diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index aed453110..cd4bc9767 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -2094,9 +2094,6 @@
         "arm64"
       ],
       "dev": true,
-      "libc": [
-        "glibc"
-      ],
       "license": "MIT",
       "optional": true,
       "os": [
@@ -2114,9 +2111,6 @@
         "arm64"
       ],
       "dev": true,
-      "libc": [
-        "musl"
-      ],
       "license": "MIT",
       "optional": true,
       "os": [
@@ -2134,9 +2128,6 @@
         "ppc64"
       ],
       "dev": true,
-      "libc": [
-        "glibc"
-      ],
       "license": "MIT",
       "optional": true,
       "os": [
@@ -2154,9 +2145,6 @@
         "s390x"
       ],
       "dev": true,
-      "libc": [
-        "glibc"
-      ],
       "license": "MIT",
       "optional": true,
       "os": [
@@ -2174,9 +2162,6 @@
         "x64"
       ],
       "dev": true,
-      "libc": [
-        "glibc"
-      ],
       "license": "MIT",
       "optional": true,
       "os": [
@@ -2194,9 +2179,6 @@
         "x64"
       ],
       "dev": true,
-      "libc": [
-        "musl"
-      ],
       "license": "MIT",
       "optional": true,
       "os": [
diff --git a/worker/utils.ts b/worker/utils.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d3233c0f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/worker/utils.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,128 @@
+/**
+ * Pure utility functions shared across worker stage modules.
+ *
+ * These helpers have no side-effects and do not touch Supabase or OpenAI.
+ * They can be imported freely by any worker module without risk of circular
+ * dependencies or unexpected I/O.
+ */
+
+import { createHash } from "node:crypto";
+import { env } from "../src/lib/env";
+import { safeErrorLogDetails } from "../src/lib/privacy";
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// String helpers
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/** Strip null bytes and normalise surrogate pairs so Postgres accepts the value. */
+export function cleanString(val: string): string {
+  if (typeof val !== "string") return val;
+  return val
+    .replace(/\u0000/g, "")
+    .replace(/\\u0000/g, "")
+    .toWellFormed();
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// JSONB helpers
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+export type JsonbValue = string | number | boolean | null | { [key: string]: JsonbValue } | JsonbValue[];
+export type JsonbRecord = { [key: string]: JsonbValue };
+
+/** Recursively clean a value so it is safe to store as JSONB in Postgres. */
+export function sanitizeJsonb(val: unknown): JsonbValue {
+  if (typeof val === "string") return cleanString(val);
+  if (Array.isArray(val)) return val.map((entry) => sanitizeJsonb(entry));
+  if (val !== null && typeof val === "object") {
+    const raw = val as { [key: string]: unknown };
+    const res: JsonbRecord = {};
+    for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(raw)) {
+      res[key] = sanitizeJsonb(value);
+    }
+    return res;
+  }
+  return val as JsonbValue;
+}
+
+/** Return a sanitised JSONB-safe record, falling back to `{}` for non-objects. */
+export function sanitizeJsonbRecord(value: unknown): Record<string, unknown> {
+  const sanitized = sanitizeJsonb(value);
+  return typeof sanitized === "object" && sanitized !== null && !Array.isArray(sanitized) ? sanitized : {};
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Hash helpers
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+export function hashBytes(bytes: Buffer) {
+  return createHash("sha256").update(bytes).digest("hex");
+}
+
+export function hashText(text: string) {
+  return createHash("sha256").update(text.replace(/\s+/g, " ").trim()).digest("hex");
+}
+
+export function hashEmbeddingFieldContent(content: string) {
+  return createHash("md5").update(content).digest("hex");
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Text helpers
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/**
+ * Collapse whitespace and truncate to `limit` characters, preserving whole
+ * words where possible.
+ */
+export function compactSearchText(value: unknown, limit = 900) {
+  const compact = String(value ?? "")
+    .replace(/\s+/g, " ")
+    .trim();
+  if (!compact) return "";
+  return compact.length > limit ? compact.slice(0, limit).trim() : compact;
+}
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Worker-specific helpers
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/** Increment the count for a skip reason in the shared skip-reason map. */
+export function noteSkippedImage(skipReasons: Map<string, number>, reason: string) {
+  skipReasons.set(reason, (skipReasons.get(reason) ?? 0) + 1);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Return `true` when the Supabase error indicates a missing RPC / schema
+ * mismatch so the worker can decide whether to retry after a migration.
+ */
+export function isMissingSchemaError(error: { message?: string; code?: string }) {
+  return /could not find the function|schema cache|PGRST20\d/i.test(error.message ?? "") || error.code === "PGRST202";
+}
+
+/** Calculate an exponential back-off delay for the polling loop. */
+export function workerBackoffMs(failures: number) {
+  return Math.min(env.WORKER_HEALTH_BACKOFF_MS, env.WORKER_POLL_MS * 2 ** Math.max(0, failures - 1));
+}
+
+/** Log a non-fatal write failure without propagating the error. */
+export function optionalIndexWriteWarning(stage: string, error: unknown) {
+  console.warn(`Optional ${stage} write failed`, safeErrorLogDetails(error));
+}
+
+/**
+ * Create a structured Error from a Supabase response error, preserving the
+ * Postgres error code, details and hint for upstream logging.
+ */
+export function supabaseStageError(
+  stage: string,
+  error: { message?: string; code?: string; details?: string; hint?: string },
+) {
+  const wrapped = new Error(`${stage}: ${error.message ?? "Supabase request failed"}`);
+  Object.assign(wrapped, {
+    code: error.code,
+    details: error.details,
+    hint: error.hint,
+  });
+  return wrapped;
+}