diff --git a/worker/src/db/queries.ts b/worker/src/db/queries.ts
index 89f52ef..4411ef3 100644
--- a/worker/src/db/queries.ts
+++ b/worker/src/db/queries.ts
@@ -74,6 +74,105 @@ export async function getUploadedPackageByHash(contentHash: string) {
   });
 }
 
+export interface CreatePackageStubInput {
+  contentHash: string;
+  fileName: string;
+  fileSize: bigint;
+  archiveType: ArchiveType;
+  sourceChannelId: string;
+  sourceMessageId: bigint;
+  sourceTopicId?: bigint | null;
+  destChannelId: string;
+  destMessageId: bigint;
+  destMessageIds: bigint[];
+  isMultipart: boolean;
+  partCount: number;
+  ingestionRunId: string;
+  creator?: string | null;
+  tags?: string[];
+}
+
+/**
+ * Write a minimal Package record immediately after Telegram confirms the upload.
+ * Call this before preview/metadata extraction so recoverIncompleteUploads() can
+ * detect and verify the package if the worker crashes mid-metadata.
+ *
+ * Follow with updatePackageWithMetadata() once file entries and preview are ready.
+ */
+export async function createPackageStub(
+  input: CreatePackageStubInput
+): Promise<{ id: string }> {
+  const pkg = await db.package.create({
+    data: {
+      contentHash: input.contentHash,
+      fileName: input.fileName,
+      fileSize: input.fileSize,
+      archiveType: input.archiveType,
+      sourceChannelId: input.sourceChannelId,
+      sourceMessageId: input.sourceMessageId,
+      sourceTopicId: input.sourceTopicId ?? undefined,
+      destChannelId: input.destChannelId,
+      destMessageId: input.destMessageId,
+      destMessageIds: input.destMessageIds,
+      isMultipart: input.isMultipart,
+      partCount: input.partCount,
+      fileCount: 0,
+      ingestionRunId: input.ingestionRunId,
+      creator: input.creator ?? undefined,
+      tags: input.tags?.length ? input.tags : undefined,
+    },
+    select: { id: true },
+  });
+
+  try {
+    await db.$queryRawUnsafe(
+      `SELECT pg_notify('new_package', $1)`,
+      JSON.stringify({
+        packageId: pkg.id,
+        fileName: input.fileName,
+        creator: input.creator ?? null,
+        tags: input.tags ?? [],
+      })
+    );
+  } catch {
+    // Best-effort
+  }
+
+  return pkg;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Update a stub Package with file entries and preview after metadata extraction.
+ * Called as Phase 2 of the two-phase write after createPackageStub().
+ */
+export async function updatePackageWithMetadata(
+  packageId: string,
+  input: {
+    files: {
+      path: string;
+      fileName: string;
+      extension: string | null;
+      compressedSize: bigint;
+      uncompressedSize: bigint;
+      crc32: string | null;
+    }[];
+    previewData?: Buffer | null;
+    previewMsgId?: bigint | null;
+  }
+): Promise<void> {
+  await db.package.update({
+    where: { id: packageId },
+    data: {
+      fileCount: input.files.length,
+      previewData: input.previewData ? new Uint8Array(input.previewData) : undefined,
+      previewMsgId: input.previewMsgId ?? undefined,
+      files: {
+        create: input.files,
+      },
+    },
+  });
+}
+
 /**
  * Check if a package already exists for a given source message ID
  * AND was successfully uploaded to the destination (destMessageId is set).