diff --git a/modules/ve-mw-collab/ve.ui.MWExportWikitextDialog.js b/modules/ve-mw-collab/ve.ui.MWExportWikitextDialog.js
index 5f29e8151d..427be8a8b5 100644
--- a/modules/ve-mw-collab/ve.ui.MWExportWikitextDialog.js
+++ b/modules/ve-mw-collab/ve.ui.MWExportWikitextDialog.js
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ ve.ui.MWExportWikitextDialog.prototype.export = function () {
 		format: 'text/x-wiki',
 		model: 'wikitext',
 		wpTextbox1: wikitext,
-		wpEditToken: ve.init.target.editToken,
+		wpEditToken: mw.user.tokens.get( 'csrfToken' ),
 		// MediaWiki function-verification parameters, mostly relevant to the
 		// classic editpage, but still required here:
 		wpUnicodeCheck: 'ℳ𝒲♥𝓊𝓃𝒾𝒸ℴ𝒹ℯ',
diff --git a/modules/ve-mw/init/targets/ve.init.mw.ArticleTarget.js b/modules/ve-mw/init/targets/ve.init.mw.ArticleTarget.js
index 24be8e6800..3929f88c5d 100644
--- a/modules/ve-mw/init/targets/ve.init.mw.ArticleTarget.js
+++ b/modules/ve-mw/init/targets/ve.init.mw.ArticleTarget.js
@@ -694,23 +694,13 @@ ve.init.mw.ArticleTarget.prototype.saveFail = function ( doc, saveData, wasRetry
 		for ( i = 0; i < data.errors.length; i++ ) {
 			error = data.errors[ i ];
 
-			// Handle token errors
 			if ( error.code === 'badtoken' ) {
-				if ( wasRetry ) {
-					this.saveErrorBadToken( null, true );
-					return;
-				}
-				this.refreshEditToken().done( function ( userChanged ) {
-					// target.editToken has been refreshed
-					if ( userChanged ) {
-						target.saveErrorBadToken( mw.user.isAnon() ? null : mw.user.getName(), false );
-					} else {
-						// New session is the same user still; retry
-						target.emit( 'saveErrorBadToken', true );
-						target.save( doc, saveData, true );
-					}
-				} ).fail( function () {
-					target.saveErrorBadToken( null, true );
+				this.saveErrorBadTokenOrNewUser( null, true );
+			} else if ( error.code === 'assertanonfailed' || error.code === 'assertuserfailed' || error.code === 'assertnameduserfailed' ) {
+				this.refreshUser().then( function ( username ) {
+					target.saveErrorBadTokenOrNewUser( username, false );
+				}, function () {
+					target.saveErrorUnknown( data );
 				} );
 				return;
 			} else if ( error.code === 'editconflict' ) {
@@ -794,14 +784,14 @@ ve.init.mw.ArticleTarget.prototype.saveErrorHookAborted = function ( data ) {
 };
 
 /**
- * Handle token fetch indicating another user is logged in, and token fetch errors.
+ * Handle assert error indicating another user is logged in, and token fetch errors.
  *
  * @param {string|null} username Name of newly logged-in user, or null if anonymous
- * @param {boolean} [error=false] Whether there was an error trying to figure out who we're logged in as
+ * @param {boolean} [error=false] Whether this is a token fetch error
  * @fires saveErrorBadToken
  * @fires saveErrorNewUser
  */
-ve.init.mw.ArticleTarget.prototype.saveErrorBadToken = function ( username, error ) {
+ve.init.mw.ArticleTarget.prototype.saveErrorBadTokenOrNewUser = function ( username, error ) {
 	var $msg = $( document.createTextNode( mw.msg( 'visualeditor-savedialog-error-badtoken' ) + ' ' ) );
 
 	if ( error ) {
@@ -1480,8 +1470,8 @@ ve.init.mw.ArticleTarget.prototype.save = function ( doc, options, isRetry ) {
 		basetimestamp: this.baseTimeStamp,
 		starttimestamp: this.startTimeStamp,
 		etag: this.etag,
-		// Pass in token to prevent automatic badtoken retries
-		token: this.editToken
+		assert: mw.user.isAnon() ? 'anon' : 'user',
+		assertuser: mw.user.getName() || undefined
 	} );
 
 	if ( mw.config.get( 'wgVisualEditorConfig' ).useChangeTagging && !data.vetags ) {
@@ -1588,7 +1578,7 @@ ve.init.mw.ArticleTarget.prototype.submit = function ( wikitext, fields ) {
 		wpStarttime: this.startTimeStamp,
 		wpEdittime: this.baseTimeStamp,
 		wpTextbox1: wikitext,
-		wpEditToken: this.editToken,
+		wpEditToken: mw.user.tokens.get( 'csrfToken' ),
 		// MediaWiki function-verification parameters, mostly relevant to the
 		// classic editpage, but still required here:
 		wpUnicodeCheck: 'ℳ𝒲♥𝓊𝓃𝒾𝒸ℴ𝒹ℯ',
diff --git a/modules/ve-mw/init/targets/ve.init.mw.Target.js b/modules/ve-mw/init/targets/ve.init.mw.Target.js
index d38739a0f7..fc55c3fd38 100644
--- a/modules/ve-mw/init/targets/ve.init.mw.Target.js
+++ b/modules/ve-mw/init/targets/ve.init.mw.Target.js
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ ve.init.mw.Target = function VeInitMwTarget( config ) {
 
 	this.active = false;
 	this.pageName = mw.config.get( 'wgRelevantPageName' );
-	this.editToken = mw.user.tokens.get( 'csrfToken' );
 	this.recovered = false;
 	this.fromEditedState = false;
 	this.originalHtml = null;
@@ -459,26 +458,21 @@ ve.init.mw.Target.prototype.teardown = function () {
  * the current user.
  *
  * @param {ve.dm.Document} [doc] Document to associate with the API request
- * @return {jQuery.Promise} Promise resolved with whether we switched users
+ * @return {jQuery.Promise} Promise resolved with new username, or null if anonymous
  */
-ve.init.mw.Target.prototype.refreshEditToken = function ( doc ) {
+ve.init.mw.Target.prototype.refreshUser = function ( doc ) {
 	var api = this.getContentApi( doc ),
-		deferred = ve.createDeferred(),
-		target = this;
+		deferred = ve.createDeferred();
 	api.get( {
 		action: 'query',
-		meta: 'tokens|userinfo',
-		type: 'csrf'
+		meta: 'userinfo'
 	} )
 		.done( function ( data ) {
 			var
 				userInfo = data.query && data.query.userinfo,
-				editToken = data.query && data.query.tokens && data.query.tokens.csrftoken,
 				isAnon = mw.user.isAnon();
 
-			if ( userInfo && editToken ) {
-				target.editToken = editToken;
-
+			if ( userInfo ) {
 				if (
 					( isAnon && userInfo.anon !== undefined ) ||
 						// Comparing id instead of name to protect against possible
@@ -486,7 +480,7 @@ ve.init.mw.Target.prototype.refreshEditToken = function ( doc ) {
 						mw.config.get( 'wgUserId' ) === userInfo.id
 				) {
 					// New session is the same user still
-					deferred.resolve( false );
+					deferred.resolve( mw.user.getName() );
 				} else {
 					// The now current session is a different user
 					if ( userInfo.anon !== undefined ) {
@@ -502,7 +496,7 @@ ve.init.mw.Target.prototype.refreshEditToken = function ( doc ) {
 						// New session is a different user
 						mw.config.set( { wgUserId: userInfo.id, wgUserName: userInfo.name } );
 					}
-					deferred.resolve( true );
+					deferred.resolve( mw.user.getName() );
 				}
 			} else {
 				deferred.reject();
@@ -519,15 +513,12 @@ ve.init.mw.Target.prototype.refreshEditToken = function ( doc ) {
  *
  * @param {ve.dm.Document} doc Document
  * @param {boolean} [useRevision=true] Whether to use the revision ID + ETag
- * @param {boolean} [isRetry=false] Whether this call is retrying a prior call
  * @return {jQuery.Promise} Abortable promise which resolves with a wikitext string
  */
-ve.init.mw.Target.prototype.getWikitextFragment = function ( doc, useRevision, isRetry ) {
+ve.init.mw.Target.prototype.getWikitextFragment = function ( doc, useRevision ) {
 	var promise, xhr,
-		target = this,
 		params = {
 			action: 'visualeditoredit',
-			token: this.editToken,
 			paction: 'serialize',
 			html: ve.dm.converter.getDomFromModel( doc ).body.innerHTML,
 			page: this.getPageName()
@@ -543,7 +534,7 @@ ve.init.mw.Target.prototype.getWikitextFragment = function ( doc, useRevision, i
 		params.etag = this.etag;
 	}
 
-	xhr = this.getContentApi( doc ).post(
+	xhr = this.getContentApi( doc ).postWithToken( 'csrf',
 		params,
 		{ contentType: 'multipart/form-data' }
 	);
@@ -553,12 +544,6 @@ ve.init.mw.Target.prototype.getWikitextFragment = function ( doc, useRevision, i
 			return response.visualeditoredit.content;
 		}
 		return ve.createDeferred().reject();
-	}, function ( error ) {
-		if ( error === 'badtoken' && !isRetry ) {
-			return target.refreshEditToken( doc ).then( function () {
-				return target.getWikitextFragment( doc, useRevision, true );
-			} );
-		}
 	} );
 
 	promise.abort = function () {