lib/PublicInbox/LeiInput.pm   | 8 ++++----
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiInspect.pm | 2 +-
 t/lei-import-imap.t           | 4 ++--
 t/lei-import-maildir.t        | 2 +-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiInput.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiInput.pm
index 86f300c3a572438ac01e475ecaca2ad58c419011..9bcc86e1cacf77c1b18f0302fc2b788bbd4123bc 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiInput.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiInput.pm
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@
 sub prepare_inputs { # returns undef on error
 	my ($self, $lei, $inputs) = @_;
 	my $in_fmt = $lei->{opt}->{'in-format'};
-	my $sync = $lei->{opt}->{sync} ? {} : undef; # using LeiMailSync
+	my $sync = $lei->{opt}->{'mail-sync'} ? {} : undef; # using LeiMailSync
 	if ($lei->{opt}->{stdin}) {
 		@$inputs and return
 			$lei->fail("--stdin and @$inputs do not mix");
@@ -286,11 +286,11 @@ 		require PublicInbox::MdirReader;
 	}
 	if ($sync && $sync->{no}) {
 		return $lei->fail(<<"") if !$sync->{ok};
---sync specified but no inputs support it
+--mail-sync specified but no inputs support it
 
 		# non-fatal if some inputs support support sync
-		$lei->err("# --sync will only be used for @{$sync->{ok}}");
-		$lei->err("# --sync is not supported for: @{$sync->{no}}");
+		$lei->err("# --mail-sync will only be used for @{$sync->{ok}}");
+		$lei->err("# --mail-sync is not supported for: @{$sync->{no}}");
 	}
 	if ($net) {
 		$net->{-can_die} = 1;
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiInspect.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiInspect.pm
index 6cfc80839f767bd9d5b7a838189b548cf284865c..714d252608d586742dc607acac7304ba804ed3b3 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiInspect.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiInspect.pm
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ 		my @docids = $lse ? $lse->over->blob_exists($oidhex) : ();
 		$ent->{'lei/store'} = \@docids if @docids;
 		my $lms = $lse->lms;
 		if (my $loc = $lms ? $lms->locations_for($oidhex) : undef) {
-			$ent->{sync} = $loc;
+			$ent->{'mail-sync'} = $loc;
 		}
 	}
 	$ent;
diff --git a/t/lei-import-imap.t b/t/lei-import-imap.t
index 3a1fff4c32162aecacddf427312e5d0baae96f63..fd15ef4f551d11e19b0bdb10d675855b912658ee 100644
--- a/t/lei-import-imap.t
+++ b/t/lei-import-imap.t
@@ -54,8 +54,8 @@ 	ok(-s $f, 'mail_sync tracked for redundant imports');
 	lei_ok('inspect', "blob:$out->[5]->{blob}");
 	my $x = json_utf8->decode($lei_out);
 	is(ref($x->{'lei/store'}), 'ARRAY', 'lei/store in inspect');
-	is(ref($x->{sync}), 'HASH', 'sync in inspect');
-	is(ref($x->{sync}->{$k[0]}), 'ARRAY', 'UID arrays in inspect');
+	is(ref($x->{'mail-sync'}), 'HASH', 'sync in inspect');
+	is(ref($x->{'mail-sync'}->{$k[0]}), 'ARRAY', 'UID arrays in inspect');
 
 	my $psgi_attach = 'cfa3622cbeffc9bd6b0fc66c4d60d420ba74f60d';
 	lei_ok('blob', $psgi_attach);
diff --git a/t/lei-import-maildir.t b/t/lei-import-maildir.t
index 02fe43e1bc8880a8da232d39ce87c6da922a99d9..b85d30266c3178922f9501e5cd2e0b41821fd9b3 100644
--- a/t/lei-import-maildir.t
+++ b/t/lei-import-maildir.t
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
 	lei_ok('inspect', "blob:$res->[0]->{blob}");
 	$inspect = json_utf8->decode($lei_out);
 	is(ref(delete $inspect->{"lei/store"}), 'ARRAY', 'lei/store IDs');
-	is_deeply($inspect, { sync => { "maildir:$md" => [ 'x:2,S' ] } },
+	is_deeply($inspect, { 'mail-sync' => { "maildir:$md" => [ 'x:2,S' ] } },
 		'maildir sync info as expected');
 
 	lei_ok qw(ls-mail-sync);