diff --git a/surfsense_backend/alembic/versions/162_add_chunk_position.py b/surfsense_backend/alembic/versions/162_add_chunk_position.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cb240e3ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/surfsense_backend/alembic/versions/162_add_chunk_position.py
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+"""add chunks.position for explicit document order
+
+Incremental re-indexing keeps unchanged chunk rows, so auto-increment ids no
+longer reflect document order. Backfill preserves the historical id ordering.
+
+Revision ID: 162
+Revises: 161
+"""
+
+from collections.abc import Sequence
+
+from alembic import op
+
+revision: str = "162"
+down_revision: str | None = "161"
+branch_labels: str | Sequence[str] | None = None
+depends_on: str | Sequence[str] | None = None
+
+
+def upgrade() -> None:
+    op.execute(
+        "ALTER TABLE chunks ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS position INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT 0;"
+    )
+
+    # Backfill: document order so far has been the insertion order (id).
+    op.execute(
+        """
+        UPDATE chunks
+        SET position = numbered.rn
+        FROM (
+            SELECT id,
+                   ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY document_id ORDER BY id) - 1 AS rn
+            FROM chunks
+        ) AS numbered
+        WHERE chunks.id = numbered.id;
+        """
+    )
+
+    op.execute(
+        "CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS ix_chunks_position ON chunks(position);"
+    )
+    op.execute(
+        "CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS ix_chunks_document_id_position "
+        "ON chunks(document_id, position);"
+    )
+
+
+def downgrade() -> None:
+    op.execute("DROP INDEX IF EXISTS ix_chunks_document_id_position;")
+    op.execute("DROP INDEX IF EXISTS ix_chunks_position;")
+    op.execute("ALTER TABLE chunks DROP COLUMN IF EXISTS position;")
diff --git a/surfsense_backend/app/db.py b/surfsense_backend/app/db.py
index 9ec13f4e2..8d110bbf1 100644
--- a/surfsense_backend/app/db.py
+++ b/surfsense_backend/app/db.py
@@ -1484,7 +1484,10 @@ class Document(BaseModel, TimestampMixin):
     created_by = relationship("User", back_populates="documents")
     connector = relationship("SearchSourceConnector", back_populates="documents")
     chunks = relationship(
-        "Chunk", back_populates="document", cascade="all, delete-orphan"
+        "Chunk",
+        back_populates="document",
+        cascade="all, delete-orphan",
+        order_by="Chunk.position",
     )
     # Original upload + future derived artifacts (redacted, filled-form).
     # Model lives in app.file_storage.persistence to keep that feature cohesive.
@@ -1520,6 +1523,9 @@ class Chunk(BaseModel, TimestampMixin):
 
     content = Column(Text, nullable=False)
     embedding = Column(Vector(config.embedding_model_instance.dimension))
+    # Explicit document order; ids don't follow it since incremental
+    # re-indexing keeps unchanged rows across edits.
+    position = Column(Integer, nullable=False, server_default="0", index=True)
 
     document_id = Column(
         Integer,