lib/PublicInbox/LeiInput.pm  | 10 +++++++++-
 lib/PublicInbox/NetReader.pm |  7 +++++++
 t/lei-import-imap.t          |  4 ++++

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiInput.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiInput.pm
index ce675f40b136d48ee683cd1a11a03c663b876a98..277ad88d99dd06b777a8469e28f42966b25c9c76 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiInput.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiInput.pm
@@ -293,6 +293,7 @@ 		$lei->err("# --sync will only be used for @{$sync->{ok}}");
 		$lei->err("# --sync is not supported for: @{$sync->{no}}");
 	}
 	if ($net) {
+		$net->{-can_die} = 1;
 		if (my $err = $net->errors) {
 			return $lei->fail($err);
 		}
@@ -306,10 +307,17 @@ }
 
 sub process_inputs {
 	my ($self) = @_;
+	my $err;
 	for my $input (@{$self->{inputs}}) {
-		$self->input_path_url($input);
+		eval { $self->input_path_url($input) };
+		next unless $@;
+		$err = "$input: $@";
+		last;
 	}
+	# always commit first, even on error partial work is acceptable for
+	# lei <import|tag|convert>
 	my $wait = $self->{lei}->{sto}->ipc_do('done') if $self->{lei}->{sto};
+	$self->{lei}->fail($err) if $err;
 }
 
 sub input_only_atfork_child {
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/NetReader.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/NetReader.pm
index 81d25ead34f3e5b31a73acb7a0d0a5a1c995c4ad..3fc37b10f8b22efa52ca6ad223b3aa65a009f76a 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/NetReader.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/NetReader.pm
@@ -407,6 +407,11 @@ 	$r_uidval //= $mic->uidvalidity($mbx) //
 		return "E: $orig_uri cannot get UIDVALIDITY";
 	$r_uidnext //= $mic->uidnext($mbx) //
 		return "E: $orig_uri cannot get UIDNEXT";
+	my $expect = $orig_uri->uidvalidity // $r_uidval;
+	return <<EOF if $expect != $r_uidval;
+E: $orig_uri UIDVALIDITY mismatch (got $r_uidval)
+EOF
+
 	my $uri = $orig_uri->clone;
 	my ($itrk, $l_uid, $l_uidval) = _itrk_last($self, $uri, $r_uidval);
 	return <<EOF if $l_uidval != $r_uidval;
@@ -520,6 +525,7 @@ 		$err = _imap_fetch_all($self, $mic, $uri);
 	} else {
 		$err = "E: <$uri> not connected: $!";
 	}
+	die $err if $err && $self->{-can_die};
 	warn $err if $err;
 	$mic;
 }
@@ -620,6 +626,7 @@ 		$err = _nntp_fetch_all($self, $nn, $uri);
 	} else {
 		$err = "E: <$uri> not connected: $!";
 	}
+	die $err if $err && $self->{-can_die};
 	warn $err if $err;
 	$nn;
 }
diff --git a/t/lei-import-imap.t b/t/lei-import-imap.t
index 611328b4c1567ce4626cf9bea901189fdf1d9ba6..c977c68ef380d17129ef977ecd5136665ee2171b 100644
--- a/t/lei-import-imap.t
+++ b/t/lei-import-imap.t
@@ -24,6 +24,10 @@
 	lei_ok('import', $url);
 	lei_ok 'ls-sync';
 	like($lei_out, qr!\A\Q$url\E;UIDVALIDITY=\d+\n\z!, 'ls-sync');
+	chomp(my $u = $lei_out);
+	lei_ok('import', $u, \'UIDVALIDITY match in URL');
+	$u =~ s/;UIDVALIDITY=(\d+)\s*/;UIDVALIDITY=9$1/s;
+	ok(!lei('import', $u), 'UIDVALIDITY mismatch in URL rejected');
 
 	lei_ok('inspect', $url);
 	my $inspect = json_utf8->decode($lei_out);