diff --git a/backend/windmill-api/src/workspaces_export.rs b/backend/windmill-api/src/workspaces_export.rs
index bff261093a..3614958e38 100644
--- a/backend/windmill-api/src/workspaces_export.rs
+++ b/backend/windmill-api/src/workspaces_export.rs
@@ -961,11 +961,13 @@ pub(crate) async fn tarball_workspace(
     }
 
     if !skip_variables.unwrap_or(false) {
+        // `account` is left out: the variable endpoints ignore it, so a pushed spec carrying it
+        // would never match the variable it created and every sync would report it changed.
         let variables =
              sqlx::query_as::<_, ExportableListableVariable>(if !skip_secrets.unwrap_or(false) {
-                 "SELECT workspace_id, path, value, is_secret, description, extra_perms, account, is_oauth, expires_at, labels FROM variable WHERE workspace_id = $1 AND expires_at IS NULL"
+                 "SELECT workspace_id, path, value, is_secret, description, extra_perms, NULL::int AS account, is_oauth, expires_at, labels FROM variable WHERE workspace_id = $1 AND expires_at IS NULL"
              } else {
-                 "SELECT workspace_id, path, value, is_secret, description, extra_perms, account, is_oauth, expires_at, labels FROM variable WHERE workspace_id = $1 AND is_secret = false AND expires_at IS NULL"
+                 "SELECT workspace_id, path, value, is_secret, description, extra_perms, NULL::int AS account, is_oauth, expires_at, labels FROM variable WHERE workspace_id = $1 AND is_secret = false AND expires_at IS NULL"
              })
              .bind(&w_id)
              .fetch_all(&mut *tx)
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/workspaceToolsZod.gen.ts b/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/workspaceToolsZod.gen.ts
index 0b393e6969..bdcf9848aa 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/workspaceToolsZod.gen.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/workspaceToolsZod.gen.ts
@@ -488,7 +488,7 @@ export const variableRequestSchema = z.object({
 	"value": z.string().describe("The value of the variable"),
 	"is_secret": z.boolean().describe("Whether the variable is a secret"),
 	"description": z.string().describe("The description of the variable"),
-	"account": z.number().int().describe("The account identifier").optional(),
+	"account": z.number().int().describe("Ignored. A variable is linked to an OAuth account only by `createAccount`'s `variable_path`.").optional(),
 	"is_oauth": z.boolean().describe("Whether the variable is an OAuth variable").optional(),
 	"expires_at": z.string().datetime({ offset: true }).describe("The expiration date of the variable").optional(),
 	"labels": z.array(z.string()).optional(),