diff --git a/src/config.h b/src/config.h
index 86a1d161..034012dd 100644
--- a/src/config.h
+++ b/src/config.h
@@ -192,6 +192,12 @@ struct Config {
     // If false, the indexer will be disabled.
     bool enabled = true;
 
+    // By default, all project entries will be indexed on initialization. Use
+    // these two options to exclude some. They can still be indexed after you
+    // open them.
+    std::vector<std::string> initialBlacklist;
+    std::vector<std::string> initialWhitelist;
+
     // If not 0, a file will be indexed in each tranlation unit that includes it.
     int multiVersion = 0;
 
@@ -247,7 +253,8 @@ MAKE_REFLECT_STRUCT(Config::Completion, caseSensitivity, detailedLabel,
 MAKE_REFLECT_STRUCT(Config::Diagnostics, blacklist, onChange, onOpen, onSave,
                     spellChecking, whitelist)
 MAKE_REFLECT_STRUCT(Config::Highlight, lsRanges, blacklist, whitelist)
-MAKE_REFLECT_STRUCT(Config::Index, blacklist, comments, enabled, multiVersion,
+MAKE_REFLECT_STRUCT(Config::Index, blacklist, comments, enabled,
+                    initialBlacklist, initialWhitelist, multiVersion,
                     multiVersionBlacklist, multiVersionWhitelist, onChange,
                     reparseForDependency, threads, whitelist);
 MAKE_REFLECT_STRUCT(Config::WorkspaceSymbol, caseSensitivity, maxNum, sort);
diff --git a/src/project.cc b/src/project.cc
index 47709b39..1eb3fda4 100644
--- a/src/project.cc
+++ b/src/project.cc
@@ -421,28 +421,25 @@ Project::FindCompilationEntryForFile(const std::string &filename) {
   return result;
 }
 
-void Project::ForAllFilteredFiles(
-    std::function<void(int i, const Entry &entry)> action) {
-  GroupMatch matcher(g_config->index.whitelist, g_config->index.blacklist);
+void Project::Index(WorkingFiles *wfiles, lsRequestId id) {
+  auto &gi = g_config->index;
+  GroupMatch match(gi.whitelist, gi.blacklist),
+      match_i(gi.initialWhitelist, gi.initialBlacklist);
   for (int i = 0; i < entries.size(); ++i) {
     const Project::Entry &entry = entries[i];
-    std::string failure_reason;
-    if (matcher.IsMatch(entry.filename, &failure_reason))
-      action(i, entries[i]);
-    else {
-      LOG_V(1) << "[" << i + 1 << "/" << entries.size() << "]: Failed "
-               << failure_reason << "; skipping " << entry.filename;
+    std::string reason;
+    if (match.IsMatch(entry.filename, &reason) &&
+        match_i.IsMatch(entry.filename, &reason)) {
+      bool interactive = wfiles->GetFileByFilename(entry.filename) != nullptr;
+      pipeline::Index(
+          entry.filename, entry.args,
+          interactive ? IndexMode::Normal : IndexMode::NonInteractive, id);
+    } else {
+      LOG_V(1) << "[" << i << "/" << entries.size() << "]: " << reason
+               << "; skip " << entry.filename;
     }
   }
-}
 
-void Project::Index(WorkingFiles *wfiles, lsRequestId id) {
-  ForAllFilteredFiles([&](int i, const Project::Entry &entry) {
-    bool interactive = wfiles->GetFileByFilename(entry.filename) != nullptr;
-    pipeline::Index(entry.filename, entry.args,
-                    interactive ? IndexMode::Normal : IndexMode::NonInteractive,
-                    id);
-  });
   pipeline::loaded_ts = pipeline::tick;
   // Dummy request to indicate that project is loaded and
   // trigger refreshing semantic highlight for all working files.
diff --git a/src/project.h b/src/project.h
index b992e011..b0400fcf 100644
--- a/src/project.h
+++ b/src/project.h
@@ -55,9 +55,5 @@ struct Project {
   void SetArgsForFile(const std::vector<const char *> &args,
                       const std::string &path);
 
-  // Run |action| on every file in the project.
-  void
-  ForAllFilteredFiles(std::function<void(int i, const Entry &entry)> action);
-
   void Index(WorkingFiles *wfiles, lsRequestId id);
 };