diff --git a/core/dr-catalog/src/keywords.rs b/core/dr-catalog/src/keywords.rs
index 84e1b8f..073851f 100644
--- a/core/dr-catalog/src/keywords.rs
+++ b/core/dr-catalog/src/keywords.rs
@@ -244,7 +244,8 @@ pub fn delete(conn: &Connection, id: KeywordId) -> Result<usize, CatalogError> {
 /// every assignment, and a query per keyword would be one statement per word
 /// in the library.
 pub fn list(conn: &Connection) -> Result<Vec<Keyword>, CatalogError> {
-    let mut stmt = conn.prepare(
+    ensure_term_index(conn);
+    let mut stmt = conn.prepare_cached(
         // DISTINCT image, not row: a word on two versions of one frame is one
         // photograph, and reporting two is the kind of small lie that makes a
         // user stop trusting the counts.
@@ -269,6 +270,27 @@ pub fn list(conn: &Connection) -> Result<Vec<Keyword>, CatalogError> {
     Ok(rows)
 }
 
+/// The index [`list`]'s per-word count is served from: `keywords_term`
+/// with the version beside the word, so the count reads no `keywords` row.
+///
+/// `keywords_term` alone gave the row id, and each of the 10,800 assignments
+/// on the reference library cost a probe of the table for its version --
+/// 4 ms of the keyword panel's redraw, on every selection change.
+///
+/// Created on first use rather than by a migration, for the reason
+/// `duplicates::ensure_probe_table` gives: a new schema version makes every
+/// older build refuse this catalog's snapshot at sync, and an older build
+/// that meets an extra index ignores it. Once it exists, the statement is a
+/// lookup in the schema (microseconds). A failure to create it is logged and
+/// the list read without it: the index is a speed-up, never an answer.
+fn ensure_term_index(conn: &Connection) {
+    if let Err(e) = conn.execute_batch(
+        "CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS keywords_term_version ON keywords(keyword, version_id);",
+    ) {
+        log::warn!("keywords: could not create keywords_term_version: {e}");
+    }
+}
+
 /// Assign a keyword to images, creating the keyword if it is new.
 ///
 /// The bulk form is the *only* form, because keywording a selection is the