diff --git a/worker/src/upload/forward.test.ts b/worker/src/upload/forward.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a46fee1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/worker/src/upload/forward.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+import { describe, it, expect, vi } from "vitest";
+import { forwardArchiveToChannel } from "./forward.js";
+
+function fakeClient(response: unknown) {
+  return { invoke: vi.fn(async () => response) } as never;
+}
+
+describe("forwardArchiveToChannel", () => {
+  it("sorts message ids ascending and sends them via forwardMessages", async () => {
+    const invoke = vi.fn(async (req: { message_ids: number[] }) => ({
+      messages: req.message_ids.map((id) => ({ id: id + 1000 })),
+    }));
+    const client = { invoke } as never;
+
+    const result = await forwardArchiveToChannel(client, 111n, 222n, [30n, 10n, 20n]);
+
+    expect(invoke).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        _: "forwardMessages",
+        chat_id: 222,
+        from_chat_id: 111,
+        message_ids: [10, 20, 30],
+        send_copy: false,
+      }),
+    );
+    expect(result.messageId).toBe(1010n);
+    expect(result.messageIds).toEqual([1010n, 1020n, 1030n]);
+  });
+
+  it("throws when Telegram returns null for a message (can't be forwarded)", async () => {
+    const client = fakeClient({ messages: [{ id: 1001 }, null] });
+    await expect(forwardArchiveToChannel(client, 111n, 222n, [10n, 20n])).rejects.toThrow(/could not forward/);
+  });
+
+  it("throws when the response has the wrong number of messages", async () => {
+    const client = fakeClient({ messages: [{ id: 1001 }] });
+    await expect(forwardArchiveToChannel(client, 111n, 222n, [10n, 20n])).rejects.toThrow(/expected 2/);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/worker/src/upload/forward.ts b/worker/src/upload/forward.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..16c5025
--- /dev/null
+++ b/worker/src/upload/forward.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+import type { Client } from "tdl";
+import { childLogger } from "../util/logger.js";
+import { withFloodWait } from "../util/retry.js";
+
+const log = childLogger("forward");
+
+export interface ForwardResult {
+  messageId: bigint;
+  messageIds: bigint[];
+}
+
+/**
+ * Forward all parts of an archive set from the source chat directly to the
+ * destination chat via TDLib's forwardMessages — no download, no re-upload.
+ * Only usable when the source channel allows forwarding
+ * (TelegramChannel.allowsForwarding); the caller is responsible for that
+ * check. message_ids must be in strictly increasing order per the TDLib API,
+ * so this always sorts them regardless of the order they're passed in.
+ */
+export async function forwardArchiveToChannel(
+  client: Client,
+  fromChatId: bigint,
+  toChatId: bigint,
+  sourceMessageIds: bigint[],
+): Promise<ForwardResult> {
+  const sortedIds = [...sourceMessageIds].sort((a, b) => (a < b ? -1 : a > b ? 1 : 0));
+  const numericIds = sortedIds.map((id) => Number(id));
+
+  log.info(
+    { fromChatId: Number(fromChatId), toChatId: Number(toChatId), count: numericIds.length },
+    "Forwarding archive to destination channel"
+  );
+
+  const result = (await withFloodWait(
+    () =>
+      client.invoke({
+        _: "forwardMessages",
+        chat_id: Number(toChatId),
+        topic_id: null,
+        from_chat_id: Number(fromChatId),
+        message_ids: numericIds,
+        options: null,
+        send_copy: false,
+        remove_caption: false,
+      } as never),
+    "forwardMessages"
+  )) as { messages: ({ id: number } | null)[] };
+
+  const forwarded = result.messages;
+  if (!forwarded || forwarded.length !== numericIds.length) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `forwardMessages returned ${forwarded?.length ?? 0} messages, expected ${numericIds.length}`
+    );
+  }
+
+  const messageIds: bigint[] = [];
+  for (let i = 0; i < forwarded.length; i++) {
+    const msg = forwarded[i];
+    if (!msg) {
+      throw new Error(
+        `forwardMessages could not forward source message ${sortedIds[i]} (Telegram returned null — message may not be forwardable)`
+      );
+    }
+    messageIds.push(BigInt(msg.id));
+  }
+
+  log.info(
+    { fromChatId: Number(fromChatId), toChatId: Number(toChatId), messageIds: messageIds.map(Number) },
+    "Forward confirmed by Telegram"
+  );
+
+  return { messageId: messageIds[0], messageIds };
+}