:
+  GET  /health    → {"status": "ok", "model": str, "vram_mb": int}
+  POST /caption   → CaptionResult (scene description + timestamped events)
+  POST /find      → FindResult (temporal grounding span for a natural-language event)
+
+Run as:
+    python -m circuitforge_core.video.app --model /path/to/NemoStation--Marlin-2B --port 8016 --gpu-id 0
+"""
diff --git a/circuitforge_core/video/app.py b/circuitforge_core/video/app.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..00a3ee3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/circuitforge_core/video/app.py
@@ -0,0 +1,189 @@
+"""
+cf-video FastAPI service — managed by cf-orch.
+
+Endpoints:
+  GET  /health     → {"status": "ok", "model": str, "vram_mb": int}
+  POST /caption    → CaptionResponse (scene + timestamped events)
+  POST /find       → FindResponse (temporal grounding span)
+
+Usage:
+    python -m circuitforge_core.video.app \
+        --model /Library/Assets/LLM/cf-video/models/NemoStation--Marlin-2B \
+        --port 8016 \
+        --gpu-id 0
+
+The service loads the model once at startup and blocks until it is ready.
+cf-orch health-polls /health before routing any inference requests.
+
+Model requirements:
+    transformers >= 5.7.0
+    torch        >= 2.11.0
+    torchcodec   (installed)
+    qwen-vl-utils >= 0.0.14 (installed)
+
+Security:
+    Marlin requires trust_remote_code=True. Review the model's
+    modeling_marlin.py before deploying on a production node.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import argparse
+import logging
+import os
+from typing import Any
+
+from fastapi import FastAPI, HTTPException
+from pydantic import BaseModel, Field
+
+from circuitforge_core.video.backends.base import VideoBackend, make_video_backend
+
+app = FastAPI(title="cf-video", version="0.1.0")
+_backend: VideoBackend | None = None
+
+
+# ── Request / response models ─────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+class CaptionRequest(BaseModel):
+    video_path: str = Field(..., description="Absolute path to the video file on this node")
+    max_new_tokens: int = Field(2048, ge=64, le=8192)
+
+
+class VideoEventOut(BaseModel):
+    start: float
+    end: float
+    description: str
+
+
+class CaptionResponse(BaseModel):
+    scene: str
+    events: list[VideoEventOut]
+    caption: str
+    model: str
+
+
+class FindRequest(BaseModel):
+    video_path: str = Field(..., description="Absolute path to the video file on this node")
+    event: str = Field(..., min_length=1, description="Natural-language event description to locate")
+    max_new_tokens: int = Field(256, ge=32, le=2048)
+
+
+class FindResponse(BaseModel):
+    span: list[float] | None = Field(
+        None,
+        description="[start_sec, end_sec] or null when the model could not ground the event",
+    )
+    format_ok: bool
+    raw: str
+    model: str
+
+
+# ── Endpoints ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+@app.get("/health")
+def health() -> dict[str, Any]:
+    if _backend is None:
+        raise HTTPException(503, detail="backend not initialised")
+    return {
+        "status": "ok",
+        "model": _backend.model_name,
+        "vram_mb": _backend.vram_mb,
+    }
+
+
+@app.post("/caption", response_model=CaptionResponse)
+def caption(req: CaptionRequest) -> CaptionResponse:
+    if _backend is None:
+        raise HTTPException(503, detail="backend not initialised")
+    try:
+        result = _backend.caption(req.video_path, max_new_tokens=req.max_new_tokens)
+    except FileNotFoundError as exc:
+        raise HTTPException(404, detail=str(exc)) from exc
+    except Exception as exc:
+        logging.exception("caption failed for %r", req.video_path)
+        raise HTTPException(500, detail=str(exc)) from exc
+
+    return CaptionResponse(
+        scene=result.scene,
+        events=[
+            VideoEventOut(start=ev.start, end=ev.end, description=ev.description)
+            for ev in result.events
+        ],
+        caption=result.caption,
+        model=result.model,
+    )
+
+
+@app.post("/find", response_model=FindResponse)
+def find(req: FindRequest) -> FindResponse:
+    if _backend is None:
+        raise HTTPException(503, detail="backend not initialised")
+    try:
+        result = _backend.find(
+            req.video_path,
+            req.event,
+            max_new_tokens=req.max_new_tokens,
+        )
+    except FileNotFoundError as exc:
+        raise HTTPException(404, detail=str(exc)) from exc
+    except ValueError as exc:
+        raise HTTPException(422, detail=str(exc)) from exc
+    except Exception as exc:
+        logging.exception("find failed for %r event=%r", req.video_path, req.event)
+        raise HTTPException(500, detail=str(exc)) from exc
+
+    return FindResponse(
+        span=list(result.span) if result.span is not None else None,
+        format_ok=result.format_ok,
+        raw=result.raw,
+        model=result.model,
+    )
+
+
+# ── CLI entry point ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+def _parse_args() -> argparse.Namespace:
+    p = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="cf-video service (Marlin-2B)")
+    p.add_argument(
+        "--model",
+        required=True,
+        help="Local filesystem path to the Marlin model directory (safetensors)",
+    )
+    p.add_argument("--port", type=int, default=8016)
+    p.add_argument("--host", default="0.0.0.0")
+    p.add_argument(
+        "--gpu-id", type=int, default=0,
+        help="CUDA device index; overridden by CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES when set by cf-orch",
+    )
+    p.add_argument("--device", default="cuda", choices=["cuda", "cpu"])
+    p.add_argument(
+        "--mock", action="store_true",
+        help="Run with MockVideoBackend (no GPU, for testing)",
+    )
+    return p.parse_args()
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    import uvicorn
+
+    logging.basicConfig(
+        level=logging.INFO,
+        format="%(asctime)s %(levelname)s %(name)s — %(message)s",
+    )
+    args = _parse_args()
+
+    # cf-orch sets CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES before spawning; only set it here when
+    # running the service manually (--gpu-id flag) without cf-orch.
+    if args.device == "cuda" and not args.mock:
+        os.environ.setdefault("CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES", str(args.gpu_id))
+
+    mock = args.mock or args.model == "mock"
+    device = "cpu" if mock else args.device
+
+    _backend = make_video_backend(
+        model_path=args.model,
+        mock=mock,
+        device=device,
+        gpu_id=args.gpu_id,
+    )
+
+    uvicorn.run(app, host=args.host, port=args.port, log_level="info")
diff --git a/circuitforge_core/video/backends/__init__.py b/circuitforge_core/video/backends/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df20cc6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/circuitforge_core/video/backends/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+"""Video backend registry."""
diff --git a/circuitforge_core/video/backends/base.py b/circuitforge_core/video/backends/base.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cead4c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/circuitforge_core/video/backends/base.py
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+"""
+VideoBackend Protocol — backend-agnostic interface for video VLM inference.
+
+Implementations:
+  MarlinBackend  — NemoStation/Marlin-2B (dense captioning + temporal grounding)
+  MockVideoBackend — deterministic stub for unit tests
+
+Both endpoints accept a video_path (local filesystem path) so the service
+receives pre-staged video files rather than raw byte streams. Large uploads
+should be staged by the caller before hitting /caption or /find.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from dataclasses import dataclass, field
+from typing import Protocol, runtime_checkable
+
+
+# ── Result types ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class VideoEvent:
+    """A single timestamped event from a caption pass."""
+    start: float   # seconds from video start
+    end: float     # seconds from video start
+    description: str
+
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class CaptionResult:
+    """Result from a /caption call."""
+    scene: str               # scene-level description paragraph
+    events: list[VideoEvent] # timestamped event list (may be empty)
+    caption: str             # full raw caption string from the model
+    model: str               # model name / path
+
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class FindResult:
+    """Result from a /find call."""
+    span: tuple[float, float] | None  # (start_sec, end_sec) or None on parse failure
+    format_ok: bool                   # True when model output matched expected format
+    raw: str                          # raw model output for debugging
+    model: str
+
+
+# ── Backend Protocol ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+@runtime_checkable
+class VideoBackend(Protocol):
+    """Minimal interface all video backends must satisfy."""
+
+    def caption(
+        self,
+        video_path: str,
+        *,
+        max_new_tokens: int = 2048,
+    ) -> CaptionResult: ...
+
+    def find(
+        self,
+        video_path: str,
+        event: str,
+        *,
+        max_new_tokens: int = 256,
+    ) -> FindResult: ...
+
+    @property
+    def model_name(self) -> str: ...
+
+    @property
+    def vram_mb(self) -> int: ...
+
+
+# ── Factory ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+def make_video_backend(
+    model_path: str,
+    *,
+    mock: bool = False,
+    device: str = "cuda",
+    gpu_id: int = 0,
+) -> VideoBackend:
+    """Instantiate the appropriate VideoBackend.
+
+    Args:
+        model_path: Local filesystem path to the model directory (safetensors).
+        mock:       When True, return MockVideoBackend (no GPU required).
+        device:     Torch device string ("cuda" or "cpu").
+        gpu_id:     CUDA device index — used only when CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES is
+                    not already set externally (cf-orch sets it before spawning).
+    """
+    if mock:
+        from circuitforge_core.video.backends.mock import MockVideoBackend
+        return MockVideoBackend(model_path)
+    from circuitforge_core.video.backends.marlin import MarlinBackend
+    return MarlinBackend(model_path=model_path, device=device)
diff --git a/circuitforge_core/video/backends/marlin.py b/circuitforge_core/video/backends/marlin.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..81b4b8f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/circuitforge_core/video/backends/marlin.py
@@ -0,0 +1,184 @@
+"""
+MarlinBackend — NemoStation/Marlin-2B video VLM via HuggingFace Transformers.
+
+Marlin-2B is a decoder-only video understanding model that produces:
+  - Dense scene captions with second-precise event timestamps (/caption)
+  - Temporal grounding of natural-language events (/find)
+
+Requirements (install separately):
+    pip install "transformers>=5.7.0" "torch>=2.11.0" torchcodec "qwen-vl-utils>=0.0.14" av pillow
+
+Security note:
+    trust_remote_code=True is required. The model ships a custom
+    AutoModelForCausalLM subclass (modeling_marlin.py). Review that file
+    before enabling on any node. The modeling code runs in-process with
+    full filesystem access.
+
+Environment variables forwarded to the model's preprocessing layer:
+    FORCE_QWENVL_VIDEO_READER  default: torchcodec   (video decode backend)
+    VIDEO_MAX_PIXELS           default: 200704        (max pixels per frame)
+    FPS                        default: 2.0           (frame sample rate)
+    FPS_MAX_FRAMES             default: 240           (frame cap ~2 min video)
+    FPS_MIN_FRAMES             default: 4             (minimum frames)
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import logging
+import os
+from pathlib import Path
+
+from circuitforge_core.video.backends.base import CaptionResult, FindResult, VideoEvent
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+# Default env overrides so torchcodec is preferred over the slower av/ffmpeg path.
+_DEFAULT_ENV: dict[str, str] = {
+    "FORCE_QWENVL_VIDEO_READER": "torchcodec",
+}
+
+
+class MarlinBackend:
+    """
+    Load Marlin-2B once, expose caption() and find() as synchronous calls.
+
+    The model is loaded eagerly in __init__ — if loading fails (OOM, missing
+    weights, transformers version mismatch) the error propagates immediately
+    rather than on first inference, so cf-orch's 2-second liveness check can
+    catch it.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, model_path: str, device: str = "cuda") -> None:
+        self._model_path = model_path
+        self._device = device
+
+        # Apply env defaults before importing transformers — the model's
+        # custom __init__.py reads these at import time.
+        for key, val in _DEFAULT_ENV.items():
+            os.environ.setdefault(key, val)
+
+        self._model = self._load_model(model_path, device)
+        self._vram_mb = self._estimate_vram_mb()
+        logger.info(
+            "MarlinBackend: loaded %r on %s (~%d MB VRAM)",
+            model_path, device, self._vram_mb,
+        )
+
+    # ── Loading ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+    def _load_model(self, model_path: str, device: str):
+        import torch
+        from transformers import AutoModelForCausalLM
+
+        # Verify weights exist before handing to transformers — gives a clear
+        # error instead of a cryptic trust_remote_code failure.
+        path = Path(model_path)
+        if not path.exists():
+            raise FileNotFoundError(
+                f"Marlin model directory not found: {model_path!r}. "
+                "Download via Avocet or: "
+                f"huggingface-cli download NemoStation/Marlin-2B --local-dir {model_path}"
+            )
+
+        logger.info("MarlinBackend: loading model from %r ...", model_path)
+        model = AutoModelForCausalLM.from_pretrained(
+            model_path,
+            trust_remote_code=True,      # Required — custom modeling code in repo
+            torch_dtype=torch.bfloat16,
+            device_map={"": device},
+        )
+        model.eval()
+        logger.info("MarlinBackend: model loaded")
+        return model
+
+    def _estimate_vram_mb(self) -> int:
+        """Read allocated VRAM from torch after load; fall back to catalog estimate."""
+        try:
+            import torch
+            if torch.cuda.is_available():
+                return int(torch.cuda.memory_allocated() / 1024 / 1024)
+        except Exception:
+            pass
+        return 4500  # Catalog estimate for Marlin-2B BF16
+
+    # ── Inference ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+    def caption(
+        self,
+        video_path: str,
+        *,
+        max_new_tokens: int = 2048,
+    ) -> CaptionResult:
+        """Produce a dense caption with scene description and timestamped events."""
+        if not os.path.exists(video_path):
+            raise FileNotFoundError(f"Video file not found: {video_path!r}")
+
+        raw_result: dict = self._model.caption(
+            video_path,
+            max_new_tokens=max_new_tokens,
+            do_sample=False,
+        )
+
+        events = [
+            VideoEvent(
+                start=float(ev["start"]),
+                end=float(ev["end"]),
+                description=str(ev["description"]),
+            )
+            for ev in raw_result.get("events", [])
+        ]
+
+        return CaptionResult(
+            scene=str(raw_result.get("scene", "")),
+            events=events,
+            caption=str(raw_result.get("caption", "")),
+            model=self.model_name,
+        )
+
+    def find(
+        self,
+        video_path: str,
+        event: str,
+        *,
+        max_new_tokens: int = 256,
+    ) -> FindResult:
+        """Ground a natural-language event query to a video time span."""
+        if not os.path.exists(video_path):
+            raise FileNotFoundError(f"Video file not found: {video_path!r}")
+        if not event.strip():
+            raise ValueError("event query must not be empty")
+
+        raw_result: dict = self._model.find(
+            video_path,
+            event=event,
+            max_new_tokens=max_new_tokens,
+            do_sample=False,
+        )
+
+        # Marlin returns span as a (start, end) tuple or None.
+        raw_span = raw_result.get("span")
+        span: tuple[float, float] | None = None
+        if raw_span is not None:
+            try:
+                span = (float(raw_span[0]), float(raw_span[1]))
+            except (TypeError, IndexError, ValueError):
+                logger.warning(
+                    "MarlinBackend.find: could not parse span %r for event %r",
+                    raw_span, event,
+                )
+
+        return FindResult(
+            span=span,
+            format_ok=bool(raw_result.get("format_ok", False)),
+            raw=str(raw_result.get("raw", "")),
+            model=self.model_name,
+        )
+
+    # ── Properties ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+    @property
+    def model_name(self) -> str:
+        return self._model_path
+
+    @property
+    def vram_mb(self) -> int:
+        return self._vram_mb
diff --git a/circuitforge_core/video/backends/mock.py b/circuitforge_core/video/backends/mock.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f8864a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/circuitforge_core/video/backends/mock.py
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+"""
+MockVideoBackend — deterministic stub for unit tests and CI.
+
+Returns fixed CaptionResult / FindResult without any model or video I/O.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import os
+
+from circuitforge_core.video.backends.base import (
+    CaptionResult,
+    FindResult,
+    VideoEvent,
+)
+
+_MOCK_SCENE = "A mock scene with placeholder content."
+_MOCK_EVENTS = [
+    VideoEvent(start=0.0, end=3.0, description="Mock event one"),
+    VideoEvent(start=3.5, end=7.2, description="Mock event two"),
+]
+_MOCK_CAPTION = "Scene: A mock scene with placeholder content. Events: [0.0-3.0] Mock event one. [3.5-7.2] Mock event two."
+_MOCK_FIND_SPAN = (3.5, 7.2)
+
+
+class MockVideoBackend:
+    """No-GPU stub. Safe for import on any machine."""
+
+    def __init__(self, model_path: str = "mock") -> None:
+        self._model_path = model_path
+
+    def caption(
+        self,
+        video_path: str,
+        *,
+        max_new_tokens: int = 2048,
+    ) -> CaptionResult:
+        if not os.path.exists(video_path):
+            raise FileNotFoundError(f"Video not found: {video_path!r}")
+        return CaptionResult(
+            scene=_MOCK_SCENE,
+            events=list(_MOCK_EVENTS),
+            caption=_MOCK_CAPTION,
+            model=self.model_name,
+        )
+
+    def find(
+        self,
+        video_path: str,
+        event: str,
+        *,
+        max_new_tokens: int = 256,
+    ) -> FindResult:
+        if not os.path.exists(video_path):
+            raise FileNotFoundError(f"Video not found: {video_path!r}")
+        return FindResult(
+            span=_MOCK_FIND_SPAN,
+            format_ok=True,
+            raw="From 3.5 to 7.2.",
+            model=self.model_name,
+        )
+
+    @property
+    def model_name(self) -> str:
+        return self._model_path
+
+    @property
+    def vram_mb(self) -> int:
+        return 0
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 70ebb2f..84c6a66 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -66,6 +66,20 @@ musicgen-service = [
     "uvicorn[standard]>=0.29",
     "python-multipart>=0.0.9",
 ]
+video-marlin = [
+    "torch>=2.11",
+    "transformers>=5.7.0",
+    "torchcodec",
+    "qwen-vl-utils>=0.0.14",
+    "av",
+    "Pillow>=10.0",
+    "accelerate>=0.27",
+]
+video-service = [
+    "circuitforge-core[video-marlin]",
+    "fastapi>=0.110",
+    "uvicorn[standard]>=0.29",
+]
 vision-siglip = [
     "torch>=2.0",
     "transformers>=4.40",
@@ -115,6 +129,18 @@ pdf = [
 vector = [
     "sqlite-vec>=0.1",
 ]
+mqtt = [
+    "aiomqtt>=2.0",
+]
+meshtastic-serial = [
+    "meshtastic>=2.5",
+    "pypubsub>=4.0",
+]
+meshtastic-service = [
+    "circuitforge-core[mqtt,meshtastic-serial]",
+    "fastapi>=0.110",
+    "uvicorn[standard]>=0.29",
+]
 dev = [
     "circuitforge-core[manage]",
     "pytest>=8.0",
diff --git a/tests/test_video/__init__.py b/tests/test_video/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/tests/test_video/test_app.py b/tests/test_video/test_app.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..53eacc7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_video/test_app.py
@@ -0,0 +1,236 @@
+"""
+Tests for the cf-video FastAPI app using mock backend.
+
+Tests run without GPU, torch, or a real video file.
+MockVideoBackend checks os.path.exists() but never reads video content,
+so a zero-byte placeholder is sufficient.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import pytest
+from fastapi.testclient import TestClient
+
+import circuitforge_core.video.app as video_app
+from circuitforge_core.video.backends.mock import MockVideoBackend
+
+
+# ── Fixtures ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
+def inject_mock_backend():
+    """Replace global backend with mock before each test; restore after."""
+    original = video_app._backend
+    video_app._backend = MockVideoBackend()
+    yield
+    video_app._backend = original
+
+
+@pytest.fixture()
+def client():
+    return TestClient(video_app.app)
+
+
+@pytest.fixture()
+def video_file(tmp_path):
+    """Placeholder file that satisfies os.path.exists() inside the mock."""
+    p = tmp_path / "sample.mp4"
+    p.write_bytes(b"\x00" * 16)
+    return str(p)
+
+
+# ── /health ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+
+def test_health_returns_ok(client):
+    resp = client.get("/health")
+    assert resp.status_code == 200
+    data = resp.json()
+    assert data["status"] == "ok"
+    assert data["model"] == "mock"
+    assert data["vram_mb"] == 0
+
+
+def test_health_503_when_no_backend(client):
+    video_app._backend = None
+    resp = client.get("/health")
+    assert resp.status_code == 503
+
+
+# ── /caption ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+
+def test_caption_returns_200(client, video_file):
+    resp = client.post("/caption", json={"video_path": video_file})
+    assert resp.status_code == 200
+
+
+def test_caption_response_has_scene(client, video_file):
+    data = client.post("/caption", json={"video_path": video_file}).json()
+    assert isinstance(data["scene"], str)
+    assert data["scene"]
+
+
+def test_caption_response_has_events(client, video_file):
+    data = client.post("/caption", json={"video_path": video_file}).json()
+    assert isinstance(data["events"], list)
+    assert len(data["events"]) >= 1
+
+
+def test_caption_events_have_timestamps(client, video_file):
+    data = client.post("/caption", json={"video_path": video_file}).json()
+    for ev in data["events"]:
+        assert "start" in ev
+        assert "end" in ev
+        assert "description" in ev
+        assert ev["start"] <= ev["end"]
+
+
+def test_caption_response_has_caption(client, video_file):
+    data = client.post("/caption", json={"video_path": video_file}).json()
+    assert isinstance(data["caption"], str)
+    assert data["caption"]
+
+
+def test_caption_response_model_field(client, video_file):
+    data = client.post("/caption", json={"video_path": video_file}).json()
+    assert isinstance(data["model"], str)
+
+
+def test_caption_404_on_missing_file(client):
+    resp = client.post("/caption", json={"video_path": "/no/such/file.mp4"})
+    assert resp.status_code == 404
+
+
+def test_caption_503_when_no_backend(client, video_file):
+    video_app._backend = None
+    resp = client.post("/caption", json={"video_path": video_file})
+    assert resp.status_code == 503
+
+
+def test_caption_custom_max_new_tokens(client, video_file):
+    resp = client.post(
+        "/caption",
+        json={"video_path": video_file, "max_new_tokens": 512},
+    )
+    assert resp.status_code == 200
+
+
+def test_caption_rejects_max_new_tokens_below_min(client, video_file):
+    resp = client.post(
+        "/caption",
+        json={"video_path": video_file, "max_new_tokens": 10},
+    )
+    assert resp.status_code == 422
+
+
+def test_caption_rejects_max_new_tokens_above_max(client, video_file):
+    resp = client.post(
+        "/caption",
+        json={"video_path": video_file, "max_new_tokens": 99999},
+    )
+    assert resp.status_code == 422
+
+
+# ── /find ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+
+def test_find_returns_200(client, video_file):
+    resp = client.post(
+        "/find",
+        json={"video_path": video_file, "event": "someone waves"},
+    )
+    assert resp.status_code == 200
+
+
+def test_find_response_has_span(client, video_file):
+    data = client.post(
+        "/find",
+        json={"video_path": video_file, "event": "mock event"},
+    ).json()
+    # MockVideoBackend always returns a non-null span
+    assert data["span"] is not None
+    assert len(data["span"]) == 2
+    assert data["span"][0] <= data["span"][1]
+
+
+def test_find_span_is_list_of_floats(client, video_file):
+    data = client.post(
+        "/find",
+        json={"video_path": video_file, "event": "mock event"},
+    ).json()
+    span = data["span"]
+    assert all(isinstance(v, float) for v in span)
+
+
+def test_find_format_ok_field(client, video_file):
+    data = client.post(
+        "/find",
+        json={"video_path": video_file, "event": "mock event"},
+    ).json()
+    assert data["format_ok"] is True
+
+
+def test_find_raw_field(client, video_file):
+    data = client.post(
+        "/find",
+        json={"video_path": video_file, "event": "mock event"},
+    ).json()
+    assert isinstance(data["raw"], str)
+
+
+def test_find_model_field(client, video_file):
+    data = client.post(
+        "/find",
+        json={"video_path": video_file, "event": "mock event"},
+    ).json()
+    assert isinstance(data["model"], str)
+
+
+def test_find_404_on_missing_file(client):
+    resp = client.post(
+        "/find",
+        json={"video_path": "/no/such/file.mp4", "event": "wave"},
+    )
+    assert resp.status_code == 404
+
+
+def test_find_503_when_no_backend(client, video_file):
+    video_app._backend = None
+    resp = client.post(
+        "/find",
+        json={"video_path": video_file, "event": "wave"},
+    )
+    assert resp.status_code == 503
+
+
+def test_find_rejects_empty_event(client, video_file):
+    resp = client.post(
+        "/find",
+        json={"video_path": video_file, "event": ""},
+    )
+    assert resp.status_code == 422
+
+
+def test_find_custom_max_new_tokens(client, video_file):
+    resp = client.post(
+        "/find",
+        json={"video_path": video_file, "event": "wave", "max_new_tokens": 128},
+    )
+    assert resp.status_code == 200
+
+
+def test_find_rejects_max_new_tokens_below_min(client, video_file):
+    resp = client.post(
+        "/find",
+        json={"video_path": video_file, "event": "wave", "max_new_tokens": 10},
+    )
+    assert resp.status_code == 422
+
+
+def test_find_rejects_max_new_tokens_above_max(client, video_file):
+    resp = client.post(
+        "/find",
+        json={"video_path": video_file, "event": "wave", "max_new_tokens": 99999},
+    )
+    assert resp.status_code == 422
diff --git a/tests/test_video/test_mock_backend.py b/tests/test_video/test_mock_backend.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7b26a79
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_video/test_mock_backend.py
@@ -0,0 +1,157 @@
+"""
+Tests for MockVideoBackend and the VideoBackend protocol.
+
+All tests run without a GPU, torch install, or any real video file
+(MockVideoBackend only checks os.path.exists, not video validity).
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import os
+import tempfile
+
+import pytest
+
+from circuitforge_core.video.backends.base import (
+    CaptionResult,
+    FindResult,
+    VideoBackend,
+    VideoEvent,
+    make_video_backend,
+)
+from circuitforge_core.video.backends.mock import MockVideoBackend
+
+
+# ── Fixtures ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+
+@pytest.fixture()
+def video_file(tmp_path):
+    """Create a temporary file that satisfies os.path.exists() checks."""
+    p = tmp_path / "test.mp4"
+    p.write_bytes(b"\x00" * 16)  # placeholder bytes; mock never reads content
+    return str(p)
+
+
+# ── Protocol conformance ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+
+def test_mock_satisfies_protocol():
+    backend = MockVideoBackend()
+    assert isinstance(backend, VideoBackend)
+
+
+def test_mock_model_name_default():
+    assert MockVideoBackend().model_name == "mock"
+
+
+def test_mock_model_name_custom():
+    assert MockVideoBackend(model_path="custom-path").model_name == "custom-path"
+
+
+def test_mock_vram_mb():
+    assert MockVideoBackend().vram_mb == 0
+
+
+# ── caption() ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+
+def test_caption_returns_caption_result(video_file):
+    result = MockVideoBackend().caption(video_file)
+    assert isinstance(result, CaptionResult)
+
+
+def test_caption_scene_is_str(video_file):
+    result = MockVideoBackend().caption(video_file)
+    assert isinstance(result.scene, str)
+    assert result.scene  # non-empty
+
+
+def test_caption_events_are_video_events(video_file):
+    result = MockVideoBackend().caption(video_file)
+    assert isinstance(result.events, list)
+    for ev in result.events:
+        assert isinstance(ev, VideoEvent)
+
+
+def test_caption_events_have_numeric_timestamps(video_file):
+    result = MockVideoBackend().caption(video_file)
+    for ev in result.events:
+        assert isinstance(ev.start, float)
+        assert isinstance(ev.end, float)
+        assert ev.start <= ev.end
+
+
+def test_caption_caption_str(video_file):
+    result = MockVideoBackend().caption(video_file)
+    assert isinstance(result.caption, str)
+    assert result.caption
+
+
+def test_caption_model_matches_path(video_file):
+    result = MockVideoBackend(model_path="test-model").caption(video_file)
+    assert result.model == "test-model"
+
+
+def test_caption_raises_on_missing_file():
+    with pytest.raises(FileNotFoundError):
+        MockVideoBackend().caption("/nonexistent/video.mp4")
+
+
+def test_caption_max_new_tokens_accepted(video_file):
+    """max_new_tokens kwarg must be accepted without error."""
+    result = MockVideoBackend().caption(video_file, max_new_tokens=512)
+    assert isinstance(result, CaptionResult)
+
+
+# ── find() ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+
+def test_find_returns_find_result(video_file):
+    result = MockVideoBackend().find(video_file, "someone waves")
+    assert isinstance(result, FindResult)
+
+
+def test_find_span_is_tuple_or_none(video_file):
+    result = MockVideoBackend().find(video_file, "mock event")
+    # MockVideoBackend always returns a span
+    assert result.span is not None
+    assert len(result.span) == 2
+    assert result.span[0] <= result.span[1]
+
+
+def test_find_format_ok_true(video_file):
+    result = MockVideoBackend().find(video_file, "mock event")
+    assert result.format_ok is True
+
+
+def test_find_raw_is_str(video_file):
+    result = MockVideoBackend().find(video_file, "mock event")
+    assert isinstance(result.raw, str)
+
+
+def test_find_model_matches_path(video_file):
+    result = MockVideoBackend(model_path="my-model").find(video_file, "event")
+    assert result.model == "my-model"
+
+
+def test_find_raises_on_missing_file():
+    with pytest.raises(FileNotFoundError):
+        MockVideoBackend().find("/nonexistent/video.mp4", "event")
+
+
+def test_find_max_new_tokens_accepted(video_file):
+    result = MockVideoBackend().find(video_file, "event", max_new_tokens=128)
+    assert isinstance(result, FindResult)
+
+
+# ── make_video_backend factory ────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+
+def test_factory_returns_mock_when_flag_set():
+    backend = make_video_backend(model_path="mock", mock=True)
+    assert isinstance(backend, MockVideoBackend)
+
+
+def test_factory_mock_uses_model_path():
+    backend = make_video_backend(model_path="some-path", mock=True)
+    assert backend.model_name == "some-path"