diff --git a/frontend/src/components/settings/AliasTable.vue b/frontend/src/components/settings/AliasTable.vue
index d21f08d..2726e20 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/settings/AliasTable.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/components/settings/AliasTable.vue
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 <template>
-  <v-card>
-    <v-card-title>Tag aliases ({{ store.rows.length }})</v-card-title>
+  <MaintenanceTile
+    icon="mdi-tag-arrow-right-outline"
+    :title="`Tag aliases (${store.rows.length})`"
+    blurb="Alternate tag spellings that map to a canonical tag."
+  >
     <v-data-table-virtual
       :headers="headers" :items="store.rows" :loading="store.loading"
       height="360" density="compact"
@@ -18,12 +21,13 @@
         />
       </template>
     </v-data-table-virtual>
-  </v-card>
+  </MaintenanceTile>
 </template>
 
 <script setup>
 import { onMounted } from 'vue'
 import { useAliasesStore } from '../../stores/aliases.js'
+import MaintenanceTile from '../common/MaintenanceTile.vue'
 
 const store = useAliasesStore()
 const headers = [
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/settings/AllowlistTable.vue b/frontend/src/components/settings/AllowlistTable.vue
index 2ac386d..b33b2a3 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/settings/AllowlistTable.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/components/settings/AllowlistTable.vue
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 <template>
-  <v-card>
-    <v-card-title>Allowlisted tags ({{ store.rows.length }})</v-card-title>
+  <MaintenanceTile
+    icon="mdi-playlist-check"
+    :title="`Allowlisted tags (${store.rows.length})`"
+    blurb="Tags auto-applied to images that score above their threshold."
+  >
     <v-data-table-virtual
       :headers="headers" :items="store.rows" :loading="store.loading"
       height="360" density="compact"
@@ -21,13 +24,14 @@
         />
       </template>
     </v-data-table-virtual>
-  </v-card>
+  </MaintenanceTile>
 </template>
 
 <script setup>
 import { computed, onMounted } from 'vue'
 import { useAllowlistStore } from '../../stores/allowlist.js'
 import { useMLStore } from '../../stores/ml.js'
+import MaintenanceTile from '../common/MaintenanceTile.vue'
 
 const store = useAllowlistStore()
 const ml = useMLStore()
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/settings/ArchiveReextractCard.vue b/frontend/src/components/settings/ArchiveReextractCard.vue
index 5f612cd..897a71e 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/settings/ArchiveReextractCard.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/components/settings/ArchiveReextractCard.vue
@@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
 <template>
   <!-- #713: re-extract PostAttachments that are really archives but were filed
        opaquely before the magic-byte gate, and attach their images to the post. -->
-  <v-card>
-    <v-card-title>Re-extract archive attachments</v-card-title>
-    <v-card-text>
+  <MaintenanceTile
+    icon="mdi-folder-zip-outline"
+    title="Re-extract archives"
+    blurb="Extract images from zip attachments filed opaquely."
+    :open="busy"
+  >
       <p class="text-body-2 mb-3">
         Some posts attached an archive (zip) whose images weren't extracted
         because the downloaded file had no usable extension. This scans existing
@@ -15,8 +18,7 @@
       </v-btn>
       <span v-if="queued" class="ml-3 text-caption text-success">Queued ✓</span>
       <QueueStatusBar queue="maintenance" queue-label="Maintenance" />
-    </v-card-text>
-  </v-card>
+  </MaintenanceTile>
 </template>
 
 <script setup>
@@ -24,6 +26,7 @@ import { ref } from 'vue'
 
 import { useApi } from '../../composables/useApi.js'
 import { toast } from '../../utils/toast.js'
+import MaintenanceTile from '../common/MaintenanceTile.vue'
 import QueueStatusBar from './QueueStatusBar.vue'
 
 const api = useApi()
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/settings/BackupCard.vue b/frontend/src/components/settings/BackupCard.vue
index 079a243..0e2783e 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/settings/BackupCard.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/components/settings/BackupCard.vue
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 <template>
-  <v-card class="fc-backup-card">
-    <CardHeading icon="mdi-database-export" title="Backups" />
-    <v-card-text>
+  <MaintenanceTile
+    icon="mdi-database-export"
+    title="Backups"
+    blurb="Database + image backups, schedules and restore."
+  >
       <p class="fc-muted text-body-2 mb-4">
         pg_dump for the database (fast, nightly-schedulable);
         tar+zstd for the images (slow, manual only). Files live in
@@ -80,8 +82,6 @@
         @delete="onDelete"
         @tag="onTag"
       />
-    </v-card-text>
-
     <BackupConfirmModal
       v-model="confirmOpen"
       :action="confirmAction"
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@
       :description="confirmDescription"
       @confirm="onConfirmSubmit"
     />
-  </v-card>
+  </MaintenanceTile>
 </template>
 
 <script setup>
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ import { computed, onMounted, onUnmounted, ref } from 'vue'
 
 import { useBackupStore } from '../../stores/backup.js'
 import BackupConfirmModal from '../modal/DestructiveConfirmModal.vue'
-import CardHeading from '../common/CardHeading.vue'
+import MaintenanceTile from '../common/MaintenanceTile.vue'
 import BackupRunsTable from './BackupRunsTable.vue'
 
 const store = useBackupStore()
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/settings/CentroidRecomputeCard.vue b/frontend/src/components/settings/CentroidRecomputeCard.vue
index 832db7d..f9c5df4 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/settings/CentroidRecomputeCard.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/components/settings/CentroidRecomputeCard.vue
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 <template>
-  <v-card>
-    <v-card-title>Tag centroids</v-card-title>
-    <v-card-text>
+  <MaintenanceTile
+    icon="mdi-vector-triangle"
+    title="Tag centroids"
+    blurb="Rebuild SigLIP centroids for similarity suggestions."
+    :open="busy"
+  >
       <p class="text-body-2 mb-3">
         Rebuild the per-tag SigLIP centroids that power similarity-based
         suggestions. Runs nightly automatically; trigger manually after a
@@ -12,14 +15,14 @@
       </v-btn>
       <span v-if="done" class="ml-3 text-caption">Enqueued.</span>
       <QueueStatusBar queue="ml" queue-label="ML" />
-    </v-card-text>
-  </v-card>
+  </MaintenanceTile>
 </template>
 
 <script setup>
 import { toast } from '../../utils/toast.js'
 import { ref } from 'vue'
 import { useMLStore } from '../../stores/ml.js'
+import MaintenanceTile from '../common/MaintenanceTile.vue'
 import QueueStatusBar from './QueueStatusBar.vue'
 const store = useMLStore()
 const busy = ref(false)
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/settings/DbMaintenanceCard.vue b/frontend/src/components/settings/DbMaintenanceCard.vue
index baae969..18073ba 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/settings/DbMaintenanceCard.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/components/settings/DbMaintenanceCard.vue
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 <template>
-  <v-card>
-    <v-card-title>Database maintenance</v-card-title>
-    <v-card-text>
+  <MaintenanceTile
+    icon="mdi-database-cog"
+    title="Database maintenance"
+    blurb="VACUUM ANALYZE + per-table bloat stats."
+    :open="busy"
+  >
       <p class="text-body-2 mb-3">
         VACUUM (ANALYZE) reclaims dead-tuple bloat — which slows the random
         showcase, since it samples physical blocks — and refreshes the query
@@ -42,8 +45,7 @@
       <p v-else class="text-caption mt-3" style="opacity: 0.6;">
         No table statistics yet.
       </p>
-    </v-card-text>
-  </v-card>
+  </MaintenanceTile>
 </template>
 
 <script setup>
@@ -51,6 +53,7 @@ import { onMounted, ref } from 'vue'
 
 import { toast } from '../../utils/toast.js'
 import { useDbMaintenanceStore } from '../../stores/dbMaintenance.js'
+import MaintenanceTile from '../common/MaintenanceTile.vue'
 import QueueStatusBar from './QueueStatusBar.vue'
 
 const store = useDbMaintenanceStore()
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/settings/MLBackfillCard.vue b/frontend/src/components/settings/MLBackfillCard.vue
index 9535648..e4e2fb4 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/settings/MLBackfillCard.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/components/settings/MLBackfillCard.vue
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 <template>
-  <v-card>
-    <v-card-title>ML backfill</v-card-title>
-    <v-card-text>
+  <MaintenanceTile
+    icon="mdi-refresh"
+    title="ML backfill"
+    blurb="Re-run tagging + embeddings on images missing them."
+    :open="busy"
+  >
       <p class="text-body-2 mb-3">
         Re-run Camie + SigLIP on images missing predictions or embeddings
         for the current model versions. Safe to re-run.
@@ -11,14 +14,14 @@
       </v-btn>
       <span v-if="done" class="ml-3 text-caption">Enqueued.</span>
       <QueueStatusBar queue="ml" queue-label="ML" />
-    </v-card-text>
-  </v-card>
+  </MaintenanceTile>
 </template>
 
 <script setup>
 import { toast } from '../../utils/toast.js'
 import { ref } from 'vue'
 import { useMLStore } from '../../stores/ml.js'
+import MaintenanceTile from '../common/MaintenanceTile.vue'
 import QueueStatusBar from './QueueStatusBar.vue'
 const store = useMLStore()
 const busy = ref(false)
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/settings/MLThresholdSliders.vue b/frontend/src/components/settings/MLThresholdSliders.vue
index f0028ca..eb1a8de 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/settings/MLThresholdSliders.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/components/settings/MLThresholdSliders.vue
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 <template>
-  <v-card>
-    <v-card-title>Suggestion thresholds</v-card-title>
-    <v-card-text v-if="store.settings">
+  <MaintenanceTile
+    icon="mdi-tune"
+    title="Suggestion thresholds"
+    blurb="Confidence cutoffs that gate auto-suggested tags + video sampling."
+  >
+    <div v-if="store.settings">
       <v-row v-for="f in fields" :key="f.key">
         <v-col cols="12">
           <v-slider
@@ -63,15 +66,16 @@
           />
         </v-col>
       </v-row>
-    </v-card-text>
-    <v-card-text v-else><v-skeleton-loader type="paragraph" /></v-card-text>
-  </v-card>
+    </div>
+    <div v-else><v-skeleton-loader type="paragraph" /></div>
+  </MaintenanceTile>
 </template>
 
 <script setup>
 import { toast } from '../../utils/toast.js'
 import { reactive, watch } from 'vue'
 import { useMLStore } from '../../stores/ml.js'
+import MaintenanceTile from '../common/MaintenanceTile.vue'
 
 const store = useMLStore()
 // 'artist' (FC-2d-vii-c) and 'copyright' (2026-06-01) retired as
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/settings/MaintenancePanel.vue b/frontend/src/components/settings/MaintenancePanel.vue
index 5ad91c1..48cfcf9 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/settings/MaintenancePanel.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/components/settings/MaintenancePanel.vue
@@ -1,31 +1,43 @@
 <template>
   <div class="fc-maint">
-    <p class="text-body-2 mb-4">
-      Operational backfills and tagging controls. The ML backfill and centroid
-      recompute run nightly automatically; the allowlist auto-applies accepted
-      tags to new and existing images. Use the cards below to trigger a
-      one-off pass.
+    <p class="fc-muted text-body-2 mb-5">
+      One-off backfills, tagging config and storage tools. The ML backfill and
+      centroid recompute also run nightly; the allowlist auto-applies accepted
+      tags. Click a tile to open it.
     </p>
-    <div class="fc-maint__grid">
-      <MLBackfillCard />
-      <CentroidRecomputeCard />
-      <ThumbnailBackfillCard />
-    </div>
-    <MLThresholdSliders class="mt-4" />
-    <AllowlistTable class="mt-4" />
-    <AliasTable class="mt-4" />
-    <DbMaintenanceCard class="mt-6" />
-    <ArchiveReextractCard class="mt-6" />
-    <MissingFileRepairCard class="mt-6" />
-    <BackupCard class="mt-6" />
-    <!-- VideoDedupCard + GatedPurgeCard moved to the Cleanup tab (2026-06-18):
-         both are destructive content cleanup, so "remove unwanted stuff" now
-         lives in one place. -->
-    <!-- TODO(2026-06-18): tile-ify this tab's cards into sections too (pass 2). -->
-    <!-- TagMaintenanceCard moved to Cleanup tab (v26.05.25.7) — it
-         operates on the existing library which fits the Cleanup-tab
-         theme, and clusters with the other audit cards. LegacyMigrationCard
-         removed once the one-and-done GS/IR migration cutover completed. -->
+
+    <section class="fc-section">
+      <h3 class="fc-section__title">Backfills &amp; reprocessing</h3>
+      <p class="fc-section__hint">Re-run tagging, thumbnails, extraction and DB upkeep.</p>
+      <div class="fc-tile-grid">
+        <MLBackfillCard />
+        <CentroidRecomputeCard />
+        <ThumbnailBackfillCard />
+        <ArchiveReextractCard />
+        <MissingFileRepairCard />
+        <DbMaintenanceCard />
+      </div>
+    </section>
+
+    <section class="fc-section">
+      <h3 class="fc-section__title">Tagging</h3>
+      <p class="fc-section__hint">
+        Suggestion thresholds, the auto-apply allowlist and tag aliases.
+      </p>
+      <div class="fc-tile-stack">
+        <MLThresholdSliders />
+        <AllowlistTable />
+        <AliasTable />
+      </div>
+    </section>
+
+    <section class="fc-section">
+      <h3 class="fc-section__title">Storage</h3>
+      <p class="fc-section__hint">Database + image backups and restore.</p>
+      <div class="fc-tile-stack">
+        <BackupCard />
+      </div>
+    </section>
   </div>
 </template>
 
@@ -35,18 +47,18 @@ import { onMounted, onUnmounted } from 'vue'
 import MLBackfillCard from './MLBackfillCard.vue'
 import CentroidRecomputeCard from './CentroidRecomputeCard.vue'
 import ThumbnailBackfillCard from './ThumbnailBackfillCard.vue'
+import ArchiveReextractCard from './ArchiveReextractCard.vue'
+import MissingFileRepairCard from './MissingFileRepairCard.vue'
+import DbMaintenanceCard from './DbMaintenanceCard.vue'
 import MLThresholdSliders from './MLThresholdSliders.vue'
 import AllowlistTable from './AllowlistTable.vue'
 import AliasTable from './AliasTable.vue'
-import DbMaintenanceCard from './DbMaintenanceCard.vue'
-import ArchiveReextractCard from './ArchiveReextractCard.vue'
-import MissingFileRepairCard from './MissingFileRepairCard.vue'
 import BackupCard from './BackupCard.vue'
 import { useSystemActivityStore } from '../../stores/systemActivity.js'
 
-// Poll queue depths so each card's QueueStatusBar shows live pending
-// counts — the operator can see a backfill is already queued/running
-// before re-triggering it.
+// Poll queue depths so each task tile's QueueStatusBar shows live pending
+// counts — the operator can see a backfill is already queued/running before
+// re-triggering it.
 const activity = useSystemActivityStore()
 let qTimer = null
 onMounted(() => {
@@ -61,9 +73,29 @@ onUnmounted(() => {
 </script>
 
 <style scoped>
-.fc-maint__grid {
+.fc-section { margin-bottom: 24px; }
+.fc-section__title {
+  font-size: 0.78rem;
+  font-weight: 700;
+  letter-spacing: 0.06em;
+  text-transform: uppercase;
+  color: rgb(var(--v-theme-accent));
+  margin-bottom: 2px;
+}
+.fc-section__hint {
+  font-size: 0.8rem;
+  color: rgb(var(--v-theme-on-surface-variant));
+  margin-bottom: 12px;
+}
+.fc-tile-grid {
   display: grid;
   grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fit, minmax(280px, 1fr));
-  gap: 16px;
+  gap: 14px;
+  align-items: start;
+}
+.fc-tile-stack {
+  display: flex;
+  flex-direction: column;
+  gap: 12px;
 }
 </style>
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/settings/MissingFileRepairCard.vue b/frontend/src/components/settings/MissingFileRepairCard.vue
index 8100a45..301c320 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/settings/MissingFileRepairCard.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/components/settings/MissingFileRepairCard.vue
@@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
 <template>
   <!-- #859: delete ImageRecords whose backing file is gone from disk (orphans
        left by the external-attach unlink bug) so they stop 404-ing on playback. -->
-  <v-card>
-    <v-card-title>Repair missing-file records</v-card-title>
-    <v-card-text>
+  <MaintenanceTile
+    icon="mdi-file-remove-outline"
+    title="Repair missing files"
+    blurb="Remove records whose file is gone from disk."
+    :open="busy"
+  >
       <p class="text-body-2 mb-3">
         Scans every image/video record and removes any whose underlying file is
         gone from disk — orphaned records that otherwise 404 when you open the
@@ -16,8 +19,7 @@
       </v-btn>
       <span v-if="queued" class="ml-3 text-caption text-success">Queued ✓</span>
       <QueueStatusBar queue="maintenance" queue-label="Maintenance" />
-    </v-card-text>
-  </v-card>
+  </MaintenanceTile>
 </template>
 
 <script setup>
@@ -25,6 +27,7 @@ import { ref } from 'vue'
 
 import { useApi } from '../../composables/useApi.js'
 import { toast } from '../../utils/toast.js'
+import MaintenanceTile from '../common/MaintenanceTile.vue'
 import QueueStatusBar from './QueueStatusBar.vue'
 
 const api = useApi()
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/settings/ThumbnailBackfillCard.vue b/frontend/src/components/settings/ThumbnailBackfillCard.vue
index fa23034..7711a37 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/settings/ThumbnailBackfillCard.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/components/settings/ThumbnailBackfillCard.vue
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 <template>
-  <v-card>
-    <v-card-title>Thumbnail backfill</v-card-title>
-    <v-card-text>
+  <MaintenanceTile
+    icon="mdi-image-refresh"
+    title="Thumbnail backfill"
+    blurb="Regenerate missing or broken thumbnails."
+    :open="busy"
+  >
       <p class="text-body-2 mb-3">
         Scan the library for images with no thumbnail, or whose thumbnail file
         is missing or corrupt on disk. Repair candidates are re-enqueued for
@@ -19,14 +22,14 @@
         · {{ result.ok }} ok
       </span>
       <QueueStatusBar queue="thumbnail" queue-label="Thumbnail" />
-    </v-card-text>
-  </v-card>
+  </MaintenanceTile>
 </template>
 
 <script setup>
 import { toast } from '../../utils/toast.js'
 import { ref } from 'vue'
 import { useThumbnailsStore } from '../../stores/thumbnails.js'
+import MaintenanceTile from '../common/MaintenanceTile.vue'
 import QueueStatusBar from './QueueStatusBar.vue'
 const store = useThumbnailsStore()
 const busy = ref(false)
diff --git a/frontend/src/views/CleanupView.vue b/frontend/src/views/CleanupView.vue
index 20310f5..e45a4b5 100644
--- a/frontend/src/views/CleanupView.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/views/CleanupView.vue
@@ -53,7 +53,8 @@ import TagMaintenanceCard from '../components/settings/TagMaintenanceCard.vue'
 </script>
 
 <style scoped>
-.fc-cleanup { max-width: 1100px; }
+/* width is capped + centered by SettingsView's .fc-settings container */
+.fc-cleanup { max-width: 100%; }
 .fc-section { margin-bottom: 28px; }
 .fc-section__title {
   font-size: 0.78rem;
diff --git a/frontend/src/views/SettingsView.vue b/frontend/src/views/SettingsView.vue
index 2a2a977..dd146d2 100644
--- a/frontend/src/views/SettingsView.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/views/SettingsView.vue
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 <template>
-  <v-container fluid class="pt-2 pb-6">
+  <!-- Centered, width-capped column so the tab strip + every panel sit in a
+       tidy centered measure rather than stretching full-width (operator
+       2026-06-18). v-container is margin-auto by default; the cap keeps long
+       maintenance/import panels readable. -->
+  <v-container class="pt-2 pb-6 fc-settings">
     <!-- Sticky tabs: operator-flagged 2026-05-25 — long Import / Maintenance
          panels pushed the tab strip out of the viewport, forcing a scroll-
          to-top just to change tab. AppShell's TopNav is 64px sticky, so the
@@ -125,3 +129,10 @@ watch(tab, (t) => {
   }
 })
 </script>
+
+<style scoped>
+/* Centered, capped measure for the whole Settings surface (tabs + panels). */
+.fc-settings {
+  max-width: 1140px;
+}
+</style>