feat(release): CI, issue templates, PR template, CHANGELOG, v1.0.0 README

.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.yml

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+name: Bug Report
+description: Something is broken — wrong check.py gate, bad link, crash, incorrect task
+labels: ["bug"]
+body:
+  - type: markdown
+    attributes:
+      value: |
+        Thanks for the report! Please be as specific as possible.
+
+  - type: input
+    id: location
+    attributes:
+      label: Location
+      description: "Which file or mission? e.g. level_3/missions/02_pydantic_models/check.py"
+      placeholder: "level_X/missions/YY_name/check.py"
+    validations:
+      required: true
+
+  - type: textarea
+    id: what-happened
+    attributes:
+      label: What happened?
+      description: What did you run, what did you expect, what did you get instead?
+      placeholder: |
+        Ran: uv run python level_3/missions/02_pydantic_models/check.py
+        Expected: ✓ all gates pass
+        Got: ❌ Gate 3 fails even with correct implementation
+    validations:
+      required: true
+
+  - type: textarea
+    id: reproduction
+    attributes:
+      label: Minimal reproduction
+      description: Paste the relevant part of your task.py (or check.py output)
+      render: python
+
+  - type: input
+    id: python-version
+    attributes:
+      label: Python version
+      placeholder: "uv run python --version"
+    validations:
+      required: false

.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/content_issue.yml

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+name: Content Issue
+description: Unclear README, misleading docstring, wrong explanation, typo
+labels: ["content"]
+body:
+  - type: input
+    id: location
+    attributes:
+      label: Location
+      description: "File path, e.g. level_2/missions/03_character_base/README.md"
+      placeholder: "level_X/missions/YY_name/README.md"
+    validations:
+      required: true
+
+  - type: textarea
+    id: what-is-confusing
+    attributes:
+      label: What is confusing or wrong?
+      description: Quote the exact text and explain what should be different
+    validations:
+      required: true
+
+  - type: textarea
+    id: suggested-fix
+    attributes:
+      label: Suggested improvement (optional)
+      description: How would you rewrite it?
+    validations:
+      required: false

.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/feature_request.yml

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+name: Feature Request
+description: Suggest an improvement to an existing mission, project, or tool
+labels: ["enhancement"]
+body:
+  - type: markdown
+    attributes:
+      value: |
+        For entirely new missions or projects, please use the **New Mission / Project Proposal** template instead.
+
+  - type: input
+    id: location
+    attributes:
+      label: Location
+      description: Which file or component would this improve?
+      placeholder: "e.g. level_3/missions/04_json_files/README.md"
+    validations:
+      required: true
+
+  - type: textarea
+    id: problem
+    attributes:
+      label: What problem does this solve?
+      description: Describe the friction or gap a student hits today
+    validations:
+      required: true
+
+  - type: textarea
+    id: solution
+    attributes:
+      label: Proposed solution
+      description: What would you change and how?
+    validations:
+      required: true
+
+  - type: dropdown
+    id: scope
+    attributes:
+      label: Estimated scope
+      options:
+        - Tiny — wording / typo fix
+        - Small — a few lines in README or task.py
+        - Medium — new check.py gate or task variant
+        - Large — structural change to mission/project
+    validations:
+      required: true

.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/new_mission.yml

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+name: New Mission / Project Proposal
+description: Suggest a new mission or checkpoint project for the course
+labels: ["enhancement", "content"]
+body:
+  - type: markdown
+    attributes:
+      value: |
+        Use this template to propose a new mission (focused concept exercise) or project (multi-concept checkpoint).
+
+  - type: dropdown
+    id: type
+    attributes:
+      label: Type
+      options:
+        - Mission (single concept, ~30 min)
+        - Project checkpoint (multi-concept, ~1–2 h)
+    validations:
+      required: true
+
+  - type: dropdown
+    id: level
+    attributes:
+      label: Level
+      options:
+        - Level 1 — Python Basics
+        - Level 2 — OOP and Design
+        - Level 3 — Validation and Persistence
+        - Level 4 — Interfaces
+        - Level 5 — Maintainability
+        - Level 6 — API
+        - Level 7 — Concurrency
+    validations:
+      required: true
+
+  - type: input
+    id: concept
+    attributes:
+      label: Python concept taught
+      placeholder: "e.g. dataclasses.asdict, functools.lru_cache, contextlib.contextmanager"
+    validations:
+      required: true
+
+  - type: textarea
+    id: game-connection
+    attributes:
+      label: RPG connection
+      description: How does this concept connect to the RPG game? What mechanic does it add?
+      placeholder: "e.g. lru_cache speeds up repeated monster stat lookups in a battle simulator"
+    validations:
+      required: true
+
+  - type: textarea
+    id: why
+    attributes:
+      label: Why should this be in the course?
+      description: What gap does it fill? What would a student be able to do after completing it?
+    validations:
+      required: true

.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md

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+## What does this PR do?
+
+<!-- One sentence. "Add Mission X", "Fix check.py gate Y", "Refactor Z" -->
+
+## Type
+
+- [ ] New mission / project
+- [ ] Bug fix (broken check.py, wrong scaffold, bad link)
+- [ ] Content fix (README, task.py clarity, docstring)
+- [ ] Tooling (author_check, course_status, CI)
+- [ ] Other
+
+## Checklist
+
+- [ ] `uv run python tools/author_check.py` — 0 errors
+- [ ] New missions have: `README.md`, `task.py` (with `raise NotImplementedError`), `check.py` (with `raise SystemExit(1)` on failure)
+- [ ] New projects have: `README.md`, `check.py`
+- [ ] check.py uses `sys.executable`, not `"uv", "run", "python"` in subprocess calls
+- [ ] No solution code leaked into `task.py`
+- [ ] README commands run from repo root
+- [ ] COURSE_MAP.md updated if structure changed

.github/workflows/ci.yml

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+name: CI
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [main]
+  pull_request:
+    branches: [main]
+
+jobs:
+  author-check:
+    name: Author Check
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Install uv
+        uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v5
+        with:
+          version: "latest"
+
+      - name: Set up Python
+        run: uv python install 3.12
+
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: uv sync --all-groups
+
+      - name: Run author_check.py
+        run: uv run python tools/author_check.py
+
+      - name: Lint repo tooling (tools/)
+        run: uv run ruff check tools/
+
+      - name: Smoke test — entry point
+        run: uv run rpg --help