diff --git a/docs/swarm/ui.md b/docs/swarm/ui.md
index 568af3d7..d0eb77a6 100644
--- a/docs/swarm/ui.md
+++ b/docs/swarm/ui.md
@@ -70,7 +70,9 @@ The tab also has an agent badge, with the agent's icon and name, ahead of the
 connection badge. It opens the agent's details in a popover under the badge:
 the same status, wanted state, inference settings, resource caps and linked accounts as the
 panel on `/agents`, without the terminal preview. The popover doesn't dim the
-page. Selecting outside it, or Escape, closes it. You can stop or pause the
+page. Selecting outside it, or Escape, closes it. From the keyboard, opening a
+popover moves focus into it, and Escape puts focus back on the badge. The filter
+popovers on table headers work the same way. You can stop or pause the
 agent, or link an account, without leaving the terminal. A subagent's tab opens
 its agent's details.
 
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/popover/Popover.tsx b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/popover/Popover.tsx
index 1f86b735..5193b5d8 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/popover/Popover.tsx
+++ b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/popover/Popover.tsx
@@ -13,9 +13,21 @@
 // A modal `<dialog>` opened from inside it (a confirm, a form) is not
 // "outside": a click in an open dialog, or Escape while one is open, goes to
 // that dialog and leaves the popover alone.
-import { useEffect, useLayoutEffect, useRef, useState } from "preact/hooks";
+//
+// Keyboard: focus moves into the box once it is placed, and back to the
+// trigger when it closes and focus was lost. The trigger is the anchor itself
+// when Tab reaches it, else the first focusable control inside it; it gets
+// `aria-haspopup` and, while open, `aria-controls`.
+import {
+  useEffect,
+  useId,
+  useLayoutEffect,
+  useRef,
+  useState,
+} from "preact/hooks";
 import { createPortal } from "preact/compat";
 import type { ComponentChildren, RefObject } from "preact";
+import { focusInto, restoreFocus, triggerOf } from "./focus.js";
 import "./Popover.css";
 
 // Space kept between the popover and the viewport's edges.
@@ -40,6 +52,33 @@ export function Popover({
 }) {
   const ref = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null);
   const [pos, setPos] = useState<{ top: number; left: number } | null>(null);
+  const id = useId();
+  const wasOpen = useRef(false);
+
+  // Tells assistive tech that the trigger opens a dialog, and which one.
+  useEffect(() => {
+    const trigger = triggerOf(anchorRef.current);
+    if (!trigger) return;
+    trigger.setAttribute("aria-haspopup", "dialog");
+    if (!open) return;
+    trigger.setAttribute("aria-controls", id);
+    return () => trigger.removeAttribute("aria-controls");
+  }, [open, anchorRef, id]);
+
+  // Into the box once it is placed (a hidden box cannot take focus), and back
+  // to the trigger after a close that left focus on nothing.
+  const placed = pos !== null;
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (open && placed) focusInto(ref.current);
+  }, [open, placed]);
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (open) {
+      wasOpen.current = true;
+    } else if (wasOpen.current) {
+      wasOpen.current = false;
+      restoreFocus(triggerOf(anchorRef.current));
+    }
+  }, [open, anchorRef]);
 
   // Placed from the anchor on open, and again on scroll and resize, so it
   // follows the anchor instead of floating where it first appeared.
@@ -102,8 +141,10 @@ export function Popover({
   return createPortal(
     <div
       class="ui-popover"
+      id={id}
       role="dialog"
       aria-label={label}
+      tabIndex={-1}
       ref={ref}
       style={
         pos
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/popover/focus.ts b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/popover/focus.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..98827f68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/popover/focus.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+// Keyboard focus helpers shared by `Popover` and the table's filter popovers,
+// which both render into a portal at the end of `<body>`. Tab from the trigger
+// would otherwise skip past the box, and closing it would leave focus on
+// nothing.
+
+/** What Tab can reach. */
+export const FOCUSABLE =
+  'a[href], button:not([disabled]), input:not([disabled]), select:not([disabled]), textarea:not([disabled]), [tabindex]:not([tabindex="-1"])';
+
+/** Move focus into `box`, unless it is already there: onto its first
+ * focusable control, or onto the box itself when it has none. A control that
+ * took focus on its own (a text field) keeps it. */
+export function focusInto(box: HTMLElement | null): void {
+  if (!box || box.contains(document.activeElement)) return;
+  (box.querySelector<HTMLElement>(FOCUSABLE) ?? box).focus();
+}
+
+/** After a close, put focus back on `trigger`, but only when the close left
+ * it on nothing: removing the focused control from the page leaves focus on
+ * `<body>`. A close from a click on another control leaves that control
+ * focused. */
+export function restoreFocus(trigger: HTMLElement | null): void {
+  const active = document.activeElement;
+  if (!active || active === document.body) trigger?.focus();
+}
+
+/** The control that opens a popover: the anchor itself when Tab reaches it,
+ * else the first focusable control inside it. */
+export function triggerOf(anchor: HTMLElement | null): HTMLElement | null {
+  if (!anchor) return null;
+  return anchor.matches(FOCUSABLE)
+    ? anchor
+    : anchor.querySelector<HTMLElement>(FOCUSABLE);
+}
diff --git a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/table/Table.tsx b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/table/Table.tsx
index f4a54f45..8c82c6fa 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/table/Table.tsx
+++ b/frontend/packages/swarm-ui/src/ui/table/Table.tsx
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 // cramped.
 import {
   useEffect,
+  useId,
   useLayoutEffect,
   useMemo,
   useRef,
@@ -21,6 +22,7 @@ import type { ComponentChildren } from "preact";
 import { FilterIcon } from "@hive/shared/icons.js";
 import { useLocalSetting } from "@hive/shared/settings-storage.js";
 import { MultiselectFilterOptions } from "../multiselect-filter/MultiselectFilter.js";
+import { focusInto, restoreFocus } from "../popover/focus.js";
 import { clampLeft } from "./popover-position.js";
 import "./Table.css";
 
@@ -406,14 +408,30 @@ export function Table<T>({
   // Only one popover is ever open at a time, so one ref (rather than a
   // per-column ref map) is enough to focus whichever control just
   // mounted — typing immediately after the click that opened it,
-  // without a separate click into the field first. (The multiselect
-  // checkbox list below doesn't use this — there's no single "the"
-  // control to focus in a list of several.)
+  // without a separate click into the field first. The multiselect
+  // checkbox list has no single "the" control, so focus goes to its first
+  // checkbox, which keeps the popover reachable from the keyboard.
   const popoverControlRef = useRef<HTMLInputElement | null>(null);
   useEffect(() => {
-    if (openFilterKey !== null) popoverControlRef.current?.focus();
+    if (openFilterKey === null) return;
+    popoverControlRef.current?.focus();
+    focusInto(popoverRef.current);
   }, [openFilterKey]);
 
+  // After a close that left focus on nothing (Escape, or the control that
+  // held it going away), focus returns to the icon that opened the popover.
+  const filterBtnRefs = useRef<Map<string, HTMLButtonElement>>(new Map());
+  const lastOpenKey = useRef<string | null>(null);
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (openFilterKey !== null) {
+      lastOpenKey.current = openFilterKey;
+    } else if (lastOpenKey.current !== null) {
+      restoreFocus(filterBtnRefs.current.get(lastOpenKey.current) ?? null);
+      lastOpenKey.current = null;
+    }
+  }, [openFilterKey]);
+  const popoverId = useId();
+
   function filterLabel(c: TableColumn<T>): string {
     return `filter by ${typeof c.header === "string" ? c.header : c.key}`;
   }
@@ -536,7 +554,13 @@ export function Table<T>({
                             : "")
                         }
                         aria-label={filterLabel(c)}
+                        aria-haspopup="dialog"
                         aria-expanded={filterOpen}
+                        aria-controls={filterOpen ? popoverId : undefined}
+                        ref={(el) => {
+                          if (el) filterBtnRefs.current.set(c.key, el);
+                          else filterBtnRefs.current.delete(c.key);
+                        }}
                         onClick={() => {
                           setOpenFilterKey((k) => {
                             const next = k === c.key ? null : c.key;
@@ -591,8 +615,10 @@ export function Table<T>({
               return (
                 <div
                   class="ui-table-filter-popover"
+                  id={popoverId}
                   role="dialog"
                   aria-label={filterLabel(openColumn)}
+                  tabIndex={-1}
                   ref={popoverRef}
                   style={{
                     position: "fixed",