lib/PublicInbox/LeiRemote.pm  |  7 ++++---
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiStore.pm   |  1 +
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiXSearch.pm | 10 +++++++---

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiRemote.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiRemote.pm
index 945d9990a535e7bb4a6c2b6d41ce40f99055b583..e7deecb8b7c3847f717349b3935f4f788b6b621a 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiRemote.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiRemote.pm
@@ -26,11 +26,12 @@ sub _each_mboxrd_eml { # callback for MboxReader->mboxrd
 	my ($eml, $self) = @_;
 	my $lei = $self->{lei};
 	my $xoids = $lei->{ale}->xoids_for($eml, 1);
+	my $smsg = bless {}, 'PublicInbox::Smsg';
 	if ($lei->{sto} && !$xoids) { # memoize locally
-		$lei->{sto}->ipc_do('add_eml', $eml);
+		my $res = $lei->{sto}->ipc_do('add_eml', $eml);
+		$smsg = $res if ref($res) eq ref($smsg);
 	}
-	my $smsg = bless {}, 'PublicInbox::Smsg';
-	$smsg->{blob} = $xoids ? (keys(%$xoids))[0]
+	$smsg->{blob} //= $xoids ? (keys(%$xoids))[0]
 				: git_sha(1, $eml)->hexdigest;
 	$smsg->populate($eml);
 	$smsg->{mid} //= '(none)';
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiStore.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiStore.pm
index e26b622d51279cb08488ddebd96f286a18ee57eb..ce66014fcb31fa2209e13230449e66b4b9b76144 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiStore.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiStore.pm
@@ -329,6 +329,7 @@ 			$idx->ipc_do('add_vmd', $docid, $vmd) if $vmd;
 		}
 		\@docids;
 	} else { # totally new message
+		delete $smsg->{-oidx}; # for IPC-friendliness
 		$smsg->{num} = $oidx->adj_counter('eidx_docid', '+');
 		$oidx->add_overview($eml, $smsg);
 		$oidx->add_xref3($smsg->{num}, -1, $smsg->{blob}, '.');
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiXSearch.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiXSearch.pm
index 393f25bf8f3fa182f0c9a27bcf3375c20fb49be5..971f3a06a7fd49442582e509b6709c957bf18e7d 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiXSearch.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiXSearch.pm
@@ -266,11 +266,15 @@
 sub each_remote_eml { # callback for MboxReader->mboxrd
 	my ($eml, $self, $lei, $each_smsg) = @_;
 	my $xoids = $lei->{ale}->xoids_for($eml, 1);
+	my $smsg = bless {}, 'PublicInbox::Smsg';
 	if ($self->{import_sto} && !$xoids) {
-		$self->{import_sto}->ipc_do('add_eml', $eml);
+		my $res = $self->{import_sto}->ipc_do('add_eml', $eml);
+		if (ref($res) eq ref($smsg)) { # totally new message
+			$smsg = $res;
+			$smsg->{kw} = []; # short-circuit xsmsg_vmd
+		}
 	}
-	my $smsg = bless {}, 'PublicInbox::Smsg';
-	$smsg->{blob} = $xoids ? (keys(%$xoids))[0]
+	$smsg->{blob} //= $xoids ? (keys(%$xoids))[0]
 				: git_sha(1, $eml)->hexdigest;
 	_smsg_fill($smsg, $eml);
 	wait_startq($lei);