diff --git a/.jules/palette.md b/.jules/palette.md
index 6bdec41c..e9e3974a 100644
--- a/.jules/palette.md
+++ b/.jules/palette.md
@@ -65,3 +65,7 @@
 ## 2025-02-18 - Search Input Escape Key
 **Learning:** Users who heavily rely on keyboard navigation (and power users) experience friction when forced to backspace manually or switch to the mouse to click a "Clear" button after filtering a list.
 **Action:** Always provide an `Escape` key listener on search inputs to instantly clear the query and re-render the view, matching native OS text field behavior.
+
+## 2026-08-09 - Native File Input Header Redundancy
+**Learning:** Native `<input type="file">` elements in headers look visually inconsistent across browsers and display the selected file name redundantly when the application already displays the active file in a custom text element.
+**Action:** Visually hide the primary native input using a screen-reader-only class (`.sr-only`) and trigger it via a native proxy `<button>` in the header, eliminating redundant UI text while preserving accessibility.
diff --git a/scanner/dashboard/index.html b/scanner/dashboard/index.html
index 42535b70..f6d7b165 100644
--- a/scanner/dashboard/index.html
+++ b/scanner/dashboard/index.html
@@ -92,7 +92,8 @@
   <span class="logo"></span><span class="brand">AppGuardrail</span>
   <span class="spacer"></span>
   <span class="meta" id="src">no findings loaded</span>
-  <input type="file" id="file" accept="application/json,.json" aria-label="Upload findings file" style="margin-left:12px">
+  <button type="button" id="header-upload-btn" aria-controls="file">Upload findings</button>
+  <input type="file" id="file" accept="application/json,.json" aria-label="Upload findings file" class="sr-only" tabindex="-1" aria-hidden="true">
 </header>
 <p id="findings-summary" class="sr-only" role="status" aria-live="polite" aria-atomic="true"></p>
 <main id="app"></main>
@@ -319,6 +320,13 @@ <h1>Dashboard</h1>
   render();
 }
 
+const headerUploadBtn = document.getElementById('header-upload-btn');
+if (headerUploadBtn) {
+  headerUploadBtn.addEventListener('click', () => {
+    document.getElementById('file').click();
+  });
+}
+
 const fileInput = document.getElementById('file');
 fileInput.addEventListener('change', () => {
   const selectedFile = fileInput.files?.[0];