@@ -395,6 +395,46 @@ export namespace WorkspaceApi {
     })
   }
 
+  /** Create a workspace WITHOUT binding anything to it.
+   *
+   * ``createAndBind`` is the right call for an unlinked project: it creates and
+   * binds in one server-side transaction, so a binding conflict cannot strand a
+   * workspace. But it pre-checks the identifiers and 409s *before* creating,
+   * which makes it unusable when the project is already linked — there is
+   * nothing to create, and the caller's rebind never gets a target (AI-9171).
+   * This is the two-step path for that case: create here, then rebind.
+   *
+   * The flags below deliberately mirror ``_create_datamate_flush_only`` in
+   * altimate-backend, which is what ``createAndBind`` reaches. ``POST
+   * /datamates/`` is the SaaS/extension creation path and defaults BOTH to
+   * false, so omitting them would hand a differently-configured workspace to
+   * whichever caller happened to be already linked — same menu row, memory and
+   * knowledge engine silently off. If the backend's workspace defaults move,
+   * this has to move with them; there is no endpoint that applies them without
+   * also binding.
+   */
+  export async function createWorkspaceUnbound(input: {
+    name: string
+    description?: string
+  }): Promise<{ id: number; name: string }> {
+    const data = await req<{ id: number }>("POST", "/", {
+      base: "/datamates",
+      body: {
+        name: input.name,
+        description: input.description ?? null,
+        integrations: [],
+        memory_enabled: true,
+        knowledge_engine_enabled: true,
+        privacy: "private",
+      },
+    })
+    const id = Number(data?.id)
+    if (!Number.isSafeInteger(id) || id <= 0) {
+      throw new Error(`Workspace was created but the server returned no usable id (${String(data?.id)}).`)
+    }
+    return { id, name: input.name }
+  }
+
   export async function bindExisting(
     datamateId: number,
     identifier: ProjectIdentifier,
 
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import {
   NotConfiguredError,
   NotFoundError,
   PreconditionFailedError,
+  type Binding,
   type DatamateRef,
   type MatchedIdentifier,
   type ProjectBindingLookup,
@@ -484,19 +485,36 @@ async function createThenBindOrRebind(
 ): Promise<void> {
   const spin = prompts.spinner()
   spin.start(`Creating workspace "${name}"...`)
-  let created: Awaited<ReturnType<typeof WorkspaceApi.createAndBind>>
+  let created: { datamate: DatamateRef; binding?: Binding; manage_url?: string }
   try {
-    created = await WorkspaceApi.createAndBind({ name, identifier })
+    // Two different creates, because the server offers two different things.
+    //
+    // Unlinked: ``createAndBind`` creates and binds in ONE transaction, so a
+    // conflicting binding can never strand a half-created workspace.
+    //
+    // Already linked: that same atomicity makes it unusable. ``create_and_bind``
+    // pre-checks the identifiers and 409s *before* creating anything, so the
+    // rebind below never got a target and this row simply always failed — with
+    // an error telling the user to re-run the command they were already inside
+    // (AI-9171). Create unbound first, then repoint, which is what the row's
+    // own hint promises.
+    if (existing) {
+      const ws = await WorkspaceApi.createWorkspaceUnbound({ name })
+      created = { datamate: ws }
+    } else {
+      created = await WorkspaceApi.createAndBind({ name, identifier })
+    }
   } catch (err) {
     spin.stop("Failed to create workspace.", 1)
-    // A 409 from create means someone else's binding on the same
-    // remote/path beat us. If the pre-check already knew about it, the user
-    // can pick from the list; if the pre-check missed it, this is the
-    // authoritative signal — surface it and hint the picker.
+    // A 409 here can only be a binding this caller did not know about: the
+    // already-linked path does not bind at all, and the unlinked path only
+    // reaches the server after a pre-check that said the project was free. So
+    // someone else's binding on the same remote/path landed in between.
     if (err instanceof ConflictError) {
       const existingName = conflictExistingName(err.detail)
       prompts.log.error(
-        `This project is already linked to "${existingName}". Re-run \`altimate-code link\` to switch to a different workspace.`,
+        `Another workspace, "${existingName}", claimed this project while you were choosing. ` +
+          `Nothing was created. Run \`altimate-code link\` again to see the current list.`,
       )
     } else {
       prompts.log.error(err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err))
@@ -510,10 +528,9 @@ async function createThenBindOrRebind(
   const safeCreatedName = stripControlChars(created.datamate.name)
   spin.stop(`Workspace "${safeCreatedName}" created.`)
 
-  // If the project was already linked, the new workspace exists but the
-  // binding still points at the OLD workspace — rebind so the project is
-  // now bound to the freshly-created one. Otherwise createAndBind already
-  // wrote the binding as part of the atomic create; we're done.
+  // The already-linked path created an unbound workspace above, so the binding
+  // still points at the OLD one — repoint it now. The unlinked path already got
+  // its binding from the atomic create, so there is nothing left to do.
   if (existing) {
     const rebindSpin = prompts.spinner()
     rebindSpin.start(`Repointing project at "${safeCreatedName}"...`)
@@ -537,23 +554,31 @@ async function createThenBindOrRebind(
   // Prefer the canonicalized ``identifier.projectPath`` over the raw
   // ``--directory`` argument so ``altimate-code link -d ./myproj`` and its
   // symlink-resolved twin both write under the same cache key (Kilo cycle 6).
+  // The unbound path has no server binding row to echo, so fall back to the
+  // identifier we just rebound on — the same values the rebind wrote.
   await recordApprovedBinding(identifier.projectPath ?? directory, {
     datamateId: created.datamate.id,
     datamateName: created.datamate.name,
-    repoRemote: created.binding.repo_remote,
-    projectPath: created.binding.project_path,
+    repoRemote: created.binding?.repo_remote ?? identifier.repoRemote ?? null,
+    projectPath: created.binding?.project_path ?? identifier.projectPath ?? null,
     linkedAt: Date.now(),
   }, { awaitBackfill: true })
   prompts.log.info("Saved memory blocks will sync to this workspace if memory is enabled for it.")
-  prompts.log.info(`Manage it at: ${created.manage_url}`)
-  // Guard against a server that hands back a non-http(s) manage_url — ``open``
-  // delegates to the OS handler, so a rogue value could launch an unrelated
-  // application. Log a warning and skip the auto-open rather than trusting
-  // whatever protocol the URL parses to.
-  if (isSafeHttpUrl(created.manage_url)) {
-    await open(created.manage_url).catch(() => undefined)
-  } else {
-    prompts.log.warn(`Skipped auto-open: manage_url is not an http/https URL.`)
+  // ``createAndBind`` hands back a manage_url; the unbound create does not, so
+  // derive it from credentials exactly as the rest of this file does. Null on
+  // BYOK / unresolvable deployments — then there is simply nothing to show.
+  const manageUrl = created.manage_url ?? (await manageUrlFor(created.datamate.id))
+  if (manageUrl) {
+    prompts.log.info(`Manage it at: ${manageUrl}`)
+    // Guard against a server that hands back a non-http(s) manage_url — ``open``
+    // delegates to the OS handler, so a rogue value could launch an unrelated
+    // application. Log a warning and skip the auto-open rather than trusting
+    // whatever protocol the URL parses to.
+    if (isSafeHttpUrl(manageUrl)) {
+      await open(manageUrl).catch(() => undefined)
+    } else {
+      prompts.log.warn(`Skipped auto-open: manage_url is not an http/https URL.`)
+    }
   }
   prompts.outro("Done.")
 }
 
@@ -0,0 +1,143 @@
+// altimate_change - new file
+// Coverage for WorkspaceApi.createWorkspaceUnbound (AI-9171).
+//
+// This exists because `altimate link`'s "create a quick workspace" row always
+// failed on an already-linked project: it went through `createAndBind`, whose
+// server handler pre-checks the identifiers and 409s BEFORE creating, so the
+// rebind that was supposed to follow never got a target. The fix creates the
+// workspace unbound first, then repoints.
+//
+// The assertions worth having are about the REQUEST, not the response. Two
+// creation paths now exist, and the silent failure mode is that they disagree:
+// `POST /datamates/` defaults memory and the knowledge engine to false, while
+// the create-and-bind path sets both true. If this drifts, the same menu row
+// produces a differently-configured workspace depending only on whether the
+// project happened to be linked — which nothing else would catch.
+import { afterAll, afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, test } from "bun:test"
+import { mkdirSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs"
+import path from "node:path"
+import os from "node:os"
+
+const ORIGINAL_TEST_HOME = process.env.OPENCODE_TEST_HOME
+const SANDBOX = path.join(os.tmpdir(), `altimate-createunbound-${process.pid}-${Date.now()}`)
+mkdirSync(path.join(SANDBOX, "home", ".altimate"), { recursive: true })
+process.env.OPENCODE_TEST_HOME = path.join(SANDBOX, "home")
+
+const API_URL = "https://api.example.test"
+const TENANT = "acme"
+
+// A real credentials file, so the module resolves them the same way it does in
+// production rather than through a stubbed export.
+writeFileSync(
+  path.join(SANDBOX, "home", ".altimate", "altimate.json"),
+  JSON.stringify({
+    altimateUrl: API_URL,
+    altimateInstanceName: TENANT,
+    altimateApiKey: "test-key",
+  }),
+)
+
+const { WorkspaceApi } = await import("@/altimate/workspace/api-client")
+
+const ORIGINAL_FETCH = globalThis.fetch
+
+interface Captured {
+  url: string
+  method: string
+  body: Record<string, unknown>
+}
+
+let captured: Captured[] = []
+
+/** Stub fetch, recording each request and replying with `reply`. */
+function respondWith(status: number, reply: unknown) {
+  globalThis.fetch = (async (input: string | URL, init?: RequestInit) => {
+    captured.push({
+      url: String(input),
+      method: String(init?.method ?? "GET"),
+      body: init?.body ? JSON.parse(String(init.body)) : {},
+    })
+    return new Response(JSON.stringify(reply), {
+      status,
+      headers: { "content-type": "application/json" },
+    })
+  }) as typeof globalThis.fetch
+}
+
+beforeEach(() => {
+  captured = []
+})
+
+afterEach(() => {
+  globalThis.fetch = ORIGINAL_FETCH
+})
+
+afterAll(() => {
+  if (ORIGINAL_TEST_HOME === undefined) delete process.env.OPENCODE_TEST_HOME
+  else process.env.OPENCODE_TEST_HOME = ORIGINAL_TEST_HOME
+})
+
+describe("createWorkspaceUnbound", () => {
+  test("posts to /datamates/, NOT to the binding router", async () => {
+    respondWith(200, { id: 77 })
+    await WorkspaceApi.createWorkspaceUnbound({ name: "jaffle_shop" })
+
+    expect(captured).toHaveLength(1)
+    expect(captured[0].method).toBe("POST")
+    // The whole point: this must not reach create_and_bind, which would 409.
+    expect(captured[0].url).not.toContain("datamate-project-bindings")
+    expect(captured[0].url).toContain("/datamates/")
+  })
+
+  test("sends no project identifier — binding is the caller's next step", async () => {
+    respondWith(200, { id: 77 })
+    await WorkspaceApi.createWorkspaceUnbound({ name: "jaffle_shop" })
+
+    expect(captured[0].body).not.toHaveProperty("repo_remote")
+    expect(captured[0].body).not.toHaveProperty("project_path")
+  })
+
+  test("applies the workspace defaults, not the SaaS ones", async () => {
+    respondWith(200, { id: 77 })
+    await WorkspaceApi.createWorkspaceUnbound({ name: "jaffle_shop" })
+
+    // `POST /datamates/` defaults both to false. Sending them explicitly is what
+    // keeps an already-linked project's new workspace configured like every
+    // other CLI-created one. Dropping either line is the regression.
+    expect(captured[0].body.memory_enabled).toBe(true)
+    expect(captured[0].body.knowledge_engine_enabled).toBe(true)
+    expect(captured[0].body.privacy).toBe("private")
+    // Required by CreateDatamateRequest — omitting it is a 422.
+    expect(captured[0].body.integrations).toEqual([])
+  })
+
+  test("returns the created id and the caller's name", async () => {
+    respondWith(200, { id: 77 })
+    const created = await WorkspaceApi.createWorkspaceUnbound({ name: "jaffle_shop" })
+    expect(created).toEqual({ id: 77, name: "jaffle_shop" })
+  })
+
+  test("passes a description through when given, null when not", async () => {
+    respondWith(200, { id: 77 })
+    await WorkspaceApi.createWorkspaceUnbound({ name: "a", description: "from the CLI" })
+    expect(captured[0].body.description).toBe("from the CLI")
+
+    captured = []
+    respondWith(200, { id: 78 })
+    await WorkspaceApi.createWorkspaceUnbound({ name: "b" })
+    expect(captured[0].body.description).toBeNull()
+  })
+
+  test("rejects a response with no usable id rather than returning NaN", async () => {
+    // A workspace the caller cannot then rebind to is worse than a clear error:
+    // `Number(undefined)` is NaN, which would reach the rebind as a garbage
+    // target id.
+    respondWith(200, { id: null })
+    await expect(WorkspaceApi.createWorkspaceUnbound({ name: "x" })).rejects.toThrow(/no usable id/)
+  })
+
+  test("rejects a non-integer id", async () => {
+    respondWith(200, { id: "not-a-number" })
+    await expect(WorkspaceApi.createWorkspaceUnbound({ name: "x" })).rejects.toThrow(/no usable id/)
+  })
+})