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+# core-api — the repo's command surface (D-27).
+#
+# Paths resolve here rather than in callers (D-10). `python3` on this host is
+# 3.8 and cannot parse these sources, and a bare `pytest` resolves only in a
+# login shell — so both are named explicitly through the venv.
+
+VENV   := $(CURDIR)/.venv
+PYTHON ?= python3.12
+
+.DEFAULT_GOAL := help
+
+.PHONY: help
+help: ## Show this help
+	@grep -hE '^[a-z][a-z0-9_-]*:.*?## ' $(MAKEFILE_LIST) \
+	  | awk 'BEGIN{FS=":.*?## "}{printf "  \033[36m%-14s\033[0m %s\n", $$1, $$2}'
+
+.PHONY: setup
+setup: ## Create the venv and install dependencies
+	$(PYTHON) -m venv .venv
+	$(VENV)/bin/pip install -r requirements.txt -r dev-requirements.txt
+
+.PHONY: test
+test: ## Run the test suite
+	@test -x $(VENV)/bin/python || { echo "FAIL — no venv; run: make setup"; exit 1; }
+	$(VENV)/bin/python -m pytest tests/
+
+# No `lint` target, deliberately. This repo configures no linter — no ruff or
+# flake8 config, and neither in requirements. Per D-27 the name is reserved for
+# repos that lint; an empty target here would report clean for something never
+# run. Add the target when a linter is added, not before.