feat(core): add cursor persistence module for session-based timestamps

Introduces a lightweight file-based cursor system for persisting
per-user timestamps across CLI invocations. This enables "since last
check" semantics where `lore me` can track what the user has seen.

Key design decisions:
- Per-user cursor files: ~/.local/share/lore/me_cursor_<username>.json
- Atomic writes via temp-file + rename pattern (crash-safe)
- Graceful degradation: missing/corrupt files return None
- Username sanitization: non-safe chars replaced with underscore

The cursor module provides three operations:
- read_cursor(username) -> Option<i64>: read last-check timestamp
- write_cursor(username, timestamp_ms): atomically persist timestamp  
- reset_cursor(username): delete cursor file (no-op if missing)

Tests cover: missing file, roundtrip, per-user isolation, reset
isolation, JSON validity after overwrites, corrupt file handling.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

src/core/cursor.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,152 @@
+// ─── Me Cursor Persistence ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
+//
+// File-based cursor for the "since last check" section of `lore me`.
+// Stores per-user timestamps in ~/.local/share/lore/me_cursor_<username>.json.
+
+use std::io;
+use std::io::Write;
+
+use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
+
+use super::paths::get_cursor_path;
+
+#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize)]
+struct CursorFile {
+    last_check_ms: i64,
+}
+
+/// Read the last-check cursor. Returns `None` if the file doesn't exist or is corrupt.
+pub fn read_cursor(username: &str) -> Option<i64> {
+    let path = get_cursor_path(username);
+    let data = std::fs::read_to_string(path).ok()?;
+    let cursor: CursorFile = serde_json::from_str(&data).ok()?;
+    Some(cursor.last_check_ms)
+}
+
+/// Write the last-check cursor atomically.
+pub fn write_cursor(username: &str, timestamp_ms: i64) -> io::Result<()> {
+    let path = get_cursor_path(username);
+    if let Some(parent) = path.parent() {
+        std::fs::create_dir_all(parent)?;
+        let cursor = CursorFile {
+            last_check_ms: timestamp_ms,
+        };
+        let json = serde_json::to_string(&cursor).map_err(io::Error::other)?;
+        let nonce = std::time::SystemTime::now()
+            .duration_since(std::time::UNIX_EPOCH)
+            .map(|d| d.as_nanos())
+            .unwrap_or(0);
+        let file_name = path
+            .file_name()
+            .and_then(|name| name.to_str())
+            .unwrap_or("me_cursor.json");
+        let temp_path = parent.join(format!(".{file_name}.{nonce}.tmp"));
+        {
+            let mut temp_file = std::fs::File::create(&temp_path)?;
+            temp_file.write_all(json.as_bytes())?;
+            temp_file.sync_all()?;
+        }
+        std::fs::rename(&temp_path, &path)?;
+        return Ok(());
+    }
+
+    Err(io::Error::new(
+        io::ErrorKind::InvalidInput,
+        "cursor path has no parent directory",
+    ))
+}
+
+/// Reset the cursor by deleting the file. No-op if it doesn't exist.
+pub fn reset_cursor(username: &str) -> io::Result<()> {
+    let path = get_cursor_path(username);
+    match std::fs::remove_file(path) {
+        Ok(()) => Ok(()),
+        Err(e) if e.kind() == io::ErrorKind::NotFound => Ok(()),
+        Err(e) => Err(e),
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+    use std::sync::{Mutex, OnceLock};
+
+    fn env_lock() -> &'static Mutex<()> {
+        static LOCK: OnceLock<Mutex<()>> = OnceLock::new();
+        LOCK.get_or_init(|| Mutex::new(()))
+    }
+
+    fn with_temp_xdg_data_home<T>(f: impl FnOnce() -> T) -> T {
+        let _guard = env_lock().lock().unwrap();
+        let previous = std::env::var_os("XDG_DATA_HOME");
+        let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+        // SAFETY: test-only scoped env override.
+        unsafe { std::env::set_var("XDG_DATA_HOME", dir.path()) };
+        let result = f();
+        match previous {
+            Some(value) => {
+                // SAFETY: restoring prior environment for test isolation.
+                unsafe { std::env::set_var("XDG_DATA_HOME", value) };
+            }
+            None => {
+                // SAFETY: restoring prior environment for test isolation.
+                unsafe { std::env::remove_var("XDG_DATA_HOME") };
+            }
+        }
+        result
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn read_cursor_returns_none_when_missing() {
+        with_temp_xdg_data_home(|| {
+            assert_eq!(read_cursor("alice"), None);
+        });
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn cursor_roundtrip() {
+        with_temp_xdg_data_home(|| {
+            write_cursor("alice", 1_700_000_000_000).unwrap();
+            assert_eq!(read_cursor("alice"), Some(1_700_000_000_000));
+        });
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn cursor_isolated_per_user() {
+        with_temp_xdg_data_home(|| {
+            write_cursor("alice", 100).unwrap();
+            write_cursor("bob", 200).unwrap();
+            assert_eq!(read_cursor("alice"), Some(100));
+            assert_eq!(read_cursor("bob"), Some(200));
+        });
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn reset_cursor_only_affects_target_user() {
+        with_temp_xdg_data_home(|| {
+            write_cursor("alice", 100).unwrap();
+            write_cursor("bob", 200).unwrap();
+            reset_cursor("alice").unwrap();
+            assert_eq!(read_cursor("alice"), None);
+            assert_eq!(read_cursor("bob"), Some(200));
+        });
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn cursor_write_keeps_valid_json() {
+        with_temp_xdg_data_home(|| {
+            write_cursor("alice", 111).unwrap();
+            write_cursor("alice", 222).unwrap();
+            let data = std::fs::read_to_string(get_cursor_path("alice")).unwrap();
+            let parsed: CursorFile = serde_json::from_str(&data).unwrap();
+            assert_eq!(parsed.last_check_ms, 222);
+        });
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn parse_corrupt_json_returns_none() {
+        let bad_json = "not json at all";
+        let parsed: Option<CursorFile> = serde_json::from_str(bad_json).ok();
+        assert!(parsed.is_none());
+    }
+}

src/core/mod.rs

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ pub mod backoff;
 pub mod config;
 #[cfg(unix)]
 pub mod cron;
+pub mod cursor;
 pub mod db;
 pub mod dependent_queue;
 pub mod error;

src/core/paths.rs

@@ -40,6 +40,20 @@ pub fn get_log_dir(config_override: Option<&str>) -> PathBuf {
     get_data_dir().join("logs")
 }
 
+pub fn get_cursor_path(username: &str) -> PathBuf {
+    let safe_username: String = username
+        .chars()
+        .map(|ch| {
+            if ch.is_ascii_alphanumeric() || matches!(ch, '_' | '-' | '.') {
+                ch
+            } else {
+                '_'
+            }
+        })
+        .collect();
+    get_data_dir().join(format!("me_cursor_{safe_username}.json"))
+}
+
 pub fn get_backup_dir(config_override: Option<&str>) -> PathBuf {
     if let Some(path) = config_override {
         return PathBuf::from(path);