diff --git a/common/arg.cpp b/common/arg.cpp
index 0213a67c80..df506d2d0e 100644
--- a/common/arg.cpp
+++ b/common/arg.cpp
@@ -1360,7 +1360,7 @@ common_params_context common_params_parser_init(common_params & params, llama_ex
     add_opt(common_arg(
         {"--cache-idle-slots"},
         {"--no-cache-idle-slots"},
-        "save and clear idle slots on new task (default: enabled, requires unified KV and cache-ram)",
+        "save idle slots to the prompt cache on new task, and clear them when using unified KV (default: enabled, requires cache-ram)",
         [](common_params & params, bool value) {
             params.cache_idle_slots = value;
         }
diff --git a/tools/server/README.md b/tools/server/README.md
index f507b8c181..b414910590 100644
--- a/tools/server/README.md
+++ b/tools/server/README.md
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ For the full list of features, please refer to [server's changelog](https://gith
 | `-cms, --checkpoint-min-step N` | minimum spacing between context checkpoints in tokens (default: 256, 0 = no minimum)<br/>(env: LLAMA_ARG_CHECKPOINT_MIN_SPACING_NT) |
 | `-cram, --cache-ram N` | set the maximum cache size in MiB (default: 8192, -1 - no limit, 0 - disable)[(more info)](https://github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp/pull/16391)<br/>(env: LLAMA_ARG_CACHE_RAM) |
 | `-kvu, --kv-unified, -no-kvu, --no-kv-unified` | use single unified KV buffer shared across all sequences (default: enabled if number of slots is auto)<br/>(env: LLAMA_ARG_KV_UNIFIED) |
-| `--cache-idle-slots, --no-cache-idle-slots` | save and clear idle slots on new task (default: enabled, requires unified KV and cache-ram)<br/>(env: LLAMA_ARG_CACHE_IDLE_SLOTS) |
+| `--cache-idle-slots, --no-cache-idle-slots` | save idle slots to the prompt cache on new task, and clear them when using unified KV (default: enabled, requires cache-ram)<br/>(env: LLAMA_ARG_CACHE_IDLE_SLOTS) |
 | `--context-shift, --no-context-shift` | whether to use context shift on infinite text generation (default: disabled)<br/>(env: LLAMA_ARG_CONTEXT_SHIFT) |
 | `-r, --reverse-prompt PROMPT` | halt generation at PROMPT, return control in interactive mode |
 | `-sp, --special` | special tokens output enabled (default: false) |
diff --git a/tools/server/server-context.cpp b/tools/server/server-context.cpp
index 6fa302e132..a7c4f7b56e 100644
--- a/tools/server/server-context.cpp
+++ b/tools/server/server-context.cpp
@@ -127,7 +127,11 @@ struct server_slot {
 
     server_prompt prompt;
 
-    void prompt_save(server_prompt_cache & prompt_cache) const {
+    bool prompt_save(server_prompt_cache & prompt_cache) const {
+        if (prompt.tokens.size() == 0) {
+            return false;
+        }
+
         GGML_ASSERT(prompt.data.size() == 0);
 
         const size_t cur_size_tgt =           llama_state_seq_get_size_ext(ctx_tgt, id, LLAMA_STATE_SEQ_FLAGS_NONE);
@@ -140,13 +144,15 @@ struct server_slot {
 
         auto * cur = prompt_cache.alloc(prompt, cur_size_tgt, cur_size_dft);
         if (cur == nullptr) {
-            return;
+            return false;
         }
 
         llama_state_seq_get_data_ext(ctx_tgt, cur->data.main.data(), cur_size_tgt, id, LLAMA_STATE_SEQ_FLAGS_NONE);
         if (ctx_dft) {
             llama_state_seq_get_data_ext(ctx_dft, cur->data.drft.data(), cur_size_dft, id, LLAMA_STATE_SEQ_FLAGS_NONE);
         }
+
+        return true;
     }
 
     bool prompt_load(server_prompt_cache & prompt_cache, const server_tokens & tokens) {
@@ -739,17 +745,6 @@ private:
         llama_batch_free(batch);
     }
 
-    void slot_save_and_clear(server_slot & slot) {
-        if (slot.prompt.n_tokens() == 0) {
-            return;
-        }
-        SLT_INF(slot, "%s", "saving idle slot to prompt cache\n");
-        SLT_DBG(slot, "%s", "__TEST_TAG_CACHE_IDLE_SLOT__\n");
-        slot.prompt_save(*prompt_cache);
-        slot.prompt_clear(false);
-        prompt_cache->update();
-    }
-
     void handle_sleeping_state(bool new_state) {
         GGML_ASSERT(sleeping != new_state);
         if (new_state) {
@@ -1186,14 +1181,17 @@ private:
         metrics.init();
 
         if (params_base.cache_idle_slots) {
-            if (!params_base.kv_unified) {
-                SRV_WRN("%s", "--cache-idle-slots requires --kv-unified, disabling\n");
-                params_base.cache_idle_slots = false;
-            } else if (params_base.cache_ram_mib == 0) {
+            if (params_base.cache_ram_mib == 0) {
                 SRV_WRN("%s", "--cache-idle-slots requires --cache-ram, disabling\n");
                 params_base.cache_idle_slots = false;
             } else {
-                SRV_INF("%s", "idle slots will be saved to prompt cache and cleared upon starting a new task\n");
+                if (params_base.kv_unified) {
+                    SRV_INF("%s", "idle slots will be saved to prompt cache and cleared upon starting a new task\n");
+                } else {
+                    // without a unified KV cache, clearing a slot frees no reusable room, so we only
+                    // publish a RAM-cache copy of idle slots (their KV stays in VRAM) [TAG_IDLE_SLOT_CLEAR]
+                    SRV_INF("%s", "idle slots will be saved to prompt cache upon starting a new task\n");
+                }
                 SRV_DBG("%s", "__TEST_TAG_CACHE_IDLE_SLOTS_ENABLED__\n");
             }
         }
@@ -1357,8 +1355,6 @@ private:
         }
 
         if (ret) {
-            const auto & tokens = ret->prompt.tokens;
-
             update_cache = update_cache && prompt_cache;
 
             // cache prompts only for completion tasks
@@ -1369,10 +1365,7 @@ private:
 
                 const int64_t t_start = ggml_time_us();
 
-                // don't save the slot's state if its context is empty
-                if (tokens.size() > 0) {
-                    ret->prompt_save(*prompt_cache);
-                }
+                ret->prompt_save(*prompt_cache);
 
                 if (!ret->prompt_load(*prompt_cache, task.tokens)) {
                     ret->prompt_clear(false);
@@ -2120,9 +2113,19 @@ private:
                     }
 
                     if (params_base.cache_idle_slots) {
-                        for (auto & s : slots) {
-                            if (!s.is_processing()) {
-                                slot_save_and_clear(s);
+                        for (auto & slot : slots) {
+                            if (!slot.is_processing()) {
+                                SLT_INF(slot, "%s", "saving idle slot to prompt cache\n");
+
+                                if (slot.prompt_save(*prompt_cache)) {
+                                    SLT_DBG(slot, "%s", "__TEST_TAG_CACHE_IDLE_SLOT__\n");
+                                    prompt_cache->update();
+                                }
+
+                                if (params_base.kv_unified) {
+                                    // [TAG_IDLE_SLOT_CLEAR]
+                                    slot.prompt_clear(false);
+                                }
                             }
                         }
                     }