diff --git a/app/models/item.rb b/app/models/item.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e33eb18
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/models/item.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+class Item < ApplicationRecord
+  # model association
+  belongs_to :todo
+
+  # validation
+  validates_presence_of :name
+end
diff --git a/app/models/todo.rb b/app/models/todo.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6b6956c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/models/todo.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+class Todo < ApplicationRecord
+    # model association
+    has_many :items, dependent: :destroy
+
+    # validations
+    validates_presence_of :title, :created_by
+end
diff --git a/db/migrate/20211110194428_create_todos.rb b/db/migrate/20211110194428_create_todos.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..be1f3b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/20211110194428_create_todos.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+class CreateTodos < ActiveRecord::Migration[6.1]
+  def change
+    create_table :todos do |t|
+      t.string :title
+      t.string :created_by
+
+      t.timestamps
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/db/migrate/20211110194855_create_items.rb b/db/migrate/20211110194855_create_items.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..53fc718
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/20211110194855_create_items.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+class CreateItems < ActiveRecord::Migration[6.1]
+  def change
+    create_table :items do |t|
+      t.string :name
+      t.boolean :done
+      t.references :todo, null: false, foreign_key: true
+
+      t.timestamps
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/db/schema.rb b/db/schema.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4635d0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/schema.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+# This file is auto-generated from the current state of the database. Instead
+# of editing this file, please use the migrations feature of Active Record to
+# incrementally modify your database, and then regenerate this schema definition.
+#
+# This file is the source Rails uses to define your schema when running `bin/rails
+# db:schema:load`. When creating a new database, `bin/rails db:schema:load` tends to
+# be faster and is potentially less error prone than running all of your
+# migrations from scratch. Old migrations may fail to apply correctly if those
+# migrations use external dependencies or application code.
+#
+# It's strongly recommended that you check this file into your version control system.
+
+ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 2021_11_10_194855) do
+
+  create_table "items", force: :cascade do |t|
+    t.string "name"
+    t.boolean "done"
+    t.integer "todo_id", null: false
+    t.datetime "created_at", precision: 6, null: false
+    t.datetime "updated_at", precision: 6, null: false
+    t.index ["todo_id"], name: "index_items_on_todo_id"
+  end
+
+  create_table "todos", force: :cascade do |t|
+    t.string "title"
+    t.string "created_by"
+    t.datetime "created_at", precision: 6, null: false
+    t.datetime "updated_at", precision: 6, null: false
+  end
+
+  add_foreign_key "items", "todos"
+end
diff --git a/spec/models/item_spec.rb b/spec/models/item_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7ecafdf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/models/item_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+require 'rails_helper'
+
+RSpec.describe Item, type: :model do
+  # Association test
+  # ensure an item record belongs to a single todo record
+  it { should belong_to(:todo) }
+  # Validation test
+  # ensure column name is present before saving
+  it { should validate_presence_of(:name) }
+end
diff --git a/spec/models/todo_spec.rb b/spec/models/todo_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..be399c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/models/todo_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+require 'rails_helper'
+
+RSpec.describe Todo, type: :model do
+  # Association test
+  # ensure Todo model has a 1:m relationship with the Item model
+  it { should have_many(:items).dependent(:destroy) }
+  # Validation tests
+  # ensure columns title and created_by are present before saving
+  it { should validate_presence_of(:title) }
+  it { should validate_presence_of(:created_by) }
+end