diff --git a/src/editor/lsp/rename.ts b/src/editor/lsp/rename.ts
index 48fb7ec4..aaeed754 100644
--- a/src/editor/lsp/rename.ts
+++ b/src/editor/lsp/rename.ts
@@ -15,12 +15,14 @@ import type { EditorView } from "@codemirror/view";
 import {
   commands,
   isCancelled,
+  isNoServer,
   nextRequestId,
   unavailableText,
   type Pos,
   type RequestId,
   type WorkspaceEdit,
 } from "@/platform/ipc";
+import { executeAction } from "@/platform/actions";
 import { whenSynced, type EditorDocContext } from "@/editor/api";
 import { structure } from "@/editor/structure";
 import { docOf, incompleteNote, isUnavailable, lspRequest, reportLspError } from "./lsp";
@@ -78,7 +80,10 @@ export async function startRename(view: EditorView) {
     range = await lspRequest(() => commands.lspPrepareRename(doc.doc, pos));
   } catch (e) {
     if (isCancelled(e)) return;
-    if (!(await startSyntaxRename(view, doc, pos, e))) reportLspError(view, e, true);
+    if (await startSyntaxRename(view, doc, pos, e)) return;
+    // No server covers this file (a plain text file): Shift+F6 renames the file, like IDEA.
+    if (isNoServer(e) && (await executeAction("project.rename"))) return;
+    reportLspError(view, e, true);
     return;
   }
   if (!range) {
diff --git a/src/editor/lsp/syntaxFallback.test.ts b/src/editor/lsp/syntaxFallback.test.ts
index 2b811ad5..366cbb6d 100644
--- a/src/editor/lsp/syntaxFallback.test.ts
+++ b/src/editor/lsp/syntaxFallback.test.ts
@@ -30,6 +30,13 @@ vi.mock("@/platform/ipc", async (orig) => {
   return { ...actual, isTauri: () => true, commands: { ...actual.commands, ...cmd } };
 });
 
+const executeAction = vi.hoisted(() => vi.fn());
+vi.mock("@/platform/actions", async (orig) => {
+  const actual = await orig<typeof import("@/platform/actions")>();
+  executeAction.mockImplementation(actual.executeAction);
+  return { ...actual, executeAction };
+});
+
 const openFile = vi.fn(async () => {});
 const { provideEditorService } = await import("@/workbench/contributions");
 provideEditorService({ openFile } as never);
@@ -488,6 +495,34 @@ describe("rename wiring", () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it("renames the file itself when no server covers it (a plain text file)", async () => {
+    cmd.lspPrepareRename.mockReturnValueOnce(
+      Promise.resolve({
+        status: "error",
+        error: { kind: "unavailable", message: "no running language server supports rename" } as IdeError,
+      }),
+    );
+    cmd.syntaxSupport.mockReturnValueOnce(ok({ tree: false, locals: false }));
+    executeAction.mockResolvedValueOnce(true);
+    const view = editor("# notes", "markdown", 2);
+    await startRename(view);
+    expect(executeAction).toHaveBeenCalledWith("project.rename");
+    expect(document.querySelector(".cm-lsp-hint")).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it("keeps the hint when a server runs but lacks rename (no file fallback)", async () => {
+    cmd.lspPrepareRename.mockReturnValueOnce(
+      Promise.resolve({
+        status: "error",
+        error: { kind: "unavailable", message: "jdtls doesn't support rename" } as IdeError,
+      }),
+    );
+    const view = editor("class A {}", "java", 6);
+    await startRename(view);
+    expect(executeAction).not.toHaveBeenCalledWith("project.rename");
+    expect(document.querySelector(".cm-lsp-hint")?.textContent).toContain("jdtls doesn't support rename");
+  });
+
   it("respects a server refusal over valid code, but falls back over broken code", async () => {
     cmd.lspPrepareRename.mockReturnValueOnce(ok(null));
     const view = editor("const x = 1;", "typescript", 6);
diff --git a/src/platform/ipc.ts b/src/platform/ipc.ts
index 9936911d..b9f8c108 100644
--- a/src/platform/ipc.ts
+++ b/src/platform/ipc.ts
@@ -46,6 +46,11 @@ export function unavailableText(e: unknown, fallback = "No language server avail
   return e instanceof IpcError && e.kind === "unavailable" && LACKS_FEATURE.test(e.message) ? e.message : fallback;
 }
 
+/** True when `unavailable` means no server is running for the file, rather than a running server lacking the feature. */
+export function isNoServer(e: unknown): boolean {
+  return e instanceof IpcError && e.kind === "unavailable" && !LACKS_FEATURE.test(e.message);
+}
+
 // Ids are shared by every window of the backend and outlive a reload there (a cancel that
 // arrives before its request began is remembered), so each page starts at a random point.
 let nextId = 1 + Math.floor(Math.random() * 0x7000_0000);