diff --git a/frontend/src/app/pages/Dashboard/cards/DashboardViewCard.tsx b/frontend/src/app/pages/Dashboard/cards/DashboardViewCard.tsx
index 52d016a3..6406c226 100644
--- a/frontend/src/app/pages/Dashboard/cards/DashboardViewCard.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/app/pages/Dashboard/cards/DashboardViewCard.tsx
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import TerminalPanel, { TerminalLine } from '@/app/pages/Views/TerminalPanel';
 import AppCodePanel from '@/app/pages/Views/AppCodePanel';
 import HistoryPanel from '@/app/pages/Views/HistoryPanel';
 import ShareButton from '@/app/components/share/ShareButton';
+import { CONTENT_OVERLAY_Z, RESIZE_HANDLE_Z } from './cardLayers';
 import ShareModal from '@/app/components/share/ShareModal';
 import { getDefault } from '@/shared/inputSchemaDefaults';
 import { useOverlayScrollPassthrough } from '../hooks/interaction/useOverlayScrollPassthrough';
@@ -885,7 +886,7 @@ const DashboardViewCard: React.FC<Props> = ({
         />
         {/* Code/Terminal overlay the always-mounted preview instead of replacing it: unmounting the webview kills the app's live state and forces a reload on switch-back. */}
         {output.workspace_id && activeView !== 'preview' && (
-          <Box sx={{ position: 'absolute', inset: 0, zIndex: 13, bgcolor: c.bg.surface }}>
+          <Box sx={{ position: 'absolute', inset: 0, zIndex: CONTENT_OVERLAY_Z, bgcolor: c.bg.surface }}>
             {activeView === 'terminal' ? (
               <TerminalPanel lines={terminalLines} />
             ) : activeView === 'history' ? (
@@ -916,7 +917,7 @@ const DashboardViewCard: React.FC<Props> = ({
             position: 'absolute',
             cursor: CURSOR_MAP[dir],
             opacity: 0,
-            zIndex: 10,
+            zIndex: RESIZE_HANDLE_Z,
             ...sx,
           }}
         />
diff --git a/frontend/src/app/pages/Dashboard/cards/cardLayers.test.ts b/frontend/src/app/pages/Dashboard/cards/cardLayers.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c450f67d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/app/pages/Dashboard/cards/cardLayers.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+// Run: npm test (frontend/scripts/run-tests.mjs)
+//
+// ENG-290. App cards could only be resized on the preview tab: the code/terminal/history panel fills
+// the card and sat ABOVE the resize handles, so the grab strips were buried the moment you switched
+// tabs. The bug was purely an ordering mistake between two numbers written 700 lines apart, which is
+// the kind of thing nobody re-derives while reading a component.
+import { test } from 'node:test';
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+import { CONTENT_OVERLAY_Z, RESIZE_HANDLE_Z } from './cardLayers.ts';
+
+test('resize handles sit above any content that fills the card', () => {
+  assert.ok(
+    RESIZE_HANDLE_Z > CONTENT_OVERLAY_Z,
+    `handles at ${RESIZE_HANDLE_Z} are under the content overlay at ${CONTENT_OVERLAY_Z}, so the `
+    + 'card cannot be resized wherever that content shows',
+  );
+});
+
+test('the two layers are distinct, so neither can silently absorb the other', () => {
+  assert.notEqual(RESIZE_HANDLE_Z, CONTENT_OVERLAY_Z);
+});
diff --git a/frontend/src/app/pages/Dashboard/cards/cardLayers.ts b/frontend/src/app/pages/Dashboard/cards/cardLayers.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c075388a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/app/pages/Dashboard/cards/cardLayers.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+// Where things stack inside a canvas card (ENG-290).
+//
+// App cards could only be resized on the preview tab. The Code/Terminal/History panel renders only
+// when `activeView !== 'preview'`, covers the card with `inset: 0`, and sat at z-index 13 while the
+// resize handles sat at 10, so switching tabs buried the handles under the panel. AgentCard already
+// used 20 for the same handles, so this was one component drifting rather than a design question.
+//
+// Named and ordered here so the next panel someone adds has an obvious ceiling to stay under, and
+// so the ordering is a thing a test can check rather than a number to eyeball.
+
+/** Full-card content that replaces the preview (code, terminal, history). */
+export const CONTENT_OVERLAY_Z = 13;
+
+/** The invisible grab strips at the card's edges. Must sit ABOVE any content that fills the card,
+ *  or the edges stop being grabbable wherever that content is showing. */
+export const RESIZE_HANDLE_Z = 20;