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--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+# Rhythm Backend
+
+High-performance Rust backend for a lightweight issue tracking platform focused on team execution.
+
+## Main Objective
+
+Build a simple, reliable issue tracker where teams can:
+
+- Create and manage projects
+- Add users to projects with role-based permissions
+- Create, update, and track issues with practical metadata
+- Organize work through Kanban and Scrum views
+
+The first version prioritizes clean CRUD, clear access control, and fast text search on plain-text issue data.
+Encryption and advanced collaboration features can be added in later iterations.
+
+## How To Start
+
+1. Lock the V1 scope
+   - Entities: `users`, `projects`, `project_members`, `issues`
+   - Roles: `owner`, `maintainer`, `member`, `viewer`
+   - Issue fields: `title`, `description`, `status`, `priority`, `type`, `assignee_id`, `reporter_id`, optional `sprint_id`, timestamps
+   - Keep Kanban and Scrum as filtered endpoints first (not separate DB models)
+
+2. Bootstrap the Rust service
+   - Stack: `axum`, `tokio`, `sqlx`, `postgres`, `tracing`
+   - Suggested modules: `http/`, `service/`, `repo/`, `model/`, `auth/`, `db/`
+   - First route: `GET /health`
+
+3. Build the database first
+   - Migrations for `users`, `projects`, `project_members`, `issues`
+   - Add unique constraint on `(project_id, user_id)` in memberships
+   - Add indexes for issue listing and filtering
+   - Add `tsvector` + `GIN` index for title/description full-text search
+
+4. Implement CRUD vertical slices
+   - Projects: create, read, update
+   - Memberships: add member, update role, remove member
+   - Issues: create, list with filters + pagination, update, delete/soft-delete
+
+5. Add board endpoints
+   - Kanban endpoint grouped by status
+   - Scrum endpoints for sprint + backlog views
+   - Keep these as query/aggregation logic on top of `issues`
+
+6. Harden the service
+   - Add authentication (JWT or session)
+   - Enforce role checks per project
+   - Add request validation and consistent error responses
+   - Add integration tests for permissions and issue lifecycle
+   - Add slow-query logging and tune key SQL with `EXPLAIN ANALYZE`
+
+## Technical Direction
+
+- Language: Rust
+- API: REST
+- Database: PostgreSQL
+- Search: PostgreSQL full-text search (`tsvector` + `GIN` indexes)
+- Scale target: under 1M issues
+
+## Notes
+
+- Keep handlers thin, business rules in services, SQL in repository layer
+- Prefer cursor pagination over deep offset pagination
+- Add external search only when Postgres full-text search becomes limiting
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index e7a11a9..57661ce 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
-fn main() {
-    println!("Hello, world!");
+use axum::{Router, routing::get};
+
+#[tokio::main]
+async fn main() {
+    let app = Router::new()
+        .route("/", get(|| async { "hello world" }))
+        .route("/health", get(|| async { "ok" }));
+
+    let listener = tokio::net::TcpListener::bind("0.0.0.0:8080").await.unwrap();
+    axum::serve(listener, app).await.unwrap();
 }