diff --git a/appview/index.ts b/appview/index.ts
index d5f86e27..22efb2bc 100644
--- a/appview/index.ts
+++ b/appview/index.ts
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import {
 import { AtUri } from "@atproto/syntax";
 import { writeFile, readFile } from "fs/promises";
 import { inngest } from "app/api/inngest/client";
+import { stripThemeWithoutType } from "src/utils/stripThemeWithoutType";
 
 const cursorFile = process.env.CURSOR_FILE || "/cursor/cursor";
 
@@ -359,17 +360,20 @@ async function handleEvent(evt: Event) {
   // site.standard.publication records go into the main "publications" table
   if (evt.collection === ids.SiteStandardPublication) {
     if (evt.event === "create" || evt.event === "update") {
-      let record = SiteStandardPublication.validateRecord(evt.record);
+      let record = SiteStandardPublication.validateRecord(
+        stripThemeWithoutType(evt.record),
+      );
       if (!record.success) return;
       await supabase
         .from("identities")
         .upsert({ atp_did: evt.did }, { onConflict: "atp_did" });
-      await supabase.from("publications").upsert({
+      let { error } = await supabase.from("publications").upsert({
         uri: evt.uri.toString(),
         identity_did: evt.did,
         name: record.value.name,
         record: record.value as Json,
       });
+      if (error) console.log(error);
     }
     if (evt.event === "delete") {
       await supabase
diff --git a/src/utils/stripThemeWithoutType.ts b/src/utils/stripThemeWithoutType.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c1d493d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utils/stripThemeWithoutType.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+/**
+ * site.standard.publication records carry an optional `theme` field that the
+ * lexicon types as a union requiring a `$type` discriminator. Some records in
+ * the wild have a `theme` object missing `$type`, which makes
+ * `validateRecord` reject the entire publication — dropping it from the index.
+ *
+ * Strip a malformed (no-`$type`) theme so the rest of the record can still be
+ * validated and indexed. Returns the record unchanged when there's nothing to
+ * strip, and never mutates the input.
+ */
+export function stripThemeWithoutType<T>(record: T): T {
+  if (record && typeof record === "object" && "theme" in record) {
+    const theme = (record as Record<string, unknown>).theme;
+    if (theme && typeof theme === "object" && !("$type" in theme)) {
+      const { theme: _theme, ...rest } = record as Record<string, unknown>;
+      return rest as T;
+    }
+  }
+  return record;
+}