diff --git a/web-common/src/features/canvas/components/markdown/util.spec.ts b/web-common/src/features/canvas/components/markdown/util.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..0dff6a12cedf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/web-common/src/features/canvas/components/markdown/util.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+import type { MarkdownCanvasComponent } from "@rilldata/web-common/features/canvas/components/markdown";
+import { getResolveTemplatedStringQueryOptions } from "@rilldata/web-common/features/canvas/components/markdown/util";
+import type { V1Expression } from "@rilldata/web-common/runtime-client";
+import { RuntimeClient } from "@rilldata/web-common/runtime-client/v2";
+import { writable } from "svelte/store";
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+
+describe("getResolveTemplatedStringQueryOptions", () => {
+  it("Should release the parent spec once unsubscribed, however often the filters changed", () => {
+    const exprByMetricsView = writable<Record<string, V1Expression>>({});
+
+    // Counts the live subscriptions to the parent canvas spec.
+    let parentSpecSubscribers = 0;
+    const parentSpec = writable({ data: { metricsViews: {} } });
+    const parentSpecStore = {
+      subscribe: (run: (value: unknown) => void) => {
+        parentSpecSubscribers++;
+        const unsubscribe = parentSpec.subscribe(run);
+        return () => {
+          parentSpecSubscribers--;
+          unsubscribe();
+        };
+      },
+    };
+
+    const component = {
+      specStore: writable({ content: "{{ metrics_sql 'select 1' }}" }),
+      timeAndFilterStore: writable({ timeRange: undefined }),
+      parent: {
+        specStore: parentSpecStore,
+        expressionFilterManager: {
+          exprByMetricsViewStore: exprByMetricsView,
+        },
+        timeManager: { hasTimeSeriesStore: writable(false) },
+      },
+    } as unknown as MarkdownCanvasComponent;
+
+    const optionsStore = getResolveTemplatedStringQueryOptions(
+      component,
+      new RuntimeClient({ host: "http://localhost", instanceId: "test" }),
+    );
+
+    const unsubscribe = optionsStore.subscribe(() => {});
+    // Every filter change re-runs the outer derived, which builds a new inner one.
+    exprByMetricsView.set({ mv: { ident: "a" } });
+    exprByMetricsView.set({ mv: { ident: "b" } });
+    expect(parentSpecSubscribers).toBe(1);
+
+    unsubscribe();
+    expect(parentSpecSubscribers).toBe(0);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/web-common/src/features/canvas/components/markdown/util.ts b/web-common/src/features/canvas/components/markdown/util.ts
index 0bb22347f512..832924f2ccaf 100644
--- a/web-common/src/features/canvas/components/markdown/util.ts
+++ b/web-common/src/features/canvas/components/markdown/util.ts
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ export function getResolveTemplatedStringQueryOptions(
   return derived(
     [component.parent.expressionFilterManager.exprByMetricsViewStore],
     ([exprByMetricsView], set) => {
-      derived(
+      return derived(
         [
           component.specStore,
           component.timeAndFilterStore,
diff --git a/web-common/src/features/dashboards/time-series/totals-data-store.ts b/web-common/src/features/dashboards/time-series/totals-data-store.ts
index 0b677d741908..531b3d2c460e 100644
--- a/web-common/src/features/dashboards/time-series/totals-data-store.ts
+++ b/web-common/src/features/dashboards/time-series/totals-data-store.ts
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ export function createUnfilteredTotalsForMeasure(
 
       const updatedFilter = getFiltersForOtherDimensions(filter, dimensionName);
 
-      createQueryServiceMetricsViewAggregation(
+      return createQueryServiceMetricsViewAggregation(
         ctx.runtimeClient,
         {
           metricsView: metricsViewName,
diff --git a/web-common/src/features/models/selectors.ts b/web-common/src/features/models/selectors.ts
index b58dd37fd71d..ceec98488691 100644
--- a/web-common/src/features/models/selectors.ts
+++ b/web-common/src/features/models/selectors.ts
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ export function useAllModelColumns(
       return;
     }
 
-    derived(
+    return derived(
       allModels.data.map((r) =>
         createTableColumnsWithName(
           queryClient,
diff --git a/web-common/src/features/sources/selectors.ts b/web-common/src/features/sources/selectors.ts
index 7469e7016120..33a27b3de36f 100644
--- a/web-common/src/features/sources/selectors.ts
+++ b/web-common/src/features/sources/selectors.ts
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ export function useAllSourceColumns(
       return;
     }
 
-    derived(
+    return derived(
       allSources.data.map((r) =>
         createTableColumnsWithName(
           queryClient,