diff --git a/core/api.py b/core/api.py
index 60d2fa5..1f6dacc 100644
--- a/core/api.py
+++ b/core/api.py
@@ -1956,7 +1956,7 @@ async def set_folder_rule(
                                             logger.info(f"Retry {retry_count}/{max_retries} after {delay}s delay")
                                             await asyncio.sleep(delay)
 
-                                        extracted_metadata, _ = await rule.apply(doc_content)
+                                        extracted_metadata, _ = await rule.apply(doc_content, {})
                                         logger.info(
                                             f"Successfully extracted metadata on attempt {retry_count + 1}: "
                                             f"{extracted_metadata}"
diff --git a/core/models/rules.py b/core/models/rules.py
index 0ce7e91..9518e6a 100644
--- a/core/models/rules.py
+++ b/core/models/rules.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import logging
 from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
-from typing import Any, Dict, Literal
+from typing import Any, Dict, Literal, Optional
 
 import litellm
 from pydantic import BaseModel
@@ -15,14 +15,16 @@ class BaseRule(BaseModel, ABC):
     """Base model for all rules"""
 
     type: str
+    stage: Literal["post_parsing", "post_chunking"]
 
     @abstractmethod
-    async def apply(self, content: str) -> tuple[Dict[str, Any], str]:
+    async def apply(self, content: str, metadata: Optional[Dict[str, Any]] = None) -> tuple[Dict[str, Any], str]:
         """
         Apply the rule to the content.
 
         Args:
             content: The content to apply the rule to
+            metadata: Optional existing metadata that may be used or modified by the rule
 
         Returns:
             tuple[Dict[str, Any], str]: (metadata, modified_content)
@@ -42,7 +44,7 @@ class MetadataExtractionRule(BaseRule):
     type: Literal["metadata_extraction"]
     schema: Dict[str, Any]
 
-    async def apply(self, content: str) -> tuple[Dict[str, Any], str]:
+    async def apply(self, content: str, metadata: Optional[Dict[str, Any]] = None) -> tuple[Dict[str, Any], str]:
         """Extract metadata according to schema"""
         import instructor
         from pydantic import create_model
@@ -87,8 +89,11 @@ class MetadataExtractionRule(BaseRule):
 
         schema_text = "\n".join(schema_descriptions)
 
+        # Adjust prompt based on whether it's a chunk or full document
+        prompt_context = "chunk of text" if self.stage == "post_chunking" else "text"
+
         prompt = f"""
-        Extract metadata from the following text according to this schema:
+        Extract metadata from the following {prompt_context} according to this schema:
 
         {schema_text}
 
@@ -96,7 +101,8 @@ class MetadataExtractionRule(BaseRule):
         {content}
 
         Follow these guidelines:
-        1. Extract all requested information as simple strings, numbers, or booleans (not as objects or nested structures)
+        1. Extract all requested information as simple strings, numbers, or booleans
+        (not as objects or nested structures)
         2. If information is not present, indicate this with null instead of making something up
         3. Answer directly with the requested information - don't include explanations or reasoning
         4. Be concise but accurate in your extractions
@@ -109,7 +115,11 @@ class MetadataExtractionRule(BaseRule):
 
         system_message = {
             "role": "system",
-            "content": "You are a metadata extraction assistant. Extract structured metadata from text precisely following the provided schema. Always return the metadata as direct values (strings, numbers, booleans), not as objects with additional properties.",
+            "content": (
+                "You are a metadata extraction assistant. Extract structured metadata from text "
+                "precisely following the provided schema. Always return the metadata as direct values "
+                "(strings, numbers, booleans), not as objects with additional properties."
+            ),
         }
 
         user_message = {"role": "user", "content": prompt}
@@ -133,13 +143,14 @@ class MetadataExtractionRule(BaseRule):
             )
 
             # Convert pydantic model to dict
-            metadata = response.model_dump()
+            extracted_metadata = response.model_dump()
 
         except Exception as e:
             logger.error(f"Error in instructor metadata extraction: {str(e)}")
-            metadata = {}
+            extracted_metadata = {}
 
-        return metadata, content
+        # Metadata extraction doesn't modify content
+        return extracted_metadata, content
 
 
 class TransformationOutput(BaseModel):
@@ -154,12 +165,15 @@ class NaturalLanguageRule(BaseRule):
     type: Literal["natural_language"]
     prompt: str
 
-    async def apply(self, content: str) -> tuple[Dict[str, Any], str]:
+    async def apply(self, content: str, metadata: Optional[Dict[str, Any]] = None) -> tuple[Dict[str, Any], str]:
         """Transform content according to prompt"""
         import instructor
 
+        # Adjust prompt based on whether it's a chunk or full document
+        prompt_context = "chunk of text" if self.stage == "post_chunking" else "text"
+
         prompt = f"""
-        Your task is to transform the following text according to this instruction:
+        Your task is to transform the following {prompt_context} according to this instruction:
         {self.prompt}
 
         Text to transform:
@@ -175,7 +189,10 @@ class NaturalLanguageRule(BaseRule):
 
         system_message = {
             "role": "system",
-            "content": "You are a text transformation assistant. Transform text precisely following the provided instructions.",
+            "content": (
+                "You are a text transformation assistant. Transform text precisely following "
+                "the provided instructions."
+            ),
         }
 
         user_message = {"role": "user", "content": prompt}
@@ -205,4 +222,5 @@ class NaturalLanguageRule(BaseRule):
             logger.error(f"Error in instructor text transformation: {str(e)}")
             transformed_text = content  # Return original content on error
 
+        # Natural language rules modify content, don't add metadata directly
         return {}, transformed_text
diff --git a/core/services/document_service.py b/core/services/document_service.py
index bbfe066..f652b65 100644
--- a/core/services/document_service.py
+++ b/core/services/document_service.py
@@ -132,6 +132,9 @@ class DocumentService:
         # Maps cache name to active cache object
         self.active_caches: Dict[str, BaseCache] = {}
 
+        # Store for aggregated metadata from chunk rules
+        self._last_aggregated_metadata: Dict[str, Any] = {}
+
     async def retrieve_chunks(
         self,
         query: str,
@@ -603,42 +606,83 @@ class DocumentService:
             num_pages = int(len(content) / (CHARS_PER_TOKEN * TOKENS_PER_PAGE))  #
             await check_and_increment_limits(auth, "ingest", num_pages, doc.external_id)
 
-        # Apply rules if provided
+        # === Apply post_parsing rules ===
+        document_rule_metadata = {}
         if rules:
-            rule_metadata, modified_text = await self.rules_processor.process_rules(content, rules)
+            logger.info("Applying post-parsing rules...")
+            document_rule_metadata, content = await self.rules_processor.process_document_rules(content, rules)
             # Update document metadata with extracted metadata from rules
-            metadata.update(rule_metadata)
+            metadata.update(document_rule_metadata)
             doc.metadata = metadata  # Update doc metadata after rules
-
-            if modified_text:
-                content = modified_text
-                logger.info("Updated content with modified text from rules")
+            logger.info(f"Document metadata after post-parsing rules: {metadata}")
+            logger.info(f"Content length after post-parsing rules: {len(content)}")
 
         # Store full content before chunking
         doc.system_metadata["content"] = content
 
-        # Split into chunks after all processing is done
-        chunks = await self.parser.split_text(content)
-        if not chunks:
-            raise ValueError("No content chunks extracted")
-        logger.debug(f"Split processed text into {len(chunks)} chunks")
+        # Split text into chunks
+        parsed_chunks = await self.parser.split_text(content)
+        if not parsed_chunks:
+            raise ValueError("No content chunks extracted after rules processing")
+        logger.debug(f"Split processed text into {len(parsed_chunks)} chunks")
 
-        # Generate embeddings for chunks
-        embeddings = await self.embedding_model.embed_for_ingestion(chunks)
+        # === Apply post_chunking rules and aggregate metadata ===
+        processed_chunks = []
+        aggregated_chunk_metadata: Dict[str, Any] = {}  # Initialize dict for aggregated metadata
+        chunk_contents = []  # Initialize list to collect chunk contents efficiently
+
+        if rules:
+            logger.info("Applying post-chunking rules...")
+
+            for chunk_obj in parsed_chunks:
+                # Get metadata *and* the potentially modified chunk
+                chunk_rule_metadata, processed_chunk = await self.rules_processor.process_chunk_rules(chunk_obj, rules)
+                processed_chunks.append(processed_chunk)
+                chunk_contents.append(processed_chunk.content)  # Collect content as we process
+                # Aggregate the metadata extracted from this chunk
+                aggregated_chunk_metadata.update(chunk_rule_metadata)
+            logger.info(f"Finished applying post-chunking rules to {len(processed_chunks)} chunks.")
+            logger.info(f"Aggregated metadata from all chunks: {aggregated_chunk_metadata}")
+
+            # Update the document content with the stitched content from processed chunks
+            if processed_chunks:
+                logger.info("Updating document content with processed chunks...")
+                stitched_content = "\n".join(chunk_contents)
+                doc.system_metadata["content"] = stitched_content
+                logger.info(f"Updated document content with stitched chunks (length: {len(stitched_content)})")
+        else:
+            processed_chunks = parsed_chunks  # No rules, use original chunks
+
+        # Generate embeddings for processed chunks
+        embeddings = await self.embedding_model.embed_for_ingestion(processed_chunks)
         logger.debug(f"Generated {len(embeddings)} embeddings")
-        chunk_objects = self._create_chunk_objects(doc.external_id, chunks, embeddings)
+
+        # Create chunk objects with processed chunk content
+        chunk_objects = self._create_chunk_objects(doc.external_id, processed_chunks, embeddings)
         logger.debug(f"Created {len(chunk_objects)} chunk objects")
 
         chunk_objects_multivector = []
 
         if use_colpali and self.colpali_embedding_model:
-            embeddings_multivector = await self.colpali_embedding_model.embed_for_ingestion(chunks)
+            embeddings_multivector = await self.colpali_embedding_model.embed_for_ingestion(processed_chunks)
             logger.info(f"Generated {len(embeddings_multivector)} embeddings for multivector embedding")
-            chunk_objects_multivector = self._create_chunk_objects(doc.external_id, chunks, embeddings_multivector)
+            chunk_objects_multivector = self._create_chunk_objects(
+                doc.external_id, processed_chunks, embeddings_multivector
+            )
             logger.info(f"Created {len(chunk_objects_multivector)} chunk objects for multivector embedding")
 
         # Create and store chunk objects
 
+        # === Merge aggregated chunk metadata into document metadata ===
+        if aggregated_chunk_metadata:
+            logger.info("Merging aggregated chunk metadata into document metadata...")
+            # Make sure doc.metadata exists
+            if not hasattr(doc, "metadata") or doc.metadata is None:
+                doc.metadata = {}
+            doc.metadata.update(aggregated_chunk_metadata)
+            logger.info(f"Final document metadata after merge: {doc.metadata}")
+        # ===========================================================
+
         # Store everything
         await self._store_chunks_and_doc(chunk_objects, doc, use_colpali, chunk_objects_multivector)
         logger.debug(f"Successfully stored text document {doc.external_id}")
@@ -654,146 +698,6 @@ class DocumentService:
 
         return doc
 
-    # TODO: check if it's unused. if so, remove it.
-    async def ingest_file(
-        self,
-        file: UploadFile,
-        metadata: Dict[str, Any],
-        auth: AuthContext,
-        rules: Optional[List[str]] = None,
-        use_colpali: Optional[bool] = None,
-        folder_name: Optional[str] = None,
-        end_user_id: Optional[str] = None,
-    ) -> Document:
-        """Ingest a file document."""
-        if "write" not in auth.permissions:
-            raise PermissionError("User does not have write permission")
-
-        # Read file content
-        file_content = await file.read()
-        file_size = len(file_content)  # Get file size in bytes for limit checking
-
-        # Check limits before doing any expensive processing
-        from core.config import get_settings
-
-        settings = get_settings()
-
-        if settings.MODE == "cloud" and auth.user_id:
-            # Check limits before proceeding with parsing
-            from core.api import check_and_increment_limits
-
-            await check_and_increment_limits(auth, "storage_file", 1)
-            await check_and_increment_limits(auth, "storage_size", file_size)
-
-        # Now proceed with parsing and processing the file
-        file_type = filetype.guess(file_content)
-
-        # Set default mime type for cases where filetype.guess returns None
-        mime_type = ""
-        if file_type is not None:
-            mime_type = file_type.mime
-        elif file.filename:
-            # Try to determine by file extension as fallback
-            import mimetypes
-
-            guessed_type = mimetypes.guess_type(file.filename)[0]
-            if guessed_type:
-                mime_type = guessed_type
-            else:
-                # Default for text files
-                mime_type = "text/plain"
-        else:
-            mime_type = "application/octet-stream"  # Generic binary data
-
-        logger.info(f"Determined MIME type: {mime_type} for file {file.filename}")
-
-        # Parse file to text first
-        additional_metadata, text = await self.parser.parse_file_to_text(file_content, file.filename)
-        logger.debug(f"Parsed file into text of length {len(text)}")
-
-        # Apply rules if provided
-        if rules:
-            rule_metadata, modified_text = await self.rules_processor.process_rules(text, rules)
-            # Update document metadata with extracted metadata from rules
-            metadata.update(rule_metadata)
-            if modified_text:
-                text = modified_text
-                logger.info("Updated text with modified content from rules")
-
-        doc = Document(
-            content_type=mime_type,
-            filename=file.filename,
-            metadata=metadata,
-            owner={"type": auth.entity_type, "id": auth.entity_id},
-            access_control={
-                "readers": [auth.entity_id],
-                "writers": [auth.entity_id],
-                "admins": [auth.entity_id],
-                "user_id": (
-                    [auth.user_id] if auth.user_id else []
-                ),  # Add user_id to access control for filtering (as a list)
-            },
-            additional_metadata=additional_metadata,
-        )
-
-        # Add folder_name and end_user_id to system_metadata if provided
-        if folder_name:
-            doc.system_metadata["folder_name"] = folder_name
-
-            # Check if the folder exists, if not create it
-            await self._ensure_folder_exists(folder_name, doc.external_id, auth)
-
-        if end_user_id:
-            doc.system_metadata["end_user_id"] = end_user_id
-
-        if settings.MODE == "cloud" and auth.user_id:
-            # Check limits before proceeding with parsing
-            from core.api import check_and_increment_limits
-
-            num_pages = int(len(text) / (CHARS_PER_TOKEN * TOKENS_PER_PAGE))  #
-            await check_and_increment_limits(auth, "ingest", num_pages, doc.external_id)
-
-        # Store full content
-        doc.system_metadata["content"] = text
-        logger.debug(f"Created file document record with ID {doc.external_id}")
-
-        file_content_base64 = base64.b64encode(file_content).decode()
-        # Store the original file
-        storage_info = await self.storage.upload_from_base64(file_content_base64, doc.external_id, file.content_type)
-        doc.storage_info = {"bucket": storage_info[0], "key": storage_info[1]}
-        logger.debug(f"Stored file in bucket `{storage_info[0]}` with key `{storage_info[1]}`")
-
-        # Split into chunks after all processing is done
-        chunks = await self.parser.split_text(text)
-        if not chunks:
-            raise ValueError("No content chunks extracted")
-        logger.debug(f"Split processed text into {len(chunks)} chunks")
-
-        # Generate embeddings for chunks
-        embeddings = await self.embedding_model.embed_for_ingestion(chunks)
-        logger.debug(f"Generated {len(embeddings)} embeddings")
-
-        # Create and store chunk objects
-        chunk_objects = self._create_chunk_objects(doc.external_id, chunks, embeddings)
-        logger.debug(f"Created {len(chunk_objects)} chunk objects")
-
-        chunk_objects_multivector = []
-        logger.debug(f"use_colpali: {use_colpali}")
-        if use_colpali and self.colpali_embedding_model:
-            chunks_multivector = self._create_chunks_multivector(file_type, file_content_base64, file_content, chunks)
-            logger.debug(f"Created {len(chunks_multivector)} chunks for multivector embedding")
-            colpali_embeddings = await self.colpali_embedding_model.embed_for_ingestion(chunks_multivector)
-            logger.debug(f"Generated {len(colpali_embeddings)} embeddings for multivector embedding")
-            chunk_objects_multivector = self._create_chunk_objects(
-                doc.external_id, chunks_multivector, colpali_embeddings
-            )
-
-        # Store everything
-        doc.chunk_ids = await self._store_chunks_and_doc(chunk_objects, doc, use_colpali, chunk_objects_multivector)
-        logger.debug(f"Successfully stored file document {doc.external_id}")
-
-        return doc
-
     def img_to_base64_str(self, img: Image):
         buffered = BytesIO()
         img.save(buffered, format="PNG")
@@ -1373,10 +1277,32 @@ class DocumentService:
             return await self._update_document_metadata_only(doc, auth)
 
         # Process content into chunks and generate embeddings
-        chunks, chunk_objects = await self._process_chunks_and_embeddings(doc.external_id, updated_content)
+        chunks, chunk_objects = await self._process_chunks_and_embeddings(doc.external_id, updated_content, rules)
         if not chunks:
             return None
 
+        # If we have rules processing, the chunks may have modified content
+        # Update document content with stitched content from processed chunks
+        if rules and chunks:
+            chunk_contents = [chunk.content for chunk in chunks]
+            stitched_content = "\n".join(chunk_contents)
+            # Check if content actually changed
+            if stitched_content != updated_content:
+                logger.info("Updating document content with stitched content from processed chunks...")
+                doc.system_metadata["content"] = stitched_content
+                logger.info(f"Updated document content with stitched chunks (length: {len(stitched_content)})")
+
+        # Merge any aggregated metadata from chunk rules
+        if hasattr(self, "_last_aggregated_metadata") and self._last_aggregated_metadata:
+            logger.info("Merging aggregated chunk metadata into document metadata...")
+            # Make sure doc.metadata exists
+            if not hasattr(doc, "metadata") or doc.metadata is None:
+                doc.metadata = {}
+            doc.metadata.update(self._last_aggregated_metadata)
+            logger.info(f"Final document metadata after merge: {doc.metadata}")
+            # Clear the temporary metadata
+            self._last_aggregated_metadata = {}
+
         # Handle colpali (multi-vector) embeddings if needed
         chunk_objects_multivector = await self._process_colpali_embeddings(
             use_colpali, doc.external_id, chunks, file, file_type, file_content, file_content_base64
@@ -1423,16 +1349,16 @@ class DocumentService:
         if filename:
             doc.filename = filename
 
-        # Apply rules if provided for text content
+        # Apply post_parsing rules if provided
         if rules:
-            rule_metadata, modified_text = await self.rules_processor.process_rules(content, rules)
+            logger.info("Applying post-parsing rules to text update...")
+            rule_metadata, modified_content = await self.rules_processor.process_document_rules(content, rules)
             # Update metadata with extracted metadata from rules
             if metadata is not None:
                 metadata.update(rule_metadata)
 
-            if modified_text:
-                update_content = modified_text
-                logger.info("Updated content with modified text from rules")
+            update_content = modified_content
+            logger.info(f"Content length after post-parsing rules: {len(update_content)}")
 
         return update_content
 
@@ -1451,16 +1377,16 @@ class DocumentService:
         additional_file_metadata, file_text = await self.parser.parse_file_to_text(file_content, file.filename)
         logger.info(f"Parsed file into text of length {len(file_text)}")
 
-        # Apply rules if provided for file content
+        # Apply post_parsing rules if provided for file content
         if rules:
-            rule_metadata, modified_text = await self.rules_processor.process_rules(file_text, rules)
+            logger.info("Applying post-parsing rules to file update...")
+            rule_metadata, modified_text = await self.rules_processor.process_document_rules(file_text, rules)
             # Update metadata with extracted metadata from rules
             if metadata is not None:
                 metadata.update(rule_metadata)
 
-            if modified_text:
-                file_text = modified_text
-                logger.info("Updated file content with modified text from rules")
+            file_text = modified_text
+            logger.info(f"File content length after post-parsing rules: {len(file_text)}")
 
         # Add additional metadata from file if available
         if additional_file_metadata:
@@ -1628,26 +1554,50 @@ class DocumentService:
         return doc
 
     async def _process_chunks_and_embeddings(
-        self, doc_id: str, content: str
+        self, doc_id: str, content: str, rules: Optional[List[Dict[str, Any]]] = None
     ) -> tuple[List[Chunk], List[DocumentChunk]]:
         """Process content into chunks and generate embeddings."""
         # Split content into chunks
-        chunks = await self.parser.split_text(content)
-        if not chunks:
+        parsed_chunks = await self.parser.split_text(content)
+        if not parsed_chunks:
             logger.error("No content chunks extracted after update")
             return None, None
 
-        logger.info(f"Split updated text into {len(chunks)} chunks")
+        logger.info(f"Split updated text into {len(parsed_chunks)} chunks")
 
-        # Generate embeddings for new chunks
-        embeddings = await self.embedding_model.embed_for_ingestion(chunks)
+        # Apply post_chunking rules and aggregate metadata if provided
+        processed_chunks = []
+        aggregated_chunk_metadata: Dict[str, Any] = {}  # Initialize dict for aggregated metadata
+        chunk_contents = []  # Initialize list to collect chunk contents efficiently
+
+        if rules:
+            logger.info("Applying post-chunking rules...")
+
+            for chunk_obj in parsed_chunks:
+                # Get metadata *and* the potentially modified chunk
+                chunk_rule_metadata, processed_chunk = await self.rules_processor.process_chunk_rules(chunk_obj, rules)
+                processed_chunks.append(processed_chunk)
+                chunk_contents.append(processed_chunk.content)  # Collect content as we process
+                # Aggregate the metadata extracted from this chunk
+                aggregated_chunk_metadata.update(chunk_rule_metadata)
+            logger.info(f"Finished applying post-chunking rules to {len(processed_chunks)} chunks.")
+            logger.info(f"Aggregated metadata from all chunks: {aggregated_chunk_metadata}")
+
+            # Return this metadata so the calling method can update the document metadata
+            self._last_aggregated_metadata = aggregated_chunk_metadata
+        else:
+            processed_chunks = parsed_chunks  # No rules, use original chunks
+            self._last_aggregated_metadata = {}
+
+        # Generate embeddings for processed chunks
+        embeddings = await self.embedding_model.embed_for_ingestion(processed_chunks)
         logger.info(f"Generated {len(embeddings)} embeddings")
 
         # Create new chunk objects
-        chunk_objects = self._create_chunk_objects(doc_id, chunks, embeddings)
+        chunk_objects = self._create_chunk_objects(doc_id, processed_chunks, embeddings)
         logger.info(f"Created {len(chunk_objects)} chunk objects")
 
-        return chunks, chunk_objects
+        return processed_chunks, chunk_objects
 
     async def _process_colpali_embeddings(
         self,
diff --git a/core/services/rules_processor.py b/core/services/rules_processor.py
index adeba2a..71b736f 100644
--- a/core/services/rules_processor.py
+++ b/core/services/rules_processor.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ from typing import Any, Dict, List, Tuple
 from pydantic import BaseModel
 
 from core.config import get_settings
+from core.models.chunk import Chunk
 from core.models.rules import BaseRule, MetadataExtractionRule, NaturalLanguageRule
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -42,48 +43,21 @@ class RulesProcessor:
             f"Initializing RulesProcessor with {settings.RULES_PROVIDER} provider using model {settings.RULES_MODEL}"
         )
 
-    async def process_rules(self, content: str, rules: List[Dict[str, Any]]) -> Tuple[Dict[str, Any], str]:
-        """
-        Process a list of rules on content.
-
-        Args:
-            content: The document content
-            rules: List of rule dictionaries
-
-        Returns:
-            Tuple[Dict[str, Any], str]: (extracted_metadata, modified_content)
-        """
-        logger.debug(f"Processing {len(rules)} rules on content of length {len(content)}")
-        metadata = {}
-        modified_content = content
-
-        try:
-            # Parse all rules first to fail fast if any are invalid
-            parsed_rules = [self._parse_rule(rule) for rule in rules]
-            logger.debug(f"Successfully parsed {len(parsed_rules)} rules: {[r.type for r in parsed_rules]}")
-
-            # Apply rules in order
-            for i, rule in enumerate(parsed_rules, 1):
-                try:
-                    logger.debug(f"Applying rule {i}/{len(parsed_rules)}: {rule.type}")
-                    rule_metadata, modified_content = await rule.apply(modified_content)
-                    logger.debug(f"Rule {i} extracted metadata: {rule_metadata}")
-                    metadata.update(rule_metadata)
-                except Exception as e:
-                    logger.error(f"Failed to apply rule {rule.type}: {str(e)}")
-                    continue
-
-        except Exception as e:
-            logger.error(f"Failed to process rules: {str(e)}")
-            return metadata, content
-
-        logger.debug(f"Completed processing {len(rules)} rules. Final metadata: {metadata}")
-        return metadata, modified_content
-
     def _parse_rule(self, rule_dict: Dict[str, Any]) -> BaseRule:
         """Parse a rule dictionary into a rule object"""
         rule_type = rule_dict.get("type")
-        logger.debug(f"Parsing rule of type: {rule_type}")
+        stage = rule_dict.get("stage")
+
+        if not stage:
+            # Handle missing stage - default to post_parsing for backward compatibility
+            logger.warning(f"Rule is missing 'stage' field, defaulting to 'post_parsing': {rule_dict}")
+            rule_dict["stage"] = "post_parsing"
+            stage = "post_parsing"
+
+        if stage not in ["post_parsing", "post_chunking"]:
+            raise ValueError(f"Invalid stage '{stage}' in rule: {rule_dict}")
+
+        logger.debug(f"Parsing rule of type: {rule_type}, stage: {stage}")
 
         if rule_type == "metadata_extraction":
             return MetadataExtractionRule(**rule_dict)
@@ -91,3 +65,113 @@ class RulesProcessor:
             return NaturalLanguageRule(**rule_dict)
         else:
             raise ValueError(f"Unknown rule type: {rule_type}")
+
+    async def process_document_rules(self, content: str, rules: List[Dict[str, Any]]) -> Tuple[Dict[str, Any], str]:
+        """
+        Process rules intended for the post-parsing stage (full document text).
+
+        Args:
+            content: The full document content (text)
+            rules: The original list of rule dictionaries
+
+        Returns:
+            Tuple[Dict[str, Any], str]: (extracted_metadata, modified_content)
+        """
+        logger.debug(f"Processing document-level rules (post_parsing) on content length {len(content)}")
+        document_metadata = {}
+        modified_content = content
+        parsed_rules = []
+
+        # Process rules for post_parsing stage
+        for rule_dict in rules:
+            try:
+                # Let _parse_rule handle stage defaulting
+                rule = self._parse_rule(rule_dict)
+
+                # Only include rules for post_parsing stage
+                if rule.stage == "post_parsing":
+                    parsed_rules.append(rule)
+            except ValueError as e:
+                logger.warning(f"Skipping invalid document rule: {e}")
+                continue  # Skip this rule
+
+        logger.debug(f"Applying {len(parsed_rules)} post_parsing rules.")
+        for i, rule in enumerate(parsed_rules, 1):
+            try:
+                logger.debug(f"Applying document rule {i}/{len(parsed_rules)}: {rule.type}")
+                # Pass document metadata accumulated so far
+                rule_metadata, modified_content = await rule.apply(modified_content, document_metadata)
+                logger.debug(f"Rule {i} extracted metadata: {rule_metadata}")
+                document_metadata.update(rule_metadata)  # Accumulate metadata
+            except Exception as e:
+                logger.error(f"Failed to apply document rule {rule.type}: {str(e)}")
+                # Decide: stop or continue? Let's continue for robustness.
+                continue
+
+        logger.debug(f"Finished post_parsing rules. Final metadata: {document_metadata}")
+        return document_metadata, modified_content
+
+    async def process_chunk_rules(self, chunk: Chunk, rules: List[Dict[str, Any]]) -> Tuple[Dict[str, Any], Chunk]:
+        """
+        Process rules intended for the post-chunking stage on a single chunk.
+        Modifies the chunk's content if necessary and returns any extracted metadata.
+
+        Args:
+            chunk: The Chunk object to process
+            rules: The original list of rule dictionaries
+
+        Returns:
+            Tuple[Dict[str, Any], Chunk]: (extracted_metadata_for_doc, potentially_modified_chunk)
+        """
+        logger.debug(f"Processing chunk-level rules (post_chunking) on chunk content length {len(chunk.content)}")
+        parsed_rules = []
+
+        # Process rules for post_chunking stage
+        for rule_dict in rules:
+            try:
+                # Let _parse_rule handle stage defaulting
+                rule = self._parse_rule(rule_dict)
+
+                # Only include rules for post_chunking stage
+                if rule.stage == "post_chunking":
+                    parsed_rules.append(rule)
+            except ValueError as e:
+                logger.warning(f"Skipping invalid chunk rule: {e}")
+                continue
+
+        if not parsed_rules:
+            return {}, chunk  # No applicable rules, return empty metadata and original chunk
+
+        logger.debug(f"Applying {len(parsed_rules)} post_chunking rules to chunk.")
+        modified_content = chunk.content
+        # Metadata extracted by rules in *this chunk* to be aggregated at the document level
+        aggregated_chunk_rule_metadata = {}
+
+        for i, rule in enumerate(parsed_rules, 1):
+            try:
+                logger.debug(f"Applying chunk rule {i}/{len(parsed_rules)}: {rule.type}")
+                # Pass original chunk metadata (if any) for context, but don't modify it here
+                rule_metadata, rule_modified_content = await rule.apply(modified_content, chunk.metadata)
+
+                # If it's a metadata rule, aggregate its findings
+                if isinstance(rule, MetadataExtractionRule):
+                    logger.debug(f"Rule {i} (Metadata) extracted metadata: {rule_metadata}")
+                    # Aggregate metadata - simple update, last one wins for a key
+                    aggregated_chunk_rule_metadata.update(rule_metadata)
+
+                # If it's an NL rule, update the content for the next rule in this chunk
+                elif isinstance(rule, NaturalLanguageRule):
+                    logger.debug(f"Rule {i} (NL) modified content.")
+                    modified_content = rule_modified_content
+
+            except Exception as e:
+                logger.error(f"Failed to apply chunk rule {rule.type}: {str(e)}")
+                continue
+
+        # Update the chunk's content if it was modified by NL rules
+        # Note: We are NOT updating chunk.metadata here with aggregated_chunk_rule_metadata
+        chunk.content = modified_content
+
+        logger.debug(f"Finished post_chunking rules for chunk. Metadata to aggregate: {aggregated_chunk_rule_metadata}")
+        # Return the aggregated metadata from this chunk and the potentially modified chunk
+        return aggregated_chunk_rule_metadata, chunk
diff --git a/core/workers/ingestion_worker.py b/core/workers/ingestion_worker.py
index 718d716..9388e61 100644
--- a/core/workers/ingestion_worker.py
+++ b/core/workers/ingestion_worker.py
@@ -143,15 +143,16 @@ async def process_ingestion_job(
         additional_metadata, text = await document_service.parser.parse_file_to_text(file_content, original_filename)
         logger.debug(f"Parsed file into text of length {len(text)}")
 
-        # 5. Apply rules if provided
+        # === Apply post_parsing rules ===
+        document_rule_metadata = {}
         if rules_list:
-            rule_metadata, modified_text = await document_service.rules_processor.process_rules(text, rules_list)
-            # Update document metadata with extracted metadata from rules
-            metadata.update(rule_metadata)
-
-            if modified_text:
-                text = modified_text
-                logger.info("Updated text with modified content from rules")
+            logger.info("Applying post-parsing rules...")
+            document_rule_metadata, text = await document_service.rules_processor.process_document_rules(
+                text, rules_list
+            )
+            metadata.update(document_rule_metadata)  # Merge metadata into main doc metadata
+            logger.info(f"Document metadata after post-parsing rules: {metadata}")
+            logger.info(f"Content length after post-parsing rules: {len(text)}")
 
         # 6. Retrieve the existing document
         logger.debug(f"Retrieving document with ID: {document_id}")
@@ -201,17 +202,46 @@ async def process_ingestion_job(
         logger.debug("Updated document in database with parsed content")
 
         # 7. Split text into chunks
-        chunks = await document_service.parser.split_text(text)
-        if not chunks:
-            raise ValueError("No content chunks extracted")
-        logger.debug(f"Split processed text into {len(chunks)} chunks")
+        parsed_chunks = await document_service.parser.split_text(text)
+        if not parsed_chunks:
+            raise ValueError("No content chunks extracted after rules processing")
+        logger.debug(f"Split processed text into {len(parsed_chunks)} chunks")
 
-        # 8. Generate embeddings for chunks
-        embeddings = await document_service.embedding_model.embed_for_ingestion(chunks)
+        # === Apply post_chunking rules and aggregate metadata ===
+        processed_chunks = []
+        aggregated_chunk_metadata: Dict[str, Any] = {}  # Initialize dict for aggregated metadata
+        chunk_contents = []  # Initialize list to collect chunk contents as we process them
+
+        if rules_list:
+            logger.info("Applying post-chunking rules...")
+
+            for chunk_obj in parsed_chunks:
+                # Get metadata *and* the potentially modified chunk
+                chunk_rule_metadata, processed_chunk = await document_service.rules_processor.process_chunk_rules(
+                    chunk_obj, rules_list
+                )
+                processed_chunks.append(processed_chunk)
+                chunk_contents.append(processed_chunk.content)  # Collect content as we process
+                # Aggregate the metadata extracted from this chunk
+                aggregated_chunk_metadata.update(chunk_rule_metadata)
+            logger.info(f"Finished applying post-chunking rules to {len(processed_chunks)} chunks.")
+            logger.info(f"Aggregated metadata from all chunks: {aggregated_chunk_metadata}")
+
+            # Update the document content with the stitched content from processed chunks
+            if processed_chunks:
+                logger.info("Updating document content with processed chunks...")
+                stitched_content = "\n".join(chunk_contents)
+                doc.system_metadata["content"] = stitched_content
+                logger.info(f"Updated document content with stitched chunks (length: {len(stitched_content)})")
+        else:
+            processed_chunks = parsed_chunks  # No rules, use original chunks
+
+        # 8. Generate embeddings for processed chunks
+        embeddings = await document_service.embedding_model.embed_for_ingestion(processed_chunks)
         logger.debug(f"Generated {len(embeddings)} embeddings")
 
-        # 9. Create chunk objects
-        chunk_objects = document_service._create_chunk_objects(doc.external_id, chunks, embeddings)
+        # 9. Create chunk objects with potentially modified chunk content and metadata
+        chunk_objects = document_service._create_chunk_objects(doc.external_id, processed_chunks, embeddings)
         logger.debug(f"Created {len(chunk_objects)} chunk objects")
 
         # 10. Handle ColPali embeddings if enabled
@@ -229,8 +259,9 @@ async def process_ingestion_job(
 
             file_content_base64 = base64.b64encode(file_content).decode()
 
+            # Use the processed chunks for Colpali
             chunks_multivector = document_service._create_chunks_multivector(
-                file_type, file_content_base64, file_content, chunks
+                file_type, file_content_base64, file_content, processed_chunks
             )
             logger.debug(f"Created {len(chunks_multivector)} chunks for multivector embedding")
 
@@ -241,6 +272,16 @@ async def process_ingestion_job(
                 doc.external_id, chunks_multivector, colpali_embeddings
             )
 
+        # === Merge aggregated chunk metadata into document metadata ===
+        if aggregated_chunk_metadata:
+            logger.info("Merging aggregated chunk metadata into document metadata...")
+            # Make sure doc.metadata exists
+            if not hasattr(doc, "metadata") or doc.metadata is None:
+                doc.metadata = {}
+            doc.metadata.update(aggregated_chunk_metadata)
+            logger.info(f"Final document metadata after merge: {doc.metadata}")
+        # ===========================================================
+
         # Update document status to completed before storing
         doc.system_metadata["status"] = "completed"
         doc.system_metadata["updated_at"] = datetime.now(UTC)
diff --git a/sdks/python/morphik/rules.py b/sdks/python/morphik/rules.py
index 3c44094..e73e054 100644
--- a/sdks/python/morphik/rules.py
+++ b/sdks/python/morphik/rules.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
-from typing import Any, Dict, Type, Union
+from typing import Any, Dict, Literal, Type, Union
 
 from pydantic import BaseModel
 
@@ -16,8 +16,19 @@ class Rule(ABC):
 class MetadataExtractionRule(Rule):
     """Server-side rule for extracting metadata using a schema"""
 
-    def __init__(self, schema: Union[Type[BaseModel], Dict[str, Any]]):
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        schema: Union[Type[BaseModel], Dict[str, Any]],
+        stage: Literal["post_parsing", "post_chunking"] = "post_parsing",
+    ):
+        """
+        Args:
+            schema: Pydantic model or dict schema defining metadata fields to extract
+            stage: When to apply the rule - either "post_parsing" (full document text) or
+                  "post_chunking" (individual chunks). Defaults to "post_parsing" for backward compatibility.
+        """
         self.schema = schema
+        self.stage = stage
 
     def to_dict(self) -> Dict[str, Any]:
         if isinstance(self.schema, type) and issubclass(self.schema, BaseModel):
@@ -27,22 +38,25 @@ class MetadataExtractionRule(Rule):
             # Assume it's already a dict schema
             schema_dict = self.schema
 
-        return {"type": "metadata_extraction", "schema": schema_dict}
+        return {"type": "metadata_extraction", "schema": schema_dict, "stage": self.stage}
 
 
 class NaturalLanguageRule(Rule):
     """Server-side rule for transforming content using natural language"""
 
-    def __init__(self, prompt: str):
+    def __init__(self, prompt: str, stage: Literal["post_parsing", "post_chunking"] = "post_parsing"):
         """
         Args:
             prompt: Instruction for how to transform the content
                    e.g. "Remove any personal information" or "Convert to bullet points"
+            stage: When to apply the rule - either "post_parsing" (full document text) or
+                  "post_chunking" (individual chunks). Defaults to "post_parsing" for backward compatibility.
         """
         self.prompt = prompt
+        self.stage = stage
 
     def to_dict(self) -> Dict[str, Any]:
-        return {"type": "natural_language", "prompt": self.prompt}
+        return {"type": "natural_language", "prompt": self.prompt, "stage": self.stage}
 
 
 __all__ = ["Rule", "MetadataExtractionRule", "NaturalLanguageRule"]