diff --git a/packages/leveldb/src/leveldb/instance.ts b/packages/leveldb/src/leveldb/instance.ts
index 84c2c0e..9c28fa7 100644
--- a/packages/leveldb/src/leveldb/instance.ts
+++ b/packages/leveldb/src/leveldb/instance.ts
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ import type {
 import { boundGE, boundGT, boundLE, boundLT, compareDocsWithIndex } from '@pluto-encrypted/shared'
 
 export function getIndexName(index: string[]): string {
-  return index.join(',');
+  return `[${index.join('+')}]`;
 }
 
 export class RxStorageIntanceLevelDB<RxDocType> implements RxStorageInstance<
@@ -173,62 +173,80 @@ export class RxStorageIntanceLevelDB<RxDocType> implements RxStorageInstance<
     const queryPlanFields: string[] = queryPlan.index;
     const mustManuallyResort = !queryPlan.sortSatisfiedByIndex;
     const index: string[] | undefined = queryPlanFields;
+    const _index = ['key']
+    console.log({ _index })
+
     const lowerBound: any[] = queryPlan.startKeys;
     const lowerBoundString = getStartIndexStringFromLowerBound(
       this.schema,
-      index,
+      _index, // index,
       lowerBound
     );
 
     const upperBound: any[] = queryPlan.endKeys;
-
     const upperBoundString = getStartIndexStringFromUpperBound(
       this.schema,
-      index,
+      _index, // index,
       upperBound
     );
-    const indexName = getIndexName(index);
-    // => '_meta.lwt,key'
+
+    // HACK: getIndex(index) is doing the wrong thing ... so mutate the index (after upper/lower bound stuff)
+    const indexName = getIndexName([this.collectionName, 'key'])
+    console.log('index (wrong)', index)
+    console.log('getIndexName =>', indexName)
+
+    // const indexName = getIndexName(index);
+    // // => '_meta.lwt,key'
     // QUESTION: this doesn't seem to map to any of the indexes being entered?
     // with setIndex
-    const docsWithIndex = await this.internals.getIndex(indexName)
+    const docsWithIndex = (await this.internals.getIndex(indexName))
 
-    console.log({
-      docsWithIndex
-      // NOTE: this is empty ... which leads to no results
-    })
+    console.log({ docsWithIndex })
+    console.log({ lowerBoundString, upperBoundString })
 
     let indexOfLower = (queryPlan.inclusiveStart ? boundGE : boundGT)(
-      docsWithIndex,
+      // docsWithIndex,
+      // HACK: ecchh
+      docsWithIndex.map(d => { return { indexString: d } }),
       {
         indexString: lowerBoundString
       } as any,
       compareDocsWithIndex
+      // NOTE: this does comparisons like "a.indexString < b.indexString"
+      // QUESTION: Are we expecting docsWithIndex to have an indexString attribute?
     );
 
     const indexOfUpper = (queryPlan.inclusiveEnd ? boundLE : boundLT)(
-      docsWithIndex,
+      // docsWithIndex,
+      // HACK: ecchh
+      docsWithIndex.map(d => { return { indexString: d } }),
       {
         indexString: upperBoundString
       } as any,
       compareDocsWithIndex
     );
 
+    console.log({ indexOfLower, indexOfUpper })
+    // { indexOfLower: 0, indexOfUpper: -1 } // QUESTION: what does -1 encode here?
 
     let rows: RxDocumentData<RxDocType>[] = [];
     let done = false;
     while (!done) {
       const currentRow = docsWithIndex[indexOfLower];
+      console.log({ currentRow })
       if (
         !currentRow ||
         indexOfLower > indexOfUpper
       ) {
+        console.log('break')
         break;
       }
 
       const [currentDoc] = await this.findDocumentsById([currentRow], false)
+      console.log({ currentDoc })
 
       if (currentDoc && (!queryMatcher || queryMatcher(currentDoc))) {
+        console.log('match!')
         rows.push(currentDoc);
       }
 
diff --git a/packages/leveldb/src/leveldb/internal.ts b/packages/leveldb/src/leveldb/internal.ts
index c02127d..fbe6d3b 100644
--- a/packages/leveldb/src/leveldb/internal.ts
+++ b/packages/leveldb/src/leveldb/internal.ts
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ export class LevelDBInternal<RxDocType> implements LevelDBStorageInternals<RxDoc
   }
 
   async getIndex(key: string): Promise<string[]> {
+    console.log('getIndex', key)
     const db = await this.getInstance()
     return db.get(key)
       .then(result => result ? JSON.parse(result) : [])
@@ -128,7 +129,7 @@ export class LevelDBInternal<RxDocType> implements LevelDBStorageInternals<RxDoc
   }
 
   async setIndex(key: string, ids: string[]) {
-    // console.log('setIndex', { key, ids })
+    console.log('setIndex', key, ids)
     // QUESTION: why is the value being store in the key?
     // QUESTION: if setIndex + getIndex are misaligned...
     //  - then how do we know what these functions SHOULD be doing?
diff --git a/packages/shared/src/index.ts b/packages/shared/src/index.ts
index 5f2843b..08d6df6 100644
--- a/packages/shared/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/shared/src/index.ts
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ export function compareDocsWithIndex<RxDocType>(
   a: DocWithIndexString<RxDocType>,
   b: DocWithIndexString<RxDocType>
 ): 1 | 0 | -1 {
+  if (a.indexString === undefined) throw Error(`missing indexString on ${a}`)
+  if (b.indexString === undefined) throw Error(`missing indexString on ${b}`)
   if (a.indexString < b.indexString) {
     return -1
   } else if (a.indexString === b.indexString) {