chore: initial commit — Buddy v0.1.0 (Phase A complete)

Buddy is born. First commit of a new standalone WordPress plugin —
the spiritual successor to the tamagotchi that once lived inside
A-WP-Notes v1.1.5 (gracefully retired). Rebuilt from scratch with
all the v3-discipline lessons baked in from day one.

PHASE A — pet exists
- Dashboard widget at WP Admin → Dashboard showing SVG character +
  name + mood label + four stats bars.
- Dedicated admin page at WP Admin → Buddy → My Buddy (bigger view).
- About page with side-by-side intro + plain-prose cards (Logbook
  About-page pattern carried forward).
- Settings page with name-rename form + Updates panel.
- Per-user state in user_meta key buddy_state (each WP admin gets
  their own pet, no shared state).
- Inline SVG sprite renderer with three mood tones (happy/neutral/
  sad) and three sizes (sm/md/lg). CSS keyframe animations: bobbing
  + periodic blinking. Zero image files.
- Self-hosted update checker wired up from commit 1, ported from
  Logbook v3.3.5: /releases/latest with /tags?limit=1 fallback,
  12h success cache / 1h negative cache. UI on Settings page.
- dashicons-pets admin-menu icon — literal paw-print, brand match.

ARCHITECTURE LOCKED FROM COMMIT 1
- Single-word brand name "Buddy" — no WP prefix, no future rebrand.
- Public GPL v2+ Gitea repo (ranger/a-buddy).
- Constants prefix BUDDY_*, function prefix buddy_*, text domain
  buddy. Clean naming throughout — none of Logbook's wp-notes-*
  historical-artifact baggage.
- Single H1 per admin page, no nested toggle boxes, no duplicate
  sections — Tier-1 discipline carried forward from Logbook.
- All assets local (inline SVG, plain CSS), no third-party CDN,
  no Gravatar-style external pings.

NOT IN THIS RELEASE (planned)
- Phase B — Feed/Play/Clean/Sleep interactions + cooldown timers.
- Phase C — WP-cron decay + "Buddy is hungry" dismissible notices
  (port the persistent-dismissal pattern from Logbook).
- Phase D — Multiple species (dog, dragon, sprite), per-species
  personality phrases.
- Phase E — Site-health hook: pet stats react to wp_get_site_health()
  results. The killer feature.
- Phase F — Pro tier (€2.99 lifetime) with custom skins + multi-pet.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+# Changelog
+
+All notable changes to **Buddy** are documented here.
+Format: [Keep a Changelog 1.1.0](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/) — versioning: [SemVer](https://semver.org/).
+
+---
+
+## [Unreleased]
+
+---
+
+## [0.1.0] — 2026-05-25
+
+**Buddy is born.** First release of a new standalone WordPress plugin extracted-and-rebuilt from the tamagotchi feature that once lived inside A-WP-Notes v1.1.5 (now gracefully retired). Buddy stands on its own as a focused, charming companion plugin for the WordPress dashboard.
+
+### Added — Phase A complete (pet exists)
+- **Dashboard widget** at WP Admin → Dashboard showing the SVG character, the pet's name, a mood label ("Thriving" / "Content" / "Okay" / "Hungry" / "Distressed"), and four stat bars (Hunger / Happiness / Health / Energy).
+- **Dedicated admin page** at WP Admin → Buddy → My Buddy showing the same data in a larger format with the pet's age and a placeholder note describing what's coming next.
+- **About page** at WP Admin → Buddy → About with the side-by-side intro pattern, "What Buddy does" / "Who Buddy is for" / "Version history" cards, and a link to this CHANGELOG.md.
+- **Settings page** at WP Admin → Buddy → Settings with a name-rename form and the Updates panel.
+- **Per-user state storage** via `user_meta` (key: `buddy_state`). Each WP admin gets their own Buddy with its own name, species, and stats.
+- **SVG sprite renderer** with three mood tones (happy / neutral / sad) and three sizes (sm / md / lg). Pure inline SVG with CSS keyframe animations (bobbing motion + periodic blinking). No GIFs, no sprite sheets, no image files for the character.
+- **Self-hosted update checker** wired up to the Gitea repo from commit 1. Polls `/api/v1/repos/ranger/a-buddy/releases/latest` with a `/tags?limit=1` fallback. 12h success cache, 1h negative cache. UI surface lives on the Settings page.
+- **Custom admin-menu icon** (`dashicons-pets`, a paw print) reinforcing the pet identity.
+
+### Architecture (locked from day one)
+- **Single-word brand name `Buddy`** — no "WP" prefix, no marketplace trademark hurdle.
+- **Public GPL v2+ Gitea repo** at `ranger/a-buddy` on `git.davidtkeane.com`.
+- **All persistent notice dismissals** to use `user_meta` + AJAX pattern (port from Logbook when first notice appears).
+- **CSS-only animations, all assets local** — bundle stays small.
+- **Single H1 per admin page**, no nested toggle boxes, no duplicate sections — Tier-1 discipline carried forward from Logbook.
+
+### Not in this release (planned)
+- Phase B — Feed / Play / Clean / Sleep interactions with cooldown timers.
+- Phase C — WP-cron stat decay, "Buddy is hungry" dismissible admin notices.
+- Phase D — Multiple species (dog, dragon, sprite), per-species personality phrases.
+- Phase E — Site-health integration: pet stats react to `wp_get_site_health()` results, outdated plugins drain health, published posts feed hunger, cleared spam boosts happiness.
+- Phase F — Pro tier with custom skins, multi-pet farm, social visits.