diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f57d702..aca0e94 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -56,7 +56,8 @@ The caller is expected to verify that they have write access to the specified di
 
 Once this is done, we call the `/register/finish` endpoint with a JSON-encoded request body that contains the same directory path in `path`.
 The body may also contain `base`, an array of strings containing the names of the metadata files in the directory to be indexed.
-If `base` is not provided, only files named `metadata.json` will be indexed.
+If `base` is not provided and `path` has already been registered, the `base` associated with `path`'s prior registration is re-used;
+otherwise, if `path` was not previously registered, only files named `metadata.json` will be indexed.
 
 ```shell
 curl -X POST -L ${SEWER_RAT_URL}/register/finish \
diff --git a/database.go b/database.go
index 02eb42e..43525e3 100644
--- a/database.go
+++ b/database.go
@@ -883,3 +883,26 @@ func isDirectoryRegistered(db * sql.DB, path string) (bool, error) {
     }
     return num > 0, nil
 }
+
+/**********************************************************************/
+
+func fetchRegisteredDirectoryNames(db *sql.DB, path string) ([]string, error) {
+    row := db.QueryRow("SELECT json_extract(names, '$') FROM dirs WHERE path = ?", path)
+    var names_as_str string
+    err := row.Scan(&names_as_str) 
+
+    if errors.Is(err, sql.ErrNoRows) {
+        return nil, nil
+    } else if err != nil {
+        return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to extract existing names for %q; %w",  path, err)
+    }
+
+    output := []string{}
+    err = json.Unmarshal([]byte(names_as_str), &output)
+    if err != nil {
+        return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to parse existing names for %q; %w",  path, err)
+    }
+
+    return output, nil
+}
+
diff --git a/database_test.go b/database_test.go
index 62a9c3f..215ae5e 100644
--- a/database_test.go
+++ b/database_test.go
@@ -1946,3 +1946,47 @@ func TestIsDirectoryRegistered(t *testing.T) {
         }
     })
 }
+
+func TestFetchRegisteredDirectoryNames(t *testing.T) {
+    tmp, err := os.MkdirTemp("", "")
+    if err != nil {
+        t.Fatalf(err.Error())
+    }
+    defer os.RemoveAll(tmp)
+
+    dbpath := filepath.Join(tmp, "db.sqlite3")
+    dbconn, err := initializeDatabase(dbpath)
+    if err != nil {
+        t.Fatalf(err.Error())
+    }
+    defer dbconn.Close()
+
+    tokr, err := newUnicodeTokenizer(false)
+    if err != nil {
+        t.Fatalf(err.Error())
+    }
+
+    to_add := filepath.Join(tmp, "liella")
+    err = mockDirectory(to_add)
+    if err != nil {
+        t.Fatalf(err.Error())
+    }
+
+    comments, err := addNewDirectory(dbconn, to_add, []string{ "metadata.json", "other.json" }, "aaron", tokr)
+    if err != nil {
+        t.Fatalf(err.Error())
+    }
+    if len(comments) > 0 {
+        t.Fatalf("unexpected comments from the directory addition %v", comments)
+    }
+
+    out, err := fetchRegisteredDirectoryNames(dbconn, to_add)
+    if len(out) != 2 || out[0] != "metadata.json" || out[1] != "other.json" {
+        t.Fatalf("unexpected names for the registered directory")
+    }
+
+    out, err = fetchRegisteredDirectoryNames(dbconn, filepath.Join(tmp, "margarete"))
+    if len(out) != 0 {
+        t.Fatalf("unexpected names for a non-registered directory")
+    }
+}
diff --git a/handlers.go b/handlers.go
index cc98ba2..ebb23b3 100644
--- a/handlers.go
+++ b/handlers.go
@@ -215,7 +215,16 @@ func newRegisterFinishHandler(db *sql.DB, verifier *verificationRegistry, tokeni
                 return
             }
         } else {
-            allowed = []string{ "metadata.json" }
+            existing, err := fetchRegisteredDirectoryNames(db, output.Path)
+            if err != nil {
+                dumpHttpErrorResponse(w, err)
+                return
+            }
+            if existing == nil {
+                allowed = []string{ "metadata.json" }
+            } else {
+                allowed = existing
+            }
         }
 
         code_info, err := checkVerificationCode(regpath, verifier, timeout)
diff --git a/handlers_test.go b/handlers_test.go
index d80b3cb..f508a81 100644
--- a/handlers_test.go
+++ b/handlers_test.go
@@ -366,6 +366,76 @@ func TestRegisterHandlers(t *testing.T) {
             t.Fatalf("unexpected paths in the database %v", all_paths)
         }
     })
+
+    t.Run("register finish reuse names", func(t *testing.T) {
+        {
+            code := quickRegisterStart()
+            err := os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(to_add, code), []byte(""), 0644)
+            if err != nil {
+                t.Fatal(err)
+            }
+
+            handler := http.HandlerFunc(newRegisterFinishHandler(dbconn, verifier, tokr, 1))
+            rr := httptest.NewRecorder()
+            req := createJsonRequest("POST", "/register/finish", map[string]interface{}{ "path": to_add, "base": []string{ "alpha.json", "bravo.json" } }, t)
+            handler.ServeHTTP(rr, req)
+            if rr.Code != http.StatusOK {
+                t.Fatalf("should have succeeded")
+            }
+        }
+
+        // Re-registering with the same names.
+        {
+            code := quickRegisterStart()
+            err := os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(to_add, code), []byte(""), 0644)
+            if err != nil {
+                t.Fatal(err)
+            }
+
+            handler := http.HandlerFunc(newRegisterFinishHandler(dbconn, verifier, tokr, 1))
+            rr := httptest.NewRecorder()
+            req := createJsonRequest("POST", "/register/finish", map[string]interface{}{ "path": to_add }, t)
+            handler.ServeHTTP(rr, req)
+            if rr.Code != http.StatusOK {
+                t.Fatalf("should have succeeded")
+            }
+
+            all_paths, err := listDirs(dbconn)
+            if err != nil {
+                t.Fatal(err)
+            }
+            my_names, ok := all_paths[to_add]
+            if !ok || !equalStringArrays(my_names, []string{ "alpha.json", "bravo.json" }) {
+                t.Fatalf("unexpected paths in the database %v", my_names)
+            }
+        }
+
+        // Re-registering with different names, to check that it indeed gets overridden.
+        {
+            code := quickRegisterStart()
+            err := os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(to_add, code), []byte(""), 0644)
+            if err != nil {
+                t.Fatal(err)
+            }
+
+            handler := http.HandlerFunc(newRegisterFinishHandler(dbconn, verifier, tokr, 1))
+            rr := httptest.NewRecorder()
+            req := createJsonRequest("POST", "/register/finish", map[string]interface{}{ "path": to_add, "base": []string{ "metadata.json" } }, t)
+            handler.ServeHTTP(rr, req)
+            if rr.Code != http.StatusOK {
+                t.Fatalf("should have succeeded")
+            }
+
+            all_paths, err := listDirs(dbconn)
+            if err != nil {
+                t.Fatal(err)
+            }
+            my_names, ok := all_paths[to_add]
+            if !ok || !equalStringArrays(my_names, []string{ "metadata.json" }) {
+                t.Fatalf("unexpected paths in the database %v", my_names)
+            }
+        }
+    })
 }
 
 func TestDeregisterHandlers(t *testing.T) {