diff --git a/packages/core/src/gitea/client.test.ts b/packages/core/src/gitea/client.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5e02528
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/core/src/gitea/client.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,136 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+
+import { createGiteaClient, normalizeIssue } from './client.js'
+import { GiteaApiError, type FetchLike, type GiteaConfig, type GiteaRequestInit } from './types.js'
+
+const CONFIG: GiteaConfig = {
+  baseUrl: 'https://gitea.stephenmann.io',
+  token: 'tok_secret',
+  owner: 'christian',
+  repo: 'commitea',
+}
+
+/** Raw gitea issue JSON as the API returns it. */
+const RAW_ISSUE = {
+  number: 9,
+  title: 'Deterministic scheduler',
+  body: 'topo order → dated plan',
+  state: 'open',
+  labels: [{ name: 'est/5d' }, { name: 'p/1' }, { name: 'deadline/hard' }],
+  milestone: { id: 7, title: 'P2 — Scheduler + Monte Carlo', due_on: '2026-09-01T00:00:00Z' },
+  assignee: { login: 'christian' },
+  assignees: [{ login: 'christian' }, { login: 'stephen' }],
+  created_at: '2026-07-08T00:00:00Z',
+  updated_at: '2026-07-08T01:00:00Z',
+  closed_at: null,
+  html_url: 'https://gitea.stephenmann.io/christian/commitea/issues/9',
+}
+
+/** A stub fetch that records calls and returns a canned 200 JSON body. */
+function stubFetch(body: unknown, status = 200): {
+  fetch: FetchLike
+  calls: { url: string; init?: GiteaRequestInit }[]
+} {
+  const calls: { url: string; init?: GiteaRequestInit }[] = []
+  const fetch: FetchLike = (url, init) => {
+    calls.push({ url, init })
+    return Promise.resolve({
+      ok: status >= 200 && status < 300,
+      status,
+      json: () => Promise.resolve(body),
+      text: () => Promise.resolve(typeof body === 'string' ? body : JSON.stringify(body)),
+    })
+  }
+  return { fetch, calls }
+}
+
+describe('createGiteaClient.getIssue', () => {
+  it('returns a normalized, typed issue from canned JSON', async () => {
+    const { fetch } = stubFetch(RAW_ISSUE)
+    const issue = await createGiteaClient(CONFIG, fetch).getIssue(9)
+
+    expect(issue.number).toBe(9)
+    expect(issue.title).toBe('Deterministic scheduler')
+    expect(issue.state).toBe('open')
+    expect(issue.labels).toEqual(['est/5d', 'p/1', 'deadline/hard'])
+    expect(issue.url).toBe('https://gitea.stephenmann.io/christian/commitea/issues/9')
+  })
+
+  it('precomputes scheduler facts via extractLabelFacts', async () => {
+    const { fetch } = stubFetch(RAW_ISSUE)
+    const issue = await createGiteaClient(CONFIG, fetch).getIssue(9)
+
+    expect(issue.facts.estimateDays).toBe(5)
+    expect(issue.facts.priority).toBe(1)
+    expect(issue.facts.hardDeadline).toBe(true)
+  })
+
+  it('maps the milestone ref and assignees', async () => {
+    const { fetch } = stubFetch(RAW_ISSUE)
+    const issue = await createGiteaClient(CONFIG, fetch).getIssue(9)
+
+    expect(issue.milestone).toEqual({
+      id: 7,
+      title: 'P2 — Scheduler + Monte Carlo',
+      dueOn: '2026-09-01T00:00:00Z',
+    })
+    expect(issue.assignee).toBe('christian')
+    expect(issue.assignees).toEqual(['christian', 'stephen'])
+  })
+
+  it('hits the configured repo path with the token auth header', async () => {
+    const { fetch, calls } = stubFetch(RAW_ISSUE)
+    await createGiteaClient(CONFIG, fetch).getIssue(9)
+
+    expect(calls).toHaveLength(1)
+    expect(calls[0].url).toBe(
+      'https://gitea.stephenmann.io/api/v1/repos/christian/commitea/issues/9',
+    )
+    expect(calls[0].init?.headers?.Authorization).toBe('token tok_secret')
+  })
+
+  it('tolerates a trailing slash on baseUrl', async () => {
+    const { fetch, calls } = stubFetch(RAW_ISSUE)
+    await createGiteaClient({ ...CONFIG, baseUrl: 'https://gitea.stephenmann.io/' }, fetch).getIssue(9)
+
+    expect(calls[0].url).toBe(
+      'https://gitea.stephenmann.io/api/v1/repos/christian/commitea/issues/9',
+    )
+  })
+
+  it('throws GiteaApiError carrying status + body on a non-2xx response', async () => {
+    const { fetch } = stubFetch('not found', 404)
+    const client = createGiteaClient(CONFIG, fetch)
+
+    await expect(client.getIssue(999)).rejects.toBeInstanceOf(GiteaApiError)
+    await expect(client.getIssue(999)).rejects.toMatchObject({ status: 404, body: 'not found' })
+  })
+})
+
+describe('normalizeIssue', () => {
+  it('defaults missing labels/assignees/body to empty and maps a closed state', () => {
+    const issue = normalizeIssue({
+      number: 1,
+      title: 'bare issue',
+      body: null,
+      state: 'closed',
+      labels: null,
+      milestone: null,
+      assignee: null,
+      assignees: null,
+      created_at: '2026-07-01T00:00:00Z',
+      updated_at: '2026-07-02T00:00:00Z',
+      closed_at: '2026-07-02T00:00:00Z',
+      html_url: 'https://gitea.stephenmann.io/christian/commitea/issues/1',
+    })
+
+    expect(issue.state).toBe('closed')
+    expect(issue.body).toBe('')
+    expect(issue.labels).toEqual([])
+    expect(issue.assignee).toBeNull()
+    expect(issue.assignees).toEqual([])
+    expect(issue.milestone).toBeNull()
+    expect(issue.facts.estimateDays).toBeNull()
+    expect(issue.closedAt).toBe('2026-07-02T00:00:00Z')
+  })
+})
diff --git a/packages/core/src/gitea/client.ts b/packages/core/src/gitea/client.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..02fe22c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/core/src/gitea/client.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+/**
+ * Gitea read client. One method for now — `getIssue` — proving the vertical
+ * slice end to end: config + injected fetch → typed, normalized `GiteaIssue`
+ * with scheduler facts precomputed. Later reconcile work (P1-4) layers list
+ * reads on the same `request` seam.
+ */
+
+import { extractLabelFacts } from '../labels/label-schema.js'
+import {
+  GiteaApiError,
+  type FetchLike,
+  type GiteaConfig,
+  type GiteaIssue,
+  type GiteaMilestoneRef,
+} from './types.js'
+
+/** The subset of gitea's raw issue JSON we read. */
+interface RawLabel {
+  name: string
+}
+interface RawMilestone {
+  id: number
+  title: string
+  due_on: string | null
+}
+interface RawUser {
+  login: string
+}
+interface RawIssue {
+  number: number
+  title: string
+  body: string | null
+  state: string
+  labels: RawLabel[] | null
+  milestone: RawMilestone | null
+  assignee: RawUser | null
+  assignees: RawUser[] | null
+  created_at: string
+  updated_at: string
+  closed_at: string | null
+  html_url: string
+}
+
+export interface GiteaClient {
+  /** Fetch one issue by its per-repo index, normalized. */
+  getIssue(index: number): Promise<GiteaIssue>
+}
+
+/** Map raw gitea issue JSON to the normalized domain shape. Pure. */
+export function normalizeIssue(raw: RawIssue): GiteaIssue {
+  const labels = (raw.labels ?? []).map((l) => l.name)
+  const milestone: GiteaMilestoneRef | null = raw.milestone
+    ? { id: raw.milestone.id, title: raw.milestone.title, dueOn: raw.milestone.due_on }
+    : null
+  const assignees = (raw.assignees ?? []).map((u) => u.login)
+
+  return {
+    number: raw.number,
+    title: raw.title,
+    body: raw.body ?? '',
+    state: raw.state === 'closed' ? 'closed' : 'open',
+    labels,
+    facts: extractLabelFacts(labels),
+    milestone,
+    assignee: raw.assignee?.login ?? null,
+    assignees,
+    createdAt: raw.created_at,
+    updatedAt: raw.updated_at,
+    closedAt: raw.closed_at,
+    url: raw.html_url,
+  }
+}
+
+export function createGiteaClient(config: GiteaConfig, fetchImpl: FetchLike): GiteaClient {
+  const apiBase = `${config.baseUrl.replace(/\/+$/, '')}/api/v1`
+  const repoBase = `${apiBase}/repos/${config.owner}/${config.repo}`
+
+  async function request(path: string): Promise<unknown> {
+    const res = await fetchImpl(`${repoBase}${path}`, {
+      headers: {
+        Authorization: `token ${config.token}`,
+        Accept: 'application/json',
+      },
+    })
+    if (!res.ok) {
+      const body = await res.text().catch(() => '')
+      throw new GiteaApiError(res.status, `GET ${path} failed (${res.status})`, body)
+    }
+    return res.json()
+  }
+
+  return {
+    async getIssue(index) {
+      return normalizeIssue((await request(`/issues/${index}`)) as RawIssue)
+    },
+  }
+}
diff --git a/packages/core/src/gitea/types.ts b/packages/core/src/gitea/types.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aaa323d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/core/src/gitea/types.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+/**
+ * Types for the gitea read client. Deliberately minimal: `@commitea/core` is
+ * pure (no DOM lib, no Electron, no network), so we don't reach for the global
+ * `fetch`/`Response`/`RequestInit` DOM types — we define the small structural
+ * surface we actually use. The real `globalThis.fetch` is structurally
+ * assignable to `FetchLike`, so the desktop main process passes it verbatim
+ * while tests pass a stub.
+ */
+
+import type { LabelFacts } from '../labels/label-schema.js'
+
+/** Connection config. `baseUrl` is the instance root (no `/api/v1`). */
+export interface GiteaConfig {
+  /** e.g. `https://gitea.stephenmann.io` — trailing slash tolerated. */
+  baseUrl: string
+  /** Personal access token (scopes: issue/repository/user). */
+  token: string
+  owner: string
+  repo: string
+}
+
+export interface GiteaRequestInit {
+  method?: string
+  headers?: Record<string, string>
+  body?: string
+}
+
+/** The slice of a `fetch` Response we consume. */
+export interface GiteaHttpResponse {
+  ok: boolean
+  status: number
+  json(): Promise<unknown>
+  text(): Promise<string>
+}
+
+export type FetchLike = (url: string, init?: GiteaRequestInit) => Promise<GiteaHttpResponse>
+
+/** Milestone as referenced from an issue (not the full milestone resource). */
+export interface GiteaMilestoneRef {
+  id: number
+  title: string
+  /** ISO date the milestone is due, or null. */
+  dueOn: string | null
+}
+
+/**
+ * Normalized issue — camelCase, label names flattened, scheduler-facing
+ * `facts` precomputed via `extractLabelFacts`. This is the domain shape the
+ * rest of CommiTea works with; raw gitea JSON never escapes this module.
+ */
+export interface GiteaIssue {
+  number: number
+  title: string
+  body: string
+  state: 'open' | 'closed'
+  labels: string[]
+  facts: LabelFacts
+  milestone: GiteaMilestoneRef | null
+  /** Primary assignee username, or null. */
+  assignee: string | null
+  /** All assignee usernames (includes the primary). */
+  assignees: string[]
+  createdAt: string
+  updatedAt: string
+  closedAt: string | null
+  url: string
+}
+
+/** Thrown on a non-2xx gitea response; carries the status + raw body. */
+export class GiteaApiError extends Error {
+  constructor(
+    readonly status: number,
+    message: string,
+    readonly body?: string,
+  ) {
+    super(message)
+    this.name = 'GiteaApiError'
+  }
+}
diff --git a/packages/core/src/index.ts b/packages/core/src/index.ts
index 82f0f7a..388ae80 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/index.ts
@@ -8,3 +8,15 @@ export {
   parsePriorityLabel,
 } from './labels/label-schema.js'
 export type { EstimateLabel, LabelFacts, PriorityLabel } from './labels/label-schema.js'
+
+export { createGiteaClient, normalizeIssue } from './gitea/client.js'
+export type { GiteaClient } from './gitea/client.js'
+export { GiteaApiError } from './gitea/types.js'
+export type {
+  FetchLike,
+  GiteaConfig,
+  GiteaHttpResponse,
+  GiteaIssue,
+  GiteaMilestoneRef,
+  GiteaRequestInit,
+} from './gitea/types.js'