diff --git a/pkg/index/receive.go b/pkg/index/receive.go
index 0eb390dfb..3ecb71a95 100644
--- a/pkg/index/receive.go
+++ b/pkg/index/receive.go
@@ -93,8 +93,22 @@ func (ix *Index) ReceiveBlob(blobRef blob.Ref, source io.Reader) (retsb blob.Siz
 
 	sniffer.Parse()
 
-	mm, err := ix.populateMutationMap(blobRef, sniffer)
+	fetcher := &seekFetcherMissTracker{
+		fetcher: ix.BlobSource,
+		seeker:  blob.SeekerFromStreamingFetcher(ix.BlobSource),
+	}
+
+	mm, err := ix.populateMutationMap(fetcher, blobRef, sniffer)
 	if err != nil {
+		fetcher.mu.Lock()
+		defer fetcher.mu.Unlock()
+		if len(fetcher.missing) == 0 {
+			return
+		}
+		// TODO(bradfitz): there was an error indexing this file, and
+		// we failed to load the blobs in f.missing.  Add those as dependencies
+		// somewhere so when we get one of those missing blobs, we kick off
+		// a re-index of this file for whenever the indexer is idle.
 		return
 	}
 
@@ -148,7 +162,7 @@ func (ix *Index) commit(mm *mutationMap) error {
 //
 // the blobref can be trusted at this point (it's been fully consumed
 // and verified to match), and the sniffer has been populated.
-func (ix *Index) populateMutationMap(br blob.Ref, sniffer *BlobSniffer) (*mutationMap, error) {
+func (ix *Index) populateMutationMap(fetcher *seekFetcherMissTracker, br blob.Ref, sniffer *BlobSniffer) (*mutationMap, error) {
 	// TODO(mpl): shouldn't we remove these two from the map (so they don't get committed) when
 	// e.g in populateClaim we detect a bogus claim (which does not yield an error)?
 	mm := &mutationMap{
@@ -165,11 +179,11 @@ func (ix *Index) populateMutationMap(br blob.Ref, sniffer *BlobSniffer) (*mutati
 				return nil, err
 			}
 		case "file":
-			if err := ix.populateFile(blob, mm); err != nil {
+			if err := ix.populateFile(fetcher, blob, mm); err != nil {
 				return nil, err
 			}
 		case "directory":
-			if err := ix.populateDir(blob, mm); err != nil {
+			if err := ix.populateDir(fetcher, blob, mm); err != nil {
 				return nil, err
 			}
 		}
@@ -196,13 +210,25 @@ func (w *keepFirstN) Write(p []byte) (n int, err error) {
 // seekFetcherMissTracker is a blob.SeekFetcher that records which blob(s) it failed
 // to load from src.
 type seekFetcherMissTracker struct {
-	src     blob.SeekFetcher
+	fetcher blob.StreamingFetcher
+	seeker  blob.SeekFetcher // of fetcher. will be deleted when SeekFetcher is globally killed
+
 	mu      sync.Mutex // guards missing
 	missing []blob.Ref
 }
 
 func (f *seekFetcherMissTracker) Fetch(br blob.Ref) (blob types.ReadSeekCloser, size uint32, err error) {
-	blob, size, err = f.src.Fetch(br)
+	blob, size, err = f.seeker.Fetch(br)
+	if err == os.ErrNotExist {
+		f.mu.Lock()
+		defer f.mu.Unlock()
+		f.missing = append(f.missing, br)
+	}
+	return
+}
+
+func (f *seekFetcherMissTracker) FetchStreaming(br blob.Ref) (blob io.ReadCloser, size uint32, err error) {
+	blob, size, err = f.fetcher.FetchStreaming(br)
 	if err == os.ErrNotExist {
 		f.mu.Lock()
 		defer f.mu.Unlock()
@@ -213,30 +239,11 @@ func (f *seekFetcherMissTracker) Fetch(br blob.Ref) (blob types.ReadSeekCloser,
 
 // b: the parsed file schema blob
 // mm: keys to populate
-func (ix *Index) populateFile(b *schema.Blob, mm *mutationMap) (err error) {
+func (ix *Index) populateFile(fetcher blob.SeekFetcher, b *schema.Blob, mm *mutationMap) (err error) {
 	var times []time.Time // all creation or mod times seen; may be zero
 	times = append(times, b.ModTime())
 
 	blobRef := b.BlobRef()
-	fetcher := &seekFetcherMissTracker{
-		// TODO(bradfitz): cache this SeekFetcher on ix so it
-		// it's have to be re-made each time? Probably small.
-		src: blob.SeekerFromStreamingFetcher(ix.BlobSource),
-	}
-	defer func() {
-		if err == nil {
-			return
-		}
-		fetcher.mu.Lock()
-		defer fetcher.mu.Unlock()
-		if len(fetcher.missing) == 0 {
-			return
-		}
-		// TODO(bradfitz): there was an error indexing this file, and
-		// we failed to load the blobs in f.missing.  Add those as dependencies
-		// somewhere so when we get one of those missing blobs, we kick off
-		// a re-index of this file for whenever the indexer is idle.
-	}()
 	fr, err := b.NewFileReader(fetcher)
 	if err != nil {
 		// TODO(bradfitz): propagate up a transient failure
@@ -500,12 +507,12 @@ func indexMusic(r types.SizeReaderAt, wholeRef blob.Ref, mm *mutationMap) {
 
 // b: the parsed file schema blob
 // mm: keys to populate
-func (ix *Index) populateDir(b *schema.Blob, mm *mutationMap) error {
+func (ix *Index) populateDir(fetcher blob.SeekFetcher, b *schema.Blob, mm *mutationMap) error {
 	blobRef := b.BlobRef()
 	// TODO(bradfitz): move the NewDirReader and FileName method off *schema.Blob and onto
+	// StaticFile/StaticDirectory or something.
 
-	seekFetcher := blob.SeekerFromStreamingFetcher(ix.BlobSource)
-	dr, err := b.NewDirReader(seekFetcher)
+	dr, err := b.NewDirReader(fetcher)
 	if err != nil {
 		// TODO(bradfitz): propagate up a transient failure
 		// error type, so we can retry indexing files in the