diff --git a/crates/stella-tools/src/registry/tests.rs b/crates/stella-tools/src/registry/tests.rs
index d7a9adcdf..3ee547738 100644
--- a/crates/stella-tools/src/registry/tests.rs
+++ b/crates/stella-tools/src/registry/tests.rs
@@ -177,6 +177,66 @@ async fn state_tools_round_trip_through_registry_dispatch() {
     assert!(out.is_error(), "a deleted key must not read back");
 }
 
+/// Witness for #3297: two `save_state` calls writing *different same-length*
+/// content under one key must render distinct success outputs. The engine's
+/// stagnation detector (`stella-core`'s `loop_detect`, rung 3) kills
+/// consecutive same-tool calls whose outputs are byte-identical — whatever
+/// their arguments — so the old constant-shape `saved {key} (N bytes)`
+/// string let a legitimate checkpoint loop (a fixed-width counter updated
+/// under one key) be killed as stagnant mid-solve. The `sha256/8` suffix is
+/// the content-derived identity that makes the outputs distinct.
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn save_state_outputs_differ_for_different_same_length_content() {
+    let (_root, reg) = bare_registry();
+    let mut outputs = Vec::new();
+    for content in ["counter=1", "counter=2"] {
+        let ToolOutput::Ok { content } = reg
+            .execute(
+                "save_state",
+                &serde_json::json!({"key": "checkpoint", "content": content}),
+            )
+            .await
+        else {
+            panic!("save_state must succeed");
+        };
+        outputs.push(content);
+    }
+    assert!(
+        outputs[0].starts_with("saved checkpoint (9 bytes"),
+        "the `saved {{key}} ({{N}} bytes` prefix is stable — the identity is \
+         appended, never restructured: {:?}",
+        outputs[0]
+    );
+    assert_ne!(
+        outputs[0], outputs[1],
+        "different same-length content under one key must render distinct \
+         outputs, or the stagnation detector kills a legitimate checkpoint \
+         loop as stagnant (#3297)"
+    );
+}
+
+/// The complement that guards the detector's contract: re-saving *identical*
+/// bytes must still render byte-identical output. A loop genuinely stuck
+/// re-saving the same state is exactly what the detector exists to catch,
+/// and only a content-derived suffix — never a timing, never randomness
+/// (#2706) — keeps that catch intact.
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn save_state_output_is_identical_for_identical_content() {
+    let (_root, reg) = bare_registry();
+    let save = serde_json::json!({"key": "checkpoint", "content": "counter=1"});
+    let ToolOutput::Ok { content: first } = reg.execute("save_state", &save).await else {
+        panic!("save_state must succeed");
+    };
+    let ToolOutput::Ok { content: second } = reg.execute("save_state", &save).await else {
+        panic!("save_state must succeed");
+    };
+    assert_eq!(
+        first, second,
+        "re-saving identical bytes must render byte-identical output — the \
+         stagnation detector's catch of a genuinely stuck loop depends on it"
+    );
+}
+
 /// `get_environment` dispatches through the registry and reports the scratch
 /// directory the registry created — the one fact the CLI's prompt block
 /// cannot carry (#3102).
diff --git a/crates/stella-tools/src/scratch.rs b/crates/stella-tools/src/scratch.rs
index 1808d592c..9286b8d20 100644
--- a/crates/stella-tools/src/scratch.rs
+++ b/crates/stella-tools/src/scratch.rs
@@ -19,6 +19,14 @@
 //!   named error, which is what makes traversal impossible rather than
 //!   filtered.
 //! - `save_state` refuses content over `MAX_SAVE_BYTES` with a named error.
+//! - `save_state`'s success output embeds the saved content's `sha256/8`, so
+//!   distinct saves render distinct outputs. The engine's stagnation
+//!   detector (`stella-core`'s `loop_detect`) kills consecutive same-tool
+//!   calls whose outputs are byte-identical, and a constant-shape
+//!   `saved {key} (N bytes)` string made a legitimate checkpoint loop —
+//!   different same-length content under one key — indistinguishable from a
+//!   stuck one (#3297). The suffix is content-derived only: a timing or any
+//!   randomness would blind the detector to genuinely stuck loops (#2706).
 //! - `get_state` middle-truncates nothing: it pages (`offset`/`limit`
 //!   in bytes, clamped to a `PAGE_CAP` slice) and names the remainder, so
 //!   a partial read is always visibly partial.
@@ -133,9 +141,19 @@ impl Tool for SaveState {
             }
         };
         match std::fs::write(&path, content) {
-            Ok(()) => ToolOutput::Ok {
-                content: format!("saved {key} ({} bytes)", content.len()),
-            },
+            Ok(()) => {
+                // The digest is the output's content-derived identity: without
+                // it, different same-length saves under one key render
+                // byte-identical outputs and the stagnation detector kills the
+                // loop as stuck (#3297). Deterministic by contract — never a
+                // timing, never randomness (#2706). `sha256/8` = the first 8
+                // hex chars of the sha256; `digest` always returns 64 ASCII
+                // hex chars, so the slice cannot panic.
+                let identity = &crate::foundry_gate::digest(content.as_bytes())[..8];
+                ToolOutput::Ok {
+                    content: format!("saved {key} ({} bytes, sha256/8 {identity})", content.len()),
+                }
+            }
             Err(e) => ToolOutput::error(format!("failed to save {key}: {e}")),
         }
     }