diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/components/ResourceEditorDrawer.svelte b/frontend/src/lib/components/ResourceEditorDrawer.svelte
index f3079fb960..f2f888915a 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/components/ResourceEditorDrawer.svelte
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/components/ResourceEditorDrawer.svelte
@@ -249,8 +249,10 @@
 			// The editor adopts its own new baseline, so a same-path save needs nothing
 			// here — remounting it would re-read over an edit made during the write.
 			// Only while this is still the resource it saved: re-pointed mid-write,
-			// `path` and the mounted editor are another one's.
-			if (path === from && submitted) path = submitted
+			// `path` and the mounted editor are another one's. And only a move: pointing a
+			// create at the path it just made re-keys the blank form's cell onto it, and
+			// the mirror then posts that blank state as the new item's draft.
+			if (path && path === from && submitted) path = submitted
 			// One report per workspace written, each carrying its own — a linked
 			// workspace's rename moves the tabs acting on it and no others. Reported
 			// even when this drawer has moved on: the write is a fact about the item.
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/components/VariableEditor.svelte b/frontend/src/lib/components/VariableEditor.svelte
index a630ce3f28..20e11feeca 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/components/VariableEditor.svelte
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/components/VariableEditor.svelte
@@ -375,8 +375,10 @@
 			// `editPath` is the variable it moved to.
 			if (editPath === from) {
 				// A rename moved the item; the drawer host closes over it, but an inline one
-				// stays mounted, so follow the new path here.
-				if (actingPath && actingPath !== editPath) editPath = actingPath
+				// stays mounted, so follow the new path here. Only a move: pointing a create
+				// at the path it just made re-keys the blank form's cell onto it, and the
+				// mirror then posts that blank state as the new item's draft.
+				if (editPath && actingPath && actingPath !== editPath) editPath = actingPath
 				drawer?.closeDrawer()
 			}
 		} catch (err) {
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/userDraft.svelte.ts b/frontend/src/lib/userDraft.svelte.ts
index e9db2f1696..401b770023 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/userDraft.svelte.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/userDraft.svelte.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import { get } from 'svelte/store'
 import { onDestroy, untrack } from 'svelte'
 import { deepEqual } from 'fast-equals'
 import { workspaceStore } from './stores'
-import { readFieldsRecursively } from './utils'
+import { readFieldsRecursively, sendUserToast } from './utils'
 import { UserDraftDbSyncer } from './userDraftDbSyncer.svelte'
 import type { UserDraftItemKind } from './gen'
 
@@ -317,6 +317,10 @@ export async function settleDraftAfterWrite<V>(
 	savedPath: string,
 	opts?: UserDraftOptions
 ): Promise<void> {
+	// A create has nothing to settle: the blank form's cell is the detached handle
+	// `useMany` hands an empty path, wired to no key, so every request made for one
+	// is addressed to `/drafts/update/<kind>/` and 404s.
+	if (!fromPath) return
 	// A released cell reads as no cell at all, and its draft is then precisely what
 	// nothing is watching any more — except when the release itself is what took
 	// the handle away mid-write, in which case what it held still speaks for the
@@ -324,20 +328,30 @@ export async function settleDraftAfterWrite<V>(
 	const held = live !== undefined ? live : takeReleasedValue<V>(itemKind, fromPath, opts)
 	const diverged = held !== undefined && !draftValuesEqual(held, written)
 	if (savedPath === fromPath && diverged) return
-	// Sent before this resolves, not left on the keystroke debounce: callers report
-	// the write and remount on it, and both read a cell this has to have finished
-	// resolving — including through a frame with a draft store of its own.
-	UserDraft.discard(itemKind, fromPath, written, opts)
-	if (await flushDraftDelete(itemKind, fromPath, opts)) return
-	// Only a moved item forces the point. The form stays editable across that
-	// request, so an edit made then parks a write behind it: under the path the
-	// item has left that write would strand a draft no editor is on, but under an
-	// unchanged path it is the user's, and is meant to stand and read dirty.
-	if (savedPath === fromPath) return
-	for (let attempt = 0; attempt < 2; attempt++) {
+	// The form stays editable across the delete's own request, so a keystroke made
+	// then queues a write behind it. Under an unchanged path that write is the
+	// user's and is meant to stand; under a path the item has left it would put the
+	// draft back where no editor is, so the old key stops accepting writes for the
+	// length of the delete — which is what makes one attempt final. The edit stays
+	// in the form, and could not have followed the rename in either case.
+	const moved = savedPath !== fromPath
+	if (moved) UserDraft.stopSync(itemKind, fromPath, opts)
+	try {
+		// Sent before this resolves, not left on the keystroke debounce: callers report
+		// the write and remount on it, and both read a cell this has to have finished
+		// resolving — including through a frame with a draft store of its own.
 		UserDraft.discard(itemKind, fromPath, written, opts)
 		if (await flushDraftDelete(itemKind, fromPath, opts)) return
+	} finally {
+		if (moved) UserDraft.restartSync(itemKind, fromPath, opts)
 	}
+	if (!moved) return
+	// A rename whose delete could not land — a conflict, or a failed request; no
+	// number of retries changes either. What is left is a draft-only item at a path
+	// nothing is editing. Callers still follow the rename, since the item really is
+	// at `savedPath` and leaving them behind would strand the editor too, so this is
+	// the only thing that says the leftover is there to be discarded.
+	sendUserToast(`Saved, but the draft left at ${fromPath} could not be cleared`, true)
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/userDraftSettleAfterWrite.test.ts b/frontend/src/lib/userDraftSettleAfterWrite.test.ts
index cc58f25e79..d2be6ad0dc 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/userDraftSettleAfterWrite.test.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/userDraftSettleAfterWrite.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 import { describe, it, expect, beforeEach, vi } from 'vitest'
 
 const discard = vi.fn()
+const { toast } = vi.hoisted(() => ({ toast: vi.fn() }))
+vi.mock('./utils', async (orig) => ({ ...((await orig()) as object), sendUserToast: toast }))
 // Whether the key ends up settled on the delete after a flush — false stands for a
 // form that keeps queueing writes behind it.
 let settles = true
@@ -20,6 +22,7 @@ import { settleDraftAfterWrite, UserDraft } from './userDraft.svelte'
 
 beforeEach(() => {
 	settles = true
+	toast.mockClear()
 	discard.mockClear()
 	vi.spyOn(UserDraft, 'discard').mockImplementation(discard as any)
 })
@@ -65,14 +68,21 @@ describe('settleDraftAfterWrite', () => {
 		expect(discard).toHaveBeenCalledWith('variable', 'u/me/a', sent, OPTS)
 	})
 
-	// The form stays editable across the delete's own request, so an edit made then
-	// parks a write that would put the draft back — under a path the item has left,
-	// once the callers re-key. The delete is re-sent while that is the case, and
-	// bounded, because a form being typed into can always add one more.
-	it('re-sends the delete while the key will not settle on it, and gives up bounded', async () => {
+	// A rename suspends the old key first, so nothing can queue behind the delete and
+	// re-sending it could only repeat a request the server already refused. What is
+	// left is a draft under a path the item has left, which has to be reported.
+	it('sends the delete once on a rename and reports one that will not land', async () => {
 		settles = false
 		await settleDraftAfterWrite('variable', sent, { ...sent }, 'u/me/a', 'u/me/b', OPTS)
-		expect(discard).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(3)
+		expect(discard).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
+		expect(toast).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
+	})
+
+	// A create's form cell is the detached handle an empty path gets, wired to no
+	// key: every request made for one is addressed to `/drafts/update/<kind>/`.
+	it('settles nothing for a create', async () => {
+		await settleDraftAfterWrite('variable', sent, undefined, '', 'u/me/a', OPTS)
+		expect(discard).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
 	})
 
 	// A released handle reads as no cell at all. That is not somebody's newer edit —
@@ -82,13 +92,14 @@ describe('settleDraftAfterWrite', () => {
 		expect(discard).toHaveBeenCalledWith('variable', 'u/me/a', sent, OPTS)
 	})
 
-	// Retrying resets the cell to what was written, so it may only chase a path the
-	// item has left. On an unchanged path an edit made during the delete is the
-	// user's, and re-sending would revert it.
-	it('does not retry over an edit made on an unchanged path', async () => {
+	// On an unchanged path an edit made during the delete is the user's: the key is
+	// left accepting writes, and a draft standing there is the intended outcome
+	// rather than something to report.
+	it('leaves an edit made during the delete on an unchanged path', async () => {
 		settles = false
 		await settleDraftAfterWrite('variable', sent, { ...sent }, 'u/me/a', 'u/me/a', OPTS)
 		expect(discard).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
+		expect(toast).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
 	})
 
 	it('sends it once when the key settles', async () => {