lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm      | 11 ++++++++---
 lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm       |  6 +++---
 lib/PublicInbox/SearchView.pm |  4 ++--

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm
index 267be4e381bad31d3cab4791f9e7c76d053726db..55e546e104f538109b95f804efb53e5a556c95ad 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Inbox.pm
@@ -191,14 +191,19 @@ 		}
 	};
 }
 
-sub search ($;$) {
-	my ($self, $over_only) = @_;
+sub search ($;$$) {
+	my ($self, $over_only, $ctx) = @_;
 	my $srch = $self->{search} ||= eval {
 		_cleanup_later($self);
 		require PublicInbox::Search;
 		PublicInbox::Search->new($self);
 	};
-	($over_only || eval { $srch->xdb }) ? $srch : undef;
+	($over_only || eval { $srch->xdb }) ? $srch : do {
+		$ctx and $ctx->{env}->{'psgi.errors'}->print(<<EOF);
+`$self->{name}' search went away unexpectedly
+EOF
+		undef;
+	};
 }
 
 sub over ($) {
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm
index fc83a893c60ab384f21061d3b2dff12edb6f365c..a83c0356d3ab7d2ac81d9fa90da520fc8e589036 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm
@@ -205,8 +205,8 @@ }
 
 sub results_cb {
 	my ($ctx) = @_;
+	my $srch = $ctx->{-inbox}->search(undef, $ctx) or return;
 	my $mset = $ctx->{mset};
-	my $srch = $ctx->{srch};
 	while (1) {
 		while (my $mi = (($mset->items)[$ctx->{iter}++])) {
 			my $smsg = PublicInbox::Smsg::from_mitem($mi,
@@ -227,8 +227,8 @@ 	my ($ctx, $query) = @_;
 
 	return mbox_all_ids($ctx) if $query eq '';
 	my $qopts = $ctx->{qopts} = { mset => 2 };
-	my $srch = $ctx->{srch} = $ctx->{-inbox}->search or
-		return PublicInbox::WWW::need($ctx, 'Search');;
+	my $srch = $ctx->{-inbox}->search or
+		return PublicInbox::WWW::need($ctx, 'Search');
 	my $mset = $ctx->{mset} = $srch->query($query, $qopts);
 	$qopts->{offset} = $mset->size or
 			return [404, [qw(Content-Type text/plain)],
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/SearchView.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/SearchView.pm
index 84c04c6c4713923d73f5ed5cb856e8720d19c3df..5d77469ed522bcbf14f09904275860bd876f651b 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/SearchView.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/SearchView.pm
@@ -321,7 +321,6 @@ sub adump {
 	my ($cb, $mset, $q, $ctx) = @_;
 	$ctx->{items} = [ $mset->items ];
 	$ctx->{search_query} = $q; # used by WwwAtomStream::atom_header
-	$ctx->{srch} = $ctx->{-inbox}->search;
 	PublicInbox::WwwAtomStream->response($ctx, 200, \&adump_i);
 }
 
@@ -329,8 +328,9 @@ # callback for PublicInbox::WwwAtomStream::getline
 sub adump_i {
 	my ($ctx) = @_;
 	while (my $mi = shift @{$ctx->{items}}) {
+		my $srch = $ctx->{-inbox}->search(undef, $ctx) or return;
 		my $smsg = eval {
-			PublicInbox::Smsg::from_mitem($mi, $ctx->{srch});
+			PublicInbox::Smsg::from_mitem($mi, $srch);
 		} or next;
 		return $smsg;
 	}