diff --git a/src/model.rs b/src/model.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0c2fa32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/model.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+use chrono::{DateTime, Utc};
+
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq, Eq, PartialOrd, Ord)]
+pub enum Priority {
+    Low,
+    Medium,
+    High,
+    Critical,
+}
+
+impl Default for Priority {
+    fn default() -> Self {
+        Self::Medium
+    }
+}
+
+impl std::fmt::Display for Priority {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut std::fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> std::fmt::Result {
+        match self {
+            Self::Low => write!(f, "low"),
+            Self::Medium => write!(f, "med"),
+            Self::High => write!(f, "high"),
+            Self::Critical => write!(f, "CRIT"),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl std::str::FromStr for Priority {
+    type Err = anyhow::Error;
+
+    fn from_str(s: &str) -> Result<Self, Self::Err> {
+        match s.to_lowercase().as_str() {
+            "low" | "l" | "1" => Ok(Self::Low),
+            "medium" | "med" | "m" | "2" => Ok(Self::Medium),
+            "high" | "hi" | "h" | "3" => Ok(Self::High),
+            "critical" | "crit" | "c" | "4" => Ok(Self::Critical),
+            _ => anyhow::bail!("invalid priority: {s} (use low/medium/high/critical)"),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
+pub struct Todo {
+    pub id: i64,
+    pub text: String,
+    pub priority: Priority,
+    pub project: Option<String>,
+    pub tags: Vec<String>,
+    pub created_at: DateTime<Utc>,
+    pub completed_at: Option<DateTime<Utc>>,
+}
+
+impl Todo {
+    pub fn is_done(&self) -> bool {
+        self.completed_at.is_some()
+    }
+
+    /// short project name (last path component)
+    pub fn project_short(&self) -> Option<&str> {
+        self.project
+            .as_deref()
+            .and_then(|p| p.rsplit('/').next())
+    }
+}