lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm        | 6 ++++++
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiLcat.pm    | 4 +---
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiQuery.pm   | 4 +---
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiXSearch.pm | 1 +

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
index 07378ca7bd1e1bc3be6bab0c95ccf897f373c35f..e5ff9e5daca1a3b283dfbf6e2639f8ade6facdc2 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
@@ -1239,6 +1239,12 @@ 			$err_type ? "$err_type errors during $lei->{cmd}" : ());
 	$lei->dclose;
 }
 
+sub fchdir {
+	my ($lei) = @_;
+	my $dh = $lei->{3} // die 'BUG: lei->{3} (CWD) gone';
+	chdir($dh) || $lei->fail("fchdir: $!");
+}
+
 sub wq_eof { # EOF callback for main daemon
 	my ($lei) = @_;
 	my $wq1 = delete $lei->{wq1} // return $lei->fail; # already failed
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiLcat.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiLcat.pm
index 0f585ff5a6293f51009483fdf722d0100573aa1f..f9d9633acd49033f18adfb51800c67d442b0a7f8 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiLcat.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiLcat.pm
@@ -89,9 +89,7 @@ sub _stdin { # PublicInbox::InputPipe::consume callback for --stdin
 	my ($lei) = @_; # $_[1] = $rbuf
 	if (defined($_[1])) {
 		$_[1] eq '' and return eval {
-			if (my $dfd = $lei->{3}) {
-				chdir($dfd) or return $lei->fail("fchdir: $!");
-			}
+			$lei->fchdir or return;
 			my @argv = split(/\s+/, $lei->{mset_opt}->{qstr});
 			$lei->{mset_opt}->{qstr} = extract_all($lei, @argv)
 				or return;
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiQuery.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiQuery.pm
index 1999a5344885f22799b666459579d04d88aa9831..0435a5163137a4f0693bf7374bf544041aa0ace0 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiQuery.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiQuery.pm
@@ -51,9 +51,7 @@ sub qstr_add { # PublicInbox::InputPipe::consume callback for --stdin
 	my ($self) = @_; # $_[1] = $rbuf
 	if (defined($_[1])) {
 		$_[1] eq '' and return eval {
-			if (my $dfd = $self->{3}) {
-				chdir($dfd) or return $self->fail("fchdir: $!");
-			}
+			$self->fchdir or return;
 			$self->{mset_opt}->{q_raw} = $self->{mset_opt}->{qstr};
 			$self->{lse}->query_approxidate($self->{lse}->git,
 						$self->{mset_opt}->{qstr});
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiXSearch.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiXSearch.pm
index e2a8e8e3b6881a360c6db2458c5c6c9466c6ea6b..760f9718ce7bfda89bad1265873c694b3530211a 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiXSearch.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiXSearch.pm
@@ -394,6 +394,7 @@
 sub do_post_augment {
 	my ($lei) = @_;
 	my $l2m = $lei->{l2m} or return; # client disconnected
+	$lei->fchdir or return;
 	my $err;
 	eval { $l2m->post_augment($lei) };
 	$err = $@;