lib/PublicInbox/LeiExternal.pm | 2 --
 t/lei-externals.t              | 3 +--

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiExternal.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiExternal.pm
index 56d6ef395ea07da5c550e808548374f47aeca80e..5e8dc71a224e854e8d547bd3671b1fee6f75e4e9 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiExternal.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiExternal.pm
@@ -144,8 +144,6 @@ }
 
 sub lei_add_external {
 	my ($self, $location) = @_;
-	my $sto = $self->_lei_store(1);
-	$sto->write_prepare($self);
 	my $opt = $self->{opt};
 	my $mirror = $opt->{mirror} // do {
 		my @fail;
diff --git a/t/lei-externals.t b/t/lei-externals.t
index 2045691fa5c155a25e9891efdd7a5c2280c0b19c..afd90d19ad4139b56479361792ca88472773c2ff 100644
--- a/t/lei-externals.t
+++ b/t/lei-externals.t
@@ -93,8 +93,7 @@ 		lei_ok(qw(add-external -q), $ibx->{inboxdir},
 				\'added external');
 		is($lei_out.$lei_err, '', 'no output');
 	});
-	ok(-s $config_file && -e $store_dir,
-		'add-external created config + store');
+	ok(-s $config_file, 'add-external created config');
 	my $lcfg = PublicInbox::Config->new($config_file);
 	$cfg->each_inbox(sub {
 		my ($ibx) = @_;