diff --git a/src/Models/Ticket.php b/src/Models/Ticket.php
index 3426604..8e511b2 100644
--- a/src/Models/Ticket.php
+++ b/src/Models/Ticket.php
@@ -13,8 +13,22 @@ class Ticket extends Model
         'title', 'description', 'status', 'priority_id', 'due_date', 'merged_into_id',
     ];
 
+    // `date:Y-m-d`, not bare `date`. The column is a DATE and every UI that shows
+    // it is an <input type="date">, which accepts exactly `Y-m-d` and silently
+    // renders anything else as an EMPTY field. A bare `date` cast serializes to
+    // `2026-09-15T00:00:00.000000Z`, so a due date that had been stored perfectly
+    // well came back as a blank input on the edit form, the show page and the
+    // index pane — indistinguishable from "it was never saved", which is how this
+    // was reported (a QA sweep read `input.value === ''` as silent data loss).
+    //
+    // The write path was never at fault: the column, the `$fillable` entry and
+    // both `validate()` rules were correct throughout, and re-submitting the ISO
+    // string (which Show.vue's meta form does, because it seeds itself from this
+    // value) still stores the right day — measured in UTC and in
+    // America/New_York. So nothing was ever lost in the database; the value
+    // simply had no way of reaching the screen.
     protected $casts = [
-        'due_date' => 'date',
+        'due_date' => 'date:Y-m-d',
     ];
 
     public function group(): BelongsTo