diff --git a/docs/RUNNING.md b/docs/RUNNING.md
index 87f392e..f3d2274 100644
--- a/docs/RUNNING.md
+++ b/docs/RUNNING.md
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ The flags fall into these groups:
 | Console and early stop | `--console`, `--single-user`, `--early-stop-delay`, `--let-panic`, `--panic-serve` |
 | Input | `--input`, `--input-touchpad`, `--input-ptp`, `--input-active-us` |
 | Present path | `--present-dartpool`, `--present-resident`, `--present-beam`, `--present-va-reclaim`, `--present-maint`, `--present-latch`, `--present-pipeline` |
-| GPU | `--ib-async`, `--gpu-recover`, `--gpu-va-wide`, `--gpu-coherent`, `--resident-mib`, `--adreno-fill-br`, `--adreno-fence-br`, `--gpu-x290-survey` |
+| GPU | `--ib-async`, `--gpu-recover`, `--gpu-va-wide`, `--gpu-coherent`, `--resident-mib`, `--adreno-fill-br`, `--adreno-fence-br`, `--adreno-cs-samplers`, `--gpu-x290-survey` |
 | Panel brightness | `--edp-backlight`, `--edp-backlight-mode` |
 | Clocks and bandwidth | `--thermal-guard`, `--gpu-dvfs`, `--gpu-dvfs-ceiling`, `--cpu-dvfs`, `--ddr-vote`, `--llcc`, `--bw-probe` |
 | Storage | `--nvme-async`, `--nvme-converted` |
@@ -229,8 +229,9 @@ installed and only continues the boot).
 
 The kext side of the icons inside System Settings panes, `ADRENO_IB_CS_SAMPLERS`
 in the desktop AdrenoX2 profiles, is off unless the guest boots with
-`adreno_cs_samplers=1`. `tools/cycle.py` has no option that adds that boot-arg
-yet.
+`adreno_cs_samplers=1`, which `tools/cycle.py installed-fresh --adreno-cs-samplers`
+adds (`tools/test-adreno-cs-samplers.py`). An AdrenoX2 built without the define
+ignores the boot-arg.
 
 ## Exit codes
 
diff --git a/tools/cycle.py b/tools/cycle.py
index 491e721..b4e914d 100755
--- a/tools/cycle.py
+++ b/tools/cycle.py
@@ -491,6 +491,12 @@ def parse(argv=None):
                    help='guest boot-arg adreno_present_maint=1: AdrenoDisplay keeps its layer-0 clean+invalidate pass '
                         'even while the beam is LOCKED (tear-free fix2 skips it then); for b12v8\'s stale bands; '
                         'give it to every mode of the attempt')
+    p.add_argument('--adreno-cs-samplers', action='store_true',
+                   help='guest boot-arg adreno_cs_samplers=1: an AdrenoX2 built with ADRENO_IB_CS_SAMPLERS (the desktop '
+                        'profiles since agents/settings-icons; others ignore it) lets the IB validator admit CS sampler '
+                        'loads of up to 8 units and publishes AdrenoIBComputeSamplers, so an ADRENO_SETTINGS_ICONS '
+                        'plug-in encodes CoreImage\'s multi-input kernels (folder, document and Safari icons in System '
+                        'Settings panes); give it to every mode of the attempt')
     p.add_argument('--spmi-scratch', action='store_true',
                    help='SNAP_SPMI_SCRATCH: the emulated SPMI controller also serves the PMU scratch-pad registers '
                         '(f700-f7ff, 8f80-8fff) from RAM, so AppleDialogSPMIPMU::_readRegs stops failing with e00002bc '
diff --git a/tools/cycle_lib/installed_fresh.py b/tools/cycle_lib/installed_fresh.py
index baa9e12..83a05e3 100644
--- a/tools/cycle_lib/installed_fresh.py
+++ b/tools/cycle_lib/installed_fresh.py
@@ -1158,6 +1158,8 @@ def boot_addition(args):
     extra = []
     if getattr(args, 'present_maint', False):
         extra.append('adreno_present_maint=1')
+    if getattr(args, 'adreno_cs_samplers', False):
+        extra.append('adreno_cs_samplers=1')      # read only by an ADRENO_IB_CS_SAMPLERS AdrenoX2 (configureDevice)
     if getattr(args, 'gpu_coherent', False):
         extra.append('adreno_coherent=1')   # the kext still skips only after the monitor's self-test said ON
     if getattr(args, 'gpu_coherent_force', False):
diff --git a/tools/test-adreno-cs-samplers.py b/tools/test-adreno-cs-samplers.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..2b6b6fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/test-adreno-cs-samplers.py
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
+"""Host test for cycle.py installed-fresh --adreno-cs-samplers. No A16 access.
+
+Without the option the boot-argument addition is exactly what earlier attempts qualified; with it, it appends
+adreno_cs_samplers=1 once. The other half of the contract is SnapAdreno's: the boot-arg name is the one AdrenoX2's
+configureDevice reads, that read sits under ADRENO_IB_CS_SAMPLERS, and the desktop profiles build AdrenoX2 and
+adreno-ib-command with that define (a kext without it ignores the boot-arg).
+"""
+import argparse
+import importlib.util
+import os
+import re
+import subprocess
+import sys
+import unittest
+from pathlib import Path
+
+ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1]
+sys.path.insert(0, str(ROOT / 'tools'))
+from cycle_lib import installed_fresh as fresh          # noqa: E402
+
+spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location('cycle_cli', ROOT / 'tools/cycle.py')
+cli = importlib.util.module_from_spec(spec)
+spec.loader.exec_module(cli)
+
+BASE = ' '.join([fresh.TIMESYNC_FLAG, fresh.COMPRESSOR_SW_FLAG])
+KEXT = ROOT / 'gpu/adreno-kext/kext'
+BOOT_ARG = 'adreno_cs_samplers'
+DEFINE = 'ADRENO_IB_CS_SAMPLERS'
+
+
+def ns(**kw):
+    return argparse.Namespace(**kw)
+
+
+def profile_units(name):
+    """{unit: defines} of a SnapAdreno profile, as build.sh sources it."""
+    script = f'. "$D/profiles/{name}.sh"; set | grep "^U_"'
+    out = subprocess.run(['sh', '-c', script], env=dict(os.environ, D=str(KEXT)), capture_output=True, text=True,
+                         check=True).stdout
+    units = {}
+    for line in out.splitlines():
+        unit, _, value = line.partition('=')
+        units[unit[2:]] = value.strip('\'"').split()
+    return units
+
+
+class AdrenoCsSamplers(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_default_unchanged(self):
+        self.assertEqual(fresh.boot_addition(ns()), BASE)
+        self.assertEqual(fresh.boot_addition(ns(adreno_cs_samplers=False)), BASE)
+
+    def test_flag_adds_the_boot_arg_once(self):
+        self.assertEqual(fresh.boot_addition(ns(adreno_cs_samplers=True)), f'{BASE} {BOOT_ARG}=1')
+        line = fresh.boot_addition(ns(console=True, single_user=True, adreno_cs_samplers=True, edp_backlight=True,
+                                      input=True, input_fnkeys=3, resident_mib=1536))
+        words = line.split()
+        self.assertEqual(words.count(f'{BOOT_ARG}=1'), 1, line)
+        for word in ('adreno_backlight=1', 'snap_i2c_fnkeys=3', 'adreno_resident_mib=1536', fresh.SINGLE_USER_FLAG):
+            self.assertIn(word, words, line)
+
+    def test_cli_reaches_args(self):
+        base = ['installed-fresh', '--prefix', 'x', '--variant', 'fast', '--check']
+        self.assertFalse(cli.parse(base).adreno_cs_samplers)
+        self.assertTrue(cli.parse(base + ['--adreno-cs-samplers']).adreno_cs_samplers)
+
+    def test_kext_reads_this_boot_arg_under_its_define(self):
+        src = (KEXT / 'src/AdrenoX2/device.cpp').read_text()
+        reads = re.findall(r'PE_parse_boot_argn\("(adreno_cs_samplers)"', src)
+        self.assertEqual(reads, [BOOT_ARG])
+        depth, guarded = [], None
+        for line in src.splitlines():
+            s = line.strip()
+            if s.startswith('#if'):
+                depth.append(DEFINE in s)
+            elif s.startswith('#endif'):
+                depth.pop()
+            elif f'"{BOOT_ARG}"' in s and 'PE_parse_boot_argn' in s:
+                guarded = any(depth)
+        self.assertTrue(guarded, 'the boot-arg read is not under ADRENO_IB_CS_SAMPLERS')
+
+    def test_desktop_profiles_build_the_opt_in(self):
+        for name in ('desktop-nocoherent', 'desktop', 'desktop-backlight', 'desktop-next'):
+            units = profile_units(name)
+            for unit in ('AdrenoX2', 'adreno_ib_command'):
+                self.assertIn(f'-D{DEFINE}=1', units.get(unit, []), f'{name} {unit}')
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    unittest.main()