diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/global/core.test.ts b/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/global/core.test.ts
index f35aee94d7..3f6d61b783 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/global/core.test.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/global/core.test.ts
@@ -3089,6 +3089,30 @@ describe('global AI tools', () => {
 		expect(value?.summary).toBe('edited in the editor')
 	})
 
+	// The editor can also close during that window, which releases the cell and leaves its
+	// save in the backend row — newer than anything resolution saw.
+	it('prefers the backend draft over the resolved value once the cell is released', async () => {
+		const path = 'u/admin/released_cell'
+		seedBackendDraft(
+			'script',
+			path,
+			{ path, summary: 'saved on close', content: 'new', language: 'bun', kind: 'script' },
+			{ workspace: WORKSPACE }
+		)
+
+		// No cell: the editor that held one has closed.
+		const stale = { path, summary: 'as dispatched', content: 'old', language: 'bun' }
+		const value = await readGlobalDraftValue<any>(WORKSPACE, 'script', {
+			path,
+			storagePath: path,
+			value: stale,
+			fetched: true
+		})
+
+		expect(value?.content).toBe('new')
+		expect(value?.summary).toBe('saved on close')
+	})
+
 	// A rename typed in the editor is only in the cell; the backend row still carries the old
 	// name. Matching the row anyway would let the old name keep selecting the draft.
 	it('does not resolve a renamed draft by the name its backend row still carries', async () => {
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/global/core.ts b/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/global/core.ts
index a4a2c13e88..2081214c7e 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/global/core.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/global/core.ts
@@ -8538,13 +8538,9 @@ async function deployDraft(
 		// The shared deployer deploys at the path inside the draft and doesn't report it
 		// back, so read it here — post-flush, since a rename may have been parked. This is
 		// where a draft-only or renamed item lands, and what the callbacks below must name.
+		// Read after the flush above, which may have persisted a rename parked in the editor.
 		deployedPath =
-			chosenDraftName(
-				type,
-				// `fresh`: the flush above may have persisted a rename parked in the editor,
-				// which the value read while resolving predates.
-				await readGlobalDraftValue(workspace, type, target, { fresh: true })
-			) ?? storagePath
+			chosenDraftName(type, await readGlobalDraftValue(workspace, type, target)) ?? storagePath
 		const result = await deployDraftToWorkspace(type, storagePath, workspace, {
 			draftOnly,
 			deploymentMessage
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/global/userDraftAdapter.ts b/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/global/userDraftAdapter.ts
index 9175ede400..9fadc8ab58 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/global/userDraftAdapter.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/global/userDraftAdapter.ts
@@ -558,24 +558,25 @@ async function fetchBackendDraftValue(
 	return resp.value ?? undefined
 }
 
-/** Draft VALUE at a resolved target, in order: the cell if one is open (the user's freshest
- * in-tab edits), else the value resolving the target already read, else the current user's
- * backend draft. `fresh` skips the resolved value — for a caller that has since changed the
- * draft it is reading. */
+/** Draft VALUE at a resolved target: the cell if an editor holds one (the user's freshest
+ * in-tab edits), else the current user's backend draft.
+ *
+ * Deliberately not the value resolving the target already read, though that would save a
+ * request. Both callers merge onto what this returns, and a tool awaits other work before its
+ * write — the provider catalog, a bundle. In that window the user can edit and then close the
+ * editor, which releases the cell and leaves the backend row newer than anything resolution
+ * saw; merging onto the older value silently reverts their save. Only the storage key is
+ * reused across that wait, never the contents. */
 export async function readGlobalDraftValue<V>(
 	workspace: string,
 	type: WorkspaceItemType,
 	target: ResolvedDraftTarget,
-	opts: { triggerKind?: TriggerKind; fresh?: boolean } = {}
+	opts: { triggerKind?: TriggerKind } = {}
 ): Promise<V | undefined> {
 	const itemKind = itemKindFor(type, opts.triggerKind)
 	if (!itemKind) return undefined
-	// Ahead of the resolved value, which was read when the call was dispatched: a tool awaits
-	// other work before its write (the provider catalog, a bundle), and an edit made in the
-	// editor during that window would be overwritten by the older snapshot.
 	const cell = UserDraft.get<V>(itemKind, target.storagePath, { workspace })
 	if (cell !== undefined) return cell
-	if (target.fetched && !opts.fresh) return target.value as V | undefined
 	return (await fetchBackendDraftValue(workspace, itemKind, target.storagePath)) as V | undefined
 }