lib/PublicInbox/LeiSearch.pm |  8 ++++++--
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiTag.pm    | 10 ++++++++--
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiToMail.pm |  4 +++-
 t/lei-index.t                | 12 +++++++++++-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiSearch.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiSearch.pm
index c2b1214679f012478dcb3bd34753cf8cefb6b4b7..fb19229fa868bc11f2d3228b74f17c19b2bb19d8 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiSearch.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiSearch.pm
@@ -63,7 +63,9 @@ 	($chash, $mids);
 }
 
 sub _cmp_1st { # git->cat_async callback
-	my ($bref, $oid, $type, $size, $cmp) = @_; # cmp: [chash, xoids, smsg]
+	my ($bref, $oid, $type, $size, $cmp) = @_;
+	# cmp: [chash, xoids, smsg, lms]
+	$bref //= $cmp->[3] ? $cmp->[3]->local_blob($oid, 1) : undef;
 	if ($bref && content_hash(PublicInbox::Eml->new($bref)) eq $cmp->[0]) {
 		$cmp->[1]->{$oid} = $cmp->[2]->{num};
 	}
@@ -78,6 +80,8 @@ 	my ($chash, $mids) = content_key($eml);
 	my @overs = ($self->over // $self->overs_all);
 	my $git = $self->git;
 	my $xoids = {};
+	# no lms when used via {ale}:
+	my $lms = $self->{-lms_ro} //= lms($self) if defined($self->{topdir});
 	for my $mid (@$mids) {
 		for my $o (@overs) {
 			my ($id, $prev);
@@ -85,7 +89,7 @@ 			while (my $cur = $o->next_by_mid($mid, \$id, \$prev)) {
 				next if $cur->{bytes} == 0 ||
 					$xoids->{$cur->{blob}};
 				$git->cat_async($cur->{blob}, \&_cmp_1st,
-						[ $chash, $xoids, $cur ]);
+						[$chash, $xoids, $cur, $lms]);
 				if ($min && scalar(keys %$xoids) >= $min) {
 					$git->cat_async_wait;
 					return $xoids;
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiTag.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiTag.pm
index c650e88633c999c430ab4f86a7a220d78878544d..b6abd53367f7cfe5c2c24d96b7f60d487d2399cb 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiTag.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiTag.pm
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ use parent qw(PublicInbox::IPC PublicInbox::LeiInput);
 
 sub input_eml_cb { # used by PublicInbox::LeiInput::input_fh
 	my ($self, $eml) = @_;
-	if (my $xoids = $self->{lei}->{ale}->xoids_for($eml)) {
+	if (my $xoids = $self->{lse}->xoids_for($eml) // # tries LeiMailSync
+			$self->{lei}->{ale}->xoids_for($eml)) {
 		$self->{lei}->{sto}->ipc_do('update_xvmd', $xoids, $eml,
 						$self->{vmd_mod});
 	} else {
@@ -17,7 +18,11 @@ 		++$self->{missing};
 	}
 }
 
-sub input_mbox_cb { input_eml_cb($_[1], $_[0]) }
+sub input_mbox_cb {
+	my ($eml, $self) = @_;
+	$eml->header_set($_) for (qw(X-Status Status));
+	input_eml_cb($self, $eml);
+}
 
 sub input_maildir_cb { # maildir_each_eml cb
 	my ($f, $kw, $eml, $self) = @_;
@@ -60,6 +65,7 @@
 sub ipc_atfork_child {
 	my ($self) = @_;
 	PublicInbox::LeiInput::input_only_atfork_child($self);
+	$self->{lse} = $self->{lei}->{sto}->search;
 	# this goes out-of-scope at worker process exit:
 	PublicInbox::OnDestroy->new($$, \&note_missing, $self);
 }
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiToMail.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiToMail.pm
index da3a95d20d2e1869124f77d1e4b0f14b17d28ec6..0cbdff8b8883bf8dddd134ee1eefa28f37406ef5 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiToMail.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiToMail.pm
@@ -650,7 +650,9 @@ sub ipc_atfork_child {
 	my ($self) = @_;
 	my $lei = $self->{lei};
 	$lei->_lei_atfork_child;
-	$self->{-lms_ro} = $lei->{lse}->lms if $lei->{lse};
+	if (my $lse = $lei->{lse}) {
+		$self->{-lms_ro} = $lse->{-lms_ro} //= $lse->lms;
+	}
 	$lei->{auth}->do_auth_atfork($self) if $lei->{auth};
 	$SIG{__WARN__} = PublicInbox::Eml::warn_ignore_cb();
 	$self->SUPER::ipc_atfork_child;
diff --git a/t/lei-index.t b/t/lei-index.t
index b7dafb711f7eced8f31a0e118e3897490d666fcf..9a45d8856da497673449cf719a6f09f6f16a0dfb 100644
--- a/t/lei-index.t
+++ b/t/lei-index.t
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ 	lei_ok(qw(q mid:qp@example.com));
 	my $res_a = json_utf8->decode($lei_out);
 	my $blob = $res_a->[0]->{'blob'};
 	like($blob, qr/\A[0-9a-f]{40,}\z/, 'got blob from qp@example');
-	lei_ok('blob', $blob);
+	lei_ok(qw(-C / blob), $blob);
 	is($lei_out, $expect, 'got expected blob via Maildir');
 	lei_ok(qw(q mid:qp@example.com -f text));
 	like($lei_out, qr/^hi = bye/sm, 'lei2mail fallback');
@@ -57,6 +57,16 @@ 		'imported blob');
 	lei_ok(qw(q m:qp@example.com --dedupe=none));
 	my $res_b = json_utf8->decode($lei_out);
 	is_deeply($res_b, $res_a, 'no extra DB entries');
+
+	# ensure tag works on index-only messages:
+	lei_ok(qw(tag +kw:seen t/utf8.eml));
+	lei_ok(qw(q mid:testmessage@example.com));
+	is_deeply(json_utf8->decode($lei_out)->[0]->{kw},
+		['seen'], 'seen kw can be set on index-only message');
+
+	lei_ok(qw(q z:0.. -o), "$tmpdir/all-results") for (1..2);
+	is_deeply([xqx($all_obj)], \@objs,
+		'no new objects after 2x q to trigger implicit import');
 
 	lei_ok('index', "nntp://$nntp_host_port/t.v2");
 	lei_ok('index', "imap://$imap_host_port/t.v2.0");