diff --git a/movie_editor/backend/pipeline_wiring.py b/movie_editor/backend/pipeline_wiring.py
index 0ff24948..49750b33 100644
--- a/movie_editor/backend/pipeline_wiring.py
+++ b/movie_editor/backend/pipeline_wiring.py
@@ -680,6 +680,32 @@ def reseed_for_family(models: dict, object_info: Optional[dict] = None) -> bool:
     return True
 
 
+def global_template_update(current: Optional[dict], saved: dict) -> Optional[dict]:
+    """What a project's save should leave in the global default that seeds NEW projects.
+
+    Only FunPack's own seeded loaders travel: those are the file picks anyone's next
+    project wants, and the reason the global exists. An imported workflow or a hand-wired
+    graph is that ONE project's business — mirroring it whole is how every later project
+    came to adopt it, loaders and all. The family is reusable either way, so it is recorded
+    on its own.
+
+    Returns the global to write, or None when the save must not touch it.
+    """
+    current = current if isinstance(current, dict) else {}
+    saved = saved if isinstance(saved, dict) else {}
+    if is_seeded_pipeline(saved) and not is_workflow_import(saved):
+        out = dict(saved)
+        # A save that simply omits the family must not erase the one already recorded:
+        # a caller changing it sends it, one rearranging loaders does not.
+        if not out.get("model_family") and current.get("model_family"):
+            out["model_family"] = current["model_family"]
+        return out
+    family = saved.get("model_family")
+    if family and current.get("model_family") != family:
+        return {**current, "model_family": family}
+    return None
+
+
 def new_project_models(glob: Optional[dict], object_info: Optional[dict] = None) -> dict:
     """The pipeline a NEW project starts with.
 
diff --git a/movie_editor/frontend/models.js b/movie_editor/frontend/models.js
index 91353779..bdc8ab4c 100644
--- a/movie_editor/frontend/models.js
+++ b/movie_editor/frontend/models.js
@@ -1679,7 +1679,14 @@
     }
     ensureLinks().push(link);
     applyLinkValue(link, val);
-    linkMode = false; linkSel = []; await persist(); setView("links");
+    linkMode = false; linkSel = [];
+    // Members are picked ON node pages, where saving is deferred until the node's Save
+    // button. Going through that buffer meant "Save link" only marked the page dirty, and
+    // the jump to the links view then offered to DISCARD the link it had just made — so a
+    // link could never be created at all. Pressing Save link is the explicit save.
+    if (deferSave) { await persistNow(); deferDirty = false; }
+    else await persist();
+    setView("links");
   }
 
   // Persistent bar while picking link members — stays visible as the user moves
diff --git a/movie_editor/server.py b/movie_editor/server.py
index 70bbd803..dab78d0a 100644
--- a/movie_editor/server.py
+++ b/movie_editor/server.py
@@ -2614,22 +2614,13 @@ if web is not None and PromptServer is not None:
                 seeded_now = True
         p.models = body
         projects.save(p)
-        # Keep the global default in sync (it seeds new projects) — but never let a save that
-        # simply omits `model_family` erase the one already recorded there. A caller that
-        # means to change the family sends it; one that is only rearranging loaders does not,
-        # and silently clearing it is how every later project ends up with no family at all.
-        #
-        # A SEED is not a user edit, and must not reach the global at all: opening a new
-        # project would otherwise replace the loaders someone configured — the very thing
-        # the global exists to hand on — with four empty ones.
+        # A SEED is not a user edit and must not reach the global default at all: opening a
+        # new project would otherwise replace the loaders someone configured with empty ones.
         if seeded_now:
             return web.json_response(body)
-        glob = dict(body)
-        if not glob.get("model_family"):
-            inherited = nodes.load_models().get("model_family")
-            if inherited:
-                glob["model_family"] = inherited
-        nodes.save_models(glob)
+        glob = pipeline_wiring.global_template_update(nodes.load_models(), body)
+        if glob is not None:
+            nodes.save_models(glob)
         return web.json_response(body)
 
     # --- UI: legacy entry points ---
diff --git a/movie_editor/tests/test_pipeline_wiring.py b/movie_editor/tests/test_pipeline_wiring.py
index fd9628fa..164cc287 100644
--- a/movie_editor/tests/test_pipeline_wiring.py
+++ b/movie_editor/tests/test_pipeline_wiring.py
@@ -522,3 +522,38 @@ def test_the_samplers_own_positive_stays_core_owned():
         offered = {p for ports in pipeline_wiring._type_fallback_ports(family).values()
                    for p in ports}
         assert "FunPackLTXAVSceneChainSampler.positive" not in offered
+
+
+# ── what a project's save leaves in the global default ────────────────────────
+
+def test_an_imported_workflow_never_becomes_the_global_template():
+    """Mirroring one project's graph is how every later project came to adopt it."""
+    current = {"model_family": "ltxav", "slots": []}
+    saved = dict(IMPORTED_GLOBAL)
+    assert pipeline_wiring.global_template_update(current, saved) is None
+
+
+def test_a_hand_wired_graph_stays_that_projects_business():
+    saved = {"model_family": "ltxav",
+             "slots": [{"id": "mine", "role": "custom", "node_class": "VAELoader"}]}
+    assert pipeline_wiring.global_template_update({"model_family": "ltxav"}, saved) is None
+
+
+def test_seeded_loaders_do_travel_because_that_is_what_the_global_is_for():
+    """Picking the same model files in every project is the thing it prevents."""
+    saved = {"model_family": "ltxav",
+             "slots": pipeline_wiring.default_pipeline_slots("ltxav", OI_FILES)}
+    assert pipeline_wiring.global_template_update({}, saved) == saved
+
+
+def test_the_family_is_recorded_even_when_the_graph_is_not():
+    saved = dict(IMPORTED_GLOBAL, model_family="minimax_h3")
+    out = pipeline_wiring.global_template_update({"model_family": "ltxav", "slots": []}, saved)
+    assert out["model_family"] == "minimax_h3"
+    assert out["slots"] == []          # the old global's own slots, not the import's
+
+
+def test_a_save_that_omits_the_family_does_not_erase_it():
+    saved = {"slots": pipeline_wiring.default_pipeline_slots("ltxav", OI_FILES)}
+    out = pipeline_wiring.global_template_update({"model_family": "minimax_h3"}, saved)
+    assert out["model_family"] == "minimax_h3"