diff --git a/lib/sea/SeaNativeLoader.ts b/lib/sea/SeaNativeLoader.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c66cdf33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/sea/SeaNativeLoader.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 Databricks, Inc.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+/**
+ * Loader for the SEA (Statement Execution API) native binding.
+ *
+ * Round 1b: minimal pass-through to the napi-rs auto-generated
+ * `index.js` shim in `native/sea/`. The shim itself picks the right
+ * per-platform `.node` artifact (linux-x64-gnu today; more triples in
+ * the bundling feature).
+ *
+ * Round 2+ will extend this with: lazy require to defer the `.node`
+ * load until the first SEA call, structured load-error diagnostics
+ * (which platform/arch was attempted, whether the package was
+ * installed at all), and a JS-side `DBSQLLogger` install path that
+ * forwards to the binding's `installLogger()` once that surface lands.
+ */
+
+// The path is relative to this file at runtime (`dist/sea/SeaNativeLoader.js`)
+// resolving to `dist/sea/../../native/sea/index.js` once `tsc` has emitted
+// to `dist/`. We use a require-time path resolution because the napi
+// shim is plain CommonJS and not part of the TS source tree.
+//
+// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-var-requires, import/no-dynamic-require, global-require
+const native = require('../../native/sea/index.js');
+
+/**
+ * Public surface of the native binding exposed to the rest of the
+ * NodeJS driver. Round 2 lands `openSession` + opaque `Connection` /
+ * `Statement` classes (the binding-generated `.d.ts` is the source of
+ * truth for their method signatures — see `native/sea/index.d.ts`).
+ *
+ * We deliberately keep this typed loosely (`unknown` for the class
+ * shapes) so the loader layer doesn't have to import the binding's
+ * generated types and the JS adapter layer can introduce its own
+ * higher-level wrappers without conflicting with the binding's TS
+ * declarations.
+ */
+export interface SeaNativeBinding {
+  /** Returns the native crate version (smoke test for the binding's load path). */
+  version(): string;
+  /** Open a session over PAT auth. Returns an opaque Connection. */
+  openSession(opts: {
+    hostName: string;
+    httpPath: string;
+    token: string;
+  }): Promise<unknown>;
+  /** Opaque Connection class — instance methods on the binding-generated d.ts. */
+  Connection: Function;
+  /** Opaque Statement class — instance methods on the binding-generated d.ts. */
+  Statement: Function;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Returns the loaded native binding. Throws if the platform-specific
+ * `.node` artifact cannot be found (napi-rs's auto-generated shim
+ * surfaces a descriptive error in that case).
+ */
+export function getSeaNative(): SeaNativeBinding {
+  return native as SeaNativeBinding;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Convenience accessor for the smoke-test path. Equivalent to
+ * `getSeaNative().version()` but reads more naturally in tests and
+ * REPLs.
+ */
+export function version(): string {
+  return getSeaNative().version();
+}
diff --git a/native/sea/README.md b/native/sea/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5efab5c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/native/sea/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+# `native/sea/` — consumer-side directory for the Rust napi binding
+
+**The Rust binding source lives in the kernel repo** at
+`databricks-sql-kernel/napi/`, as a workspace sibling of `pyo3/`.
+See `databricks-sql-kernel`'s root `Cargo.toml` `[workspace] members`.
+
+## Why
+
+Per the architectural decision recorded in
+`sea-workflow/decisions.md` (D-006), every language binding (PyO3,
+napi-rs, future cgo) is a workspace member of the kernel crate. This
+keeps Arrow version pinning lockstep, the path dep clean (`path = ".."`),
+and CI single (`cargo build --workspace`). The pattern matches polars,
+ruff, arrow-rs.
+
+## What lives here
+
+- `index.d.ts` — generated TypeScript declarations consumed by `lib/sea/`
+- `index.linux-x64-gnu.node` (and other platform variants) — symlinked
+  or copied build artifacts from the kernel workspace at run time
+
+## How to build the binding for local dev
+
+```bash
+# From the nodejs repo root:
+npm run build:native
+# which delegates to the kernel workspace:
+#   cd $DATABRICKS_SQL_KERNEL_REPO/napi && napi build --release
+# and copies the artifact back here
+```
+
+`$DATABRICKS_SQL_KERNEL_REPO` defaults to a path published with the
+release flow; for dev it points at a local checkout of
+`databricks-sql-kernel`.
+
+## How to consume in production
+
+At release time the kernel CI publishes `@databricks/sea-native-<triple>`
+npm packages with the `.node` binaries. The nodejs driver declares them
+as `optionalDependencies` in `package.json`; `SeaNativeLoader.ts`
+resolves the right one at runtime.
diff --git a/native/sea/index.d.ts b/native/sea/index.d.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5fb5e902
--- /dev/null
+++ b/native/sea/index.d.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,144 @@
+/* tslint:disable */
+/* eslint-disable */
+
+/* auto-generated by NAPI-RS */
+
+/**
+ * JS-visible per-execute options. M0 only carries
+ * initialCatalog / initialSchema / sessionConfig — parameters and
+ * per-statement overrides land in M1.
+ */
+export interface ExecuteOptions {
+  /** Default catalog applied to this statement via session conf. */
+  initialCatalog?: string
+  /** Default schema applied to this statement via session conf. */
+  initialSchema?: string
+  /**
+   * Per-statement session conf overrides (forwarded to SEA
+   * `parameters` / Thrift `confOverlay`).
+   */
+  sessionConfig?: Record<string, string>
+}
+/**
+ * JS-visible options for opening a Databricks SQL session over PAT.
+ *
+ * M0 supports PAT only — `token` is required. OAuth M2M / U2M variants
+ * land in M1 along with a discriminated-union shape on the JS side.
+ */
+export interface ConnectionOptions {
+  /**
+   * Workspace host, e.g. `adb-…azuredatabricks.net`. The kernel
+   * normalises this — bare hostnames get `https://` prepended.
+   */
+  hostName: string
+  /**
+   * JDBC-style HTTP path, e.g. `/sql/1.0/warehouses/abc123`. The
+   * kernel parses out the warehouse id.
+   */
+  httpPath: string
+  /**
+   * Personal access token. Must be non-empty (the kernel rejects
+   * empty PATs at session construction).
+   */
+  token: string
+}
+/**
+ * Open a Databricks SQL session over PAT auth and return an opaque
+ * `Connection` wrapping the kernel `Session`.
+ *
+ * The JS-visible name is `openSession` (napi-rs converts snake_case
+ * to camelCase for free functions).
+ */
+export declare function openSession(options: ConnectionOptions): Promise<Connection>
+/**
+ * A single Arrow IPC stream payload encoding one record batch (plus
+ * the schema header so the JS-side reader is stateless).
+ */
+export interface ArrowBatch {
+  ipcBytes: Buffer
+}
+/**
+ * An Arrow IPC stream payload encoding just the result schema (no
+ * record-batch messages). Returned by `Statement.schema()`.
+ */
+export interface ArrowSchema {
+  ipcBytes: Buffer
+}
+/**
+ * Returns the native binding's crate version (`CARGO_PKG_VERSION`).
+ *
+ * Originally the round-1b smoke test; kept as a cheap "is the binding
+ * loaded?" probe for the JS-side loader's structured diagnostics.
+ */
+export declare function version(): string
+/**
+ * Opaque connection handle wrapping a kernel `Session`.
+ *
+ * `inner` is `Arc<Mutex<Option<Session>>>` so:
+ * - the Drop impl can clone the `Arc` and `.take()` the session on a
+ *   background tokio task without holding `&mut self` (which Drop is
+ *   forbidden from doing across an `await`),
+ * - `executeStatement` can share immutable access to the session via
+ *   the `Arc<SessionInner>` clones the kernel makes internally
+ *   (`Session::statement()` only needs `&self`).
+ */
+export declare class Connection {
+  /**
+   * Execute a SQL statement and return a Statement handle that
+   * streams batches via `fetchNextBatch()`.
+   */
+  executeStatement(sql: string, options: ExecuteOptions): Promise<Statement>
+  /**
+   * Explicit close. Marks the connection wrapper as closed so
+   * subsequent calls on this `Connection` return `InvalidArg`, then
+   * schedules a fire-and-forget server-side close on the runtime.
+   *
+   * **Why fire-and-forget and not `Session::close().await`:** the
+   * kernel's `Session::close(self).await` body holds a
+   * `tracing::EnteredSpan` (a `!Send` type) across an `.await`, so
+   * the future is not `Send`. napi-rs's `execute_tokio_future` glue
+   * rejects non-`Send` futures, and `Handle::spawn` does too. The
+   * kernel's `SessionInner::Drop` already spawns the
+   * `delete_session` RPC on the same runtime handle the napi
+   * binding captured, so dropping the value is functionally
+   * equivalent — the difference is that JS callers can't observe a
+   * `delete_session` failure from `close()`. Tracked as a kernel-
+   * side follow-up (clone the span rather than entering it) in
+   * Round 3 findings.
+   */
+  close(): Promise<void>
+}
+/**
+ * Opaque executed-statement handle.
+ *
+ * `inner` is wrapped in `Arc<Mutex<Option<…>>>` so:
+ * - `fetch_next_batch` can `await` `ResultStream::next_batch` which
+ *   requires `&mut ExecutedStatement` (via `result_stream_mut`),
+ * - `cancel` / `close` (which take `&self` on the kernel side via the
+ *   `ExecutedStatementHandle` trait) can run concurrently with each
+ *   other from a JS perspective without panicking,
+ * - `Drop` can hand the inner handle off to a tokio task without
+ *   touching `&mut self` across an `await`.
+ */
+export declare class Statement {
+  /**
+   * Pull the next batch of results. Returns `None` when the stream
+   * is exhausted. The returned `ArrowBatch.ipcBytes` is a complete
+   * Arrow IPC stream (schema header + 1 record-batch message)
+   * suitable for handing to `apache-arrow`'s `RecordBatchReader`.
+   */
+  fetchNextBatch(): Promise<ArrowBatch | null>
+  /**
+   * Result schema as an Arrow IPC payload (schema header only, no
+   * record-batch message). Available before any batches have been
+   * fetched.
+   */
+  schema(): Promise<ArrowSchema>
+  /** Server-side cancel. No-op if already finished. */
+  cancel(): Promise<void>
+  /**
+   * Explicit close. Awaits the server-side close so the JS caller
+   * can observe failures.
+   */
+  close(): Promise<void>
+}
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index e430181f..f5400ed4 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
     "test": "nyc --report-dir=${NYC_REPORT_DIR:-coverage_unit} mocha --config tests/unit/.mocharc.js",
     "update-version": "node bin/update-version.js && prettier --write ./lib/version.ts",
     "build": "npm run update-version && tsc --project tsconfig.build.json",
+    "build:native": "bash -c 'cd ${DATABRICKS_SQL_KERNEL_REPO:-../../databricks-sql-kernel-sea-WT/napi-binding}/napi && npx --yes @napi-rs/cli@2 build --platform --release && cp index.* $OLDPWD/native/sea/'",
+    "build:native:debug": "bash -c 'cd ${DATABRICKS_SQL_KERNEL_REPO:-../../databricks-sql-kernel-sea-WT/napi-binding}/napi && npx --yes @napi-rs/cli@2 build --platform && cp index.* $OLDPWD/native/sea/'",
     "watch": "tsc --project tsconfig.build.json --watch",
     "type-check": "tsc --noEmit",
     "prettier": "prettier . --check",
@@ -91,4 +93,4 @@
   "optionalDependencies": {
     "lz4": "^0.6.5"
   }
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/native/e2e-smoke.test.ts b/tests/native/e2e-smoke.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8ab6d22f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/native/e2e-smoke.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 Databricks, Inc.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+import { expect } from 'chai';
+import { getSeaNative } from '../../lib/sea/SeaNativeLoader';
+
+// Round 2 end-to-end smoke test:
+//   1. Open a kernel `Session` via `Database.open(...)` over PAT.
+//   2. Execute `SELECT 1`.
+//   3. Fetch the first batch — assert the IPC bytes are non-empty.
+//   4. Close the statement, then the connection.
+//
+// Requires three env vars (exported by the developer's shell):
+//   - DATABRICKS_PECOTESTING_SERVER_HOSTNAME
+//   - DATABRICKS_PECOTESTING_HTTP_PATH
+//   - DATABRICKS_PECOTESTING_TOKEN_PERSONAL
+// If any is missing, the test is skipped (so CI can keep the file in
+// the suite without flapping when secrets aren't provisioned).
+
+interface NativeBinding {
+  openSession(opts: {
+    hostName: string;
+    httpPath: string;
+    token: string;
+  }): Promise<NativeConnection>;
+}
+
+interface NativeConnection {
+  executeStatement(
+    sql: string,
+    options: {
+      initialCatalog?: string;
+      initialSchema?: string;
+      sessionConfig?: Record<string, string>;
+    },
+  ): Promise<NativeStatement>;
+  close(): Promise<void>;
+}
+
+interface NativeStatement {
+  fetchNextBatch(): Promise<{ ipcBytes: Buffer } | null>;
+  schema(): Promise<{ ipcBytes: Buffer }>;
+  cancel(): Promise<void>;
+  close(): Promise<void>;
+}
+
+describe('SEA native binding — Round 2 end-to-end smoke test', function smoke() {
+  const hostName = process.env.DATABRICKS_PECOTESTING_SERVER_HOSTNAME;
+  const httpPath = process.env.DATABRICKS_PECOTESTING_HTTP_PATH;
+  const token = process.env.DATABRICKS_PECOTESTING_TOKEN_PERSONAL;
+
+  // Live-warehouse tests can take >2s through warm-up, so bump the
+  // mocha default (2000ms) generously.
+  this.timeout(60_000);
+
+  before(function gate() {
+    if (!hostName || !httpPath || !token) {
+      // Use `this.skip()` so the suite is reported as skipped rather
+      // than failing on dev machines without the secrets.
+      // eslint-disable-next-line no-invalid-this
+      this.skip();
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('opens a session, runs SELECT 1, and reads the first batch', async () => {
+    const binding = getSeaNative() as unknown as NativeBinding;
+
+    const connection = await binding.openSession({
+      hostName: hostName as string,
+      httpPath: httpPath as string,
+      token: token as string,
+    });
+    expect(connection).to.be.an('object');
+
+    let statement: NativeStatement | null = null;
+    try {
+      statement = await connection.executeStatement('SELECT 1', {});
+      expect(statement).to.be.an('object');
+
+      const batch = await statement.fetchNextBatch();
+      expect(batch).to.not.equal(null);
+      expect(batch!.ipcBytes).to.be.instanceOf(Buffer);
+      expect(batch!.ipcBytes.length).to.be.greaterThan(0);
+
+      // Draining: subsequent fetch should return null (one-row result).
+      const after = await statement.fetchNextBatch();
+      expect(after).to.equal(null);
+    } finally {
+      if (statement !== null) {
+        await statement.close();
+      }
+      await connection.close();
+    }
+  });
+});
diff --git a/tests/native/version.test.ts b/tests/native/version.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..72a69f43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/native/version.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 Databricks, Inc.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+import { expect } from 'chai';
+import { version, getSeaNative } from '../../lib/sea/SeaNativeLoader';
+
+describe('SEA native binding — smoke test', () => {
+  it('loads the .node artifact and returns version()', () => {
+    const v = version();
+    expect(v).to.match(/^\d+\.\d+\.\d+$/);
+  });
+
+  it('exposes the openSession factory function', () => {
+    const binding = getSeaNative() as unknown as { openSession: Function };
+    expect(typeof binding.openSession).to.equal('function');
+  });
+
+  it('exposes the Connection opaque class', () => {
+    const binding = getSeaNative() as unknown as { Connection: Function };
+    expect(typeof binding.Connection).to.equal('function');
+  });
+
+  it('exposes the Statement opaque class', () => {
+    const binding = getSeaNative() as unknown as { Statement: Function };
+    expect(typeof binding.Statement).to.equal('function');
+  });
+});