commit c6dc1a2acfe70edb038b7467a3fc6d008fbe8b00
Author: Arcline Dev <dev@arcline-project.local>
Date:   Fri Jul 3 21:35:32 2026 -0500

    Initial commit: lightweight CLI ticket tracker
    
    A JSON-backed ticket management system with full CRUD operations,
    status/priority filtering, prefix-based ID resolution, and test suite.

diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..59851a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+__pycache__/
+*.py[cod]
+*$py.class
+*.so
+*.egg-info/
+dist/
+build/
+.eggs/
+*.egg
+.tox/
+.coverage
+htmlcov/
+.pytest_cache/
+*.swp
+*.swo
+*~
+.DS_Store
+.env
+venv/
+.venv/
+
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..584dc77
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+# Tickets
+
+A lightweight CLI ticket tracker that stores tickets as JSON in your home directory (`~/.tickets/tickets.json`).
+
+## Quick Start
+
+```bash
+# Install in development mode
+pip install -e ".[dev]"
+
+# Run tests
+pytest tests/ -v
+```
+
+## Commands
+
+| Command              | Alias | Description            |
+|----------------------|-------|------------------------|
+| `tickets create`    | `c`   | Create a new ticket    |
+| `tickets list`      | `ls`  | List tickets           |
+| `tickets view <id>` | `v`   | Show ticket details    |
+| `tickets update <id>`| `u`  | Modify a ticket        |
+| `tickets delete <id>`| `rm` | Remove a ticket        |
+
+### Examples
+
+```bash
+# Create tickets
+tickets create "Fix login bug" -d "Users can't sign in" -p high -a alice -t bug auth
+tickets create "Add dark mode" -p low -t feature
+
+# List all tickets
+tickets list
+
+# Filter by status or priority
+tickets list -s todo
+tickets list -p critical
+
+# View details
+tickets view abc12345
+
+# Update a ticket
+tickets update abc12345 -s done -a bob
+tickets update abc12345 -t "Better title" -p critical
+
+# Delete a ticket
+tickets delete abc12345 -f
+```
+
+## Fields
+
+- **title** — short summary (required)
+- **description** — longer details (optional)
+- **priority** — `low`, `medium` (default), `high`, `critical`
+- **status** — `todo` (default), `in_progress`, `done`, `cancelled`
+- **assignee** — who's working on it (optional)
+- **tags** — list of labels (optional)
+
+## Storage
+
+All tickets are persisted to `~/.tickets/tickets.json`. Since this is a plain JSON file, you can version-control it with git or back it up easily.
+
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aff3c6c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+[build-system]
+requires = ["setuptools>=68.0", "wheel"]
+build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
+
+[project]
+name = "tickets"
+version = "0.1.0"
+description = "A lightweight CLI ticket tracker stored in git"
+readme = "README.md"
+requires-python = ">=3.10"
+license = {text = "MIT"}
+authors = [{name = "Arcline Dev", email = "dev@arcline-project.local"}]
+
+[project.scripts]
+tickets = "tickets.cli:entry_point"
+
+[project.optional-dependencies]
+dev = ["pytest>=8.0", "pytest-cov>=5.0"]
+
diff --git a/src/tickets/__init__.py b/src/tickets/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5e71c44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tickets/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+"""Tickets - A lightweight CLI ticket tracker."""
+
diff --git a/src/tickets/cli.py b/src/tickets/cli.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6550a05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tickets/cli.py
@@ -0,0 +1,218 @@
+"""Command-line interface for the tickets tool."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import argparse
+import sys
+import textwrap
+from datetime import datetime, timezone
+
+from tickets.models import Priority, Status, Ticket
+from tickets.store import DEFAULT_STORE_FILE, DEFAULT_STORE_DIR, TicketStore
+
+
+def _build_parser() -> argparse.ArgumentParser:
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
+        prog="tickets",
+        description="Lightweight CLI ticket tracker. Tickets are stored as JSON.",
+    )
+    sub = parser.add_subparsers(dest="command", required=True)
+
+    # ---- create ----
+    p_create = sub.add_parser("create", aliases=["c"], help="Create a new ticket")
+    p_create.add_argument("title", help="Ticket title")
+    p_create.add_argument("-d", "--description", default="", help="Description")
+    p_create.add_argument("-p", "--priority", default="medium",
+                          choices=[e.value for e in Priority], help="Priority level")
+    p_create.add_argument("-a", "--assignee", default="", help="Assignee")
+    p_create.add_argument("-t", "--tags", nargs="*", default=[], help="Tags")
+
+    # ---- list ----
+    p_list = sub.add_parser("list", aliases=["ls"], help="List tickets")
+    p_list.add_argument("-s", "--status", default=None,
+                        choices=[e.value for e in Status], help="Filter by status")
+    p_list.add_argument("-p", "--priority", default=None,
+                        choices=[e.value for e in Priority], help="Filter by priority")
+
+    # ---- view ----
+    p_view = sub.add_parser("view", aliases=["v", "show"], help="View a ticket")
+    p_view.add_argument("ticket_id", help="Ticket ID (short hash)")
+
+    # ---- update ----
+    p_update = sub.add_parser("update", aliases=["u"], help="Update a ticket")
+    p_update.add_argument("ticket_id", help="Ticket ID (short hash)")
+    p_update.add_argument("-t", "--title", default=None, help="New title")
+    p_update.add_argument("-d", "--description", default=None, help="New description")
+    p_update.add_argument("-p", "--priority", default=None,
+                          choices=[e.value for e in Priority], help="New priority")
+    p_update.add_argument("-s", "--status", default=None,
+                          choices=[e.value for e in Status], help="New status")
+    p_update.add_argument("-a", "--assignee", default=None, help="New assignee")
+    p_update.add_argument("--tags", nargs="*", default=None, help="New tags")
+
+    # ---- delete ----
+    p_delete = sub.add_parser("delete", aliases=["rm", "d"], help="Delete a ticket")
+    p_delete.add_argument("ticket_id", help="Ticket ID (short hash)")
+    p_delete.add_argument("--force", "-f", action="store_true", help="Skip confirmation")
+
+    return parser
+
+
+def _format_ticket(ticket: Ticket) -> str:
+    """Pretty-print a single ticket."""
+    header = (
+        f"{'=' * 60}\n"
+        f"  #{ticket.id}  {ticket.title}\n"
+        f"{'=' * 60}\n"
+        f"  Status:    {ticket.status.value:<12}  Priority:  {ticket.priority.value}\n"
+    )
+    if ticket.assignee:
+        header += f"  Assignee:  {ticket.assignee}\n"
+    if ticket.tags:
+        header += f"  Tags:      {', '.join(ticket.tags)}\n"
+    header += (
+        f"  Created:   {ticket.created_at}\n"
+        f"  Updated:   {ticket.updated_at}\n"
+    )
+    if ticket.description:
+        header += f"{'-' * 60}\n{textwrap.indent(ticket.description, '  ')}\n"
+    header += f"{'=' * 60}"
+    return header
+
+
+def _format_ticket_short(ticket: Ticket) -> str:
+    """Single-line ticket representation for list view."""
+    status_icon = {
+        Status.TODO:        "[ ]",
+        Status.IN_PROGRESS: "[~]",
+        Status.DONE:        "[✓]",
+        Status.CANCELLED:   "[x]",
+    }.get(ticket.status, "[?]")
+
+    return (
+        f"  {status_icon} #{ticket.id}  "
+        f"{ticket.priority.value:<8}  "
+        f"{ticket.title[:60]}"
+    )
+
+
+def cmd_create(store: TicketStore, args: argparse.Namespace) -> int:
+    ticket = Ticket(
+        title=args.title,
+        description=args.description,
+        priority=args.priority,
+        assignee=args.assignee,
+        tags=args.tags,
+    )
+    store.add(ticket)
+    print(f"Created ticket #{ticket.id}: {ticket.title}")
+    return 0
+
+
+def cmd_list(store: TicketStore, args: argparse.Namespace) -> int:
+    tickets = store.list_tickets(status=args.status, priority=args.priority)
+    if not tickets:
+        print("No tickets found.")
+        return 0
+    print(f"\n  Tickets ({len(tickets)}):")
+    print(f"  {'─' * 60}")
+    for t in tickets:
+        print(_format_ticket_short(t))
+    print()
+    return 0
+
+
+def cmd_view(store: TicketStore, args: argparse.Namespace) -> int:
+    ticket = _resolve_ticket(store, args.ticket_id)
+    if ticket is None:
+        return 1
+    print(_format_ticket(ticket))
+    return 0
+
+
+def cmd_update(store: TicketStore, args: argparse.Namespace) -> int:
+    ticket = _resolve_ticket(store, args.ticket_id)
+    if ticket is None:
+        return 1
+    ticket.update(
+        title=args.title,
+        description=args.description,
+        priority=args.priority,
+        status=args.status,
+        assignee=args.assignee,
+        tags=args.tags,
+    )
+    store[ticket.id] = ticket  # persist
+    print(f"Updated ticket #{ticket.id}: {ticket.title}")
+    return 0
+
+
+def cmd_delete(store: TicketStore, args: argparse.Namespace) -> int:
+    ticket = _resolve_ticket(store, args.ticket_id)
+    if ticket is None:
+        return 1
+    if not args.force:
+        print(_format_ticket(ticket))
+        try:
+            confirm = input(f"\nDelete ticket #{ticket.id}? [y/N] ").strip().lower()
+        except (EOFError, KeyboardInterrupt):
+            print("\nCancelled.")
+            return 1
+        if confirm not in ("y", "yes"):
+            print("Cancelled.")
+            return 0
+    del store[ticket.id]
+    print(f"Deleted ticket #{ticket.id}")
+    return 0
+
+
+def _resolve_ticket(store: TicketStore, ticket_id: str) -> Ticket | None:
+    if ticket_id not in store:
+        # Try prefix matching
+        matches = [tid for tid in store if tid.startswith(ticket_id)]
+        if len(matches) == 1:
+            return store[matches[0]]
+        if len(matches) > 1:
+            print(f"Ambiguous ID prefix '{ticket_id}'. Matches: {', '.join(matches)}")
+            return None
+        print(f"Ticket '#{ticket_id}' not found.")
+        return None
+    return store[ticket_id]
+
+
+def main(argv: list[str] | None = None) -> int:
+    parser = _build_parser()
+    args = parser.parse_args(argv)
+    store = TicketStore()
+
+    handlers = {
+        "create": cmd_create,
+        "c":      cmd_create,
+        "list":   cmd_list,
+        "ls":     cmd_list,
+        "view":   cmd_view,
+        "v":      cmd_view,
+        "show":   cmd_view,
+        "update": cmd_update,
+        "u":      cmd_update,
+        "delete": cmd_delete,
+        "rm":     cmd_delete,
+        "d":      cmd_delete,
+    }
+
+    handler = handlers.get(args.command)
+    if handler is None:
+        print(f"Unknown command: {args.command}", file=sys.stderr)
+        return 1
+
+    return handler(store, args)
+
+
+def entry_point() -> None:
+    """Thin wrapper that calls main and exits; used as console_scripts entry."""
+    sys.exit(main())
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    entry_point()
+
diff --git a/src/tickets/models.py b/src/tickets/models.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c989af1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tickets/models.py
@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+"""Ticket data models."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import uuid
+from datetime import datetime, timezone
+from enum import Enum
+from typing import Self
+
+
+class Priority(str, Enum):
+    LOW = "low"
+    MEDIUM = "medium"
+    HIGH = "high"
+    CRITICAL = "critical"
+
+
+class Status(str, Enum):
+    TODO = "todo"
+    IN_PROGRESS = "in_progress"
+    DONE = "done"
+    CANCELLED = "cancelled"
+
+
+class Ticket:
+    """Represents a single ticket."""
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        title: str,
+        description: str = "",
+        priority: Priority = Priority.MEDIUM,
+        status: Status = Status.TODO,
+        assignee: str = "",
+        tags: list[str] | None = None,
+        ticket_id: str | None = None,
+        created_at: str | None = None,
+        updated_at: str | None = None,
+    ) -> None:
+        self.id = ticket_id or str(uuid.uuid4())[:8]
+        self.title = title
+        self.description = description
+        self.priority = priority if isinstance(priority, Priority) else Priority(priority)
+        self.status = status if isinstance(status, Status) else Status(status)
+        self.assignee = assignee
+        self.tags: list[str] = tags or []
+        self.created_at = created_at or datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat()
+        self.updated_at = updated_at or self.created_at
+
+    def to_dict(self) -> dict:
+        return {
+            "id": self.id,
+            "title": self.title,
+            "description": self.description,
+            "priority": self.priority.value,
+            "status": self.status.value,
+            "assignee": self.assignee,
+            "tags": self.tags,
+            "created_at": self.created_at,
+            "updated_at": self.updated_at,
+        }
+
+    @classmethod
+    def from_dict(cls, data: dict) -> Self:
+        return cls(
+            ticket_id=data["id"],
+            title=data["title"],
+            description=data.get("description", ""),
+            priority=data.get("priority", "medium"),
+            status=data.get("status", "todo"),
+            assignee=data.get("assignee", ""),
+            tags=data.get("tags", []),
+            created_at=data["created_at"],
+            updated_at=data["updated_at"],
+        )
+
+    def update(
+        self,
+        title: str | None = None,
+        description: str | None = None,
+        priority: Priority | str | None = None,
+        status: Status | str | None = None,
+        assignee: str | None = None,
+        tags: list[str] | None = None,
+    ) -> None:
+        """Update mutable fields and bump updated_at."""
+        if title is not None:
+            self.title = title
+        if description is not None:
+            self.description = description
+        if priority is not None:
+            self.priority = priority if isinstance(priority, Priority) else Priority(priority)
+        if status is not None:
+            self.status = status if isinstance(status, Status) else Status(status)
+        if assignee is not None:
+            self.assignee = assignee
+        if tags is not None:
+            self.tags = tags
+        self.updated_at = datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat()
+
diff --git a/src/tickets/store.py b/src/tickets/store.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..383f27b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tickets/store.py
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+"""JSON-file-backed ticket persistence layer."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import json
+import os
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import MutableMapping
+
+from tickets.models import Ticket
+
+DEFAULT_STORE_DIR = Path.home() / ".tickets"
+DEFAULT_STORE_FILE = "tickets.json"
+
+
+class TicketStore(MutableMapping[str, Ticket]):
+    """Dictionary-like store that persists tickets as JSON.
+
+    Tickets are keyed by their short ID string.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, filepath: str | Path | None = None) -> None:
+        if filepath is None:
+            filepath = DEFAULT_STORE_DIR / DEFAULT_STORE_FILE
+        self._filepath = Path(filepath)
+        self._tickets: dict[str, Ticket] = {}
+        self._load()
+
+    # -- dict-like interface ------------------------------------------------
+
+    def __getitem__(self, key: str) -> Ticket:
+        return self._tickets[key]
+
+    def __setitem__(self, key: str, value: Ticket) -> None:
+        self._tickets[key] = value
+        self._save()
+
+    def __delitem__(self, key: str) -> None:
+        del self._tickets[key]
+        self._save()
+
+    def __iter__(self):
+        return iter(self._tickets)
+
+    def __len__(self) -> int:
+        return len(self._tickets)
+
+    def __contains__(self, key: object) -> bool:
+        return key in self._tickets
+
+    # -- persistence --------------------------------------------------------
+
+    def _load(self) -> None:
+        if not self._filepath.exists():
+            return
+        try:
+            data = json.loads(self._filepath.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
+        except (json.JSONDecodeError, OSError):
+            return
+        if not isinstance(data, list):
+            return
+        self._tickets = {
+            t.id: t
+            for item in data
+            if isinstance(item, dict)
+            for t in [Ticket.from_dict(item)]
+        }
+
+    def _save(self) -> None:
+        self._filepath.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+        data = [t.to_dict() for t in self._tickets.values()]
+        self._filepath.write_text(
+            json.dumps(data, indent=2, ensure_ascii=False) + "\n",
+            encoding="utf-8",
+        )
+
+    # -- helpers -------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    def list_tickets(
+        self,
+        status: str | None = None,
+        priority: str | None = None,
+    ) -> list[Ticket]:
+        """Return tickets, optionally filtered by status or priority."""
+        results = list(self._tickets.values())
+        if status is not None:
+            results = [t for t in results if t.status.value == status]
+        if priority is not None:
+            results = [t for t in results if t.priority.value == priority]
+        return sorted(results, key=lambda t: t.updated_at, reverse=True)
+
+    def add(self, ticket: Ticket) -> Ticket:
+        """Add a ticket and persist immediately."""
+        self._tickets[ticket.id] = ticket
+        self._save()
+        return ticket
+
diff --git a/tests/__init__.py b/tests/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/tests/test_tickets.py b/tests/test_tickets.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df3e594
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_tickets.py
@@ -0,0 +1,154 @@
+"""Tests for the tickets package."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import json
+import tempfile
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import pytest
+
+from tickets.cli import main
+from tickets.models import Priority, Status, Ticket
+from tickets.store import TicketStore
+
+
+class TestTicketModel:
+    def test_create_minimal_ticket(self) -> None:
+        t = Ticket(title="Fix login bug")
+        assert t.title == "Fix login bug"
+        assert t.description == ""
+        assert t.priority == Priority.MEDIUM
+        assert t.status == Status.TODO
+        assert t.id and len(t.id) == 8
+
+    def test_create_full_ticket(self) -> None:
+        t = Ticket(
+            title="Deploy v2.0",
+            description="Ship the new release",
+            priority=Priority.CRITICAL,
+            status=Status.IN_PROGRESS,
+            assignee="alice",
+            tags=["deploy", "urgent"],
+        )
+        assert t.priority == Priority.CRITICAL
+        assert t.status == Status.IN_PROGRESS
+        assert t.assignee == "alice"
+        assert "urgent" in t.tags
+
+    def test_roundtrip_dict(self) -> None:
+        t = Ticket(title="Test", description="desc", tags=["a", "b"])
+        rt = Ticket.from_dict(t.to_dict())
+        assert rt.title == t.title
+        assert rt.description == t.description
+        assert rt.tags == t.tags
+        assert rt.priority == t.priority
+
+    def test_update_fields(self) -> None:
+        t = Ticket(title="Old")
+        t.update(title="New", status="done", priority="high")
+        assert t.title == "New"
+        assert t.status == Status.DONE
+        assert t.priority == Priority.HIGH
+        assert t.updated_at != t.created_at
+
+    def test_accept_enum_or_string(self) -> None:
+        t = Ticket(title="X", priority=Priority.LOW, status=Status.DONE)
+        assert t.priority == Priority.LOW
+        t.update(priority="critical", status="cancelled")
+        assert t.priority == Priority.CRITICAL
+        assert t.status == Status.CANCELLED
+
+
+class TestTicketStore:
+    def test_add_and_retrieve(self) -> None:
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as d:
+            fp = Path(d) / "t.json"
+            store = TicketStore(fp)
+            t = Ticket(title="Hello")
+            store.add(t)
+            assert t.id in store
+            assert store[t.id].title == "Hello"
+
+    def test_delete(self) -> None:
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as d:
+            fp = Path(d) / "t.json"
+            store = TicketStore(fp)
+            store.add(Ticket(title="rm me"))
+            tid = next(iter(store))
+            del store[tid]
+            assert tid not in store
+
+    def test_list_filtering(self) -> None:
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as d:
+            fp = Path(d) / "t.json"
+            store = TicketStore(fp)
+            store.add(Ticket("a", status=Status.TODO, priority=Priority.LOW))
+            store.add(Ticket("b", status=Status.DONE, priority=Priority.HIGH))
+            store.add(Ticket("c", status=Status.DONE, priority=Priority.LOW))
+            assert len(store.list_tickets(status="done")) == 2
+            assert len(store.list_tickets(priority="high")) == 1
+
+    def test_persists_to_disk(self) -> None:
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as d:
+            fp = Path(d) / "t.json"
+            store = TicketStore(fp)
+            store.add(Ticket("persist"))
+            assert fp.exists()
+            # Reload
+            store2 = TicketStore(fp)
+            assert len(store2) == 1
+
+
+class TestCLI:
+    def test_create_and_view(self, tmp_path: Path, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch) -> None:
+        fp = tmp_path / "t.json"
+        monkeypatch.setattr("tickets.cli.TicketStore", lambda: TicketStore(fp))
+
+        main(["create", "My ticket", "-d", "desc", "-p", "high"])
+        store = TicketStore(fp)
+        assert len(store) == 1
+        tid = next(iter(store))
+
+        main(["view", tid])
+        main(["list", "-s", "todo"])
+        main(["list"])
+
+    def test_update(self, tmp_path: Path, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch) -> None:
+        fp = tmp_path / "t.json"
+        monkeypatch.setattr("tickets.cli.TicketStore", lambda: TicketStore(fp))
+
+        main(["create", "Old title"])
+        store = TicketStore(fp)
+        tid = next(iter(store))
+
+        main(["update", tid, "-t", "New title", "-s", "done"])
+        store2 = TicketStore(fp)
+        assert store2[tid].title == "New title"
+        assert store2[tid].status == Status.DONE
+
+    def test_delete_with_force(self, tmp_path: Path, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch) -> None:
+        fp = tmp_path / "t.json"
+        monkeypatch.setattr("tickets.cli.TicketStore", lambda: TicketStore(fp))
+
+        main(["create", "To delete"])
+        store = TicketStore(fp)
+        assert len(store) == 1
+        tid = next(iter(store))
+
+        main(["delete", tid, "--force"])
+        store2 = TicketStore(fp)
+        assert len(store2) == 0
+
+    def test_prefix_match(self, tmp_path: Path, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch) -> None:
+        fp = tmp_path / "t.json"
+        monkeypatch.setattr("tickets.cli.TicketStore", lambda: TicketStore(fp))
+
+        main(["create", "Ticket 1"])
+        store = TicketStore(fp)
+        tid = next(iter(store))
+        prefix = tid[:4]
+
+        # Should resolve via prefix
+        main(["view", prefix])
+