diff --git a/backend/alembic/versions/0067_feed_sort_indexes.py b/backend/alembic/versions/0067_feed_sort_indexes.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..07f1e22b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/alembic/versions/0067_feed_sort_indexes.py
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+"""feed sort indexes: published_at DESC NULLS LAST composite(s) for the default feed (PERF-1)
+
+The feed's default `newest` sort is `published_at DESC NULLS LAST, id ASC` (feedquery.order_by), but the
+only published_at index was a plain ASC btree (`ix_videos_published_at`). A btree read backwards satisfies
+`DESC NULLS FIRST`, not the `DESC NULLS LAST` the query asks for, so the planner could not use it for
+ordering — every feed page fell back to a full `videos` scan + top-N sort. Measured on a prod-sized reseed
+(257k videos): the default page went from ~44.8k shared buffers (dev planner) / ~169k (prod planner, the
+per-channel nested loop that is the likely "prod feed is slow" root cause) down to ~624 buffers with the
+matching index.
+
+This adds two indexes in the exact feed order:
+  - ix_videos_published_at_desc  (published_at DESC NULLS LAST, id ASC) — the global feed / Library sort.
+  - ix_videos_channel_pub_desc   (channel_id, published_at DESC NULLS LAST, id ASC) — the per-channel feed
+    (channel page, channel_ids filter). It leads with channel_id, so it is a strict superset of the old
+    single-column `ix_videos_channel_id` (FK cascade, sync upsert, autotag, channel-detail all still ride
+    it) — that redundant index is dropped.
+
+The plain ASC `ix_videos_published_at` stays: it already serves the `oldest` sort (ASC NULLS LAST = btree
+default) as an Index Scan.
+
+CONCURRENTLY (in alembic's autocommit_block, since it can't run inside a transaction) so a live prod builds
+these without blocking reads/writes; downtime ~0. IF (NOT) EXISTS keeps the drift test's
+downgrade->re-upgrade round-trip idempotent.
+"""
+from typing import Sequence, Union
+
+from alembic import op
+
+revision: str = "0067_feed_sort_indexes"
+down_revision: Union[str, None] = "0066_notif_created_at_notnull"
+branch_labels: Union[str, Sequence[str], None] = None
+depends_on: Union[str, Sequence[str], None] = None
+
+
+def upgrade() -> None:
+    with op.get_context().autocommit_block():
+        op.execute(
+            "CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY IF NOT EXISTS ix_videos_published_at_desc "
+            "ON videos (published_at DESC NULLS LAST, id ASC)"
+        )
+        op.execute(
+            "CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY IF NOT EXISTS ix_videos_channel_pub_desc "
+            "ON videos (channel_id, published_at DESC NULLS LAST, id ASC)"
+        )
+        # Redundant now — ix_videos_channel_pub_desc leads with channel_id (a strict superset).
+        op.execute("DROP INDEX CONCURRENTLY IF EXISTS ix_videos_channel_id")
+
+
+def downgrade() -> None:
+    with op.get_context().autocommit_block():
+        op.execute(
+            "CREATE INDEX CONCURRENTLY IF NOT EXISTS ix_videos_channel_id ON videos (channel_id)"
+        )
+        op.execute("DROP INDEX CONCURRENTLY IF EXISTS ix_videos_channel_pub_desc")
+        op.execute("DROP INDEX CONCURRENTLY IF EXISTS ix_videos_published_at_desc")
diff --git a/backend/app/models.py b/backend/app/models.py
index 65078e47..d6ddbbcd 100644
--- a/backend/app/models.py
+++ b/backend/app/models.py
@@ -251,8 +251,12 @@ class Video(Base, TimestampMixin):
     __tablename__ = "videos"
 
     id: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(16), primary_key=True)  # video id
+    # No standalone channel_id index: the composite `ix_videos_channel_pub_desc`
+    # (channel_id, published_at DESC NULLS LAST, id) from migration 0067 leads with channel_id, so it
+    # serves every channel_id lookup (FK cascade, sync upsert, channel-detail) AND the per-channel feed
+    # sort. Like the search_vector GIN, this composite is migration-defined, not an inline `index=True`.
     channel_id: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(
-        ForeignKey("channels.id", ondelete="CASCADE"), index=True
+        ForeignKey("channels.id", ondelete="CASCADE")
     )
     title: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(Text)  # normalized for display (see app.titles)
     original_title: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(Text)  # raw YouTube title, preserved