diff --git a/docs/contract.md b/docs/contract.md
index 457238f..a68734c 100644
--- a/docs/contract.md
+++ b/docs/contract.md
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ custom type or collection kind that behaviour calls for.
 |---|---|---|
 | Omitted entirely | The type cannot be represented | `deriveType` marks it unsupported |
 | `Required` | Writable and required on create | the create body's `required` |
-| `Optional` + `Computed` | Writable, and the response carries a value whether or not the request supplied one | `x-tfpfgen-server-default`, or the response schema's `required` |
+| `Optional` + `Computed` | Writable, and the response carries a value whether or not the request supplied one | `x-tfpfgen-server-default`, the response schema's `required`, or a `default` on the request property |
 | `Computed` | The practitioner cannot set it | absent from the create body, `readOnly`, `x-tfpfgen-server-forced`, `x-tfpfgen-volatile` |
 | `Optional` | Writable, and the server leaves it absent when omitted | none of the above |
 
@@ -175,14 +175,29 @@ they accept, so a writable attribute usually belongs in `Optional` + `Computed`;
 emitting it as `Optional` alone gives the practitioner a perpetual diff, because
 Terraform holds null in config against a value in state.
 
-That is why `x-tfpfgen-server-default` exists rather than OpenAPI's `default`.
-The response schema's `required` list was the only route to `Optional` +
-`Computed`, and a document that declares nothing required in its responses — as
-real ones do — sends every writable attribute to plain `Optional`. The audit
-measures the same fact by omitting the attribute and reading what comes back,
-and the extension is where that reading is recorded. OpenAPI's `default` says
-what the document declares, is read by nothing in the generation path, and on a
-`$ref`'d property is written onto a schema every other use of that type shares.
+Three declarations reach `Optional` + `Computed`, of decreasing authority.
+
+`x-tfpfgen-server-default` is the audit's own measurement, taken by omitting the
+attribute and reading what comes back. It is the only one that does not depend
+on the document being diligent, which is why it exists.
+
+The response schema's `required` list is the document asserting the same fact.
+It is too weak on its own: a document that declares nothing required in its
+responses — as real ones do — sends every writable attribute to plain
+`Optional`.
+
+OpenAPI's `default` is the document stating what the server substitutes for an
+omitted value, which is that same fact in different words. It is read from the
+**request** side only: a default on a response schema says nothing about what
+happens when a request omits the field.
+
+That third route carries a known risk, accepted deliberately. A `default` on a
+`$ref`'d property is written onto a schema every other use of that type shares,
+so one declaration can move attributes that were never meant to move together. A
+correction is the remedy where it is wrong. The alternative was leaving thousands
+of attributes on plain `Optional`, which gives the practitioner a perpetual diff
+on every one of them the server fills — a defect in every plan, against a risk
+in some.
 
 ## Calling the workflows
 
diff --git a/internal/intermediate_representation/attributes.go b/internal/intermediate_representation/attributes.go
index 6050455..774497e 100644
--- a/internal/intermediate_representation/attributes.go
+++ b/internal/intermediate_representation/attributes.go
@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@ type flat struct {
 	writeOnly   bool
 	deprecated  bool
 	uniqueItems bool
+	// hasDefault records that the document states a default for the
+	// property. What the default is never reaches a generated schema; that
+	// the API has one does.
+	hasDefault bool
 	// The declared constraints, nil when the document states none. They
 	// become plan-time validators.
 	pattern              string
@@ -94,6 +98,9 @@ func flatten(schema *specmodel.Schema) flat {
 		if schema.UniqueItems {
 			flattened.uniqueItems = true
 		}
+		if schema.Default != nil {
+			flattened.hasDefault = true
+		}
 		// The declared facts about the value, folded first-wins like the
 		// description: a branch that states one is more specific than a
 		// branch that states nothing.
@@ -475,18 +482,23 @@ func buildAttribute(wire string, attributeSite site) (Attribute, attributeEdges)
 		attribute.ComputedOptionalRequired = Computed
 	case attributeSite.requiredCreate:
 		attribute.ComputedOptionalRequired = Required
-	case serverFills || attributeSite.requiredRead:
+	case serverFills || attributeSite.requiredRead || flatCreate.hasDefault:
 		// Writable, and the response carries a value whether or not the
 		// request supplied one: the practitioner may set it and Terraform
-		// must accept the server'schema choice when they dependsOnEdge not.
+		// must accept the server's choice when they do not.
+		//
+		// Three routes to the same fact, of decreasing authority.
+		// x-tfpfgen-server-default is the audit's own measurement, taken by
+		// omitting the attribute and reading what came back. The response
+		// schema's `required` list is the document asserting it. A declared
+		// default is the document stating what the server substitutes for an
+		// omitted value, which is the same claim in different words.
 		//
-		// requiredRead alone is too weak to find these. It reads the response
-		// schema's `required` list, and an API that declares none — as real
-		// documents routinely do throughout — sends every writable
-		// optional field to plain Optional below, which is a perpetual diff
-		// for any field the server fills. x-tfpfgen-server-default is the
-		// audit'schema measurement of the same fact, and it does not depend on the
-		// document being diligent.
+		// None is redundant. requiredRead alone is too weak: an API that
+		// declares nothing required in its responses — as real documents
+		// routinely do — sends every writable optional field to plain
+		// Optional below, which is a perpetual diff for any field the server
+		// fills.
 		attribute.ComputedOptionalRequired = ComputedOptional
 	default:
 		// Writable, and the server leaves it absent when the request omits it.
diff --git a/internal/intermediate_representation/constraints_test.go b/internal/intermediate_representation/constraints_test.go
index e835ab6..bdb1e7e 100644
--- a/internal/intermediate_representation/constraints_test.go
+++ b/internal/intermediate_representation/constraints_test.go
@@ -171,6 +171,82 @@ components:
 	}
 }
 
+// TestUnit_Attribute_ADeclaredDefaultFillsTheResponse proves a documented
+// default sends a writable attribute to Optional + Computed: the API says it
+// substitutes a value when the request omits one, so the response carries a
+// value either way and plain Optional would be a perpetual diff.
+func TestUnit_Attribute_ADeclaredDefaultFillsTheResponse(t *testing.T) {
+	const spec = `openapi: 3.0.3
+info: {title: T, version: "1"}
+paths:
+  /jobs:
+    post:
+      requestBody:
+        content:
+          application/json:
+            schema: {$ref: '#/components/schemas/Job'}
+      responses:
+        "201":
+          content:
+            application/json:
+              schema: {$ref: '#/components/schemas/JobRead'}
+  /jobs/{jobId}:
+    get:
+      responses:
+        "200":
+          content:
+            application/json:
+              schema: {$ref: '#/components/schemas/JobRead'}
+    patch:
+      requestBody:
+        content:
+          application/json:
+            schema: {$ref: '#/components/schemas/Job'}
+      responses:
+        "200":
+          content:
+            application/json:
+              schema: {$ref: '#/components/schemas/JobRead'}
+    delete:
+      responses:
+        "204": {description: gone}
+components:
+  schemas:
+    Job:
+      type: object
+      properties:
+        retries: {type: integer, default: 3}
+        enabled: {type: boolean, default: false}
+        label: {type: string, default: ""}
+        note: {type: string}
+    JobRead:
+      type: object
+      properties:
+        retries: {type: integer}
+        enabled: {type: boolean}
+        label: {type: string}
+        note: {type: string}
+        summary: {type: string, default: "none"}
+`
+	r := resourceByKey(t, mustDerive(t, spec, testConfig()), "job")
+
+	// A false or an empty default is a declaration like any other: the test
+	// is that the document states one, not that the value is truthy.
+	for _, name := range []string{"retries", "enabled", "label"} {
+		if got := attribute(t, r.Schema, name).ComputedOptionalRequired; got != ComputedOptional {
+			t.Errorf("%q with a declared default = %q, want computed_optional", name, got)
+		}
+	}
+	if got := attribute(t, r.Schema, "note").ComputedOptionalRequired; got != Optional {
+		t.Errorf("%q declares no default and became %q", "note", got)
+	}
+	// A default on the response side says nothing about what happens when a
+	// request omits the field, and summary is not writable at all.
+	if got := attribute(t, r.Schema, "summary").ComputedOptionalRequired; got != Computed {
+		t.Errorf("a response-only property with a default = %q, want computed", got)
+	}
+}
+
 func assertBound(t *testing.T, name string, got *int64, want int64) {
 	t.Helper()
 	if got == nil {