From a1c859ab025ae90647ec164b08a71e11960d1a4a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Jakko Yang <jakko@umich.edu>
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 2026 23:11:17 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] Add ical_value property to vMonth

Part of #876.

AI: Claude Opus 5.5

Prompt (summary): help pick a return type for vMonth.ical_value and draft tests.

Output: Draft of the tests and docstring. I reviewed and edited them, wrote the news entry, and ran the full test suite locally.
---
 news/876.feature.2                      |  1 +
 src/icalendar/prop/recur/month.py       |  8 ++++++
 src/icalendar/tests/prop/test_vMonth.py | 33 +++++++++++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 42 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 news/876.feature.2
 create mode 100644 src/icalendar/tests/prop/test_vMonth.py

diff --git a/news/876.feature.2 b/news/876.feature.2
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1926fe8b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/876.feature.2
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Added :attr:`vMonth.ical_value <icalendar.prop.recur.month.vMonth.ical_value>`, which returns the month number as an :class:`int`. For :rfc:`7529` leap months such as ``5L``, the leap flag stays available as :attr:`~icalendar.prop.recur.month.vMonth.leap`. I used Claude Opus 5.5 to help choose the return type and draft some of the tests. @jakkoyang
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/icalendar/prop/recur/month.py b/src/icalendar/prop/recur/month.py
index fd2bda57a..4bdede60b 100644
--- a/src/icalendar/prop/recur/month.py
+++ b/src/icalendar/prop/recur/month.py
@@ -76,6 +76,14 @@ def to_ical(self) -> bytes:
         """The ical representation."""
         return str(self).encode("utf-8")
 
+    @property
+    def ical_value(self) -> int:
+        """Returns the month number as an int, for example, ``5``.
+
+        The :rfc:`7529` leap flag is not included. Use :attr:`leap` for it.
+        """
+        return int(self)
+
     @classmethod
     def from_ical(cls, ical: str):
         return cls(ical)
diff --git a/src/icalendar/tests/prop/test_vMonth.py b/src/icalendar/tests/prop/test_vMonth.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2e7d22ec4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/icalendar/tests/prop/test_vMonth.py
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+"""Tests for vMonth.ical_value (issue #876)."""
+
+import pytest
+
+from icalendar.prop import vMonth, vRecur
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("month", [1, 5, 12])
+def test_ical_value_is_the_month_number(month):
+    """ical_value returns the month number for a regular month."""
+    assert vMonth(month).ical_value == month
+
+
+def test_ical_value_is_a_plain_int():
+    """ical_value is a plain int, not a vMonth (isinstance would accept both)."""
+    assert type(vMonth(5).ical_value) is int
+
+
+def test_ical_value_of_leap_month_is_the_month_number():
+    """A RFC 7529 leap month like 5L returns its month number."""
+    assert vMonth("5L").ical_value == 5
+
+
+def test_leap_flag_is_unchanged():
+    """The leap flag stays available on vMonth itself."""
+    assert vMonth("5L").leap is True
+    assert vMonth(5).leap is False
+
+
+def test_ical_value_inside_a_recurrence_rule():
+    """BYMONTH values parsed from an RRULE expose ical_value."""
+    month = vRecur.from_ical("FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=5")["BYMONTH"][0]
+    assert month.ical_value == 5