diff --git a/visidata/vdtui/__init__.py b/visidata/vdtui/__init__.py
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100755
--- a/visidata/vdtui/__init__.py
+++ b/visidata/vdtui/__init__.py
@@ -435,7 +435,7 @@ class Extensible:
     def global_api(cls, func):
         setattr(cls, func.__name__, func)
         def _vdfunc(*args, **kwargs):
-            return func(vd, *args, **kwargs)
+            return getattr(vd, func.__name__)(*args, **kwargs)  # getattr in case of replacement
         return _vdfunc
 
     @classmethod
[api] global_api global func calls VisiData peer by name, to allow for patching