diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/components/home/HubTemplatePicker.svelte b/frontend/src/lib/components/home/HubTemplatePicker.svelte
index be594ac831..3930fe47e5 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/components/home/HubTemplatePicker.svelte
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/components/home/HubTemplatePicker.svelte
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
 	let { onPick }: Props = $props()
 
 	let list: InfiniteList | undefined = $state(undefined)
-	let loaded = $state(0)
 
 	// The hub serves its whole catalogue in one response, so paging happens here: the list
 	// asks for a window and gets a slice of what `hubProjectCatalogue` already holds. Should
@@ -46,7 +45,9 @@
 	})
 </script>
 
-<div class="flex w-[380px] flex-col">
+<!-- The popover gives this box a definite height; the list takes what the header leaves and
+     scrolls inside it, which is also what lets it page. -->
+<div class="flex min-h-0 w-[380px] flex-col">
 	<!-- The hub is named once, as the link to it: a footer row saying the same thing again is
 	     a second line spent on somewhere the reader is not going. -->
 	<p class="px-3 pb-2 pt-3 text-[11.5px] leading-snug text-hint">
@@ -62,17 +63,8 @@
 		— imported as a folder in this workspace.
 	</p>
 
-	<!-- A definite height is what makes the list page: its scroll container only asks for
-	     the next window once it actually scrolls. Given only to a list long enough to need
-	     it, so a hub with a handful of projects gets a popover that hugs them. -->
-	<div class="border-t border-border-light">
-		<InfiniteList
-			bind:this={list}
-			bind:length={loaded}
-			noBorder
-			rounded={false}
-			containerClass={loaded > 4 ? 'h-[420px]' : ''}
-		>
+	<div class="min-h-0 flex-1 border-t border-border-light">
+		<InfiniteList bind:this={list} noBorder rounded={false} containerClass="h-full">
 			{#snippet customRow({ item }: { item: HubProjectPick })}
 				{@const Icon = hubAppIcon(item.iconApps[0] ?? '')}
 				<tr>
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/components/home/WorkspaceEmptyState.svelte b/frontend/src/lib/components/home/WorkspaceEmptyState.svelte
index caa99b7a55..0dc547f2cb 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/components/home/WorkspaceEmptyState.svelte
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/components/home/WorkspaceEmptyState.svelte
@@ -68,9 +68,22 @@
 		class="border-t border-dashed border-border-light px-4 pb-[22px] pt-[18px] text-center text-[13.5px] leading-relaxed text-hint"
 	>
 		Your scripts, flows and apps will show up here.
+		<!-- Opens downward into the page rather than upward into the hero: the caption sits high
+		     when the AI composer is hidden, so the room is below it. `fitViewport` caps the box on
+		     a short viewport, which is why the height below is definite and the list inside fills
+		     it — a squeezed box with a fixed-height list inside overflows its own frame. -->
 		<Popover
-			placement="top"
-			contentClasses="p-0"
+			floatingConfig={{
+				placement: 'bottom',
+				strategy: 'absolute',
+				gutter: 8,
+				overflowPadding: 16,
+				flip: { fallbackPlacements: ['top', 'bottom-start', 'top-start'] },
+				fitViewport: true,
+				overlap: false
+			}}
+			contentClasses="p-0 flex"
+			contentStyle="height: min(72vh, 520px);"
 			class="border-b border-transparent text-accent hover:border-accent"
 			triggerAttrs={{ 'aria-label': 'Start from a template' }}
 			on:openChange={(e) => e.detail && logFeatureUsage('home', 'template_picker_open')}
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/components/workspaceSettings/SimpleCreateWorkspace.svelte b/frontend/src/lib/components/workspaceSettings/SimpleCreateWorkspace.svelte
index 5ce3c163c8..7e79f9e838 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/components/workspaceSettings/SimpleCreateWorkspace.svelte
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/components/workspaceSettings/SimpleCreateWorkspace.svelte
@@ -22,16 +22,23 @@
 		/** Where to go once the workspace exists. It is already the active one by then. */
 		onCreated: (workspaceId: string) => void
 		/**
-		 * True from the click until the navigation, so a surface with chrome of its own around
-		 * this form — onboarding's Previous button — can stand down for the hand-over instead
-		 * of offering a way back out of a workspace that now exists.
+		 * Told when the form starts handing over to the new workspace and if it comes back, so
+		 * a surface with chrome of its own around this one — onboarding's Previous button — can
+		 * stand down for the hand-over instead of offering a way back out of a workspace that
+		 * now exists. A callback rather than a bound prop: this is something the form reports,
+		 * not state it shares, and `$bindable(default)` on an optional prop is banned.
 		 */
-		creating?: boolean
+		onCreatingChange?: (creating: boolean) => void
 	}
 
-	let { onCreated, creating = $bindable(false) }: Props = $props()
+	let { onCreated, onCreatingChange }: Props = $props()
 
 	let name = $state('')
+	let creating = $state(false)
+	function setCreating(next: boolean) {
+		creating = next
+		onCreatingChange?.(next)
+	}
 
 	// The full form — id, colour, username, invites — for the person who wants it. Forced on
 	// when the instance does not derive usernames: one is required and a name field has
@@ -91,7 +98,7 @@
 
 	async function create() {
 		if (problem || creating) return
-		creating = true
+		setCreating(true)
 		const workspaceName = name.trim()
 		const started = Date.now()
 		try {
@@ -102,7 +109,7 @@
 					true
 				)
 				advanced = true
-				creating = false
+				setCreating(false)
 				return
 			}
 			await WorkspaceService.createWorkspace({
@@ -123,7 +130,7 @@
 		} catch (error) {
 			console.error('Could not create the workspace:', error)
 			sendUserToast('Could not create the workspace: ' + (error?.body || error?.message), true)
-			creating = false
+			setCreating(false)
 		}
 	}
 </script>
diff --git a/frontend/src/routes/(root)/(logged)/user/(user)/onboarding/+page.svelte b/frontend/src/routes/(root)/(logged)/user/(user)/onboarding/+page.svelte
index e574112557..4b3c0f95cc 100644
--- a/frontend/src/routes/(root)/(logged)/user/(user)/onboarding/+page.svelte
+++ b/frontend/src/routes/(root)/(logged)/user/(user)/onboarding/+page.svelte
@@ -315,7 +315,10 @@
 			<!-- The same one-field form the workspace picker falls back to, so a user who leaves
 			     onboarding early meets it again rather than something new. It owns the name, the
 			     id, the advanced form and the hand-over into the workspace. -->
-			<SimpleCreateWorkspace onCreated={leaveOnboarding} bind:creating={creatingWorkspace} />
+			<SimpleCreateWorkspace
+				onCreated={leaveOnboarding}
+				onCreatingChange={(v) => (creatingWorkspace = v)}
+			/>
 
 			{#if !skippedSurvey && !creatingWorkspace}
 				<div class="flex flex-row justify-start items-center pt-6">