lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearchIdx.pm | 2 +-
 lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm   | 2 +-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearchIdx.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearchIdx.pm
index 2d230dc18045e5bff145f4e2a0bcb6d513e2178c..6c09c460badb1517f881761e1fd01230762db8cc 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearchIdx.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/ExtSearchIdx.pm
@@ -308,7 +308,7 @@ 	} else {
 		warn "E: $ekey unsupported inbox version (v$v)\n";
 		return;
 	}
-	index_todo($self, $sync, $_) for @{$sync->{todo}};
+	index_todo($self, $sync, $_) for @{delete($sync->{todo}) // []};
 }
 
 sub eidx_sync { # main entry point
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm
index cf44c95bc8ebfa6aca7d402798a2a9d5f51514fc..11cde627f92b82a98dcade60767b40e073006753 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm
@@ -1351,7 +1351,7 @@ 			$art_beg++ if defined($art_beg);
 		}
 	}
 	# work forwards through history
-	index_todo($self, $sync, $_) for @{$sync->{todo}};
+	index_todo($self, $sync, $_) for @{delete($sync->{todo}) // []};
 	$self->{oidx}->rethread_done($opt);
 	$self->done;