lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm       | 2 +-
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiImport.pm | 7 ++++++-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
index 265b7047fdf63541fb0bd263071efc445e674c26..beeb8b4894f1fcc453867a8e8d4a30c492149161 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ 	 PublicInbox::LeiQuery::curl_opt(), # mainly for --proxy=
 	 @c_opt ],
 'import' => [ 'LOCATION...|--stdin',
 	'one-time import/update from URL or filesystem',
-	qw(stdin| offset=i recursive|r exclude=s include|I=s jobs=s
+	qw(stdin| offset=i recursive|r exclude=s include|I=s jobs=s new-only
 	lock=s@ in-format|F=s kw! verbose|v+ incremental! mail-sync!),
 	qw(no-torsocks torsocks=s), PublicInbox::LeiQuery::curl_opt(), @c_opt ],
 'forget-mail-sync' => [ 'LOCATION...',
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiImport.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiImport.pm
index e3cb69ca93d44bf878d573e19b81fc5b833c1941..08794f711f19cadf264f098fc98f5eb054503899 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiImport.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiImport.pm
@@ -78,12 +78,14 @@ 	my $j = $lei->{opt}->{jobs} // 0;
 	$j =~ /\A([0-9]+),[0-9]+\z/ and $j = $1 + 0;
 	$j ||= scalar(@{$self->{inputs}}) || 1;
 	my $ikw;
-	if (my $net = $lei->{net}) {
+	my $net = $lei->{net};
+	if ($net) {
 		# $j = $net->net_concurrency($j); TODO
 		if ($lei->{opt}->{incremental} // 1) {
 			$net->{incremental} = 1;
 			$net->{-lms_ro} = $sto->search->lms // 0;
 			if ($self->{-import_kw} && $net->{-lms_ro} &&
+					!$lei->{opt}->{'new-only'} &&
 					$net->{imap_order}) {
 				require PublicInbox::LeiImportKw;
 				$ikw = PublicInbox::LeiImportKw->new($lei);
@@ -93,6 +95,9 @@ 		}
 	} else {
 		my $nproc = $self->detect_nproc;
 		$j = $nproc if $j > $nproc;
+	}
+	if ($lei->{opt}->{'new-only'} && (!$net || !$net->{imap_order})) {
+		$lei->err('# --new-only is only for IMAP');
 	}
 	my $ops = {};
 	$lei->{auth}->op_merge($ops, $self) if $lei->{auth};