lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm         |  3 +--
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiALE.pm      | 19 ++++++++++++++++---
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiExternal.pm |  6 ------
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiQuery.pm    |  4 ----
 t/lei_xsearch.t                |  2 +-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
index 0da26a32825755c7f3534d2c50b9c70e04fc06f0..72a0e52c62d148a7b61da1ce063c0ac26e81583d 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
@@ -108,8 +108,7 @@ sub ale {
 	my ($self) = @_;
 	$self->{ale} //= do {
 		require PublicInbox::LeiALE;
-		PublicInbox::LeiALE->new(cache_dir($self).
-					'/all_locals_ever.git');
+		$self->_lei_cfg(1)->{ale} //= PublicInbox::LeiALE->new($self);
 	};
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiALE.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiALE.pm
index bdb50a1a08a2b34b16531d5f9e1ca96f9ab1f404..45748435b53407995a66f337359b6833ba40eb6b 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiALE.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiALE.pm
@@ -11,16 +11,29 @@ use v5.10.1;
 use parent qw(PublicInbox::LeiSearch PublicInbox::Lock);
 use PublicInbox::Git;
 use PublicInbox::Import;
+use PublicInbox::LeiXSearch;
 use Fcntl qw(SEEK_SET);
 
-sub new {
-	my ($cls, $d) = @_;
+sub _new {
+	my ($d) = @_;
 	PublicInbox::Import::init_bare($d, 'ale');
 	bless {
 		git => PublicInbox::Git->new($d),
 		lock_path => "$d/lei_ale.state", # dual-duty lock + state
 		ibxish => [], # Inbox and ExtSearch (and LeiSearch) objects
-	}, $cls;
+	}, __PACKAGE__
+}
+
+sub new {
+	my ($self, $lei) = @_;
+	ref($self) or $self = _new($lei->cache_dir . '/all_locals_ever.git');
+	my $lxs = PublicInbox::LeiXSearch->new;
+	$lxs->prepare_external($lei->_lei_store(1)->search);
+	for my $loc ($lei->externals_each) { # locals only
+		$lxs->prepare_external($loc) if -d $loc;
+	}
+	$self->refresh_externals($lxs);
+	$self;
 }
 
 sub over {} # undef for xoids_for
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiExternal.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiExternal.pm
index aa09be9ea980035d4a2024497c69d025c7bf523e..b5dd85e158b18f007cf53f97e6e6c08f896430e0 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiExternal.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiExternal.pm
@@ -139,12 +139,6 @@ 	my $new_boost = $self->{opt}->{boost} // 0;
 	my $key = "external.$location.boost";
 	my $cur_boost = $cfg->{$key};
 	return if defined($cur_boost) && $cur_boost == $new_boost; # idempotent
-	if (-d $location) {
-		require PublicInbox::LeiXSearch;
-		my $lxs = PublicInbox::LeiXSearch->new;
-		$lxs->prepare_external($location);
-		$self->ale->refresh_externals($lxs);
-	}
 	$self->lei_config($key, $new_boost);
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiQuery.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiQuery.pm
index 007e35fc41cf061b4ce963afc0ba99e0fda37d94..148e8524d6d97b716885ba8e0eff59d693b14225 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiQuery.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiQuery.pm
@@ -57,10 +57,6 @@ 		$sto->write_prepare($self);
 	}
 	if ($opt->{'local'} //= scalar(@only) ? 0 : 1) {
 		$lxs->prepare_external($lse);
-	} else {
-		my $tmp = PublicInbox::LeiXSearch->new;
-		$tmp->prepare_external($lse);
-		$self->ale->refresh_externals($tmp);
 	}
 	if (@only) {
 		for my $loc (@only) {
diff --git a/t/lei_xsearch.t b/t/lei_xsearch.t
index 68211d181339d574b69d43b3681b1fe86a8623b0..e56b28204ca13f1e0fb616a0c2c60f24d48798e1 100644
--- a/t/lei_xsearch.t
+++ b/t/lei_xsearch.t
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ 	is($mset->size, 1, 'got m: match on medium+full XSearch mix');
 	my $mitem = ($mset->items)[0];
 	my $smsg = $lxs->smsg_for($mitem) or BAIL_OUT 'smsg_for broken';
 
-	my $ale = PublicInbox::LeiALE->new("$home/ale");
+	my $ale = PublicInbox::LeiALE::_new("$home/ale");
 	$ale->refresh_externals($lxs);
 	my $exp = [ $smsg->{blob}, 'blob', -s 't/utf8.eml' ];
 	is_deeply([ $ale->git->check($smsg->{blob}) ], $exp, 'ale->git->check');