diff --git a/crates/omnigraph/src/db/manifest/publisher.rs b/crates/omnigraph/src/db/manifest/publisher.rs
index ba1166d..1f4ad51 100644
--- a/crates/omnigraph/src/db/manifest/publisher.rs
+++ b/crates/omnigraph/src/db/manifest/publisher.rs
@@ -436,6 +436,29 @@ fn map_lance_publish_error(err: LanceError) -> OmniError {
             err
         ));
     }
+    // A *retryable* fragment-level commit conflict. The merge-insert publish runs
+    // with `conflict_retries(0)` (one rebase attempt), so when a concurrent
+    // transaction preempts it at the manifest-version level Lance returns
+    // `RetryableCommitConflict` rather than the row-level `TooMuchWriteContention`.
+    // The concrete source that motivated handling this: `optimize` now compacts
+    // `__manifest` itself (RFC-013 step 2), and that compaction is an
+    // `Operation::Rewrite` committed concurrently with no app-level lock (Lance OCC
+    // arbitrates — validated against LanceDB). If the Rewrite lands between this
+    // publish's state load and its commit AND our merge touched a fragment the
+    // Rewrite rewrote, Lance preempts us with `RetryableCommitConflict`. Lance
+    // itself says "please retry"; treat it like row-level contention so the
+    // publisher's outer loop reloads fresh state and re-merges — a maintenance
+    // compaction (a physical op) must never fail a live write (a logical op),
+    // invariant 7. (Normal publishes are insert-only — new `object_id`s land in new
+    // fragments, disjoint from rewritten old ones — so this is rare; the guard is
+    // for the same-fragment-update edge and for multi-process writers generally.)
+    if matches!(err, LanceError::RetryableCommitConflict { .. }) {
+        return OmniError::manifest_retryable_commit_conflict(format!(
+            "manifest publish was preempted by a concurrent transaction (e.g. an \
+             optimize compaction Rewrite of __manifest); reload and retry: {}",
+            err
+        ));
+    }
     OmniError::Lance(err.to_string())
 }
 
@@ -490,20 +513,74 @@ impl ManifestBatchPublisher for GraphNamespacePublisher {
     }
 }
 
-/// A retryable conflict here means: Lance's row-level CAS rejected our commit
-/// because someone else landed an `object_id` we were also inserting (mapped
-/// from `Error::TooMuchWriteContention` to
-/// `ManifestConflictDetails::RowLevelCasContention`). This is transparent
-/// contention; if the caller's `expected_table_versions` still holds against
-/// the new manifest state, we re-attempt. Other conflict variants (notably
-/// `ExpectedVersionMismatch`) propagate so the caller learns immediately.
+/// A retryable conflict here means a concurrent writer preempted our commit but
+/// our `expected_table_versions` still holds against fresh state, so re-loading
+/// and re-merging is safe and correct. Two shapes qualify:
+///
+/// - `RowLevelCasContention` — Lance's row-level CAS rejected us because someone
+///   landed an `object_id` we were also inserting (from `TooMuchWriteContention`).
+/// - `RetryableCommitConflict` — a fragment-level preemption (from Lance's
+///   `Error::RetryableCommitConflict`), notably an `optimize` compaction
+///   `Operation::Rewrite` of `__manifest` racing our merge (RFC-013 step 2). Lance
+///   marks it retryable; retrying upholds invariant 7 (a maintenance compaction
+///   must not fail a live write) rather than surfacing a transient error to the
+///   caller. See `map_lance_publish_error` for the full rationale.
+///
+/// Other conflict variants (notably `ExpectedVersionMismatch`) propagate so the
+/// caller learns immediately — the expectation genuinely broke and a blind retry
+/// would be wrong.
 fn is_retryable_publish_conflict(err: &OmniError) -> bool {
     matches!(
         err,
         OmniError::Manifest(m)
             if matches!(
                 m.details,
-                Some(crate::error::ManifestConflictDetails::RowLevelCasContention)
+                Some(
+                    crate::error::ManifestConflictDetails::RowLevelCasContention
+                        | crate::error::ManifestConflictDetails::RetryableCommitConflict
+                )
             )
     )
 }
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    /// The motivating case: an `optimize` compaction `Rewrite` of `__manifest`
+    /// preempts a concurrent publish, which Lance reports as
+    /// `Error::RetryableCommitConflict`. The publisher must classify it retryable
+    /// (invariant 7: a maintenance compaction must not fail a live write).
+    #[test]
+    fn retryable_commit_conflict_is_classified_retryable() {
+        let err = map_lance_publish_error(LanceError::retryable_commit_conflict_source(
+            7,
+            Box::new(std::io::Error::other("preempted by concurrent Rewrite")),
+        ));
+        assert!(
+            is_retryable_publish_conflict(&err),
+            "RetryableCommitConflict must be retried, got {err:?}"
+        );
+    }
+
+    /// The retry predicate's full contract: row-level CAS contention and a
+    /// retryable commit conflict are both retried; a genuine expectation break and
+    /// an opaque storage error are not.
+    #[test]
+    fn retry_predicate_contract() {
+        assert!(is_retryable_publish_conflict(
+            &OmniError::manifest_retryable_commit_conflict("rewrite preemption")
+        ));
+        assert!(is_retryable_publish_conflict(
+            &OmniError::manifest_row_level_cas_contention("row-level race")
+        ));
+        // A genuine expectation break must propagate so the caller learns.
+        assert!(!is_retryable_publish_conflict(
+            &OmniError::manifest_expected_version_mismatch("node:Person", 5, 7)
+        ));
+        // Opaque storage errors are not retryable conflicts.
+        assert!(!is_retryable_publish_conflict(&OmniError::Lance(
+            "some io error".into()
+        )));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/omnigraph/src/error.rs b/crates/omnigraph/src/error.rs
index a24f153..1bf321e 100644
--- a/crates/omnigraph/src/error.rs
+++ b/crates/omnigraph/src/error.rs
@@ -27,6 +27,16 @@ pub enum ManifestConflictDetails {
     /// `ExpectedVersionMismatch`: the caller's expectations (if any) still
     /// hold against the new manifest state, so the publisher will retry.
     RowLevelCasContention,
+    /// Lance rejected the publish with a *retryable* fragment-level commit
+    /// conflict (`Error::RetryableCommitConflict`): a concurrent transaction
+    /// preempted ours at the manifest-version level — notably an `optimize`
+    /// compaction `Operation::Rewrite` of `__manifest` landing in the window
+    /// between our state load and our commit, when our merge touched a fragment
+    /// it rewrote. Like `RowLevelCasContention` and unlike
+    /// `ExpectedVersionMismatch`, the caller's expectations still hold against
+    /// fresh state, so the publisher reloads and retries — a maintenance
+    /// compaction must never fail a live write (invariant 7).
+    RetryableCommitConflict,
 }
 
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, Error)]
@@ -146,4 +156,11 @@ impl OmniError {
                 .with_details(ManifestConflictDetails::RowLevelCasContention),
         )
     }
+
+    pub fn manifest_retryable_commit_conflict(message: impl Into<String>) -> Self {
+        Self::Manifest(
+            ManifestError::new(ManifestErrorKind::Conflict, message)
+                .with_details(ManifestConflictDetails::RetryableCommitConflict),
+        )
+    }
 }