diff --git a/src/DodoSSH.Api/Features/Teams/TeamLock.cs b/src/DodoSSH.Api/Features/Teams/TeamLock.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c4ee3ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/DodoSSH.Api/Features/Teams/TeamLock.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+using DodoSSH.Infrastructure;
+using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Api.Features.Teams;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Serialises the writes that decide what a team owns, for the life of the transaction.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// Archiving a team refuses while it owns a vault, and creating a vault refuses on an archived team — but each
+/// used to check outside any transaction the other could see, so the two could pass each other: the archive
+/// counted no vaults, a create landed a moment later, and the team was archived with a live vault in it that
+/// nobody could reach. Both now take this lock inside their transaction and check again under it.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// The same advisory lock the sync push takes per vault, keyed apart so a team and a vault never share one.
+/// Requires <c>Multiplexing=false</c> on the connection, as that one does.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+internal static class TeamLock
+{
+    internal static Task<int> AcquireAsync(DodoDbContext database, Guid teamId, CancellationToken cancellationToken) =>
+        database.Database.ExecuteSqlAsync(
+            $"SELECT pg_advisory_xact_lock(hashtextextended({"team:" + teamId.ToString()}, 0))",
+            cancellationToken);
+}
diff --git a/src/DodoSSH.Api/Features/Teams/TeamService.cs b/src/DodoSSH.Api/Features/Teams/TeamService.cs
index 0417432..44e8828 100644
--- a/src/DodoSSH.Api/Features/Teams/TeamService.cs
+++ b/src/DodoSSH.Api/Features/Teams/TeamService.cs
@@ -255,16 +255,6 @@ internal sealed class TeamService(
             throw new InvalidOperationException("Only the owner of a team can archive it.");
         }
 
-        var vaultCount = await CountVaultsAsync(team.Id, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
-
-        if (vaultCount > 0)
-        {
-            throw new TeamNotEmptyException(
-                string.Create(
-                    CultureInfo.InvariantCulture,
-                    $"This team still owns {vaultCount} vault(s), and archiving it would take them away from everybody holding a key — including you. Delete those vaults first, which asks about each one and withdraws every key to it."));
-        }
-
         var now = clock.GetUtcNow();
         var archived = await database.ExecuteFreshAsync([team], async () =>
         {
@@ -273,6 +263,19 @@ internal sealed class TeamService(
                 .ConfigureAwait(false);
             await using var _ = transaction.ConfigureAwait(false);
 
+            // Counted under the lock a vault create takes, so one cannot land between this and the archive.
+            await TeamLock.AcquireAsync(database, team.Id, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            var vaultCount = await CountVaultsAsync(team.Id, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            if (vaultCount > 0)
+            {
+                throw new TeamNotEmptyException(
+                    string.Create(
+                        CultureInfo.InvariantCulture,
+                        $"This team still owns {vaultCount} vault(s), and archiving it would take them away from everybody holding a key — including you. Delete those vaults first, which asks about each one and withdraws every key to it."));
+            }
+
             var memberships = await database.TeamMemberships
                 .Where(m => m.TeamId == team.Id && m.DeletedAtUtc == null)
                 .ToListAsync(cancellationToken)
diff --git a/src/DodoSSH.Api/Features/Teams/VaultGrantService.cs b/src/DodoSSH.Api/Features/Teams/VaultGrantService.cs
index 3506c01..4587243 100644
--- a/src/DodoSSH.Api/Features/Teams/VaultGrantService.cs
+++ b/src/DodoSSH.Api/Features/Teams/VaultGrantService.cs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 using System.Security.Cryptography;
 using DodoSSH.Api.Features.Events;
+using DodoSSH.Api.Setup;
 using DodoSSH.Contracts;
 using DodoSSH.Domain;
 using DodoSSH.Infrastructure;
@@ -76,19 +77,7 @@ internal sealed class VaultGrantService(
                 "That vault id is already in use. Generate a new UUIDv7 and retry.");
         }
 
-        AddVaultWithSelfGrant(user, team, request, name, key, clock.GetUtcNow());
-
-        try
-        {
-            await database.SaveChangesAsync(cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
-        }
-        catch (DbUpdateException exception) when (IsUniqueViolation(exception))
-        {
-            // The pre-check covers the ordinary case; this is the race between two creates choosing
-            // the same id, which must not surface as a 500 about a constraint.
-            throw new TeamInvalidException(
-                "That vault id is already in use. Generate a new UUIDv7 and retry.");
-        }
+        await WriteVaultAsync(user, team, request, name, key, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
 
         TeamLog.TeamVaultCreated(logger, request.VaultId, team.Id, user.Id);
 
@@ -103,6 +92,55 @@ internal sealed class VaultGrantService(
             RekeyRequired: false);
     }
 
+    /// <summary>Writes the vault and its first grant, under the team's lock, in one transaction.</summary>
+    private Task WriteVaultAsync(
+        UserAccount user,
+        Team team,
+        CreateTeamVaultRequest request,
+        string name,
+        UserKey key,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken) =>
+        database.ExecuteFreshAsync([team], async () =>
+        {
+            var transaction = await database.Database
+                .BeginTransactionAsync(cancellationToken)
+                .ConfigureAwait(false);
+            await using var _ = transaction.ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            // Under the lock an archive takes, and the team re-read under it: see TeamLock.
+            await TeamLock.AcquireAsync(database, team.Id, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+            await RequireTeamStillLiveAsync(team.Id, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            AddVaultWithSelfGrant(user, team, request, name, key, clock.GetUtcNow());
+
+            try
+            {
+                await database.SaveChangesAsync(cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+            }
+            catch (DbUpdateException exception) when (IsUniqueViolation(exception))
+            {
+                // The pre-check covers the ordinary case; this is the race between two creates choosing
+                // the same id, which must not surface as a 500 about a constraint.
+                throw new TeamInvalidException(
+                    "That vault id is already in use. Generate a new UUIDv7 and retry.");
+            }
+
+            await transaction.CommitAsync(cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        });
+
+    /// <summary>Refuses a vault for a team archived since the request resolved it.</summary>
+    private async Task RequireTeamStillLiveAsync(Guid teamId, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        var live = await database.Teams
+            .AnyAsync(t => t.Id == teamId && t.DeletedAtUtc == null, cancellationToken)
+            .ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+        if (!live)
+        {
+            throw new TeamInvalidException("This team has been archived, so it can no longer own a new vault.");
+        }
+    }
+
     /// <summary>Adds the vault row and the creator's own grant, in one unit of work.</summary>
     private void AddVaultWithSelfGrant(
         UserAccount user,