srecord noeq GridCodec1(BufferedImage stage0_image) is JavaCodec<BufferedImage> {
  settable int rows = 20;

  static GridCodec1 demo() { ret GridCodec1(defaultScreenshot()); }

  // interim data & searches 
  Matrix<Int> stage1_matrix;
  long dataBytes, dataChars;
  Matrix<Matrix<Int>> stage2_grid;
  
  JE_CompressEachElementIndividually<LInt> strat;
  JECompressionSearch<LLInt> search;

  JECompressionSearch<LLInt> forward() {
    assertNotNull(stage0_image);

    var m = stage1_matrix = imageToMatrix(stage0_image);
    dataBytes = m.nCells()*4+2;
    dataChars = dataBytes*2 + l("lInt(\"\")");
    print("Matrix ~ " + shorten_str(60, m));
    print("Trivial comp ~ " + (m.nCells()*8));
    stage2_grid = matrixToMNGrid_rows(m, rows);
    
    // list of lists
    LL<Int> stage3_cells = matrixOfMatricesToListOfLists(stage2_grid);
    
    search = jeCompressionSearch(stage3_cells, dataChars);
    strat = new JE_CompressEachElementIndividually<LInt>()
      .elementCompressionStrategy(-> new JE_RepElement)
      .onCompressionFail(ints -> javaObjectToIJavaExpr(ints);
    
    search.addStrategy(strat);
    ret search;
  }
  
  S stats() { ret strat?.stats(); }
  
  JECompressionSearch<LLInt>.Submission winner() {
    ret search?.bestSubmission();
  }
  
  IJavaExpr<LL<Int>> winnerCodeWithoutPostProcessing() {
    ret winner()?.decompressor();
  }
  
  IJavaExpr<BufferedImage> winnerCode() {
    var innerWinner = winnerCodeWithoutPostProcessing();
    if (innerWinner == null) null;
    
    L<Int> cellWidths = lambdaMapMethod getWidth(rowToList(stage2_grid, 0));
    L<Int> cellHeights = lambdaMapMethod getHeight(colToList(stage2_grid, 0));
    ret new IJavaExpr<BufferedImage> {
      public IJavaExpr<BufferedImage> unpack() {
        ret FunctionCall gridLOLToImage(toJava(cellWidths), toJava(cellHeights), innerWinner);
      }
      
      public BufferedImage quickEval() {
        ret gridLOLToImage(cellWidths, cellHeights, innerWinner);
      }
    };
  }

  BufferedImage renderCellsLinearly() {
    ret mergeBufferedImagesHorizontally(
      map intMatrixToImage(matrixToList(stage2_grid)));
  }
}