diff --git a/docs/PROTOCOL_NOTES.md b/docs/PROTOCOL_NOTES.md
index 2e38bb3..7b1e74c 100644
Binary files a/docs/PROTOCOL_NOTES.md and b/docs/PROTOCOL_NOTES.md differ
diff --git a/src/informix_db/_types.py b/src/informix_db/_types.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3e0d4c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/informix_db/_types.py
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+"""IDS internal type-code constants.
+
+Ported from ``com.informix.lang.IfxTypes`` (decompile in
+``build/jdbc-src/com/informix/lang/IfxTypes.java``). The type codes
+appear in column descriptors (in the ``SQ_DESCRIBE`` response) and in
+parameter descriptors. The high bits encode flags (nullability, etc.);
+strip them with ``base_type()`` to get the raw type code.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from enum import IntEnum
+
+
+class IfxType(IntEnum):
+    """IDS internal type codes (16-bit)."""
+
+    CHAR = 0
+    SMALLINT = 1
+    INT = 2  # 32-bit INTEGER
+    FLOAT = 3  # 64-bit DOUBLE PRECISION
+    SMFLOAT = 4  # 32-bit REAL / SMALLFLOAT
+    DECIMAL = 5
+    SERIAL = 6
+    DATE = 7
+    MONEY = 8
+    NULL = 9
+    DATETIME = 10
+    BYTE = 11
+    TEXT = 12
+    VARCHAR = 13
+    INTERVAL = 14
+    NCHAR = 15
+    NVCHAR = 16
+    INT8 = 17  # legacy 64-bit "long int" — variable-length encoding
+    SERIAL8 = 18
+    SET = 19
+    MULTISET = 20
+    LIST = 21
+    ROW = 22
+    COLLECTION = 23
+    ROWREF = 24
+    UDTVAR = 40
+    UDTFIXED = 41
+    REFSER8 = 42
+    LVARCHAR = 43
+    SENDRECV = 44
+    BOOL = 45
+    IMPEXP = 46
+    IMPEXPBIN = 47
+    SQLUDRDEFAULT = 48
+    UNKNOWN = 49
+    BIGINT = 52  # modern 64-bit BIGINT (clean 8-byte BE encoding)
+    BIGSERIAL = 53
+    CLOB = 101
+    BLOB = 102
+
+
+# High-bit flags packed into the type-code short alongside the type.
+# Strip these with ``base_type()`` before comparing to ``IfxType`` values.
+IFX_BIT_NOTNULLABLE = 0x0100  # 256 — column is NOT NULL
+IFX_BIT_DISTINCT = 0x0800  # 2048 — distinct/named type
+IFX_BIT_NAMEDROW = 0x1000  # 4096 — named row type
+IFX_BIT_DBOOLEAN = 0x4000  # 16384 — distinct boolean
+IFX_BIT_COLLCLIENT = -0x8000  # high bit (Java's Short.MIN_VALUE)
+
+_TYPE_BITS_MASK = 0xFF  # low byte = type code (sufficient for builtin types ≤ 102)
+_FLAG_BITS_MASK = 0xFF00
+
+
+def base_type(type_code: int) -> int:
+    """Strip high-bit flags and return the raw IfxType value.
+
+    Type codes on the wire are 16-bit shorts where the low byte is the
+    type and the high byte holds flags (NOTNULLABLE, DISTINCT, etc.).
+    For type codes > 255 (the CLOB=101, BLOB=102 line is the upper
+    bound for builtin types), use the value directly.
+    """
+    if type_code in (IfxType.CLOB, IfxType.BLOB):
+        return type_code
+    return type_code & _TYPE_BITS_MASK
+
+
+def is_nullable(type_code: int) -> bool:
+    """``True`` if the column accepts NULL (the NOTNULLABLE bit is clear)."""
+    return not (type_code & IFX_BIT_NOTNULLABLE)
diff --git a/src/informix_db/converters.py b/src/informix_db/converters.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2a9a867
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/informix_db/converters.py
@@ -0,0 +1,128 @@
+"""Type codecs: IDS wire bytes ↔ Python values.
+
+Phase 2 implements decoders for the MVP type set (SMALLINT, INT, BIGINT,
+SMFLOAT, FLOAT, CHAR, VARCHAR, BOOL, DATE). Encoders are stubbed —
+they land in Phase 4 with parameter binding.
+
+Decoder dispatch: ``decode(type_code, raw_bytes) → python value`` looks
+up the codec in ``DECODERS`` keyed by ``IfxType`` (after stripping
+high-bit flags via ``_types.base_type``). NULL values are signaled by
+the row decoder, not by sentinel bytes here.
+
+For DATE we use the Informix epoch (1899-12-31). The raw bytes are a
+4-byte big-endian signed int representing day count.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import datetime
+import struct
+from collections.abc import Callable
+
+from ._types import IfxType, base_type
+
+# Informix DATE epoch — day 0 is December 31, 1899 (per Informix convention).
+_INFORMIX_DATE_EPOCH = datetime.date(1899, 12, 31)
+
+DecoderFn = Callable[[bytes], object]
+
+
+def _decode_smallint(raw: bytes) -> int:
+    return struct.unpack("!h", raw)[0]
+
+
+def _decode_int(raw: bytes) -> int:
+    return struct.unpack("!i", raw)[0]
+
+
+def _decode_bigint(raw: bytes) -> int:
+    return struct.unpack("!q", raw)[0]
+
+
+def _decode_smfloat(raw: bytes) -> float:
+    return struct.unpack("!f", raw)[0]
+
+
+def _decode_float(raw: bytes) -> float:
+    return struct.unpack("!d", raw)[0]
+
+
+def _decode_char(raw: bytes) -> str:
+    """Strip trailing spaces (CHAR is space-padded to declared length)."""
+    return raw.rstrip(b" \x00").decode("iso-8859-1")
+
+
+def _decode_varchar(raw: bytes) -> str:
+    """VARCHAR — variable-length string, nul-terminated on the wire."""
+    return raw.rstrip(b"\x00").decode("iso-8859-1")
+
+
+def _decode_bool(raw: bytes) -> bool:
+    """Informix BOOLEAN is one byte: 't'/'T' (true), 'f'/'F' (false)."""
+    if not raw:
+        raise ValueError("empty BOOL payload")
+    return raw[0] in (ord("t"), ord("T"), 1)
+
+
+def _decode_date(raw: bytes) -> datetime.date:
+    """4-byte big-endian signed int = day count from 1899-12-31."""
+    days = struct.unpack("!i", raw)[0]
+    return _INFORMIX_DATE_EPOCH + datetime.timedelta(days=days)
+
+
+# Wire byte length per Phase-2-MVP type. Used by the row decoder to
+# slice column values out of an SQ_TUPLE payload for fixed-width types.
+# Variable-width types (CHAR, VARCHAR, DECIMAL, etc.) are length-prefixed
+# on the wire and don't appear in this table.
+FIXED_WIDTHS: dict[int, int] = {
+    IfxType.SMALLINT: 2,
+    IfxType.INT: 4,
+    IfxType.SERIAL: 4,
+    IfxType.SMFLOAT: 4,
+    IfxType.FLOAT: 8,
+    IfxType.BIGINT: 8,
+    IfxType.BIGSERIAL: 8,
+    IfxType.DATE: 4,
+    IfxType.BOOL: 1,
+}
+
+
+# Phase 2 MVP decoders. Phase 6+ adds DATETIME, INTERVAL, DECIMAL,
+# MONEY, LVARCHAR, BYTE/TEXT, BLOB/CLOB, ROW, COLLECTION.
+DECODERS: dict[int, DecoderFn] = {
+    IfxType.SMALLINT: _decode_smallint,
+    IfxType.INT: _decode_int,
+    IfxType.SERIAL: _decode_int,
+    IfxType.BIGINT: _decode_bigint,
+    IfxType.BIGSERIAL: _decode_bigint,
+    IfxType.SMFLOAT: _decode_smfloat,
+    IfxType.FLOAT: _decode_float,
+    IfxType.CHAR: _decode_char,
+    IfxType.VARCHAR: _decode_varchar,
+    IfxType.NCHAR: _decode_char,
+    IfxType.NVCHAR: _decode_varchar,
+    IfxType.LVARCHAR: _decode_varchar,
+    IfxType.BOOL: _decode_bool,
+    IfxType.DATE: _decode_date,
+}
+
+
+def decode(type_code: int, raw: bytes) -> object:
+    """Decode ``raw`` bytes for the given IDS type code into a Python value.
+
+    The high-bit flags (NOTNULLABLE etc.) are stripped before lookup.
+    Raises ``KeyError`` for unsupported types — Phase 6+ adds the rest.
+    """
+    base = base_type(type_code)
+    decoder = DECODERS.get(base)
+    if decoder is None:
+        raise NotImplementedError(
+            f"decoder for IDS type code {base} not yet implemented "
+            f"(Phase 2 MVP supports: SMALLINT, INT, BIGINT, REAL, FLOAT, "
+            f"CHAR, VARCHAR, BOOL, DATE)"
+        )
+    return decoder(raw)
+
+
+# Encoders — stubbed for Phase 4 parameter binding.
+ENCODERS: dict[int, Callable[[object], bytes]] = {}