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 b711fbe50f..841c83d5e6 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/global/core.test.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/global/core.test.ts
@@ -2490,6 +2490,39 @@ describe('global AI tools', () => {
 		}
 	})
 
+	// A deploy carries the draft as it stood when it started. An editor changed since has a
+	// divergence from that which is still undeployed, so saying "Draft removed" sends the model
+	// and the user away from an edit that still needs deploying.
+	it('reports a draft the deploy deliberately left in place', async () => {
+		const path = 'u/admin/kept_res'
+		seedBackendDraft('resource', path, { path, value: { a: 2 } })
+		registerLiveItemBridge({
+			seed: () => false,
+			// The editor kept a row: it diverged from what was deployed while the deploy ran.
+			read: () => ({ value: { path, value: { a: 3 } } }),
+			refresh: () => Promise.resolve('done' as const),
+			itemDeleted: () => Promise.resolve(),
+			discard: () => Promise.resolve('done' as const),
+			list: () => []
+		})
+		try {
+			const cleanup = await deleteGlobalDraft(WORKSPACE, 'resource', path, undefined, {
+				preserveLiveDraft: true,
+				deployed: true
+			})
+			expect(cleanup).toEqual({ removed: false })
+		} finally {
+			registerLiveItemBridge({
+				seed: () => false,
+				read: () => undefined,
+				refresh: () => undefined,
+				itemDeleted: () => Promise.resolve(),
+				discard: () => undefined,
+				list: () => []
+			})
+		}
+	})
+
 	// A failed server delete must surface (throw), not silently report removed —
 	// the same guard the write path got, applied to the delete path.
 	it('deleteGlobalDraft throws when the server delete fails', async () => {
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/global/core.ts b/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/global/core.ts
index 893fdbe72d..d5a95e142d 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/global/core.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/global/core.ts
@@ -7994,7 +7994,7 @@ async function deployDraft(
 	// fork comparisons before the fallible draft cleanup below.
 	invalidateWorkspaceComparison(workspace)
 
-	await deleteGlobalDraft(workspace, type, path, triggerKind, {
+	const cleanup = await deleteGlobalDraft(workspace, type, path, triggerKind, {
 		preserveLiveDraft: true,
 		deployed: true
 	})
@@ -8030,9 +8030,11 @@ async function deployDraft(
 	return JSON.stringify(
 		{
 			success: true,
-			message: `Deployed draft ${type} "${path}" to the workspace. Draft removed.${
-				deployNote ? ` ${deployNote}` : ''
-			}`,
+			message: `Deployed draft ${type} "${path}" to the workspace. ${
+				cleanup.removed
+					? 'Draft removed.'
+					: 'Its editor was changed while the deploy ran, so a draft of those later changes remains and is not deployed.'
+			}${deployNote ? ` ${deployNote}` : ''}`,
 			type,
 			path,
 			triggerKind
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/global/userDraftAdapter.ts b/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/global/userDraftAdapter.ts
index b2f08155c9..f7fd7510dd 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/global/userDraftAdapter.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/components/copilot/chat/global/userDraftAdapter.ts
@@ -589,15 +589,17 @@ type DeleteGlobalDraftOptions = {
 	itemDeleted?: boolean
 }
 
+/** `removed` is false when a draft is deliberately left in place: an open editor diverged from
+ *  what was deployed while the deploy was running, and that divergence is still to be deployed. */
 export async function deleteGlobalDraft(
 	workspace: string,
 	type: WorkspaceItemType,
 	path: string,
 	triggerKind?: TriggerKind,
 	options: DeleteGlobalDraftOptions = {}
-): Promise<void> {
+): Promise<{ removed: boolean }> {
 	const itemKind = itemKindFor(type, triggerKind)
-	if (!itemKind) return
+	if (!itemKind) return { removed: false }
 	const storagePath = resolveDraftStoragePath(workspace, itemKind, path)
 	if (options.itemDeleted) {
 		// Nothing to discard against: the item is gone. The editor is told that, and the row is
@@ -612,7 +614,7 @@ export async function deleteGlobalDraft(
 			immediate: true
 		})
 		await assertDraftCleanupLanded(workspace, itemKind, path, storagePath)
-		return
+		return { removed: true }
 	}
 	if (options.deployed) {
 		// Re-reading the open editor is the whole cleanup, and discarding on top of it is wrong:
@@ -625,7 +627,9 @@ export async function deleteGlobalDraft(
 			// settled — with no draft, or with the newer edit.
 			await UserDraftDbSyncer.flush({ workspace, itemKind, path: storagePath })
 			await assertDraftCleanupLanded(workspace, itemKind, path, storagePath)
-			return
+			// The editor keeps a row when it diverged from what was deployed while the deploy was
+			// running. Saying it was removed would send the caller away from an undeployed edit.
+			return { removed: !UserDraft.has(itemKind, storagePath, { workspace }) }
 		}
 		if (refreshed === 'failed') {
 			// It has the item and a baseline from before the deploy. Discarding its row would
@@ -664,6 +668,7 @@ export async function deleteGlobalDraft(
 		})
 	}
 	await assertDraftCleanupLanded(workspace, itemKind, path, storagePath)
+	return { removed: true }
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/itemStore.svelte.ts b/frontend/src/lib/itemStore.svelte.ts
index d08e1499e1..c7a5668ca5 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/itemStore.svelte.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/itemStore.svelte.ts
@@ -414,16 +414,16 @@ class Entry<V> {
 			// nothing can send it, so a read nobody asked for must not put the server's value in
 			// its place, nor answer the conflict on the user's behalf. Checked here rather than
 			// before the read, because the flush that precedes one is itself a way to find out.
-			// A row was handed over while this read was out, so its response predates it. The value
-			// is still shown, for want of a better one, but writing from it would post it back
-			// over that row on the baseline the row advanced: the newer write lost to an older
-			// read. Nothing goes out until a reload settles which is which.
-			this.stale = this.ports.rowMark(key) !== rowsAtRead
 			const standOff = unasked && this.ports.conflicted(key)
 			// Whatever landed since the read was asked for — an external write, an edit — is
 			// newer than what it read, so the read only moves the deployed side under it.
 			const keepValue =
 				standOff || this.edits !== at.edits || this.externals !== at.externals
+			// A row landed while the read was out and no newer value came with it, so it was
+			// written by someone this entry cannot see. Its response predates that row, and
+			// writing from it would post it back over it on the baseline that row advanced — so
+			// nothing goes out, and nothing is saved or discarded, until a reload.
+			this.stale = this.ports.rowMark(key) !== rowsAtRead && !keepValue
 			this.meta = res.meta
 			this.error = undefined
 			if (isTemporaryPath(key.path)) {
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/itemStore.test.ts b/frontend/src/lib/itemStore.test.ts
index ff67705878..bb9d13aac6 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/itemStore.test.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/itemStore.test.ts
@@ -713,6 +713,8 @@ describe('item store: origins', () => {
 		// The chat writes after asking for the discard, so its value is the newer of the two.
 		const fromChat = { ...deployedRes, description: 'from the chat' }
 		item.applyExternal(fromChat)
+		// `persistGlobalDraft` hands the value here and writes its own row through the syncer.
+		rows.handExternally('u/me/r')
 		read.resolve({ deployed: deployedRes })
 
 		expect(await discarding).toEqual({ removed: false })
@@ -843,6 +845,34 @@ describe('item store: origins', () => {
 		expect(item.value?.description).toBe('typed during the deploy')
 	})
 
+	it('still autosaves after the chat wrote a row during its first read', async () => {
+		const rows = fakeRows()
+		const read = deferred<ItemLoad<Res>>()
+		const store = createItemStore(rows.port)
+		const key: ItemKey = { workspace: 'w', kind: 'resource', path: 'u/me/r' }
+		const { handle: item } = store.acquire(
+			key,
+			{ workspace: 'w', path: 'u/me/r' },
+			adapter(() => read.promise)
+		)
+		await settle()
+		// The chat writes while the GET is out. Its row is this entry's own doing, and its value
+		// is right here — so the read is behind the server, but not in a way that loses anything.
+		const fromChat = { ...deployedRes, description: 'from the chat' }
+		item.applyExternal(fromChat)
+		// `persistGlobalDraft` hands the value here and writes its own row through the syncer.
+		rows.handExternally('u/me/r')
+		read.resolve({ deployed: deployedRes })
+		await settle()
+
+		expect(item.value).toEqual(fromChat)
+		// The editor opened on the chat's draft; typing from here has to keep reaching the row.
+		expect(item.canSave).toBe(true)
+		const typed = { ...deployedRes, description: 'typed after opening' }
+		item.value = typed
+		expect(rows.writes.at(-1)).toEqual({ path: 'u/me/r', value: typed })
+	})
+
 	it('does not post a read back over a row another editor landed during it', async () => {
 		const rows = fakeRows()
 		const read = deferred<ItemLoad<Res>>()