diff --git a/packages/leann-core/src/leann/api.py b/packages/leann-core/src/leann/api.py
index 26f23f29..069fa416 100644
--- a/packages/leann-core/src/leann/api.py
+++ b/packages/leann-core/src/leann/api.py
@@ -30,6 +30,15 @@
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
+# Passage ID schemes recorded in <index>.meta.json["passage_id_scheme"].
+# - "sequential": today's default; IDs are str(insertion_index) (api.py:add_text).
+# - "content-hash": planned in #329; IDs are sha256(text)[:16], stable across
+#   file moves and reorderings.
+# Older indexes have no passage_id_scheme field — readers must default to
+# "sequential" when the key is absent. See #329 for the rollout plan.
+PASSAGE_ID_SCHEME_SEQUENTIAL = "sequential"
+PASSAGE_ID_SCHEME_CONTENT_HASH = "content-hash"
+
 
 def get_registered_backends() -> list[str]:
     """Get list of registered backend names."""
@@ -361,8 +370,19 @@ def __init__(
         dimensions: Optional[int] = None,
         embedding_mode: str = "sentence-transformers",
         embedding_options: Optional[dict[str, Any]] = None,
+        passage_id_scheme: str = PASSAGE_ID_SCHEME_SEQUENTIAL,
         **backend_kwargs,
     ):
+        if passage_id_scheme not in (
+            PASSAGE_ID_SCHEME_SEQUENTIAL,
+            PASSAGE_ID_SCHEME_CONTENT_HASH,
+        ):
+            raise ValueError(
+                f"Unknown passage_id_scheme: {passage_id_scheme!r}. "
+                f"Expected one of: {PASSAGE_ID_SCHEME_SEQUENTIAL!r}, "
+                f"{PASSAGE_ID_SCHEME_CONTENT_HASH!r}."
+            )
+        self.passage_id_scheme = passage_id_scheme
         self.backend_name = backend_name
         # Normalize incompatible combinations early (for consistent metadata)
         if backend_name == "hnsw":
@@ -457,10 +477,23 @@ def __init__(
         self.backend_kwargs = backend_kwargs
         self.chunks: list[dict[str, Any]] = []
 
+    def _generate_passage_id(self, text: str) -> str:
+        """Generate a passage ID per the configured scheme.
+
+        sequential: str(insertion index) — fast, position-dependent, current default.
+        content-hash: sha256(text)[:16] — content-stable, dedup-friendly across
+        file moves and reorderings. See #329 for the design.
+        """
+        if self.passage_id_scheme == PASSAGE_ID_SCHEME_CONTENT_HASH:
+            import hashlib
+
+            return hashlib.sha256(text.encode("utf-8")).hexdigest()[:16]
+        return str(len(self.chunks))
+
     def add_text(self, text: str, metadata: Optional[dict[str, Any]] = None):
         if metadata is None:
             metadata = {}
-        passage_id = metadata.get("id", str(len(self.chunks)))
+        passage_id = metadata.get("id") or self._generate_passage_id(text)
         chunk_data = {"id": passage_id, "text": text, "metadata": metadata}
         self.chunks.append(chunk_data)
 
@@ -550,12 +583,13 @@ def build_index(self, index_path: str):
         builder_instance.build(embeddings, string_ids, index_path, **current_backend_kwargs)
         leann_meta_path = index_dir / f"{index_name}.meta.json"
         meta_data = {
-            "version": "1.0",
+            "version": "1.1",
             "backend_name": self.backend_name,
             "embedding_model": self.embedding_model,
             "dimensions": self.dimensions,
             "backend_kwargs": self.backend_kwargs,
             "embedding_mode": self.embedding_mode,
+            "passage_id_scheme": self.passage_id_scheme,
             "passage_sources": [
                 {
                     "type": "jsonl",
@@ -675,12 +709,13 @@ def build_index_from_arrays(self, index_path: str, ids: list, embeddings: np.nda
         # Create metadata file
         leann_meta_path = index_dir / f"{index_name}.meta.json"
         meta_data = {
-            "version": "1.0",
+            "version": "1.1",
             "backend_name": self.backend_name,
             "embedding_model": self.embedding_model,
             "dimensions": self.dimensions,
             "backend_kwargs": self.backend_kwargs,
             "embedding_mode": self.embedding_mode,
+            "passage_id_scheme": self.passage_id_scheme,
             "passage_sources": [
                 {
                     "type": "jsonl",
diff --git a/packages/leann-core/src/leann/cli.py b/packages/leann-core/src/leann/cli.py
index 15a8a187..1a6e05ef 100644
--- a/packages/leann-core/src/leann/cli.py
+++ b/packages/leann-core/src/leann/cli.py
@@ -341,6 +341,16 @@ def create_parser(self) -> argparse.ArgumentParser:
             default=True,
             help="Fall back to traditional chunking if AST chunking fails (default: True)",
         )
+        build_parser.add_argument(
+            "--id-scheme",
+            choices=["sequential", "content-hash"],
+            default="sequential",
+            help=(
+                "How passage IDs are assigned. 'sequential' (default) keys by insertion "
+                "order; 'content-hash' uses sha256(text)[:16], stable across file moves "
+                "and reorderings. See #329."
+            ),
+        )
 
         # Watch command
         watch_parser = subparsers.add_parser(
@@ -1885,6 +1895,7 @@ def _make_incremental_builder(self, args) -> "LeannBuilder":
             is_compact=args.compact,
             is_recompute=args.recompute,
             num_threads=args.num_threads,
+            passage_id_scheme=getattr(args, "id_scheme", "sequential"),
         )
 
     def _incremental_add_only(
@@ -2378,6 +2389,7 @@ async def build_index(self, args):
             is_compact=args.compact,
             is_recompute=args.recompute,
             num_threads=args.num_threads,
+            passage_id_scheme=getattr(args, "id_scheme", "sequential"),
         )
 
         for chunk in all_texts: