diff --git a/web/app/(app)/workflows/page.tsx b/web/app/(app)/workflows/page.tsx
index 828b33d..a028da5 100644
--- a/web/app/(app)/workflows/page.tsx
+++ b/web/app/(app)/workflows/page.tsx
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ export default function WorkflowsPage() {
                                     <path strokeLinecap="round" strokeLinejoin="round" d="M9.594 3.94c.09-.542.56-.94 1.11-.94h2.593c.55 0 1.02.398 1.11.94l.213 1.281M15 12a3 3 0 11-6 0 3 3 0 016 0z" />
                                 </svg>
                             }
-                            action={{ label: "Create your first workflow", onClick: () => create() }}
+                            action={{ label: "Create your first workflow", onClick: () => create(), loading: isPending }}
                         />
                     }
                 >
diff --git a/web/components/ui/Async.tsx b/web/components/ui/Async.tsx
index 8850fd1..29cd1d0 100644
--- a/web/components/ui/Async.tsx
+++ b/web/components/ui/Async.tsx
@@ -63,7 +63,15 @@ export function EmptyState({
     title: string;
     description?: string;
     icon?: React.ReactNode;
-    action?: { label: string; href?: string; onClick?: () => void };
+    /*
+     * `loading` matters rather than being decoration: the empty-state button is
+     * usually the one that creates the first of something, and without it a
+     * double click creates two. A link action takes neither — there is no
+     * pending state to show for a navigation.
+     */
+    action?:
+        | { label: string; href: string; onClick?: never; loading?: never; disabled?: never }
+        | { label: string; href?: never; onClick: () => void; loading?: boolean; disabled?: boolean };
 }) {
     return (
         <div className="px-6 py-16 text-center">
@@ -80,7 +88,14 @@ export function EmptyState({
                         {action.label}
                     </Button>
                 ) : (
-                    <Button variant="primary" size="sm" className="mt-4" onClick={action.onClick}>
+                    <Button
+                        variant="primary"
+                        size="sm"
+                        className="mt-4"
+                        onClick={action.onClick}
+                        loading={action.loading}
+                        disabled={action.disabled}
+                    >
                         {action.label}
                     </Button>
                 ))}
diff --git a/web/components/ui/Modal.tsx b/web/components/ui/Modal.tsx
index e7e768b..cc403f2 100644
--- a/web/components/ui/Modal.tsx
+++ b/web/components/ui/Modal.tsx
@@ -22,7 +22,16 @@ let lockedOverflow = "";
 let lockedPadding = "";
 let hidden: HTMLElement[] = [];
 
-const PORTAL_ATTR = "data-vantage-dialog";
+/*
+ * Marks a body child as belonging to the dialog layer rather than the page, so
+ * the aria-hidden sweep below skips it. Exported because the toast layer needs
+ * the same exemption: a confirmation raised by a dialog is raised *before* that
+ * dialog closes, so a toast rendered inside the app tree would be inserted into
+ * a hidden subtree and never announced — and un-hiding a live region later does
+ * not replay what it missed.
+ */
+export const DIALOG_LAYER_ATTR = "data-vantage-dialog";
+const PORTAL_ATTR = DIALOG_LAYER_ATTR;
 
 function lockScroll() {
     const { body } = document;
diff --git a/web/components/ui/Toast.tsx b/web/components/ui/Toast.tsx
index 285e3a4..bd725b5 100644
--- a/web/components/ui/Toast.tsx
+++ b/web/components/ui/Toast.tsx
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 "use client";
 
-import { createContext, useCallback, useContext, useMemo, useRef, useState } from "react";
+import { createContext, useCallback, useContext, useEffect, useMemo, useRef, useState } from "react";
+import { createPortal } from "react-dom";
 import { clsx } from "clsx";
 import { friendlyMessage } from "./Async";
+import { DIALOG_LAYER_ATTR } from "./Modal";
 
 /*
  * Mutations succeeded silently. Copying an install one-liner, generating a key,
@@ -59,6 +61,10 @@ export function ToastProvider({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
     const nextId = useRef(1);
     const timers = useRef(new Map<number, ReturnType<typeof setTimeout>>());
 
+    // Portals need a DOM, which SSR has not got.
+    const [mounted, setMounted] = useState(false);
+    useEffect(() => setMounted(true), []);
+
     const dismiss = useCallback((id: number) => {
         const timer = timers.current.get(id);
         if (timer) {
@@ -95,6 +101,12 @@ export function ToastProvider({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
         <ToastContext.Provider value={api}>
             {children}
             {/*
+             * Portalled to the body and marked as dialog layer, so an open
+             * modal's aria-hidden sweep leaves it alone. Every modal-raised
+             * confirmation ("Saved …", "Deleted …", "Removed …") is toasted
+             * before the dialog closes, and inside the app tree all of them
+             * would land in a hidden subtree and go unannounced.
+             *
              * Two regions, not one polite container holding role="alert"
              * children: live-region politeness is taken from the nearest
              * ancestor that declares it, so a single polite wrapper demotes the
@@ -102,13 +114,20 @@ export function ToastProvider({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
              * the operator asked for did not happen; a confirmation can wait
              * for a pause in speech.
              *
-             * The wrapper is a plain flex column so both regions stack as one
-             * visual list.
+             * z-index sits above the dialog layer: a toast reporting why a
+             * dialog's action failed is no use behind it.
              */}
-            <div className="pointer-events-none fixed inset-x-0 bottom-0 z-[60] flex flex-col items-center gap-2 p-4 sm:items-end">
-                <ToastRegion toasts={toasts.filter((t) => t.kind !== "error")} politeness="polite" onDismiss={dismiss} />
-                <ToastRegion toasts={toasts.filter((t) => t.kind === "error")} politeness="assertive" onDismiss={dismiss} />
-            </div>
+            {mounted &&
+                createPortal(
+                    <div
+                        {...{ [DIALOG_LAYER_ATTR]: "" }}
+                        className="pointer-events-none fixed inset-x-0 bottom-0 z-[70] flex flex-col items-center gap-2 p-4 sm:items-end"
+                    >
+                        <ToastRegion toasts={toasts.filter((t) => t.kind !== "error")} politeness="polite" onDismiss={dismiss} />
+                        <ToastRegion toasts={toasts.filter((t) => t.kind === "error")} politeness="assertive" onDismiss={dismiss} />
+                    </div>,
+                    document.body,
+                )}
         </ToastContext.Provider>
     );
 }