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+=======================
+target resolution
+=======================
+
+how we find what the player is talking about.
+
+the problem
+===========
+
+when a player types "attack goblin" or "get sword", we need to figure out
+which goblin, which sword. could be multiple matches. could be an alias.
+could be "2.goblin" to mean the second one.
+
+the system uses graceful degradation: try exact matches, fall back to prefix
+matches, then aliases, then ordinal selection.
+
+parsing the raw input
+=====================
+
+``parse_target(raw)`` extracts ordinal prefixes::
+
+    "goblin"     → (1, "goblin")
+    "2.goblin"   → (2, "goblin")
+    "3.rat"      → (3, "rat")
+
+only ordinals >= 1 are valid. "0.goblin" or "-1.goblin" are treated as literal
+names (weird, but no crash).
+
+matching priority
+=================
+
+``resolve_target(name, candidates, key=None)`` uses a priority-based matching
+flow:
+
+**four match priorities** (checked in order, stops at first non-empty result):
+
+1. exact name match (case-insensitive)
+2. name prefix match ("gob" matches "goblin")
+3. exact alias match
+4. alias prefix match ("gobb" matches alias "gobby")
+
+collects ALL matches at each priority level before moving to the next. this
+prevents a prefix match from shadowing a later exact alias match.
+
+**ordinal selection**: if an ordinal was parsed (e.g., "2.goblin"), picks the
+Nth match from whichever priority level produced results.
+
+**fallback**: returns None if no matches found at any level.
+
+custom key function lets you adapt to non-standard objects (e.g., dicts with
+a "name" field).
+
+finding entities
+================
+
+``find_entity_on_tile(name, player, z_filter=True)`` searches players and mobs
+on the same tile.
+
+filters:
+- excludes the player themselves
+- skips dead mobs
+- z-axis filtering: only matches entities on same z-level (both grounded or
+  both flying). flying creatures can't attack grounded ones by default.
+
+sorts results to prefer Players over Mobs.
+
+finding things
+==============
+
+``find_thing_on_tile(name, zone, x, y)`` searches ground items at coordinates.
+only Thing instances.
+
+``find_in_inventory(name, player)`` searches player inventory. only Thing
+instances.
+
+ordinal disambiguation
+======================
+
+if there are three goblins, you can target the second with "2.goblin"::
+
+    attack 2.goblin
+
+the ordinal is parsed, then resolve_target collects matches and picks the Nth
+one. ordinal selection happens after all four priority levels have been tried,
+operating on whichever level produced matches.
+
+case sensitivity
+================
+
+all matching is case-insensitive. "Goblin", "goblin", "GOBLIN" all work.
+
+code
+====
+
+- ``src/mudlib/commands/targeting.py`` - parse and resolve functions
+- ``tests/test_targeting.py`` - test coverage for all priority levels