diff --git a/server/src/session/mod.rs b/server/src/session/mod.rs
index 95bc2be..8eac258 100644
--- a/server/src/session/mod.rs
+++ b/server/src/session/mod.rs
@@ -107,6 +107,26 @@ pub struct Session {
 /// `true` once H.264 is live-validated, or make it per-tenant policy later.
 pub const DEFAULT_PREFER_H264: bool = false;
 
+/// Per-agent opt-in tag for validating the hardware H.264 path (Task 8).
+///
+/// An agent reports this tag via `AgentStatus.tags`. When present, codec
+/// negotiation prefers H.264 for THAT agent only — letting us live-validate the
+/// HW-H.264 pipeline on a handful of tagged test machines before flipping
+/// [`DEFAULT_PREFER_H264`] globally. Clients without the tag are unaffected and
+/// continue to negotiate raw (the guaranteed working path). The
+/// `supports_h264 &&` guard in [`select_video_codec`] still forces raw for an
+/// agent with no hardware encoder even when it carries this tag.
+pub const H264_TEST_TAG: &str = "h264-test";
+
+/// Whether to prefer H.264 for an agent given its reported tags (Task 8).
+///
+/// Pure decision function (unit-tested): H.264 is preferred when the global
+/// default prefers it OR the agent carries the per-agent test opt-in tag
+/// ([`H264_TEST_TAG`]). Tag matching is case-insensitive.
+pub fn prefer_h264_for(tags: &[String]) -> bool {
+    DEFAULT_PREFER_H264 || tags.iter().any(|t| t.eq_ignore_ascii_case(H264_TEST_TAG))
+}
+
 /// Negotiate the video codec for a stream (Task 7).
 ///
 /// Pure decision function (unit-tested): given whether the agent advertised
@@ -443,14 +463,16 @@ impl SessionManager {
         use prost::Message;
 
         // Negotiate the video codec for this stream (Task 7): H.264 only when the
-        // agent advertised hardware support AND policy prefers it. With
-        // DEFAULT_PREFER_H264 = false this always resolves to RAW today (H.264 is
-        // compile-verified only, validated on hardware in Task 8).
-        let codec = select_video_codec(session_data.info.supports_h264, DEFAULT_PREFER_H264);
+        // agent advertised hardware support AND policy prefers it. The default
+        // policy (DEFAULT_PREFER_H264 = false) resolves to RAW, but an agent that
+        // carries the per-agent H264_TEST_TAG opts itself into H.264 so the HW path
+        // can be live-validated (Task 8) without affecting untagged sessions.
+        let prefer_h264 = prefer_h264_for(&session_data.info.tags);
+        let codec = select_video_codec(session_data.info.supports_h264, prefer_h264);
         tracing::info!(
             "StartStream codec negotiation: agent_supports_h264={}, prefer_h264={} -> {:?}",
             session_data.info.supports_h264,
-            DEFAULT_PREFER_H264,
+            prefer_h264,
             codec
         );
 
@@ -793,6 +815,48 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn prefer_h264_for_untagged_matches_default_policy() {
+        // No tags -> falls back to the global default (false today). An untagged
+        // session's preference must be byte-for-byte the existing behavior.
+        assert_eq!(prefer_h264_for(&[]), DEFAULT_PREFER_H264);
+        assert!(!prefer_h264_for(&[]));
+        // An unrelated tag must not opt the agent in.
+        assert!(!prefer_h264_for(&["other".to_string()]));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn prefer_h264_for_tagged_opts_in_case_insensitively() {
+        assert!(prefer_h264_for(&["h264-test".to_string()]));
+        assert!(prefer_h264_for(&["H264-Test".to_string()]));
+        // Present alongside other tags still opts in.
+        assert!(prefer_h264_for(&[
+            "other".to_string(),
+            "h264-test".to_string()
+        ]));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn tagged_negotiation_respects_hardware_guard() {
+        use crate::proto::VideoCodec;
+
+        // Tagged + HW-capable -> H.264 (the live-validation path).
+        assert_eq!(
+            select_video_codec(true, prefer_h264_for(&["h264-test".to_string()])),
+            VideoCodec::H264
+        );
+        // Tagged but NO hardware encoder -> raw (the no-HW guard still holds).
+        assert_eq!(
+            select_video_codec(false, prefer_h264_for(&["h264-test".to_string()])),
+            VideoCodec::Raw
+        );
+        // Untagged + HW-capable -> raw (untagged sessions stay on the safe default).
+        assert_eq!(
+            select_video_codec(true, prefer_h264_for(&[])),
+            VideoCodec::Raw
+        );
+    }
+
     #[tokio::test]
     async fn agent_status_updates_h264_capability() {
         let mgr = SessionManager::new();