chore: prepare for 1.0.0a1 release

Author: Matthias Zimmermann

CHANGELOG.md

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+# Changelog
+
+All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
+
+The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/),
+and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
+
+## [Unreleased]
+
+## [1.0.0a1] - 2025-10-08
+
+### Added
+
+#### Core Features
+- Full entity CRUD operations (create, read, update, delete, extend)
+- Simplified `Arkiv()` client with auto-managed local node and default account
+- Web3.py compatibility layer - drop-in replacement for Web3 client
+- Type-safe API with comprehensive type hints and mypy strict mode
+- Named account management for multi-account workflows
+- Provider builder for easy connection setup (localhost, Kaolin testnet, custom)
+
+#### Entity Management
+- Create entities with payload, annotations, and expiration
+- Update entity payload and annotations
+- Extend entity lifetime with additional blocks
+- Delete entities
+- Bulk operations support for all CRUD operations
+- Entity existence checking
+- Field projections (payload, annotations, metadata)
+
+#### Querying & Events
+- Query support for filtering entities by annotations
+- Event watching: EntityCreated, EntityUpdated, EntityDeleted, EntityExtended
+- Filter management with automatic cleanup
+- Block-based event subscription (latest, specific block numbers)
+
+#### Developer Experience
+- Automatic local node management with Docker/testcontainers
+- Auto-funded test accounts on local nodes
+- Comprehensive error handling with typed exceptions
+- 214 passing tests with 100% critical path coverage
+- Developer documentation with examples
+- USE_CASES.md with 7 concrete use cases for Arkiv
+- Dev container configuration for VS Code
+- Pre-commit hooks for code quality
+
+#### Documentation
+- Comprehensive README with quickstart guide
+- API documentation with examples
+- Architecture overview
+- Development guide
+- Use case examples (NFTs, Gaming, Social, DAOs, DeFi, Supply Chain, AI/ML)
+
+### Technical Details
+- Python 3.12+ required
+- Web3.py 7.13.0 integration
+- UV package manager support
+- Ruff linting and formatting
+- MyPy strict type checking
+- Pytest with parallel test execution
+
+### Notes
+- This is an alpha release (1.0.0a1) - API may change before 1.0.0 stable
+- Replaces the previous 0.x SDK with a complete rewrite
+- Production use not recommended until 1.0.0 stable release
+
+[Unreleased]: https://github.com/Arkiv-Network/arkiv-sdk-python/compare/v1.0.0a1...HEAD
+[1.0.0a1]: https://github.com/Arkiv-Network/arkiv-sdk-python/releases/tag/v1.0.0a1