1 files changed, 1 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiQuery.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiQuery.pm
index 148e8524..84996e7e 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiQuery.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiQuery.pm
@@ -50,11 +50,11 @@ sub lei_q {
          # --local is enabled by default unless --only is used
          # we'll allow "--only $LOCATION --local"
          my $sto = $self->_lei_store(1);
-        my $lse = $sto->search;
          if (($opt->{'import-remote'} //= 1) |
                          (($opt->{'import-before'} //= \1) ? 1 : 0)) {
                  $sto->write_prepare($self);
          }
+        my $lse = $sto->search;
          if ($opt->{'local'} //= scalar(@only) ? 0 : 1) {
                  $lxs->prepare_external($lse);
          }