diff --git a/.github/workflows/correctness.yml b/.github/workflows/correctness.yml
index 4e6f6ab3..d7e6f83d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/correctness.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/correctness.yml
@@ -110,10 +110,10 @@ jobs:
       - name: Install Rust
         uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable
 
-      - name: Install protoc
+      - name: Install protoc and HiGHS build deps
         run: |
           sudo apt-get update -qq
-          sudo apt-get install -y protobuf-compiler
+          sudo apt-get install -y protobuf-compiler cmake libclang-dev
 
       - name: Run sccache
         uses: mozilla-actions/sccache-action@v0.0.4
diff --git a/.github/workflows/rust.yml b/.github/workflows/rust.yml
index 01049098..53daaf2d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/rust.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/rust.yml
@@ -46,10 +46,10 @@ jobs:
         toolchain: stable
         components: rustfmt, clippy
 
-    - name: Install protoc
+    - name: Install protoc and HiGHS build deps
       run: |
         sudo apt-get update
-        sudo apt-get install -y protobuf-compiler
+        sudo apt-get install -y protobuf-compiler cmake libclang-dev
 
     - name: Run sccache-cache
       uses: mozilla-actions/sccache-action@v0.0.4
@@ -82,10 +82,10 @@ jobs:
       with:
         toolchain: stable
 
-    - name: Install protoc
+    - name: Install protoc and HiGHS build deps
       run: |
         sudo apt-get update
-        sudo apt-get install -y protobuf-compiler
+        sudo apt-get install -y protobuf-compiler cmake libclang-dev
 
     - name: Run sccache-cache
       uses: mozilla-actions/sccache-action@v0.0.4
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index dc602750..b11704f8 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -109,6 +109,36 @@ version = "1.0.102"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "7f202df86484c868dbad7eaa557ef785d5c66295e41b460ef922eca0723b842c"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "aqpbm-core"
+version = "0.1.0"
+source = "git+https://github.com/ProjectASAP/sketch-bench?branch=main#964ccb5811440245a7d75f93e88649e8463eba86"
+dependencies = [
+ "anyhow",
+ "aqpbm-datagen",
+ "bitflags 2.11.1",
+ "chrono",
+ "libc",
+ "rand 0.9.4",
+ "rand_xoshiro",
+ "serde",
+ "serde_json",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "aqpbm-datagen"
+version = "0.1.0"
+source = "git+https://github.com/ProjectASAP/sketch-bench?branch=main#964ccb5811440245a7d75f93e88649e8463eba86"
+dependencies = [
+ "rand 0.9.4",
+ "rand_distr",
+ "rand_xoshiro",
+ "serde",
+ "serde_json",
+ "serde_norway",
+ "thiserror 2.0.18",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "ar_archive_writer"
 version = "0.5.1"
@@ -141,6 +171,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "promql-parser",
  "promql_utilities",
  "reqwest",
+ "rqe-optimizer",
  "serde",
  "serde_json",
  "serde_yaml",
@@ -326,6 +357,26 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "bindgen"
+version = "0.72.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "993776b509cfb49c750f11b8f07a46fa23e0a1386ffc01fb1e7d343efc387895"
+dependencies = [
+ "bitflags 2.11.1",
+ "cexpr",
+ "clang-sys",
+ "itertools",
+ "log",
+ "prettyplease",
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "regex",
+ "rustc-hash",
+ "shlex",
+ "syn 2.0.117",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "bitflags"
 version = "1.3.2"
@@ -374,6 +425,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "shlex",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "cexpr"
+version = "0.6.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "6fac387a98bb7c37292057cffc56d62ecb629900026402633ae9160df93a8766"
+dependencies = [
+ "nom",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "cfg-if"
 version = "1.0.4"
@@ -409,6 +469,17 @@ dependencies = [
  "windows-targets 0.52.6",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "clang-sys"
+version = "1.9.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "157a8ba7b480713b56f4c09fd13fc3e0a22a5dfab8097ba61cbc5feef950788a"
+dependencies = [
+ "glob",
+ "libc",
+ "libloading",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "clap"
 version = "2.34.0"
@@ -464,6 +535,15 @@ version = "1.1.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "c8d4a3bb8b1e0c1050499d1815f5ab16d04f0959b233085fb31653fbfc9d98f9"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "cmake"
+version = "0.1.58"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "c0f78a02292a74a88ac736019ab962ece0bc380e3f977bf72e376c5d78ff0678"
+dependencies = [
+ "cc",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "colorchoice"
 version = "1.0.5"
@@ -873,6 +953,16 @@ version = "0.3.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "0cc23270f6e1808e30a928bdc84dea0b9b4136a8bc82338574f23baf47bbd280"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "good_lp"
+version = "1.15.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "c4255eb1d65eea322f73a326038f2bcec19dae13ca50fa557da19b03274b4d56"
+dependencies = [
+ "fnv",
+ "highs",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "h2"
 version = "0.3.27"
@@ -980,6 +1070,26 @@ version = "0.4.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "7f24254aa9a54b5c858eaee2f5bccdb46aaf0e486a595ed5fd8f86ba55232a70"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "highs"
+version = "2.4.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "7dfc791427e78fdc1a0a37983f79c20f86a0b7b7dfdb5d6a57a6f72d77cd9074"
+dependencies = [
+ "highs-sys",
+ "log",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "highs-sys"
+version = "1.15.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "e4da0c52322648e2360a5a8896d23301fa5ed99ed7607c5faf229bd0bbb30d3f"
+dependencies = [
+ "bindgen",
+ "cmake",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "http"
 version = "0.2.12"
@@ -1402,6 +1512,22 @@ version = "0.2.186"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "68ab91017fe16c622486840e4c83c9a37afeff978bd239b5293d61ece587de66"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "libloading"
+version = "0.8.9"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "d7c4b02199fee7c5d21a5ae7d8cfa79a6ef5bb2fc834d6e9058e89c825efdc55"
+dependencies = [
+ "cfg-if",
+ "windows-link",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "libm"
+version = "0.2.16"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "b6d2cec3eae94f9f509c767b45932f1ada8350c4bdb85af2fcab4a3c14807981"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "libsqlite3-sys"
 version = "0.28.0"
@@ -1521,6 +1647,12 @@ version = "0.3.17"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "6877bb514081ee2a7ff5ef9de3281f14a4dd4bceac4c09388074a6b5df8a139a"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "minimal-lexical"
+version = "0.2.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "68354c5c6bd36d73ff3feceb05efa59b6acb7626617f4962be322a825e61f79a"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "miniz_oxide"
 version = "0.8.9"
@@ -1559,6 +1691,16 @@ dependencies = [
  "tempfile",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "nom"
+version = "7.1.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "d273983c5a657a70a3e8f2a01329822f3b8c8172b73826411a55751e404a0a4a"
+dependencies = [
+ "memchr",
+ "minimal-lexical",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "nu-ansi-term"
 version = "0.50.3"
@@ -1581,6 +1723,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "071dfc062690e90b734c0b2273ce72ad0ffa95f0c74596bc250dcfd960262841"
 dependencies = [
  "autocfg",
+ "libm",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -2106,6 +2249,25 @@ dependencies = [
  "getrandom 0.3.4",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "rand_distr"
+version = "0.5.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "6a8615d50dcf34fa31f7ab52692afec947c4dd0ab803cc87cb3b0b4570ff7463"
+dependencies = [
+ "num-traits",
+ "rand 0.9.4",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "rand_xoshiro"
+version = "0.7.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "f703f4665700daf5512dcca5f43afa6af89f09db47fb56be587f80636bda2d41"
+dependencies = [
+ "rand_core 0.9.5",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "recursive"
 version = "0.1.1"
@@ -2223,6 +2385,16 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "rqe-optimizer"
+version = "0.1.0"
+source = "git+https://github.com/ProjectASAP/sketch-bench?branch=main#964ccb5811440245a7d75f93e88649e8463eba86"
+dependencies = [
+ "aqpbm-core",
+ "good_lp",
+ "serde_json",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "rusqlite"
 version = "0.31.0"
@@ -2237,6 +2409,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "smallvec",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "rustc-hash"
+version = "2.1.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "6b1e7f9a428571be2dc5bc0505c13fb6bf936822b894ec87abf8a08a4e51742d"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "rustix"
 version = "1.1.4"
@@ -2377,6 +2555,19 @@ dependencies = [
  "zmij",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "serde_norway"
+version = "0.9.42"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "e408f29489b5fd500fab51ff1484fc859bb655f32c671f307dcd733b72e8168c"
+dependencies = [
+ "indexmap 2.14.0",
+ "itoa",
+ "ryu",
+ "serde",
+ "unsafe-libyaml-norway",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "serde_path_to_error"
 version = "0.1.20"
@@ -3067,6 +3258,12 @@ version = "0.2.11"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "673aac59facbab8a9007c7f6108d11f63b603f7cabff99fabf650fea5c32b861"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "unsafe-libyaml-norway"
+version = "0.2.15"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "b39abd59bf32521c7f2301b52d05a6a2c975b6003521cbd0c6dc1582f0a22104"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "url"
 version = "2.5.8"
diff --git a/asap-planner-rs/Cargo.toml b/asap-planner-rs/Cargo.toml
index a94e78d2..3918f0b1 100644
--- a/asap-planner-rs/Cargo.toml
+++ b/asap-planner-rs/Cargo.toml
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ indexmap.workspace = true
 chrono.workspace = true
 promql-parser = "0.5.0"
 reqwest = { version = "0.11", features = ["blocking", "json"] }
+rqe-optimizer = { git = "https://github.com/ProjectASAP/sketch-bench", branch = "main" }
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 tempfile = "3.20"
diff --git a/asap-planner-rs/Dockerfile b/asap-planner-rs/Dockerfile
index 438955ee..b040253f 100644
--- a/asap-planner-rs/Dockerfile
+++ b/asap-planner-rs/Dockerfile
@@ -5,9 +5,11 @@ LABEL description="ASAP Planner (Rust) for SketchDB"
 
 WORKDIR /code
 
-# Required by prost-build dependencies during cargo build
+# protobuf-compiler: prost-build. cmake, libclang-dev: HiGHS (rqe-optimizer's MILP solver).
 RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
     protobuf-compiler \
+    cmake \
+    libclang-dev \
     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 COPY asap-common ./asap-common
@@ -42,6 +44,7 @@ RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
     ca-certificates \
     libssl3 \
     zlib1g \
+    libstdc++6 \
     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 RUN mkdir -p /app/input /app/output
diff --git a/asap-planner-rs/tests/rqe_optimizer_smoke.rs b/asap-planner-rs/tests/rqe_optimizer_smoke.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..03858aa5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/asap-planner-rs/tests/rqe_optimizer_smoke.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+//! Links sketch-bench's rqe-optimizer and solves a one-query MILP with HiGHS.
+
+use std::collections::BTreeMap;
+
+use rqe_optimizer::milp::{minimize_cost, MilpBounds};
+use rqe_optimizer::objectives::MachineFamily;
+use rqe_optimizer::{
+    AccuracyDirection, AtomicCostEntry, Capability, Deployment, LabelSet, LabelSetInfo, Rqe,
+};
+
+fn deployment(insert_cpu_secs: f64) -> Deployment {
+    Deployment {
+        capability: Capability::Quantile,
+        labels: LabelSet::new(),
+        config: AtomicCostEntry {
+            sketch: "kll-percall".into(),
+            sketch_config: serde_json::json!(null),
+            mem_bytes_per_instance: 1024.0,
+            insert_cpu_secs,
+            merge_cpu_secs: 1.0,
+            query_cpu_secs: 1.0,
+            query_accuracy: BTreeMap::from([("err".into(), 0.0)]),
+        },
+        window_secs: 60,
+        slide_secs: 60,
+    }
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn minimize_cost_picks_the_cheaper_deployment() {
+    let rqes = vec![Rqe {
+        id: "q".into(),
+        capability: Capability::Quantile,
+        lookback_secs: 60,
+        interval_secs: 60,
+        labels: LabelSet::new(),
+        accuracy_metric: "err".into(),
+        accuracy_tolerance: 1.0,
+        accuracy_direction: AccuracyDirection::LowerIsBetter,
+    }];
+    let deployments = vec![deployment(2.0), deployment(1.0)];
+    let label_sets = BTreeMap::from([(
+        LabelSet::new(),
+        LabelSetInfo {
+            cardinality: 1,
+            arrival_rate_per_sec: 1.0,
+        },
+    )]);
+    let family = MachineFamily {
+        family: "test".into(),
+        vcpu: 4.0,
+        memory_gib: 16.0,
+        usd_per_hour: 1.0,
+    };
+
+    let solution = minimize_cost(
+        &rqes,
+        &deployments,
+        &label_sets,
+        &MilpBounds::default(),
+        &family,
+    )
+    .expect("feasible MILP");
+
+    assert_eq!(solution.mapping, vec![1]);
+}
diff --git a/asap-query-engine/Dockerfile b/asap-query-engine/Dockerfile
index bc9a13bc..ea778113 100644
--- a/asap-query-engine/Dockerfile
+++ b/asap-query-engine/Dockerfile
@@ -8,9 +8,12 @@ LABEL description="QueryEngine Rust service for SketchDB"
 
 WORKDIR /code
 
-# Required by prost-build dependencies (e.g., asap_sketchlib) during cargo build
+# protobuf-compiler: prost-build (e.g., asap_sketchlib). cmake, libclang-dev:
+# HiGHS, built through the asap_planner dependency.
 RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
     protobuf-compiler \
+    cmake \
+    libclang-dev \
     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 # Copy the asap-common directory