lib/PublicInbox/LeiOverview.pm | 5 ++---
 t/lei-externals.t              | 2 +-
 t/lei-q-thread.t               | 8 ++++----
 xt/net_writer-imap.t           | 2 +-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiOverview.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiOverview.pm
index 4db1d8c882e17afebbceafaaf3f0b07ba4df5436..01556273d351410c4b49b01170ec608181901f49 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiOverview.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiOverview.pm
@@ -141,17 +141,16 @@ 	$smsg->{rt} = _iso8601(delete $smsg->{ts}); # JMAP receivedAt
 	$smsg->{dt} = _iso8601(delete $smsg->{ds}); # JMAP UTCDate
 	$smsg->{pct} = get_pct($mitem) if $mitem;
 	if (my $r = delete $smsg->{references}) {
-		$smsg->{refs} = [ map { "<$_>" } ($r =~ m/$MID_EXTRACT/go) ];
+		$smsg->{refs} = [ map { $_ } ($r =~ m/$MID_EXTRACT/go) ];
 	}
 	if (my $m = delete($smsg->{mid})) {
-		$smsg->{'m'} = "<$m>";
+		$smsg->{'m'} = $m;
 	}
 	for my $f (qw(from to cc)) {
 		my $v = delete $smsg->{$f} or next;
 		$smsg->{substr($f, 0, 1)} = pairs($v);
 	}
 	$smsg->{'s'} = delete $smsg->{subject};
-	# can we be bothered to parse From/To/Cc into arrays?
 	scalar { %$smsg }; # unbless
 }
 
diff --git a/t/lei-externals.t b/t/lei-externals.t
index 296676409701c71e7f9542607fb039aafb7ce34f..2a92d1016d885a37e5f3a325a9bdecfc495b643d 100644
--- a/t/lei-externals.t
+++ b/t/lei-externals.t
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ 	my @cmd = ('q', '--only', $url, '-q', "m:$mid");
 	lei_ok(@cmd, \"query $url");
 	is($lei_err, '', "no errors on $url");
 	my $res = json_utf8->decode($lei_out);
-	is($res->[0]->{'m'}, "<$mid>", "got expected mid from $url") or
+	is($res->[0]->{'m'}, $mid, "got expected mid from $url") or
 		skip 'further remote tests', 1;
 	lei_ok(@cmd, 'd:..20101002', \'no results, no error');
 	is($lei_err, '', 'no output on 404, matching local FS behavior');
diff --git a/t/lei-q-thread.t b/t/lei-q-thread.t
index 28c639f5e35c22e0cfba0ac3dbe16b779001ea0a..e24fb2cbfe6f963454d659bd36885fdf78f7349d 100644
--- a/t/lei-q-thread.t
+++ b/t/lei-q-thread.t
@@ -27,9 +27,9 @@ 	$res = json_utf8->decode($lei_out);
 	is(scalar(@$res), 3, 'got 2 results');
 	pop @$res;
 	my %m = map { $_->{'m'} => $_ } @$res;
-	is_deeply($m{'<testmessage@example.com>'}->{kw}, ['seen'],
+	is_deeply($m{'testmessage@example.com'}->{kw}, ['seen'],
 		'flag set in direct hit');
-	'TODO' or is_deeply($m{'<a-reply@miss>'}->{kw}, ['draft'],
+	'TODO' or is_deeply($m{'a-reply@miss'}->{kw}, ['draft'],
 		'flag set in thread hit');
 
 	lei_ok qw(q -t -t m:testmessage@example.com);
@@ -37,9 +37,9 @@ 	$res = json_utf8->decode($lei_out);
 	is(scalar(@$res), 3, 'got 2 results with -t -t');
 	pop @$res;
 	%m = map { $_->{'m'} => $_ } @$res;
-	is_deeply($m{'<testmessage@example.com>'}->{kw}, ['flagged', 'seen'],
+	is_deeply($m{'testmessage@example.com'}->{kw}, ['flagged', 'seen'],
 		'flagged set in direct hit');
-	'TODO' or is_deeply($m{'<testmessage@example.com>'}->{kw}, ['draft'],
+	'TODO' or is_deeply($m{'testmessage@example.com'}->{kw}, ['draft'],
 		'flagged set in direct hit');
 	lei_ok qw(q -tt m:testmessage@example.com --only), "$ro_home/t2";
 	$res = json_utf8->decode($lei_out);
diff --git a/xt/net_writer-imap.t b/xt/net_writer-imap.t
index c24fa993cc5e4d32ed3ffccbc9d4109821d0b3dd..3631d932d6831f4b7e5d2ef8adca539b366a9236 100644
--- a/xt/net_writer-imap.t
+++ b/xt/net_writer-imap.t
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ 	$nwr->imap_each($folder_uri, $imap_slurp_all, $empty = []);
 	is_deeply($empty, [], 'clobbered folder');
 	lei_ok qw(q -o /dev/stdout m:testmessage@example.com --no-external);
 	$res = json_utf8->decode($lei_out)->[0];
-	is_deeply([@$res{qw(m kw)}], ['<testmessage@example.com>', ['seen']],
+	is_deeply([@$res{qw(m kw)}], ['testmessage@example.com', ['seen']],
 		'kw set');
 });