diff --git a/e2e/app.spec.ts b/e2e/app.spec.ts
index 6dcf589..8900083 100644
--- a/e2e/app.spec.ts
+++ b/e2e/app.spec.ts
@@ -26,6 +26,15 @@ function toolText(payload: unknown): string {
 
 test.skip(!url, 'KOZOU_TEST_DATABASE_URL not set');
 
+/** Read through `getPropertyValue` rather than a camelCase field, and typed as
+ *  the one method that is called. Both because this suite typechecks under the
+ *  node tsconfig, which has no DOM globals - and because a hand-written record of
+ *  camelCase fields makes the type authoritative over the real API: a misspelled
+ *  or renamed field then reads `undefined`, and `undefined !== '0px'` is true, so
+ *  the assertion passes forever. `getPropertyValue` answers '' for a property it
+ *  does not know, which fails these comparisons instead of passing them. */
+type StyleReader = { getPropertyValue: (property: string) => string };
+
 test('two profiles: map, detail pane, and AI view end-to-end', async () => {
   const userData = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'kozou-desktop-e2e-'));
   const app = await electron.launch({
@@ -182,12 +191,68 @@ test('two profiles: map, detail pane, and AI view end-to-end', async () => {
   await expect(page.getByTestId('overview-cards')).toHaveCount(0);
   await expect(page.getByTestId('rowaccess-badge-beta')).toHaveCount(1);
 
+  // The way to grant row access is a control, and on this surface it is a real
+  // one. Two attempts at the discoverability of this thing changed only the
+  // wording; it was a bare run of blue words beside a bordered status badge, with
+  // no border, background or padding of its own. Asserted as the box it now draws
+  // rather than as a class name, because a class says nothing about what is on
+  // screen.
+  const grant = page.getByTestId('rowaccess-enable-beta');
+  const box = async (loc: typeof grant): Promise<{ tag: string; h: number; w: number; border: string; bg: string }> =>
+    loc.evaluate((el) => {
+      const s = (globalThis as unknown as { getComputedStyle: (e: unknown) => StyleReader })
+        .getComputedStyle(el);
+      const r = el.getBoundingClientRect();
+      return {
+        tag: el.tagName,
+        h: Math.round(r.height),
+        w: Math.round(r.width),
+        border: s.getPropertyValue('border-top-color'),
+        bg: s.getPropertyValue('background-color'),
+      };
+    });
+  const barGrant = await box(grant);
+  // A real <button> here, so Enter and Space work without this app reimplementing
+  // them. The card cannot have one (it is itself a <button>) and keeps the span.
+  expect(barGrant.tag).toBe('BUTTON');
+  // The box, not "has some border and some background": a bare <button> with this
+  // app's rule deleted still carries Chromium's own 2px border, #efefef fill and
+  // 6px padding, so three inequalities on those pass while the control is back to
+  // a run of text. Measured here: 109x22 against the 92x14 it replaced, and the
+  // app's own blue rather than the platform's grey.
+  expect(barGrant.h).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(20);
+  expect(barGrant.w).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(100);
+  expect(barGrant.border).toBe('rgb(47, 111, 237)');
+  expect(barGrant.bg).toBe('rgb(238, 243, 255)');
+
   // F1: the all-databases view puts every profile side by side, which is what
   // makes coverage comparable; the cards carry counts and annotation coverage.
   await page.getByTestId('rail-all').click();
   await expect(page.getByTestId('overview-cards')).toBeVisible();
   await expect(page.getByTestId('profile-bar')).toHaveCount(0);
   await expect(page.getByTestId('rowaccess-badge-beta')).toHaveCount(1);
+
+  // On the card it is a span carrying role=button, and it has to stay one: nesting
+  // a <button> in the card's own <button> is invalid HTML, and the browser's repair
+  // for it is to close the outer element early - which would take the rest of the
+  // card out of the button that selects the profile. Same presentation either way.
+  const cardSpan = page.getByTestId('rowaccess-enable-beta');
+  const cardGrant = await box(cardSpan);
+  const cardRole = await cardSpan.evaluate((el) => ({
+    role: el.getAttribute('role'),
+    focusable: el.getAttribute('tabindex'),
+  }));
+  expect(cardGrant.tag).toBe('SPAN');
+  expect(cardRole).toEqual({ role: 'button', focusable: '0' });
+  // Same presentation on both surfaces - measured against the bar's own numbers
+  // rather than restated, since "they match" is the property and two separate
+  // property sets would not notice them drifting apart.
+  expect({ h: cardGrant.h, w: cardGrant.w, border: cardGrant.border, bg: cardGrant.bg }).toEqual({
+    h: barGrant.h,
+    w: barGrant.w,
+    border: barGrant.border,
+    bg: barGrant.bg,
+  });
   await expect(page.getByTestId('card-alpha')).toContainText('tables');
   await expect(page.getByTestId('card-alpha')).toContainText('annotated');
 
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/OverviewCards.svelte b/src/renderer/src/OverviewCards.svelte
index 3401630..ac81ec7 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/OverviewCards.svelte
+++ b/src/renderer/src/OverviewCards.svelte
@@ -120,6 +120,9 @@
           onkeydown={(e) => e.key === 'Enter' && (e.stopPropagation(), ondelete(p.name))}>delete</span
         >
       </div>
+      <!-- No `asButton`: the card is itself a <button> that selects the profile, so
+           the controls in here stay spans. That is also the default, so a host that
+           says nothing cannot get this wrong. -->
       <RowAccessBlock
         profile={p.name}
         level={p.rowAccess}
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/ProfileBar.svelte b/src/renderer/src/ProfileBar.svelte
index 5c86b24..09367b0 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/ProfileBar.svelte
+++ b/src/renderer/src/ProfileBar.svelte
@@ -87,10 +87,14 @@
       >
     </span>
   </div>
+  <!-- `asButton`: nothing here is an interactive host (the bar's own `delete` has
+       been a real button since this component existed), so the grant can be one
+       too and take Enter and Space from the browser. -->
   <RowAccessBlock
     profile={profile.name}
     level={profile.rowAccess}
     pending={rowAccessPending === profile.name}
+    asButton
     {onrowaccess}
   />
   <McpBlock
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/RowAccessBlock.svelte b/src/renderer/src/RowAccessBlock.svelte
index fee7bb9..250c8de 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/RowAccessBlock.svelte
+++ b/src/renderer/src/RowAccessBlock.svelte
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
     profile,
     level,
     pending,
+    asButton = false,
     onrowaccess,
   }: {
     profile: string;
@@ -23,6 +24,23 @@
      *  The dialog is modal to the window, so at most one request is ever in
      *  flight app-wide. */
     pending: boolean;
+    /** Whether this host can hold a real <button>. Only the profile bar can: the
+     *  overview card is itself a <button> that selects the profile, and a <button>
+     *  inside a <button> is invalid HTML — the accessibility tree of a nested
+     *  interactive element is not defined, and screen readers disagree about what
+     *  to announce.
+     *
+     *  (What it is NOT: a rendering failure. Svelte builds the card and this block
+     *  as separate templates and joins them by DOM insertion, so the parser's
+     *  repair — which would close the card's <button> early — never runs, and the
+     *  nesting simply survives. An earlier version of this comment claimed
+     *  otherwise. Measured, the card keeps all its children either way.)
+     *
+     *  Declared by the host and OFF by default, so that the answer a host gets by
+     *  forgetting is the one that renders correctly anywhere. The default used to
+     *  be spelled the other way round, `insideButton = false`, which read as the
+     *  safe default and was the opposite of one. */
+    asButton?: boolean;
     onrowaccess: (name: string, level: RowAccess) => void;
   } = $props();
 
@@ -52,56 +70,81 @@
 
   const ra = $derived(rowAccessBadge(level));
 
-  /** Keyboard/click helper for the linkish span-buttons. `stopPropagation` is
-   *  unconditional: on the overview card these sit inside the card's own
-   *  <button> (which selects the profile), and a click that enables browsing
-   *  must not also select. In the profile bar there is nothing above them to
-   *  stop, so it costs nothing there. Spans rather than buttons for the same
-   *  reason — a <button> inside a <button> is not valid HTML. */
+  /** Keyboard/click helper for the controls. `stopPropagation` is unconditional:
+   *  on the overview card these sit inside the card's own <button> (which selects
+   *  the profile), and a click that enables browsing must not also select. In the
+   *  profile bar there is nothing above them to stop, so it costs nothing there.
+   *
+   *  The span branch adds a keydown handler for Enter only. A real button answers
+   *  Enter AND Space; this does not, and on the card Space is worse than inert —
+   *  the key reaches the card's own <button> and selects the profile instead, and
+   *  Enter fires both, because Chromium's default handlers walk the event path and
+   *  are gated on preventDefault rather than on propagation. That is pre-existing
+   *  (the bar's own spans behaved the same before this control had a box) and it is
+   *  recorded rather than fixed here. It is also the sharper reason the bar takes a
+   *  real button: on that surface the keyboard simply works. */
   const act = (e: Event, fn: () => void): void => {
     e.stopPropagation();
     fn();
   };
+
+  /** The grants this level offers, in the order they are offered. One list so the
+   *  two element kinds above cannot drift into offering different things. */
+  const controls = $derived.by((): { testid: string; cls: string; label: string; run: () => void }[] =>
+    level === 'off'
+      ? [
+          {
+            testid: `rowaccess-enable-${profile}`,
+            cls: 'grant',
+            label: 'enable browsing',
+            run: () => onrowaccess(profile, 'read'),
+          },
+        ]
+      : [
+          ...(level === 'read'
+            ? [
+                {
+                  testid: `rowaccess-edit-${profile}`,
+                  cls: 'grant danger',
+                  label: 'enable editing',
+                  run: () => onrowaccess(profile, 'readwrite'),
+                },
+              ]
+            : []),
+          {
+            testid: `rowaccess-off-${profile}`,
+            cls: 'grant danger',
+            label: 'turn off',
+            run: () => onrowaccess(profile, 'off'),
+          },
+        ],
+  );
 </script>
 
 <div class="row rowaccess" data-testid={`rowaccess-${profile}`}>
   <span class={`ra-badge ${ra.cls}`} data-testid={`rowaccess-badge-${profile}`}>{ra.text}</span>
   {#if pending}
     <span class="ra-wait">waiting for approval...</span>
-  {:else if level === 'off'}
+  {:else}
     <!-- Browsing first, editing as its own step. Each level is a separate
          native approval, so nobody arrives at write access by clicking
          once — and the dialog for editing says what editing costs. -->
-    <span
-      class="linkish"
-      role="button"
-      tabindex="0"
-      data-testid={`rowaccess-enable-${profile}`}
-      onclick={(e) => act(e, () => onrowaccess(profile, 'read'))}
-      onkeydown={(e) => e.key === 'Enter' && act(e, () => onrowaccess(profile, 'read'))}
-      >enable browsing</span
-    >
-  {:else}
-    {#if level === 'read'}
-      <span
-        class="linkish danger"
-        role="button"
-        tabindex="0"
-        data-testid={`rowaccess-edit-${profile}`}
-        onclick={(e) => act(e, () => onrowaccess(profile, 'readwrite'))}
-        onkeydown={(e) => e.key === 'Enter' && act(e, () => onrowaccess(profile, 'readwrite'))}
-        >enable editing</span
-      >
-    {/if}
-    <span
-      class="linkish danger"
-      role="button"
-      tabindex="0"
-      data-testid={`rowaccess-off-${profile}`}
-      onclick={(e) => act(e, () => onrowaccess(profile, 'off'))}
-      onkeydown={(e) => e.key === 'Enter' && act(e, () => onrowaccess(profile, 'off'))}
-      >turn off</span
-    >
+    {#each controls as c (c.testid)}
+      {#if !asButton}
+        <span
+          class={c.cls}
+          role="button"
+          tabindex="0"
+          data-testid={c.testid}
+          onclick={(e) => act(e, c.run)}
+          onkeydown={(e) => e.key === 'Enter' && act(e, c.run)}>{c.label}</span
+        >
+      {:else}
+        <button type="button" class={c.cls} data-testid={c.testid} onclick={(e) => act(e, c.run)}
+          >{c.label}</button
+        >
+      {/if}
+    {/each}
   {/if}
 </div>
 <!-- Stated at every level, 'off' included: the second approval and the place
@@ -130,13 +173,42 @@
     border-top: 1px dashed #eee;
     padding-top: 0.3rem;
   }
-  .linkish {
+  /* These look like controls, which they had not until now. What they were: blue
+     0.75rem text with `cursor: pointer` and nothing else — no border, no
+     background, no padding — sitting next to a status badge that DID have a
+     border. An operator reading that row sees one bordered thing (the state) and
+     some coloured words, and the words are the only way to grant anything.
+     Two attempts at this failed, and both changed the wording; the settled scope
+     for the discoverability of this control is "wording and presentation", and
+     presentation had never been touched. So: a box, a background, and room to be
+     pressed, the same shape as every other control in the app.
+     Written to cover both element kinds, since the card cannot use a <button>. */
+  .grant {
+    border: 1px solid #2f6fed;
+    border-radius: 6px;
+    background: #eef3ff;
+    padding: 0.15rem 0.55rem;
     color: #2f6fed;
+    /* `font: inherit` is for the button, which would otherwise take the platform's
+       own family and size. Nothing else about the type is set here: an earlier
+       version added `font-size: 0.72rem` "for the button", which the button was
+       already inheriting from `.rowaccess` — so all it did was shrink the label
+       from 12px to 11.52px on both kinds. Making the words 4% smaller is the
+       wrong direction for a control two people could not find. */
+    font: inherit;
     cursor: pointer;
   }
-  .linkish.danger {
+  .grant:hover {
+    background: #dfe9ff;
+  }
+  .grant.danger {
+    border-color: #a00;
+    background: #fff2f2;
     color: #a00;
   }
+  .grant.danger:hover {
+    background: #ffe6e6;
+  }
   .ra-badge {
     border: 1px solid #ccc;
     border-radius: 999px;