diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/components/ResourceEditor.svelte b/frontend/src/lib/components/ResourceEditor.svelte
index 123e78591c..b077cc412a 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/components/ResourceEditor.svelte
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/components/ResourceEditor.svelte
@@ -411,9 +411,10 @@
 			return savedPath
 		} catch (err) {
 			sendUserToast(`Could not save resource: ${err.body ?? err.message}`, true)
-			// The workspaces that did not get this far keep their drafts under the path
-			// they still hold the item at; re-keying them onto this rename would move a
-			// path they never wrote.
+			// Following the rename remounts on the new path, so a workspace whose write
+			// never happened loses sight of its draft here — it stays on the server under
+			// the path that workspace still holds the item at, listed and editable from
+			// there. Re-keying it instead would move a path it never wrote.
 			return committed
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/components/VariableEditor.svelte b/frontend/src/lib/components/VariableEditor.svelte
index edb0e4e8cc..ca313ea632 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/components/VariableEditor.svelte
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/components/VariableEditor.svelte
@@ -373,9 +373,10 @@
 			reportSaved(savedPath, true)
 		} catch (err) {
 			sendUserToast(`Could not save variable: ${err.body}`, true)
-			// The workspaces that did not get this far keep their drafts under the path
-			// they still hold the item at; re-keying them onto this rename would move a
-			// path they never wrote. They stay listed, and retryable from here.
+			// Following the rename re-keys every workspace's handle, so a workspace whose
+			// write never happened loses sight of its draft here — it stays on the server
+			// under the path that workspace still holds the item at, listed and editable
+			// from there. Re-keying it instead would move a path it never wrote.
 			if (committed) reportSaved(committed, false)
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/userDraftDbSyncer.svelte.ts b/frontend/src/lib/userDraftDbSyncer.svelte.ts
index 1718700f07..2a7dd6db50 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/userDraftDbSyncer.svelte.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/userDraftDbSyncer.svelte.ts
@@ -313,6 +313,7 @@ async function postSave(opts: UserDraftDbSyncerSaveOpts): Promise<void> {
 				serverTimestamp: resp.current_timestamp,
 				localLastSync: lastSync ?? null
 			})
+			lastLanded.delete(key)
 			return
 		}
 		// resp.status === 'saved' — advance lastSync (or drop on delete).
@@ -546,9 +547,11 @@ export const UserDraftDbSyncer = {
 		} else {
 			clearLastSync(query.workspace, query.itemKind, query.path)
 		}
-		// Back in sync with the server: clear any conflict / failure.
+		// Back in sync with the server: clear any conflict / failure. `lastLanded`
+		// goes with them — whatever we last wrote no longer describes what is there.
 		conflicts.delete(key)
 		failures.delete(key)
+		lastLanded.delete(key)
 	},
 
 	/**
@@ -604,16 +607,18 @@ export const UserDraftDbSyncer = {
 		}
 	},
 
-	/** Reactive conflict snapshot (if any) for a draft. */
 	/**
 	 * Whether the last save that landed for this key was the draft's deletion.
-	 * False while none has landed at all — a failed or conflicted delete never
-	 * reaches the response handler, so it never claims to have landed.
+	 * False while none has landed — a delete that failed or conflicted never
+	 * reaches the response handler, so it never claims to have landed, and one
+	 * that landed earlier is dropped as soon as the server's state moves outside
+	 * our writes.
 	 */
 	lastLandedWasDelete(query: UserDraftLastSyncQuery): boolean {
 		return lastLanded.get(draftKey(query.workspace, query.itemKind, query.path)) === 'delete'
 	},
 
+	/** Reactive conflict snapshot (if any) for a draft. */
 	getConflict(query: UserDraftLastSyncQuery): {
 		readonly conflict: DraftConflictInfo | undefined
 	} {
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/userDraftLastLanded.test.ts b/frontend/src/lib/userDraftLastLanded.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fd030d79b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/userDraftLastLanded.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+import { describe, it, expect, vi } from 'vitest'
+
+let response: { status: 'saved' | 'conflict'; current_timestamp: string } = {
+	status: 'saved',
+	current_timestamp: '2020-01-01T00:00:00Z'
+}
+const updateDraft = vi.fn(async (..._args: any[]) => response)
+vi.mock('./gen', () => ({
+	DraftService: { updateDraft: (...a: unknown[]) => updateDraft(...(a as [])) }
+}))
+vi.mock('./gen/core/OpenAPI', () => ({ OpenAPI: { BASE: '' } }))
+vi.mock('./localDraftHints.svelte', () => ({ setLocalDraftHint: vi.fn() }))
+
+import { UserDraftDbSyncer } from './userDraftDbSyncer.svelte'
+
+const query = { workspace: 'ws', itemKind: 'variable' as const, path: 'u/me/v' }
+const send = (value: unknown) => UserDraftDbSyncer.save({ ...query, value, immediate: true })
+
+/**
+ * `flushDraftDelete` leaves an editor on this fact, and it is deliberately
+ * sticky — so it has to stop describing the server the moment the server stops
+ * being ours to describe.
+ */
+describe('lastLandedWasDelete', () => {
+	it('follows what the response handler saw land, and drops it on a conflict', async () => {
+		await send({ path: 'u/me/v' })
+		expect(UserDraftDbSyncer.lastLandedWasDelete(query)).toBe(false)
+
+		await send(null)
+		expect(UserDraftDbSyncer.lastLandedWasDelete(query)).toBe(true)
+
+		// The server moved under us: the earlier delete no longer answers for this one.
+		response = { status: 'conflict', current_timestamp: '2020-01-02T00:00:00Z' }
+		await send(null)
+		expect(UserDraftDbSyncer.lastLandedWasDelete(query)).toBe(false)
+	})
+})