diff --git a/src/dofs/dof_connectivity_types.jl b/src/dofs/dof_connectivity_types.jl
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+++ b/src/dofs/dof_connectivity_types.jl
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+# This file is a part of JuliaFEM.
+# License is MIT: see https://github.com/JuliaFEM/JuliaFEM.jl/blob/master/LICENSE.md
+
+"""
+    DOFElementConnection
+
+Maps a global DOF to an element and local DOF index.
+
+GPU-Compatible: Bits type, can be transferred to GPU arrays.
+Zero-Allocation: Immutable struct, stack-allocated.
+
+# Fields
+- `elem_id::Int32`: Element ID (index in elements array)
+- `local_dof_idx::Int16`: Local DOF index within element (1-based)
+
+# Memory
+- 6 bytes per connection (Int32 + Int16)
+- Aligned to 8 bytes (padding)
+"""
+struct DOFElementConnection
+    elem_id::Int32        # Element ID (max 2^31 elements)
+    local_dof_idx::Int16  # Local DOF index (max 2^15 = 32k DOFs per element)
+
+    function DOFElementConnection(elem_id::Integer, local_dof_idx::Integer)
+        if elem_id < 1 || elem_id > typemax(Int32)
+            error("Element ID $elem_id out of range [1, $(typemax(Int32))]")
+        end
+        if local_dof_idx < 1 || local_dof_idx > typemax(Int16)
+            error("Local DOF index $local_dof_idx out of range [1, $(typemax(Int16))]")
+        end
+        return new(Int32(elem_id), Int16(local_dof_idx))
+    end
+end
+
+# Convenience constructors
+DOFElementConnection(elem_id::Int32, local_dof_idx::Int16) =
+    DOFElementConnection(Int(elem_id), Int(local_dof_idx))
+
+# Accessors
+elem_id(conn::DOFElementConnection) = Int(conn.elem_id)
+local_dof_idx(conn::DOFElementConnection) = Int(conn.local_dof_idx)
+
+"""
+    DOFConnectivity
+
+Inverse mapping: For each global DOF, which elements contain it?
+
+CPU Version: Uses `Vector{Vector{DOFElementConnection}}` for variable-length lists.
+
+Zero-Allocation After Init: All arrays pre-allocated, no heap allocations during access.
+
+# Fields
+- `dof_to_elements::Vector{Vector{DOFElementConnection}}`: For each DOF, list of connections
+- `n_total_dofs::Int`: Total number of DOFs in system
+- `max_connections::Int`: Maximum number of elements touching any single DOF
+
+# Memory
+- ~16 bytes per connection (DOFElementConnection + Vector overhead)
+- O(n_elements × avg_dofs_per_element) total memory
+
+# Usage
+```julia
+connectivity = build_dof_connectivity(elements, dof_handler)
+
+# Access elements touching DOF i (zero-allocation!)
+connections = connectivity.dof_to_elements[dof_i]
+for conn in connections
+    elem = elements[conn.elem_id]
+    local_dof = conn.local_dof_idx
+    # Process...
+end
+```
+"""
+struct DOFConnectivity
+    dof_to_elements::Vector{Vector{DOFElementConnection}}
+    n_total_dofs::Int
+    max_connections::Int
+
+    function DOFConnectivity(
+        dof_to_elements::Vector{Vector{DOFElementConnection}},
+        n_total_dofs::Int
+    )
+        max_conn = isempty(dof_to_elements) ? 0 : maximum(length, dof_to_elements)
+        return new(dof_to_elements, n_total_dofs, max_conn)
+    end
+end
+
+"""
+    DOFConnectivity()
+
+Empty placeholder used by `DOFHandler` / `InterfaceDOFHandler` between
+constructor and `create_elements!` (no element list yet, so no
+DOF→element mapping). Callers detect this state by comparing
+`connectivity.n_total_dofs` with `handler.total_dofs`.
+"""
+DOFConnectivity() = DOFConnectivity(Vector{DOFElementConnection}[], 0)
+
+# Accessors
+Base.length(conn::DOFConnectivity) = conn.n_total_dofs
+Base.getindex(conn::DOFConnectivity, dof_i::Int) = conn.dof_to_elements[dof_i]