diff --git a/docs/swarm/ui.md b/docs/swarm/ui.md
index de0372aa..17a21fbc 100644
--- a/docs/swarm/ui.md
+++ b/docs/swarm/ui.md
@@ -55,14 +55,16 @@ works too.
 
 ### The agents page
 
-`/agents` is the hives card, then one column of cards, one per agent. A card's
+`/agents` is a column of separate cards: the hives card, a filter card, then one
+card per agent (they are not wrapped in one big card). A card's
 header shows its icon, name, freshness, the status message, a **terminal**
 button that opens the agent's terminal tab, the **wanted** menu (up, offline,
 paused, destroy), and a **login needed** badge with a
 **log in** button when its claude has no session. Select the header to open the
 card in place; select it again to close it. Several cards can be open at once,
 and a card stays open across the page's refresh, but not across a reload. The
-filter bar above the cards filters by name, hive, status, message, wanted state
+filter card, which also holds the **+ agent** button and the refresh picker,
+filters by name, hive, status, message, wanted state
 and config PR.
 
 An opened card has four sections, each folded except **overview**, and each
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/agents/AgentsPage.css b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/agents/AgentsPage.css
index 2c13fb49..6097ce72 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/agents/AgentsPage.css
+++ b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/agents/AgentsPage.css
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 /* The folded hives card over the agents. */
 .ui-agents-hives {
-  margin-block-end: 1em;
+  margin-block-end: 0.5em;
 }
 /* The roster's refresh picker, at the top right of the open card. */
 .ui-hives-refresh {
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/agents/AgentsPage.tsx b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/agents/AgentsPage.tsx
index df33be1f..989911c7 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/agents/AgentsPage.tsx
+++ b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/pages/agents/AgentsPage.tsx
@@ -18,8 +18,10 @@
 // natural home for the action that populates it. The form itself
 // (`CreateAgentForm`) mounts inside a `Dialog` here, not its own route.
 //
-// The roster is one column of cards, each opening in place into its details
-// (mara: "one column of expandable cards"). This file owns the page's own
+// The page is a column of separate cards: the hives card, a filter card (with
+// the "+ agent" button and the refresh picker), then one card per agent, each
+// opening in place into its details (mara: "one column of expandable cards";
+// the agents are not wrapped in one big card). This file owns the page's own
 // state and the filter fields only — `AgentRow` and friends live in
 // `AgentTypes.ts`, the wanted-state control in `WantedMenu.tsx`, the actions
 // on an agent (declare a state, link an account) in `AgentActions.tsx`, the
@@ -34,7 +36,6 @@ import { FRESHNESS, type AgentRow } from "../../agent/AgentTypes.js";
 import { Button } from "../../ui/button/Button.js";
 import { Dialog } from "../../ui/dialog/Dialog.js";
 import { FilterableView } from "../../ui/filterable-view/FilterableView.js";
-import { Panel } from "../../ui/panel/Panel.js";
 import { HivesCard } from "./HivesCard.js";
 import {
   RefreshIntervalPicker,
@@ -128,43 +129,39 @@ export function AgentsPage() {
       <div class="ui-agents-hives">
         <HivesCard />
       </div>
-      <Panel
-        title="agents"
-        icon="👥"
-        actions={
-          <>
-            <Button variant="primary" onClick={() => setCreateOpen(true)}>
-              + agent
-            </Button>
-            <RefreshIntervalPicker
-              id="agents-refresh"
-              value={intervalMs}
-              onChange={setIntervalMs}
-            />
-          </>
-        }
-      >
-        {error ? (
-          <ApiErrorPanel
-            context="failed to load the agent roster"
-            problem={error}
-          />
-        ) : null}
-        {!error && rows === null ? <p>loading…</p> : null}
-        {rows ? (
-          <FilterableView
-            view="cards"
-            columns={FIELDS}
-            rows={rows}
-            rowKey={(a) => a.name}
-            storageKey="swarm-ui:agents:table-filters"
-            emptyMessage="no agents yet — the swarm-wide identity store has no agents registered on any hive"
-            // Each card gets its live row from `rows` on every render, so an
-            // opened card follows a refresh or a state change made inside it.
-            renderCard={(a) => <AgentCard row={a} actions={actions} />}
-          />
-        ) : null}
-      </Panel>
+      {error ? (
+        <ApiErrorPanel
+          context="failed to load the agent roster"
+          problem={error}
+        />
+      ) : null}
+      {!error && rows === null ? <p>loading…</p> : null}
+      {rows ? (
+        <FilterableView
+          view="cards"
+          standalone
+          barActions={
+            <>
+              <Button variant="primary" onClick={() => setCreateOpen(true)}>
+                + agent
+              </Button>
+              <RefreshIntervalPicker
+                id="agents-refresh"
+                value={intervalMs}
+                onChange={setIntervalMs}
+              />
+            </>
+          }
+          columns={FIELDS}
+          rows={rows}
+          rowKey={(a) => a.name}
+          storageKey="swarm-ui:agents:table-filters"
+          emptyMessage="no agents yet — the swarm-wide identity store has no agents registered on any hive"
+          // Each card gets its live row from `rows` on every render, so an
+          // opened card follows a refresh or a state change made inside it.
+          renderCard={(a) => <AgentCard row={a} actions={actions} />}
+        />
+      ) : null}
       <Dialog
         open={createOpen}
         onClose={() => setCreateOpen(false)}
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/filterable-view/FilterableView.css b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/filterable-view/FilterableView.css
index eb2cdf42..13f31fa7 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/filterable-view/FilterableView.css
+++ b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/filterable-view/FilterableView.css
@@ -24,3 +24,19 @@
   flex-direction: column;
   gap: 0.5em;
 }
+/* A filter bar that is a card of its own (`standalone`), the same border and
+   fill as a row card. */
+.ui-filterable-view-filter-card {
+  padding: 0.75em 1em;
+  border: 1px solid var(--border);
+  border-radius: 0.5em;
+  background: var(--bg-elev);
+  margin-bottom: 0.5em;
+}
+/* The caller's buttons, at the bar's trailing edge. */
+.ui-filterable-view-actions {
+  display: flex;
+  align-items: center;
+  gap: 0.5em;
+  margin-left: auto;
+}
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/filterable-view/FilterableView.tsx b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/filterable-view/FilterableView.tsx
index ec9754c3..3111f30d 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/filterable-view/FilterableView.tsx
+++ b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/filterable-view/FilterableView.tsx
@@ -50,7 +50,11 @@ function FilterBar<T>({
   resetFilters,
   activeFilters,
   multiselectOptionsFor,
+  actions,
+  standalone,
 }: {
+  actions?: ComponentChildren;
+  standalone?: boolean;
   columns: FilterColumn<T>[];
   getFilter: (key: string) => MultiselectFilterState & { value: string };
   updateFilter: (
@@ -65,7 +69,13 @@ function FilterBar<T>({
   const filterable = columns.filter(isFilterable);
   if (filterable.length === 0) return null;
   return (
-    <div class="ui-filterable-view-filter-bar">
+    <div
+      class={
+        standalone
+          ? "ui-filterable-view-filter-bar ui-filterable-view-filter-card"
+          : "ui-filterable-view-filter-bar"
+      }
+    >
       {filterable.map((c) => {
         const label = columnLabel(c);
         if (c.filterMode === "multiselect") {
@@ -105,6 +115,7 @@ function FilterBar<T>({
           reset filters
         </button>
       ) : null}
+      {actions ? <div class="ui-filterable-view-actions">{actions}</div> : null}
     </div>
   );
 }
@@ -130,9 +141,15 @@ export function FilterableView<T>(
     // (same as `Table`'s own "no rows match the current filter") — the
     // two cases mean different things, same as `Table`'s own split.
     emptyMessage?: ComponentChildren;
+    // Cards view only. The filter bar becomes a card of its own, so the caller
+    // can lay it out beside the row cards instead of inside a panel, and
+    // `barActions` (buttons, a refresh picker) sit at its trailing edge.
+    standalone?: boolean;
+    barActions?: ComponentChildren;
   },
 ) {
   const { columns, rows, rowKey, storageKey, renderCard, emptyMessage } = props;
+  const { standalone, barActions } = props;
   const {
     visibleRows,
     activeFilters,
@@ -165,6 +182,8 @@ export function FilterableView<T>(
         resetFilters={resetFilters}
         activeFilters={activeFilters}
         multiselectOptionsFor={multiselectOptionsFor}
+        actions={barActions}
+        standalone={standalone}
       />
       {rows.length === 0 && emptyMessage ? (
         <p class="ui-filterable-view-empty">{emptyMessage}</p>