diff --git a/src/rustgame/install.rs b/src/rustgame/install.rs
index 0c01421..121ad0b 100644
--- a/src/rustgame/install.rs
+++ b/src/rustgame/install.rs
@@ -324,7 +324,17 @@ pub fn deploy(cli: &Cli, mode: Mode) -> Result<()> {
             let before = prior.as_ref().map(|p| p.bundle.clone());
             match before {
                 Some(b) if b.tag == bundle.bundle => {
-                    println!("\nAlready on bundle {} — nothing moved.", bundle.bundle)
+                    // The same bundle can still have written something: a plugin edited by hand is
+                    // put back, which is what `doctor` tells an operator to run `update` for.
+                    let restored = planned.iter().filter(|p| p.plugin_action.writes()).count();
+                    if restored == 0 && !binary_action.writes() {
+                        println!("\nAlready on bundle {} — nothing moved.", bundle.bundle)
+                    } else {
+                        println!(
+                            "\nAlready on bundle {} — put back what no longer matched it (see above).",
+                            bundle.bundle
+                        )
+                    }
                 }
                 Some(b) => {
                     println!(
@@ -656,7 +666,16 @@ fn deploy_instance(
     if plan.plugin_action.writes() {
         std::fs::create_dir_all(plan.server.plugins_dir())
             .with_context(|| format!("cannot create {}", plan.server.plugins_dir().display()))?;
-        write_atomic(&plugin_path, &released.source)?;
+        // Overwritten in place, NOT `write_atomic`. Oxide and Carbon watch the plugins directory
+        // and reload on a CHANGE; `write_atomic` removes the old file and renames a `.tmp` over it,
+        // which both frameworks see as a delete — they unload the bridge — and a rename they
+        // ignore, so the new file is never loaded. On a running server that was an `update` that
+        // silently took the bridge down until the next boot (the phase 18 walk, on all three
+        // instances and both frameworks). A write in place is what an operator's `cp` does, and
+        // it reloads. A crash mid-write leaves a file that fails to compile; `doctor` reports it
+        // as not the deployed file and `update` writes it again.
+        std::fs::write(&plugin_path, &released.source)
+            .with_context(|| format!("cannot write {}", plugin_path.display()))?;
         ui::ok(&format!(
             "plugin {}   {}",
             if plan.plugin_action == BinaryAction::Replace {