lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm | 1 +

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
index cdb4b347e14760226f178c6331a44ec47fb66356..475af8f00899f9cd20f5f7e449280be56f783156 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LEI.pm
@@ -849,6 +849,7 @@ 	}
 	if ($self->{lxs} && $self->{au_done}) { # kick wait_startq
 		syswrite($self->{au_done}, 'q' x ($self->{lxs}->{jobs} // 0));
 	}
+	return unless -t $self->{2}; # XXX how to determine non-TUI MUAs?
 	$self->{opt}->{quiet} = 1;
 	delete $self->{-progress};
 	delete $self->{opt}->{verbose};