diff --git a/migrations/0001_initial.down.sql b/migrations/0001_initial.down.sql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a93283a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/migrations/0001_initial.down.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+DROP TABLE IF EXISTS todo_tags;
+DROP TABLE IF EXISTS todos;
diff --git a/migrations/0001_initial.up.sql b/migrations/0001_initial.up.sql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e9c7761
--- /dev/null
+++ b/migrations/0001_initial.up.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS todos (
+    id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
+    text TEXT NOT NULL,
+    priority TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT 'medium',
+    project TEXT,
+    created_at TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT (strftime('%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ', 'now')),
+    completed_at TEXT
+);
+
+CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS todo_tags (
+    todo_id INTEGER NOT NULL REFERENCES todos(id) ON DELETE CASCADE,
+    tag TEXT NOT NULL,
+    PRIMARY KEY (todo_id, tag)
+);
diff --git a/src/db.rs b/src/db.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d185e57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/db.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,151 @@
+use std::env;
+use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
+
+use anyhow::{Context, Result};
+use sqlx::sqlite::{SqliteConnectOptions, SqlitePoolOptions};
+use sqlx::SqlitePool;
+
+use crate::model::{Priority, Todo};
+
+pub type Pool = SqlitePool;
+
+// resolve the global todo database path
+pub fn db_path() -> Result<PathBuf> {
+    if let Ok(path) = env::var("TODO_DB") {
+        return Ok(PathBuf::from(path));
+    }
+
+    let data_dir = dirs::data_dir()
+        .context("cannot determine data directory")?
+        .join("todo");
+
+    std::fs::create_dir_all(&data_dir)
+        .with_context(|| format!("cannot create {}", data_dir.display()))?;
+
+    Ok(data_dir.join("todos.db"))
+}
+
+pub async fn connect() -> Result<Pool> {
+    let path = db_path()?;
+
+    let options = SqliteConnectOptions::new()
+        .filename(&path)
+        .create_if_missing(true)
+        .foreign_keys(true);
+
+    let pool = SqlitePoolOptions::new()
+        .max_connections(1)
+        .connect_with(options)
+        .await
+        .context("cannot open database")?;
+
+    sqlx::migrate!("./migrations")
+        .run(&pool)
+        .await
+        .context("cannot run migrations")?;
+
+    Ok(pool)
+}
+
+// detect git repo root by walking up from cwd
+pub fn detect_project() -> Option<String> {
+    let cwd = env::current_dir().ok()?;
+    let mut dir: &Path = &cwd;
+
+    loop {
+        if dir.join(".git").exists() {
+            return Some(dir.to_string_lossy().into_owned());
+        }
+        dir = dir.parent()?;
+    }
+}
+
+fn priority_to_str(p: &Priority) -> &'static str {
+    match p {
+        Priority::Low => "low",
+        Priority::Medium => "medium",
+        Priority::High => "high",
+        Priority::Critical => "critical",
+    }
+}
+
+pub async fn insert_todo(
+    pool: &Pool,
+    text: &str,
+    priority: &Priority,
+    project: Option<&str>,
+    tags: &[String],
+) -> Result<Todo> {
+    let pri_str = priority_to_str(priority);
+
+    let row = sqlx::query_scalar::<_, i64>(
+        "INSERT INTO todos (text, priority, project) VALUES (?1, ?2, ?3) RETURNING id",
+    )
+    .bind(text)
+    .bind(pri_str)
+    .bind(project)
+    .fetch_one(pool)
+    .await
+    .context("cannot insert todo")?;
+
+    let id = row;
+
+    for tag in tags {
+        sqlx::query("INSERT INTO todo_tags (todo_id, tag) VALUES (?1, ?2)")
+            .bind(id)
+            .bind(tag)
+            .execute(pool)
+            .await
+            .context("cannot insert tag")?;
+    }
+
+    // fetch the full row back
+    fetch_todo(pool, id).await
+}
+
+pub async fn fetch_todo(pool: &Pool, id: i64) -> Result<Todo> {
+    let row = sqlx::query_as::<_, TodoRow>(
+        "SELECT id, text, priority, project, created_at, completed_at FROM todos WHERE id = ?1",
+    )
+    .bind(id)
+    .fetch_optional(pool)
+    .await
+    .context("cannot fetch todo")?
+    .with_context(|| format!("todo {id} not found"))?;
+
+    let tags = sqlx::query_scalar::<_, String>(
+        "SELECT tag FROM todo_tags WHERE todo_id = ?1 ORDER BY tag",
+    )
+    .bind(id)
+    .fetch_all(pool)
+    .await
+    .context("cannot fetch tags")?;
+
+    Ok(row.into_todo(tags))
+}
+
+// internal row type for sqlx FromRow
+#[derive(sqlx::FromRow)]
+struct TodoRow {
+    id: i64,
+    text: String,
+    priority: String,
+    project: Option<String>,
+    created_at: chrono::DateTime<chrono::Utc>,
+    completed_at: Option<chrono::DateTime<chrono::Utc>>,
+}
+
+impl TodoRow {
+    fn into_todo(self, tags: Vec<String>) -> Todo {
+        let priority = self.priority.parse().unwrap_or_default();
+        Todo {
+            id: self.id,
+            text: self.text,
+            priority,
+            project: self.project,
+            tags,
+            created_at: self.created_at,
+            completed_at: self.completed_at,
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index e7a11a9..79a8280 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
-fn main() {
-    println!("Hello, world!");
+mod db;
+mod model;
+
+#[tokio::main(flavor = "current_thread")]
+async fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+    let _pool = db::connect().await?;
+    println!("database ready at {}", db::db_path()?.display());
+    Ok(())
 }