diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 956c1e4..61e7143 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -82,6 +82,15 @@ CalVer image tags (`stable-YYYY.MM.N`, `dev-YYYY.MM.N`) are produced for every C
   gates the Edit/Delete buttons on `is_owner OR is_admin`. Pre-fix, an
   admin could delete via the API but saw no Edit/Delete affordance in the
   UI, and could not update non-owned entities at all.
+- **Scratch directory leak on ZIP validation failure** (`app/api/store.py`,
+  Devin Review) — `create_entity` and `update_entity` created the `scratch`
+  temp dir inside one `try/finally` block but cleaned it up in a separate
+  one. When `_safe_zip_extract` raised `HTTPException` (zip-slip,
+  uncompressed-too-large) or `BadZipFile` was caught and re-raised, the
+  exception exited the first scope and the cleanup `finally` was never
+  reached. Each failed upload leaked a temp dir. Fixed by collapsing
+  scratch creation + cleanup into a single outer `try/finally` covering
+  both extraction and the metadata/bake work.
 - **Cross-owner suffix collision** (`app/api/store.py:create_entity`) —
   `sanitize_username` is many-to-one (`alice.smith` and `alice_smith`
   both → `alice-smith`). Two such users uploading entities with the same
diff --git a/app/api/store.py b/app/api/store.py
index 78cded4..aacae2b 100644
--- a/app/api/store.py
+++ b/app/api/store.py
@@ -815,20 +815,26 @@ async def create_entity(
 
     video_url = _validate_video_url(video_url)
 
-    # Stream + extract ZIP into a scratch dir.
+    # Stream + extract ZIP into a scratch dir. Both the temp-file (`tmp`)
+    # AND the scratch dir need cleanup on every exit path, including
+    # validation HTTPExceptions raised inside _safe_zip_extract
+    # (zip_unsafe_path, zip_too_large_uncompressed) and the BadZipFile→422
+    # conversion. Pre-fix the scratch was created in one try/finally and
+    # cleaned up in a SEPARATE one — when extraction raised, control
+    # exited the first scope and the second never ran, leaking the dir.
+    # Single try/finally fixes both.
     tmp, size = await _stream_to_temp(file, MAX_ZIP_SIZE, suffix=".zip")
+    tmp.close()
+    scratch = Path(tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="agnes_store_"))
     try:
-        tmp.close()
-        scratch = Path(tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="agnes_store_"))
         try:
             with zipfile.ZipFile(tmp.name, "r") as zf:
                 _safe_zip_extract(zf, scratch)
         except zipfile.BadZipFile:
             raise HTTPException(status_code=422, detail="zip_invalid")
-    finally:
-        Path(tmp.name).unlink(missing_ok=True)
+        finally:
+            Path(tmp.name).unlink(missing_ok=True)
 
-    try:
         meta = _validate_and_extract_metadata(type, scratch)
         final_name = (name or meta.get("name") or "").strip()
         if not final_name:
@@ -925,19 +931,21 @@ async def update_entity(
     new_version: Optional[str] = None
     new_size: Optional[int] = None
     if file is not None:
+        # Same single-try/finally invariant as create_entity — see the comment
+        # there. ZIP-validation HTTPExceptions raised inside _safe_zip_extract
+        # were leaking the scratch dir before this restructure.
         tmp, size = await _stream_to_temp(file, MAX_ZIP_SIZE, suffix=".zip")
+        tmp.close()
+        scratch = Path(tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="agnes_store_"))
         try:
-            tmp.close()
-            scratch = Path(tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="agnes_store_"))
             try:
                 with zipfile.ZipFile(tmp.name, "r") as zf:
                     _safe_zip_extract(zf, scratch)
             except zipfile.BadZipFile:
                 raise HTTPException(status_code=422, detail="zip_invalid")
-        finally:
-            Path(tmp.name).unlink(missing_ok=True)
+            finally:
+                Path(tmp.name).unlink(missing_ok=True)
 
-        try:
             _validate_and_extract_metadata(entity["type"], scratch)
             suffixed = suffixed_name(entity["name"], entity["owner_username"])
             new_size = _bake_plugin_tree(
diff --git a/tests/test_store_api.py b/tests/test_store_api.py
index 3a19efe..5ee720b 100644
--- a/tests/test_store_api.py
+++ b/tests/test_store_api.py
@@ -588,6 +588,40 @@ class TestStoreSecurityFixes:
         assert r2.status_code == 409, r2.text
         assert r2.json()["detail"] == "conflict_global_suffix"
 
+    def test_scratch_dir_cleaned_up_after_failed_extraction(self, web_client, monkeypatch):
+        """Devin: ZIP-validation failure inside _safe_zip_extract was leaving
+        the ``agnes_store_*`` scratch dir on disk because scratch creation
+        and cleanup lived in different try/finally scopes. After the fix
+        both share one outer try/finally; assert the dir really is gone.
+        """
+        import tempfile as _tempfile
+        from pathlib import Path as _Path
+
+        # A ZIP whose only member traverses out of the destination —
+        # _safe_zip_extract raises 422 zip_unsafe_path before it touches
+        # extractall. That's the simplest trigger that exits via
+        # HTTPException without doing anything to scratch.
+        buf = io.BytesIO()
+        with zipfile.ZipFile(buf, "w") as zf:
+            zf.writestr("../escape.txt", "boom")
+        bad_zip = buf.getvalue()
+
+        tmp_root = _Path(_tempfile.gettempdir())
+        before = {p.name for p in tmp_root.glob("agnes_store_*")}
+
+        _, cookies = _create_user(web_client, "leak@x.com")
+        r = web_client.post(
+            "/api/store/entities",
+            files={"file": ("bad.zip", bad_zip, "application/zip")},
+            data={"type": "skill"}, cookies=cookies,
+        )
+        assert r.status_code == 422, r.text
+        assert r.json()["detail"] == "zip_unsafe_path"
+
+        after = {p.name for p in tmp_root.glob("agnes_store_*")}
+        leaked = after - before
+        assert not leaked, f"scratch dir leaked: {leaked}"
+
     def test_distinct_suffixes_pass(self, web_client):
         """F5 — uploads that yield distinct suffixed names must pass. (Avoid
         regressing into rejecting all distinct uploads.)"""