diff --git a/compiler/bnode.nim b/compiler/bnode.nim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ea1f5b1851
--- /dev/null
+++ b/compiler/bnode.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+#
+#
+#           The Nim Compiler
+#        (c) Copyright 2026 Andreas Rumpf
+#
+#    See the file "copying.txt", included in this
+#    distribution, for details about the copyright.
+#
+
+## `BNode` — the backend's node type, and the seam for running codegen off a
+## `.bif` `Cursor` instead of a deserialized `PNode` tree.
+##
+## Building those trees is the bulk of the `lower` and `cg` stages: their cost
+## tracks the size of the dependency CLOSURE a stage loads, not the module it
+## compiles (measured: a 370-byte module costs 0.20s/0.16s in lower/cg, the main
+## module 3.40s/3.16s, and the two are ~85% of the serial backend critical path).
+##
+## With `-d:newIcBackend` `BNode` is a `Cursor`; without it a plain `PNode`,
+## which is what every build does today. Codegen migrates to the vocabulary
+## below one area at a time and the compiler keeps building throughout, because
+## on the `PNode` side the vocabulary is what `ast`/`astdef` already provide —
+## `kind`, `len`, `safeLen`, `sym`, `typ`, `info`, `firstSon`, `secondSon`,
+## `lastSon` and the `sons`/`isons`/`sonsFrom` iterators all exist. This module
+## deliberately does
+## NOT redefine them for `PNode`: an identical second overload would make every
+## call site ambiguous. It adds only what the AST lacks (`son`, `hasSons`), and
+## supplies the whole vocabulary on the `Cursor` side.
+##
+## THE COST MODEL DIFFERS, and that is what the vocabulary is shaped around. A
+## `Cursor` is a copyable position in a token buffer, so a child is reached by
+## `firstSon` plus one `skip` per preceding sibling — and `skip` steps over a
+## whole subtree. Reading child `i` is therefore O(size of children 0..<i):
+##
+## * `firstSon` / `secondSon` / `son(n, k)` with small constant `k` — cheap, and
+##   already how most structural access reads (344 of 777 indexed accesses in
+##   the cgen files use a constant or a `*Pos` index).
+## * `for x in sons(n)` / `sonsFrom(n, k)` — one linear pass. ALWAYS migrate an
+##   indexed loop to these: `for i in 0..<n.len: n[i]` is O(n^2) once `BNode` is
+##   a `Cursor`, and ~196 such accesses remain.
+## * `lastSon(n)` — O(len). Fine once, a trap inside a loop; 28 `n[^1]` uses.
+## * `len(n)` — O(len) on a `Cursor`, which has to count. Do not put it in a loop
+##   condition; use `sons`/`sonsFrom`, or `hasSons` for an emptiness test.
+
+import ast, lineinfos
+
+when defined(newIcBackend):
+  import "../dist/nimony/src/lib" / nifcursors
+  # Imported only under the define: `cgen` is compiled during the koch
+  # bootstrap, where the nimony libs are unavailable (`ast2nif` is guarded the
+  # same way).
+
+  type BNode* = Cursor
+
+  # Migrated one accessor per step. Until then the `{.error.}` stubs make
+  # flipping the define report the exact missing piece AT ITS CALL SITE, rather
+  # than collapsing into a cascade of unrelated type errors.
+  proc kind*(n: BNode): TNodeKind {.error:
+    "BNode.kind: not implemented for Cursor yet — map the tag id to TNodeKind. " &
+    "`ic/enum2nif.parse(TNodeKind, string)` is the reverse of `toNifTag`, but a " &
+    "per-call string compare is too slow here: build a tag-id -> TNodeKind table once.".} = discard
+  proc len*(n: BNode): int {.error: "BNode.len: not implemented for Cursor yet (counts children; prefer sons/hasSons)".} = discard
+  proc safeLen*(n: BNode): int {.error: "BNode.safeLen: not implemented for Cursor yet".} = discard
+  proc son*(n: BNode; i: int): BNode {.error: "BNode.son: not implemented for Cursor yet (firstSon + i skips)".} = discard
+  proc firstSon*(n: BNode): BNode {.error: "BNode.firstSon: not implemented for Cursor yet".} = discard
+  proc secondSon*(n: BNode): BNode {.error: "BNode.secondSon: not implemented for Cursor yet".} = discard
+  proc lastSon*(n: BNode): BNode {.error: "BNode.lastSon: not implemented for Cursor yet (O(len))".} = discard
+  proc hasSons*(n: BNode): bool {.error: "BNode.hasSons: not implemented for Cursor yet".} = discard
+  proc sym*(n: BNode): PSym {.error: "BNode.sym: not implemented for Cursor yet".} = discard
+  proc typ*(n: BNode): PType {.error: "BNode.typ: not implemented for Cursor yet".} = discard
+  proc info*(n: BNode): TLineInfo {.error: "BNode.info: not implemented for Cursor yet".} = discard
+  iterator sons*(n: BNode): BNode {.error: "BNode.sons: not implemented for Cursor yet".} = discard
+  iterator sonsFrom*(n: BNode; start: int): BNode {.error: "BNode.sonsFrom: not implemented for Cursor yet".} = discard
+else:
+  type BNode* = PNode
+
+  # Only the two the AST does not already have. Everything else in the
+  # vocabulary is `ast`/`astdef`'s own `PNode` API — see the module doc.
+  template son*(n: BNode; i: int): BNode =
+    ## Named indexed access. Exists so a call site states "child i" in a form
+    ## that survives `BNode` becoming a `Cursor`; keep `i` small and constant.
+    n[i]
+
+  template hasSons*(n: BNode): bool =
+    ## Emptiness test that does not compute a length — `len` counts on a
+    ## `Cursor`.
+    n.safeLen > 0
diff --git a/compiler/cgen.nim b/compiler/cgen.nim
index 4b56e49243..5b8132b8d6 100644
--- a/compiler/cgen.nim
+++ b/compiler/cgen.nim
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ import
   rodutils, renderer, cgendata, aliases,
   lowerings, lineinfos, pathutils, transf,
   injectdestructors, astmsgs, modulepaths, pushpoppragmas,
-  mangleutils, cbuilderbase, modulegraphs
+  mangleutils, cbuilderbase, modulegraphs, bnode
 
 from expanddefaults import caseObjDefaultBranch
 from ast2nif import globalName, toNifFilename, icNifTypeName
@@ -1344,7 +1344,7 @@ const harmless = {nkConstSection, nkTypeSection, nkEmpty, nkCommentStmt, nkTempl
                   nkMacroDef, nkMixinStmt, nkBindStmt, nkFormalParams} +
                   declarativeDefs
 
-proc containsResult(n: PNode): bool =
+proc containsResult(n: BNode): bool =
   result = false
   case n.kind
   of succ(nkEmpty)..pred(nkSym), succ(nkSym)..nkNilLit, harmless:
@@ -1380,7 +1380,10 @@ proc easyResultAsgn(n: PNode): PNode =
 type
   InitResultEnum = enum Unknown, InitSkippable, InitRequired
 
-proc allPathsAsgnResult(p: BProc; n: PNode): InitResultEnum =
+proc allPathsAsgnResult(p: BProc; n: BNode): InitResultEnum =
+  ## Migrated to `BNode` (see bnode.nim). With `newIcBackend` off this is
+  ## `PNode` and nothing changes; with it on, this body is where the Cursor
+  ## vocabulary has to exist, and its `{.error.}` stubs name what is missing.
   # Exceptions coming from calls don't have not be considered here:
   #
   # proc bar(): string = raise newException(...)