From 384e2d1401ed1df7fa7b8b036ef410667e59d4c4 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sankalp-Mittal <sankalp.mittal@databricks.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2026 14:01:14 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 01/24] Add acceptance test for inline serialized_dashboard

Prove that a dashboard whose serialized_dashboard is an inline YAML map
(not a string) plans and deploys correctly, and record that the map is
sent to the API as a JSON string. Both engines produce identical output.

Co-authored-by: Isaac <no-reply@databricks.com>
---
 .../serialized-inline/databricks.yml.tmpl     | 12 ++++++
 .../serialized-inline/out.test.toml           |  3 ++
 .../dashboards/serialized-inline/output.txt   | 39 +++++++++++++++++++
 .../dashboards/serialized-inline/script       | 19 +++++++++
 .../dashboards/serialized-inline/test.toml    |  8 ++++
 5 files changed, 81 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/databricks.yml.tmpl
 create mode 100644 acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/out.test.toml
 create mode 100644 acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/output.txt
 create mode 100644 acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/script
 create mode 100644 acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/test.toml

diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/databricks.yml.tmpl b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/databricks.yml.tmpl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ca96f9fcf14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/databricks.yml.tmpl
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+bundle:
+  name: dashboard-serialized-inline-$UNIQUE_NAME
+
+resources:
+  dashboards:
+    inline_dash:
+      display_name: Inline Dash
+      warehouse_id: $TEST_DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE_ID
+      serialized_dashboard:        # inline YAML MAP = the non-string case
+        pages:
+          - name: page1
+            displayName: Page 1
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/out.test.toml b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/out.test.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..cef45fe553a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/out.test.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Cloud = true
+EnvMatrix.DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE = ["terraform", "direct"]
+EnvMatrix.DMS = ["", "true"]
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/output.txt b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/output.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..389e62fcdeb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/output.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+
+>>> [CLI] bundle plan
+create dashboards.inline_dash
+
+Plan: 1 to add, 0 to change, 0 to delete, 0 unchanged
+
+>>> [CLI] bundle deploy
+Uploading bundle files to /Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/dashboard-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/files...
+Created dashboards.inline_dash
+Files: 6 uploaded, 0 deleted
+Resources: 1 created, 0 changed, 0 deleted, 0 unchanged
+
+>>> print_requests.py //api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards
+{
+  "method": "POST",
+  "path": "/api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards",
+  "body": {
+    "display_name": "Inline Dash",
+    "parent_path": "/Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/dashboard-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/resources",
+    "serialized_dashboard": "{\"pages\":[{\"displayName\":\"Page 1\",\"name\":\"page1\"}]}",
+    "warehouse_id": "[TEST_DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE_ID]"
+  }
+}
+{
+  "method": "POST",
+  "path": "/api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards/[DASHBOARD_ID]/published",
+  "body": {
+    "embed_credentials": false,
+    "warehouse_id": "[TEST_DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE_ID]"
+  }
+}
+
+>>> [CLI] bundle destroy --auto-approve
+The following resources will be deleted:
+  delete resources.dashboards.inline_dash
+
+All files and directories at the following location will be deleted: /Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/dashboard-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default
+
+Destroy: 1 deleted
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/script b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/script
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..04ca23512e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/script
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+envsubst < databricks.yml.tmpl > databricks.yml
+
+cleanup() {
+    trace $CLI bundle destroy --auto-approve
+    rm out.requests.txt
+}
+trap cleanup EXIT
+
+trace $CLI bundle plan
+trace $CLI bundle deploy
+
+# Normalize the non-deterministic dashboard ID so the published-dashboard request
+# path is stable across engines and runs.
+dashboard_id=$($CLI bundle summary --output json | jq -r '.resources.dashboards.inline_dash.id')
+add_repl "$dashboard_id" DASHBOARD_ID
+
+# serialized_dashboard is authored as an inline YAML map but must reach the API as a
+# JSON *string*, not a nested object. Record the create request to prove that.
+trace print_requests.py //api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/test.toml b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/test.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a5edf8715ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/test.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+Ignore = [
+    "databricks.yml",
+]
+
+# This test does no read-after-deploy, so the inherited eventual-consistency stale GET
+# is unnecessary. With it enabled, the direct-engine destroy's first GET 404s and reports
+# "0 deleted", diverging from terraform. Disable it so both engines destroy identically.
+Env.INJECT_STALE_ON_DIRECT = "0"

From b806ba114728daf8454c296c31e6ee3ddbe14639 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sankalp-Mittal <sankalp.mittal@databricks.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2026 14:10:42 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 02/24] Add acceptance test for changing an inline
 serialized_dashboard

Deploy a dashboard whose serialized_dashboard is an inline YAML map, then
change a value inside the map and show the plan: the change is detected as
an update (not a recreate). Capture the update request the direct engine
sends, which serializes the inline map to a JSON string.

Co-authored-by: Isaac <no-reply@databricks.com>
---
 .../databricks.yml.tmpl                       | 12 ++++++
 .../out.requests.direct.txt                   | 18 +++++++++
 .../change-serialized-inline/out.test.toml    |  3 ++
 .../change-serialized-inline/output.txt       | 25 ++++++++++++
 .../change-serialized-inline/script           | 38 +++++++++++++++++++
 .../change-serialized-inline/test.toml        |  3 ++
 6 files changed, 99 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/databricks.yml.tmpl
 create mode 100644 acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.requests.direct.txt
 create mode 100644 acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.test.toml
 create mode 100644 acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/output.txt
 create mode 100644 acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
 create mode 100644 acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml

diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/databricks.yml.tmpl b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/databricks.yml.tmpl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c5f5494f367
--- /dev/null
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/databricks.yml.tmpl
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+bundle:
+  name: change-serialized-inline-$UNIQUE_NAME
+
+resources:
+  dashboards:
+    inline_dash:
+      display_name: Inline Dash
+      warehouse_id: $TEST_DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE_ID
+      serialized_dashboard:        # inline YAML MAP = the non-string case
+        pages:
+          - name: page1
+            displayName: $PAGE_DISPLAY_NAME
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.requests.direct.txt b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.requests.direct.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..763f6fc22c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.requests.direct.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+{
+  "method": "PATCH",
+  "path": "/api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards/[DASHBOARD_ID]",
+  "body": {
+    "display_name": "Inline Dash",
+    "parent_path": "/Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/resources",
+    "serialized_dashboard": "{\"pages\":[{\"displayName\":\"Page One\",\"name\":\"page1\"}]}",
+    "warehouse_id": "[TEST_DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE_ID]"
+  }
+}
+{
+  "method": "POST",
+  "path": "/api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards/[DASHBOARD_ID]/published",
+  "body": {
+    "embed_credentials": false,
+    "warehouse_id": "[TEST_DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE_ID]"
+  }
+}
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.test.toml b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.test.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..cef45fe553a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.test.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Cloud = true
+EnvMatrix.DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE = ["terraform", "direct"]
+EnvMatrix.DMS = ["", "true"]
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/output.txt b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/output.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e41d7092757
--- /dev/null
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/output.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+
+>>> [CLI] bundle deploy
+Uploading bundle files to /Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/files...
+Created dashboards.inline_dash
+Files: 6 uploaded, 0 deleted
+Resources: 1 created, 0 changed, 0 deleted, 0 unchanged
+
+>>> [CLI] bundle plan
+update dashboards.inline_dash
+
+Plan: 0 to add, 1 to change, 0 to delete, 0 unchanged
+
+>>> [CLI] bundle deploy
+Uploading bundle files to /Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/files...
+Updated dashboards.inline_dash
+Files: 3 uploaded, 0 deleted
+Resources: 0 created, 1 changed, 0 deleted, 0 unchanged
+
+>>> [CLI] bundle destroy --auto-approve
+The following resources will be deleted:
+  delete resources.dashboards.inline_dash
+
+All files and directories at the following location will be deleted: /Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default
+
+Destroy: 1 deleted
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8f10ff62903
--- /dev/null
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+cleanup() {
+    trace $CLI bundle destroy --auto-approve
+    rm -f out.requests.txt
+}
+trap cleanup EXIT
+
+# Deploy a dashboard whose serialized_dashboard is an inline YAML map.
+export PAGE_DISPLAY_NAME="Page 1"
+envsubst < databricks.yml.tmpl > databricks.yml
+trace $CLI bundle deploy
+
+dashboard_id=$($CLI bundle summary --output json | jq -r '.resources.dashboards.inline_dash.id')
+add_repl "$dashboard_id" DASHBOARD_ID
+
+# Wait out eventual consistency so the change below is planned against the deployed
+# state (the first read of a freshly created dashboard 404s on the direct engine).
+retry --until "Page 1" $CLI lakeview get "$dashboard_id" > /dev/null
+
+# Change a value *inside* the inline serialized_dashboard, then show the plan. The
+# change must be detected as an update to the existing dashboard, not a recreate.
+export PAGE_DISPLAY_NAME="Page One"
+envsubst < databricks.yml.tmpl > databricks.yml
+trace $CLI bundle plan
+
+# Discard the requests from the initial deploy so the recording below shows only what
+# deploying the change sends. Direct only: terraform echoes OUTPUT_ONLY fields in the
+# request body, and the direct engine is the default we care about here.
+if [ "$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE" = "direct" ]; then
+    print_requests.py //api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards > /dev/null
+fi
+
+# Deploy the change. The update serializes the inline YAML map to a JSON string, same
+# as create.
+trace $CLI bundle deploy
+
+if [ "$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE" = "direct" ]; then
+    print_requests.py //api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards > out.requests.direct.txt
+fi
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..17383eac468
--- /dev/null
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Ignore = [
+    "databricks.yml",
+]

From aba995ffcadf41ffd559fff2814ab144263965b4 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sankalp-Mittal <sankalp.mittal@databricks.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2026 14:17:11 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 03/24] Output the JSON plan and drop request capture in change
 test

Show the machine-readable plan (per engine) for the serialized_dashboard
change instead of recording the update request.

Co-authored-by: Isaac <no-reply@databricks.com>
---
 .../out.plan.direct.json                      | 95 +++++++++++++++++++
 .../out.plan.terraform.json                   |  8 ++
 .../out.requests.direct.txt                   | 18 ----
 .../change-serialized-inline/output.txt       |  8 +-
 .../change-serialized-inline/script           | 18 +---
 .../change-serialized-inline/test.toml        |  1 +
 6 files changed, 109 insertions(+), 39 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.direct.json
 create mode 100644 acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.terraform.json
 delete mode 100644 acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.requests.direct.txt

diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.direct.json b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.direct.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b9244b3ab9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.direct.json
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+{
+  "plan_version": 2,
+  "cli_version": "[CLI_VERSION]",
+  "lineage": "[UUID]",
+  "serial": 1,
+  "plan": {
+    "resources.dashboards.inline_dash": {
+      "action": "update",
+      "new_state": {
+        "value": {
+          "display_name": "Inline Dash",
+          "embed_credentials": false,
+          "parent_path": "/Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/resources",
+          "published": true,
+          "serialized_dashboard": {
+            "pages": [
+              {
+                "displayName": "Page One",
+                "name": "page1"
+              }
+            ]
+          },
+          "warehouse_id": "[TEST_DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE_ID]"
+        }
+      },
+      "remote_state": {
+        "create_time": "[TIMESTAMP]",
+        "dashboard_id": "[DASHBOARD_ID]",
+        "display_name": "Inline Dash",
+        "embed_credentials": false,
+        "etag": "[NUMID]",
+        "lifecycle_state": "ACTIVE",
+        "parent_path": "/Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/resources",
+        "path": "/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/resources/Inline Dash.lvdash.json",
+        "published": true,
+        "serialized_dashboard": "{\"pages\":[{\"displayName\":\"Page 1\",\"name\":\"page1\",\"pageType\":\"PAGE_TYPE_CANVAS\"}]}\n",
+        "update_time": "[TIMESTAMP]",
+        "warehouse_id": "[TEST_DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE_ID]"
+      },
+      "changes": {
+        "create_time": {
+          "action": "skip",
+          "reason": "spec:output_only",
+          "remote": "[TIMESTAMP]"
+        },
+        "dashboard_id": {
+          "action": "skip",
+          "reason": "spec:output_only",
+          "remote": "[DASHBOARD_ID]"
+        },
+        "etag": {
+          "action": "skip",
+          "reason": "custom",
+          "old": "[NUMID]",
+          "remote": "[NUMID]"
+        },
+        "lifecycle_state": {
+          "action": "skip",
+          "reason": "spec:output_only",
+          "remote": "ACTIVE"
+        },
+        "path": {
+          "action": "skip",
+          "reason": "spec:output_only",
+          "remote": "/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/resources/Inline Dash.lvdash.json"
+        },
+        "serialized_dashboard": {
+          "action": "update",
+          "old": {
+            "pages": [
+              {
+                "displayName": "Page 1",
+                "name": "page1"
+              }
+            ]
+          },
+          "new": {
+            "pages": [
+              {
+                "displayName": "Page One",
+                "name": "page1"
+              }
+            ]
+          },
+          "remote": "{\"pages\":[{\"displayName\":\"Page 1\",\"name\":\"page1\",\"pageType\":\"PAGE_TYPE_CANVAS\"}]}\n"
+        },
+        "update_time": {
+          "action": "skip",
+          "reason": "spec:output_only",
+          "remote": "[TIMESTAMP]"
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.terraform.json b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.terraform.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7795272689a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.terraform.json
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+{
+  "cli_version": "[CLI_VERSION]",
+  "plan": {
+    "resources.dashboards.inline_dash": {
+      "action": "update"
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.requests.direct.txt b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.requests.direct.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 763f6fc22c7..00000000000
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.requests.direct.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,18 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "method": "PATCH",
-  "path": "/api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards/[DASHBOARD_ID]",
-  "body": {
-    "display_name": "Inline Dash",
-    "parent_path": "/Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/resources",
-    "serialized_dashboard": "{\"pages\":[{\"displayName\":\"Page One\",\"name\":\"page1\"}]}",
-    "warehouse_id": "[TEST_DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE_ID]"
-  }
-}
-{
-  "method": "POST",
-  "path": "/api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards/[DASHBOARD_ID]/published",
-  "body": {
-    "embed_credentials": false,
-    "warehouse_id": "[TEST_DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE_ID]"
-  }
-}
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/output.txt b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/output.txt
index e41d7092757..c675206603d 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/output.txt
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/output.txt
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 >>> [CLI] bundle deploy
 Uploading bundle files to /Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/files...
 Created dashboards.inline_dash
-Files: 6 uploaded, 0 deleted
+Files: 5 uploaded, 0 deleted
 Resources: 1 created, 0 changed, 0 deleted, 0 unchanged
 
 >>> [CLI] bundle plan
@@ -10,11 +10,7 @@ update dashboards.inline_dash
 
 Plan: 0 to add, 1 to change, 0 to delete, 0 unchanged
 
->>> [CLI] bundle deploy
-Uploading bundle files to /Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/files...
-Updated dashboards.inline_dash
-Files: 3 uploaded, 0 deleted
-Resources: 0 created, 1 changed, 0 deleted, 0 unchanged
+>>> [CLI] bundle plan -o json
 
 >>> [CLI] bundle destroy --auto-approve
 The following resources will be deleted:
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
index 8f10ff62903..eb5592ec881 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 cleanup() {
     trace $CLI bundle destroy --auto-approve
-    rm -f out.requests.txt
 }
 trap cleanup EXIT
 
@@ -22,17 +21,6 @@ export PAGE_DISPLAY_NAME="Page One"
 envsubst < databricks.yml.tmpl > databricks.yml
 trace $CLI bundle plan
 
-# Discard the requests from the initial deploy so the recording below shows only what
-# deploying the change sends. Direct only: terraform echoes OUTPUT_ONLY fields in the
-# request body, and the direct engine is the default we care about here.
-if [ "$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE" = "direct" ]; then
-    print_requests.py //api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards > /dev/null
-fi
-
-# Deploy the change. The update serializes the inline YAML map to a JSON string, same
-# as create.
-trace $CLI bundle deploy
-
-if [ "$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE" = "direct" ]; then
-    print_requests.py //api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards > out.requests.direct.txt
-fi
+# Capture the machine-readable plan too. The plan structure differs between engines,
+# so each engine writes its own file.
+trace $CLI bundle plan -o json > out.plan.$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE.json
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml
index 17383eac468..3c873441e45 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 Ignore = [
     "databricks.yml",
 ]
+RecordRequests = false

From 0e491079a6e3236d32906d1419d7acc015444843 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sankalp-Mittal <sankalp.mittal@databricks.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2026 18:34:02 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 04/24] Stop overriding INJECT_STALE_ON_DIRECT in
 serialized-inline test

The direct-engine destroy 404s on the injected stale GET and reports
"0 deleted" while terraform reports "1 deleted". That divergence is only
in the cleanup step, so route destroy output to a LOG file instead of
disabling the inherited stale-GET simulation.

Co-authored-by: Isaac <no-reply@databricks.com>
---
 .../resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/output.txt     | 8 --------
 .../bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/script  | 7 +++++--
 .../resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/test.toml      | 5 -----
 3 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 15 deletions(-)

diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/output.txt b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/output.txt
index 389e62fcdeb..5fbda9f2d9e 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/output.txt
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/output.txt
@@ -29,11 +29,3 @@ Resources: 1 created, 0 changed, 0 deleted, 0 unchanged
     "warehouse_id": "[TEST_DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE_ID]"
   }
 }
-
->>> [CLI] bundle destroy --auto-approve
-The following resources will be deleted:
-  delete resources.dashboards.inline_dash
-
-All files and directories at the following location will be deleted: /Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/dashboard-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default
-
-Destroy: 1 deleted
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/script b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/script
index 04ca23512e0..befe8c09248 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/script
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/script
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 envsubst < databricks.yml.tmpl > databricks.yml
 
 cleanup() {
-    trace $CLI bundle destroy --auto-approve
-    rm out.requests.txt
+    # Cleanup only. The direct engine's destroy 404s on the injected stale GET and
+    # reports "0 deleted" while terraform reports "1 deleted", so keep it out of the
+    # compared output.
+    $CLI bundle destroy --auto-approve &> LOG.destroy
+    rm -f out.requests.txt
 }
 trap cleanup EXIT
 
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/test.toml b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/test.toml
index a5edf8715ad..17383eac468 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/test.toml
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/test.toml
@@ -1,8 +1,3 @@
 Ignore = [
     "databricks.yml",
 ]
-
-# This test does no read-after-deploy, so the inherited eventual-consistency stale GET
-# is unnecessary. With it enabled, the direct-engine destroy's first GET 404s and reports
-# "0 deleted", diverging from terraform. Disable it so both engines destroy identically.
-Env.INJECT_STALE_ON_DIRECT = "0"

From 25cd3863626a5c05830aaf69e4ccb5069e8f3c92 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sankalp-Mittal <sankalp.mittal@databricks.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2026 18:46:36 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 05/24] Address review: update_file.py, READPLAN, and capture
 the update request

- Change the inline serialized_dashboard value with update_file.py, which
  asserts if the target text is missing instead of silently no-op-ing.
- Deploy the change and test the READPLAN matrix (in-memory vs saved plan);
  both send the same update request.
- Capture the direct-engine update request alongside the per-engine JSON plans.

Co-authored-by: Isaac <no-reply@databricks.com>
---
 .../databricks.yml.tmpl                       |  2 +-
 .../out.requests.direct.txt                   | 18 ++++++++++++
 .../change-serialized-inline/out.test.toml    |  1 +
 .../change-serialized-inline/output.txt       |  8 ++++-
 .../change-serialized-inline/script           | 29 ++++++++++++++-----
 .../change-serialized-inline/test.toml        |  3 +-
 6 files changed, 51 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.requests.direct.txt

diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/databricks.yml.tmpl b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/databricks.yml.tmpl
index c5f5494f367..0942aa4f690 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/databricks.yml.tmpl
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/databricks.yml.tmpl
@@ -9,4 +9,4 @@ resources:
       serialized_dashboard:        # inline YAML MAP = the non-string case
         pages:
           - name: page1
-            displayName: $PAGE_DISPLAY_NAME
+            displayName: Page 1
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.requests.direct.txt b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.requests.direct.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..763f6fc22c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.requests.direct.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+{
+  "method": "PATCH",
+  "path": "/api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards/[DASHBOARD_ID]",
+  "body": {
+    "display_name": "Inline Dash",
+    "parent_path": "/Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/resources",
+    "serialized_dashboard": "{\"pages\":[{\"displayName\":\"Page One\",\"name\":\"page1\"}]}",
+    "warehouse_id": "[TEST_DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE_ID]"
+  }
+}
+{
+  "method": "POST",
+  "path": "/api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards/[DASHBOARD_ID]/published",
+  "body": {
+    "embed_credentials": false,
+    "warehouse_id": "[TEST_DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE_ID]"
+  }
+}
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.test.toml b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.test.toml
index cef45fe553a..b1bef937a27 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.test.toml
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.test.toml
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 Cloud = true
 EnvMatrix.DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE = ["terraform", "direct"]
 EnvMatrix.DMS = ["", "true"]
+EnvMatrix.READPLAN = ["", "1"]
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/output.txt b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/output.txt
index c675206603d..ca5a2744eaf 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/output.txt
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/output.txt
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 >>> [CLI] bundle deploy
 Uploading bundle files to /Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/files...
 Created dashboards.inline_dash
-Files: 5 uploaded, 0 deleted
+Files: 6 uploaded, 0 deleted
 Resources: 1 created, 0 changed, 0 deleted, 0 unchanged
 
 >>> [CLI] bundle plan
@@ -12,6 +12,12 @@ Plan: 0 to add, 1 to change, 0 to delete, 0 unchanged
 
 >>> [CLI] bundle plan -o json
 
+=== deploy the change
+Uploading bundle files to /Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/files...
+Updated dashboards.inline_dash
+Files: 4 uploaded, 0 deleted
+Resources: 0 created, 1 changed, 0 deleted, 0 unchanged
+
 >>> [CLI] bundle destroy --auto-approve
 The following resources will be deleted:
   delete resources.dashboards.inline_dash
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
index eb5592ec881..b6d5bff961b 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 cleanup() {
     trace $CLI bundle destroy --auto-approve
+    rm -f out.requests.txt
 }
 trap cleanup EXIT
 
 # Deploy a dashboard whose serialized_dashboard is an inline YAML map.
-export PAGE_DISPLAY_NAME="Page 1"
 envsubst < databricks.yml.tmpl > databricks.yml
 trace $CLI bundle deploy
 
@@ -15,12 +15,27 @@ add_repl "$dashboard_id" DASHBOARD_ID
 # state (the first read of a freshly created dashboard 404s on the direct engine).
 retry --until "Page 1" $CLI lakeview get "$dashboard_id" > /dev/null
 
-# Change a value *inside* the inline serialized_dashboard, then show the plan. The
-# change must be detected as an update to the existing dashboard, not a recreate.
-export PAGE_DISPLAY_NAME="Page One"
-envsubst < databricks.yml.tmpl > databricks.yml
+# Change a value *inside* the inline serialized_dashboard. update_file.py asserts if the
+# text is missing, so a broken test fails loudly instead of silently doing nothing.
+update_file.py databricks.yml "Page 1" "Page One"
+
+# The change must be detected as an update to the existing dashboard, not a recreate.
 trace $CLI bundle plan
 
-# Capture the machine-readable plan too. The plan structure differs between engines,
-# so each engine writes its own file.
+# Machine-readable plan (per engine); also fed to the READPLAN=1 deploy below.
 trace $CLI bundle plan -o json > out.plan.$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE.json
+
+# Discard the requests from the initial deploy so the capture below shows only what
+# deploying the change sends (direct only; terraform echoes OUTPUT_ONLY fields).
+if [ "$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE" = "direct" ]; then
+    print_requests.py //api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards > /dev/null
+fi
+
+# Deploy the change, in-memory (READPLAN="") or from the saved plan (READPLAN="1"). A
+# saved-plan deploy must send the same request as an in-memory one.
+title "deploy the change\n"
+$CLI bundle deploy $(readplanarg out.plan.$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE.json)
+
+if [ "$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE" = "direct" ]; then
+    print_requests.py //api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards > out.requests.direct.txt
+fi
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml
index 3c873441e45..eb67230b265 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 Ignore = [
     "databricks.yml",
 ]
-RecordRequests = false
+
+EnvMatrix.READPLAN = ["", "1"]

From 2cd393434417e00afa0bc372f3ac3a9950af0bcd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sankalp-Mittal <sankalp.mittal@databricks.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2026 18:48:19 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 06/24] Trim verbose comments in the serialized-inline test
 scripts

Co-authored-by: Isaac <no-reply@databricks.com>
---
 .../dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script | 18 +++++++-----------
 .../dashboards/serialized-inline/script        | 10 +++-------
 2 files changed, 10 insertions(+), 18 deletions(-)

diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
index b6d5bff961b..2ad282edd7c 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
@@ -4,35 +4,31 @@ cleanup() {
 }
 trap cleanup EXIT
 
-# Deploy a dashboard whose serialized_dashboard is an inline YAML map.
+# Deploy an inline-YAML-map dashboard.
 envsubst < databricks.yml.tmpl > databricks.yml
 trace $CLI bundle deploy
 
 dashboard_id=$($CLI bundle summary --output json | jq -r '.resources.dashboards.inline_dash.id')
 add_repl "$dashboard_id" DASHBOARD_ID
 
-# Wait out eventual consistency so the change below is planned against the deployed
-# state (the first read of a freshly created dashboard 404s on the direct engine).
+# Wait out eventual consistency (direct's first read 404s) before changing.
 retry --until "Page 1" $CLI lakeview get "$dashboard_id" > /dev/null
 
-# Change a value *inside* the inline serialized_dashboard. update_file.py asserts if the
-# text is missing, so a broken test fails loudly instead of silently doing nothing.
+# Change a value inside the map; update_file.py asserts if the text is missing.
 update_file.py databricks.yml "Page 1" "Page One"
 
-# The change must be detected as an update to the existing dashboard, not a recreate.
+# Should be detected as an update, not a recreate.
 trace $CLI bundle plan
 
-# Machine-readable plan (per engine); also fed to the READPLAN=1 deploy below.
+# Per-engine JSON plan; also the saved plan for READPLAN=1.
 trace $CLI bundle plan -o json > out.plan.$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE.json
 
-# Discard the requests from the initial deploy so the capture below shows only what
-# deploying the change sends (direct only; terraform echoes OUTPUT_ONLY fields).
+# Drop initial-deploy requests so we capture only the change (direct only).
 if [ "$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE" = "direct" ]; then
     print_requests.py //api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards > /dev/null
 fi
 
-# Deploy the change, in-memory (READPLAN="") or from the saved plan (READPLAN="1"). A
-# saved-plan deploy must send the same request as an in-memory one.
+# Deploy the change: in-memory (READPLAN="") or from the saved plan (READPLAN="1").
 title "deploy the change\n"
 $CLI bundle deploy $(readplanarg out.plan.$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE.json)
 
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/script b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/script
index befe8c09248..1cbe3b8b0df 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/script
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/script
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 envsubst < databricks.yml.tmpl > databricks.yml
 
 cleanup() {
-    # Cleanup only. The direct engine's destroy 404s on the injected stale GET and
-    # reports "0 deleted" while terraform reports "1 deleted", so keep it out of the
-    # compared output.
+    # Cleanup; direct's destroy 404s on the stale GET and diverges, so keep it out of the diff.
     $CLI bundle destroy --auto-approve &> LOG.destroy
     rm -f out.requests.txt
 }
@@ -12,11 +10,9 @@ trap cleanup EXIT
 trace $CLI bundle plan
 trace $CLI bundle deploy
 
-# Normalize the non-deterministic dashboard ID so the published-dashboard request
-# path is stable across engines and runs.
+# Stabilize the non-deterministic dashboard ID in recorded requests.
 dashboard_id=$($CLI bundle summary --output json | jq -r '.resources.dashboards.inline_dash.id')
 add_repl "$dashboard_id" DASHBOARD_ID
 
-# serialized_dashboard is authored as an inline YAML map but must reach the API as a
-# JSON *string*, not a nested object. Record the create request to prove that.
+# Prove the inline YAML map reaches the API as a JSON string.
 trace print_requests.py //api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards

From 484300e1d3b28b76bfcacc1984cea9e076089a57 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sankalp-Mittal <sankalp.mittal@databricks.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2026 18:53:22 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 07/24] Serialize inline serialized_dashboard to a JSON string
 early

Marshal an inline (structured) serialized_dashboard to a JSON string in
phases.Initialize, mirroring ConfigureGenieSpaceSerializedSpace, so the value is
always a plain string downstream. A map left in config vs a JSON round-trip in
state decode ints differently (Go int vs float64), which made the direct engine
report false serialized_dashboard drift on every plan; the remote also comes
back serialized, so a deep diff can't converge.

- ConfigureDashboardSerializedDashboard now rejects setting both file_path and
  serialized_dashboard, and marshals an inline map/sequence to a JSON string
  (string/nil pass through, other kinds error). Keeps the file_path read.
- prepareDashboardRequest and the tfdyn converter now assume a string; the
  map-marshal branches are removed.

Co-authored-by: Isaac <no-reply@databricks.com>
---
 .../out.plan.direct.json                      |  27 +---
 ...nfigure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard.go |  57 +++++++--
 ...re_dashboards_serialized_dashboard_test.go | 120 ++++++++++++++++++
 .../terraform/tfdyn/convert_dashboard.go      |  38 +-----
 .../terraform/tfdyn/convert_dashboard_test.go |  15 +--
 bundle/direct/dresources/all_test.go          |  16 +--
 bundle/direct/dresources/dashboard.go         |  21 ++-
 7 files changed, 190 insertions(+), 104 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard_test.go

diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.direct.json b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.direct.json
index b9244b3ab9d..e14ec2fba2a 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.direct.json
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.direct.json
@@ -12,14 +12,7 @@
           "embed_credentials": false,
           "parent_path": "/Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/resources",
           "published": true,
-          "serialized_dashboard": {
-            "pages": [
-              {
-                "displayName": "Page One",
-                "name": "page1"
-              }
-            ]
-          },
+          "serialized_dashboard": "{\"pages\":[{\"displayName\":\"Page One\",\"name\":\"page1\"}]}",
           "warehouse_id": "[TEST_DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE_ID]"
         }
       },
@@ -66,22 +59,8 @@
         },
         "serialized_dashboard": {
           "action": "update",
-          "old": {
-            "pages": [
-              {
-                "displayName": "Page 1",
-                "name": "page1"
-              }
-            ]
-          },
-          "new": {
-            "pages": [
-              {
-                "displayName": "Page One",
-                "name": "page1"
-              }
-            ]
-          },
+          "old": "{\"pages\":[{\"displayName\":\"Page 1\",\"name\":\"page1\"}]}",
+          "new": "{\"pages\":[{\"displayName\":\"Page One\",\"name\":\"page1\"}]}",
           "remote": "{\"pages\":[{\"displayName\":\"Page 1\",\"name\":\"page1\",\"pageType\":\"PAGE_TYPE_CANVAS\"}]}\n"
         },
         "update_time": {
diff --git a/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard.go b/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard.go
index 27b55403d88..4cab2c9ff9c 100644
--- a/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard.go
+++ b/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package resourcemutator
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 
 	"github.com/databricks/cli/bundle"
@@ -36,20 +37,54 @@ func (c configureDashboardSerializedDashboard) Apply(_ context.Context, b *bundl
 	// Configure serialized_dashboard field for all dashboards.
 	err := b.Config.Mutate(func(v dyn.Value) (dyn.Value, error) {
 		return dyn.MapByPattern(v, pattern, func(p dyn.Path, v dyn.Value) (dyn.Value, error) {
-			// Include "serialized_dashboard" field if "file_path" is set.
-			// Note: the Terraform resource supports "file_path" natively, but we read the contents of the dashboard here
-			// to be able to read file contents in Databricks Workspace (reading a dashboard file via file system fails there)
-			path, ok := v.Get(filePathFieldName).AsString()
-			if !ok {
-				return v, nil
-			}
+			filePath, hasFilePath := v.Get(filePathFieldName).AsString()
+			sd := v.Get(serializedDashboardFieldName)
 
-			contents, err := b.SyncRoot.ReadFile(path)
-			if err != nil {
-				return dyn.InvalidValue, fmt.Errorf("failed to read serialized dashboard from file_path %s: %w", path, err)
+			if hasFilePath {
+				// file_path and serialized_dashboard are two ways to provide the
+				// same content. Accepting both is ambiguous, so reject it instead
+				// of silently picking one.
+				if sd.IsValid() && sd.Kind() != dyn.KindNil {
+					diags = diags.Append(diag.Diagnostic{
+						Severity:  diag.Error,
+						Summary:   "both file_path and serialized_dashboard are set; specify only one",
+						Locations: sd.Locations(),
+					})
+					return v, nil
+				}
+				// Note: the Terraform resource supports "file_path" natively, but we read the contents of the dashboard here
+				// to be able to read file contents in Databricks Workspace (reading a dashboard file via file system fails there)
+				contents, err := b.SyncRoot.ReadFile(filePath)
+				if err != nil {
+					return dyn.InvalidValue, fmt.Errorf("failed to read serialized dashboard from file_path %s: %w", filePath, err)
+				}
+				return dyn.Set(v, serializedDashboardFieldName, dyn.V(string(contents)))
 			}
 
-			return dyn.Set(v, serializedDashboardFieldName, dyn.V(string(contents)))
+			// Marshal an inline structured serialized_dashboard to a JSON string so
+			// both config-side and state-side carry the same plain string.
+			// Otherwise YAML decodes small ints as Go `int` while state JSON
+			// round-trip decodes them as `float64`, and structdiff reports
+			// false drift on every plan.
+			switch sd.Kind() {
+			case dyn.KindInvalid, dyn.KindNil, dyn.KindString:
+				// KindInvalid means serialized_dashboard is absent (neither it nor
+				// file_path is set); leave it for backend validation to reject.
+				return v, nil
+			case dyn.KindMap, dyn.KindSequence:
+				jsonBytes, err := json.Marshal(sd.AsAny())
+				if err != nil {
+					return dyn.InvalidValue, fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal inline serialized_dashboard: %w", err)
+				}
+				return dyn.Set(v, serializedDashboardFieldName, dyn.V(string(jsonBytes)))
+			default:
+				diags = diags.Append(diag.Diagnostic{
+					Severity:  diag.Error,
+					Summary:   fmt.Sprintf("serialized_dashboard must be a string, map, or sequence, got %s", sd.Kind()),
+					Locations: sd.Locations(),
+				})
+				return v, nil
+			}
 		})
 	})
 
diff --git a/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard_test.go b/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7800e4741a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+package resourcemutator_test
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/databricks/cli/bundle"
+	"github.com/databricks/cli/bundle/config"
+	"github.com/databricks/cli/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator"
+	"github.com/databricks/cli/bundle/config/resources"
+	"github.com/databricks/cli/libs/vfs"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+func TestConfigureDashboardSerializedDashboard(t *testing.T) {
+	const fileName = "dashboard.lvdash.json"
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		name string
+		// filePath is set on the resource as-is (already sync-root-relative).
+		filePath string
+		// writeFile creates filePath with fileContents before the mutator runs.
+		writeFile           bool
+		fileContents        string
+		setSerialized       bool
+		serializedDashboard any
+		// wantSerialized is the expected serialized_dashboard after a successful run.
+		wantSerialized any
+		// wantErr, when non-empty, is a substring expected in the diagnostics.
+		wantErr string
+	}{
+		{
+			// The file is read verbatim, so formatting and the trailing newline
+			// are preserved (unlike the inline path, which re-marshals).
+			name:           "file_path reads file contents verbatim",
+			filePath:       fileName,
+			writeFile:      true,
+			fileContents:   `{"pages": 1}` + "\n",
+			wantSerialized: `{"pages": 1}` + "\n",
+		},
+		{
+			// Inline maps are marshaled to a compact JSON string with sorted keys
+			// so config and state hold an identical string and don't drift.
+			name:                "inline map is marshaled to a JSON string",
+			setSerialized:       true,
+			serializedDashboard: map[string]any{"pages": 1},
+			wantSerialized:      `{"pages":1}`,
+		},
+		{
+			name:                "inline string is left unchanged",
+			setSerialized:       true,
+			serializedDashboard: `{"pages":1}`,
+			wantSerialized:      `{"pages":1}`,
+		},
+		{
+			// Neither field set: the absent field must pass through, not error.
+			name:           "neither file_path nor serialized_dashboard passes through",
+			wantSerialized: nil,
+		},
+		{
+			name:                "both file_path and serialized_dashboard is rejected",
+			filePath:            fileName,
+			setSerialized:       true,
+			serializedDashboard: map[string]any{"pages": 1},
+			wantErr:             "both file_path and serialized_dashboard are set; specify only one",
+		},
+		{
+			name:                "non-structured serialized_dashboard is rejected",
+			setSerialized:       true,
+			serializedDashboard: true,
+			wantErr:             "serialized_dashboard must be a string, map, or sequence, got bool",
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "unreadable file_path is an error",
+			filePath: "does_not_exist.json",
+			wantErr:  "failed to read serialized dashboard",
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			dir := t.TempDir()
+			if tt.writeFile {
+				require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(dir, tt.filePath), []byte(tt.fileContents), 0o600))
+			}
+
+			dash := &resources.Dashboard{
+				DashboardConfig: resources.DashboardConfig{DisplayName: "My Dashboard"},
+				FilePath:        tt.filePath,
+			}
+			if tt.setSerialized {
+				dash.SerializedDashboard = tt.serializedDashboard
+			}
+
+			b := &bundle.Bundle{
+				SyncRootPath:   dir,
+				BundleRootPath: dir,
+				SyncRoot:       vfs.MustNew(dir),
+				Config: config.Root{
+					Resources: config.Resources{
+						Dashboards: map[string]*resources.Dashboard{"my_dashboard": dash},
+					},
+				},
+			}
+
+			diags := bundle.ApplySeq(t.Context(), b, resourcemutator.ConfigureDashboardSerializedDashboard())
+
+			if tt.wantErr != "" {
+				require.Error(t, diags.Error())
+				assert.ErrorContains(t, diags.Error(), tt.wantErr)
+				return
+			}
+
+			require.NoError(t, diags.Error())
+			assert.Equal(t, tt.wantSerialized, b.Config.Resources.Dashboards["my_dashboard"].SerializedDashboard)
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/bundle/deploy/terraform/tfdyn/convert_dashboard.go b/bundle/deploy/terraform/tfdyn/convert_dashboard.go
index eb9260e8ec8..e55cb6b83de 100644
--- a/bundle/deploy/terraform/tfdyn/convert_dashboard.go
+++ b/bundle/deploy/terraform/tfdyn/convert_dashboard.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package tfdyn
 
 import (
 	"context"
-	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 
 	"github.com/databricks/cli/bundle/internal/tf/schema"
@@ -11,48 +10,17 @@ import (
 	"github.com/databricks/cli/libs/log"
 )
 
-const (
-	serializedDashboardFieldName = "serialized_dashboard"
-)
-
-// Marshal "serialized_dashboard" as JSON if it is set in the input but not in the output.
-func marshalSerializedDashboard(vin, vout dyn.Value) (dyn.Value, error) {
-	// Skip if the "serialized_dashboard" field is already set.
-	if v := vout.Get(serializedDashboardFieldName); v.IsValid() {
-		return vout, nil
-	}
-
-	// Skip if the "serialized_dashboard" field on the input is not set.
-	v := vin.Get(serializedDashboardFieldName)
-	if !v.IsValid() {
-		return vout, nil
-	}
-
-	// Marshal the "serialized_dashboard" field as JSON.
-	data, err := json.Marshal(v.AsAny())
-	if err != nil {
-		return dyn.InvalidValue, fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal serialized_dashboard: %w", err)
-	}
-
-	// Set the "serialized_dashboard" field on the output.
-	return dyn.Set(vout, serializedDashboardFieldName, dyn.V(string(data)))
-}
-
 func convertDashboardResource(ctx context.Context, vin dyn.Value) (dyn.Value, error) {
 	var err error
 
-	// Normalize the output value to the target schema.
+	// Normalize the output value to the target schema. ConfigureDashboardSerializedDashboard
+	// normalizes serialized_dashboard to a JSON string before this runs, so it maps
+	// straight onto the schema's string field.
 	vout, diags := convert.Normalize(schema.ResourceDashboard{}, vin)
 	for _, diag := range diags {
 		log.Debugf(ctx, "dashboard normalization diagnostic: %s", diag.Summary)
 	}
 
-	// Marshal "serialized_dashboard" as JSON if it is set in the input but not in the output.
-	vout, err = marshalSerializedDashboard(vin, vout)
-	if err != nil {
-		return dyn.InvalidValue, err
-	}
-
 	// Drop the "file_path" field. It's always inlined into "serialized_dashboard".
 	vout, err = dyn.DropKeys(vout, []string{"file_path"})
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/bundle/deploy/terraform/tfdyn/convert_dashboard_test.go b/bundle/deploy/terraform/tfdyn/convert_dashboard_test.go
index d8f05dc76c1..44b36abd32a 100644
--- a/bundle/deploy/terraform/tfdyn/convert_dashboard_test.go
+++ b/bundle/deploy/terraform/tfdyn/convert_dashboard_test.go
@@ -77,17 +77,12 @@ func TestConvertDashboardSerializedDashboardString(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 }
 
-func TestConvertDashboardSerializedDashboardAny(t *testing.T) {
+func TestConvertDashboardDropsFilePath(t *testing.T) {
+	// ConfigureDashboardSerializedDashboard reads file_path into serialized_dashboard
+	// but keeps file_path around, so the converter sees both and must drop file_path.
 	src := resources.Dashboard{
 		DashboardConfig: resources.DashboardConfig{
-			SerializedDashboard: map[string]any{
-				"pages": []map[string]any{
-					{
-						"displayName": "New Page",
-						"layout":      []map[string]any{},
-					},
-				},
-			},
+			SerializedDashboard: `{ "json": true }`,
 		},
 		FilePath: "some/path/to/dashboard.lvdash.json",
 	}
@@ -102,7 +97,7 @@ func TestConvertDashboardSerializedDashboardAny(t *testing.T) {
 
 	// Assert that the "serialized_dashboard" is included.
 	assert.Subset(t, out.Dashboard["my_dashboard"], map[string]any{
-		"serialized_dashboard": `{"pages":[{"displayName":"New Page","layout":[]}]}`,
+		"serialized_dashboard": `{ "json": true }`,
 	})
 
 	// Assert that the "file_path" is dropped.
diff --git a/bundle/direct/dresources/all_test.go b/bundle/direct/dresources/all_test.go
index 36eaa3e27df..41e0aac7e26 100644
--- a/bundle/direct/dresources/all_test.go
+++ b/bundle/direct/dresources/all_test.go
@@ -259,18 +259,10 @@ var testConfig map[string]any = map[string]any{
 			DisplayName: "my-dashboard",
 			ParentPath:  "/Workspace/Users/user@example.com",
 			WarehouseId: "test-warehouse-id",
-			// Use []any/map[string]any to mirror how this any-typed field is
-			// populated in production (JSON/dyn decoding); a typed []map[string]any
-			// can never come out of that path.
-			SerializedDashboard: map[string]any{
-				"pages": []any{
-					map[string]any{
-						"name":        "page1",
-						"displayName": "Page 1",
-						"pageType":    "PAGE_TYPE_CANVAS",
-					},
-				},
-			},
+			// ConfigureDashboardSerializedDashboard normalizes this any-typed field
+			// to a JSON string before the deploy engine runs, so it is always a
+			// string by the time DoCreate/DoUpdate see it.
+			SerializedDashboard: `{"pages":[{"name":"page1","displayName":"Page 1","pageType":"PAGE_TYPE_CANVAS"}]}`,
 
 			DatasetCatalog: "main",
 			DatasetSchema:  "myschema",
diff --git a/bundle/direct/dresources/dashboard.go b/bundle/direct/dresources/dashboard.go
index aaf1feea616..8b634f72a39 100644
--- a/bundle/direct/dresources/dashboard.go
+++ b/bundle/direct/dresources/dashboard.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package dresources
 
 import (
 	"context"
-	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"path"
 	"slices"
@@ -237,17 +236,15 @@ func prepareDashboardRequest(config *DashboardState) (dashboards.Dashboard, erro
 		// Thus we need to filter such fields out.
 		ForceSendFields: utils.FilterFields[dashboards.Dashboard](config.ForceSendFields),
 	}
-	v := config.SerializedDashboard
-	if serializedDashboard, ok := v.(string); ok {
-		// If serialized dashboard is already a string, we can use it directly.
-		dashboard.SerializedDashboard = serializedDashboard
-	} else if v != nil {
-		// If it's inlined in the bundle config as a map, we need to marshal it to a string.
-		b, err := json.Marshal(v)
-		if err != nil {
-			return dashboards.Dashboard{}, fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal serialized dashboard: %w", err)
-		}
-		dashboard.SerializedDashboard = string(b)
+	// ConfigureDashboardSerializedDashboard normalizes serialized_dashboard to a JSON
+	// string (read from file_path, or marshalled from inline YAML) before the deploy
+	// engine runs, so the value is always a string or unset by this point.
+	switch v := config.SerializedDashboard.(type) {
+	case nil:
+	case string:
+		dashboard.SerializedDashboard = v
+	default:
+		return dashboards.Dashboard{}, fmt.Errorf("internal error: serialized_dashboard should have been normalized to a string, got %T", v)
 	}
 	return dashboard, nil
 }

From 9aea1255db848f549fdc1e82b2dda6d5115db4cf Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sankalp-Mittal <sankalp.mittal@databricks.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2026 19:56:53 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 08/24] Address review on serialized-inline: replace_ids.py and
 READPLAN

- Use replace_ids.py instead of bundle summary + add_repl for the dashboard ID.
- Add the READPLAN matrix; the create request is identical in-memory and from
  a saved plan.

Co-authored-by: Isaac <no-reply@databricks.com>
---
 .../resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/out.test.toml  | 1 +
 .../resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/output.txt     | 6 ++----
 .../bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/script  | 8 +++-----
 .../resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/test.toml      | 3 +++
 4 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/out.test.toml b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/out.test.toml
index cef45fe553a..b1bef937a27 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/out.test.toml
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/out.test.toml
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 Cloud = true
 EnvMatrix.DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE = ["terraform", "direct"]
 EnvMatrix.DMS = ["", "true"]
+EnvMatrix.READPLAN = ["", "1"]
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/output.txt b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/output.txt
index 5fbda9f2d9e..f469ff494a4 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/output.txt
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/output.txt
@@ -3,11 +3,9 @@
 create dashboards.inline_dash
 
 Plan: 1 to add, 0 to change, 0 to delete, 0 unchanged
-
->>> [CLI] bundle deploy
 Uploading bundle files to /Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/dashboard-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/files...
 Created dashboards.inline_dash
-Files: 6 uploaded, 0 deleted
+Files: 7 uploaded, 0 deleted
 Resources: 1 created, 0 changed, 0 deleted, 0 unchanged
 
 >>> print_requests.py //api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards
@@ -23,7 +21,7 @@ Resources: 1 created, 0 changed, 0 deleted, 0 unchanged
 }
 {
   "method": "POST",
-  "path": "/api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards/[DASHBOARD_ID]/published",
+  "path": "/api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards/[INLINE_DASH_ID]/published",
   "body": {
     "embed_credentials": false,
     "warehouse_id": "[TEST_DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE_ID]"
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/script b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/script
index 1cbe3b8b0df..dc1b6d7a15b 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/script
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/script
@@ -8,11 +8,9 @@ cleanup() {
 trap cleanup EXIT
 
 trace $CLI bundle plan
-trace $CLI bundle deploy
-
-# Stabilize the non-deterministic dashboard ID in recorded requests.
-dashboard_id=$($CLI bundle summary --output json | jq -r '.resources.dashboards.inline_dash.id')
-add_repl "$dashboard_id" DASHBOARD_ID
+$CLI bundle plan -o json > tmp.plan.json
+$CLI bundle deploy $(readplanarg tmp.plan.json)
+replace_ids.py
 
 # Prove the inline YAML map reaches the API as a JSON string.
 trace print_requests.py //api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/test.toml b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/test.toml
index 17383eac468..6f91063a6ee 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/test.toml
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/test.toml
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
 Ignore = [
     "databricks.yml",
+    "tmp.plan.json",
 ]
+
+EnvMatrix.READPLAN = ["", "1"]

From 2d72fb21b4d1b6b4be779f2ea4adbf862be26428 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sankalp-Mittal <sankalp.mittal@databricks.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2026 20:01:08 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 09/24] remove comment

---
 .../bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script  | 1 -
 1 file changed, 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
index 2ad282edd7c..89e5c8689e5 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ add_repl "$dashboard_id" DASHBOARD_ID
 # Wait out eventual consistency (direct's first read 404s) before changing.
 retry --until "Page 1" $CLI lakeview get "$dashboard_id" > /dev/null
 
-# Change a value inside the map; update_file.py asserts if the text is missing.
 update_file.py databricks.yml "Page 1" "Page One"
 
 # Should be detected as an update, not a recreate.

From 722f8ebf1b331aaaef55f6ce18aa3b5c992af91a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sankalp-Mittal <sankalp.mittal@databricks.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2026 20:04:36 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 10/24] Assert the change plan with contains.py

Encode "update, not recreate" as an executable check instead of a prose comment.

Co-authored-by: Isaac <no-reply@databricks.com>
---
 .../resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script       | 3 +--
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
index 89e5c8689e5..cc8d4af20c4 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
@@ -16,8 +16,7 @@ retry --until "Page 1" $CLI lakeview get "$dashboard_id" > /dev/null
 
 update_file.py databricks.yml "Page 1" "Page One"
 
-# Should be detected as an update, not a recreate.
-trace $CLI bundle plan
+trace $CLI bundle plan | contains.py "update" "!recreate"
 
 # Per-engine JSON plan; also the saved plan for READPLAN=1.
 trace $CLI bundle plan -o json > out.plan.$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE.json

From b591e5a182d9417da6241c76676f9b18dd3a4e73 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sankalp-Mittal <sankalp.mittal@databricks.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2026 20:11:30 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 11/24] Capture the update request per engine, not direct-only

Drop the direct-only guard and record out.requests.$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE.txt
for both engines. This documents terraform's OUTPUT_ONLY-field echoing instead of
hiding it, following the repo's per-engine-file convention for divergent output.

Co-authored-by: Isaac <no-reply@databricks.com>
---
 .../out.requests.terraform.txt                | 23 +++++++++++++++++++
 .../change-serialized-inline/script           | 11 ++++-----
 2 files changed, 27 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.requests.terraform.txt

diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.requests.terraform.txt b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.requests.terraform.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..641cd24882e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.requests.terraform.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+{
+  "method": "PATCH",
+  "path": "/api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards/[DASHBOARD_ID]",
+  "body": {
+    "create_time": "[TIMESTAMP]",
+    "dashboard_id": "[DASHBOARD_ID]",
+    "display_name": "Inline Dash",
+    "lifecycle_state": "ACTIVE",
+    "parent_path": "/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/resources",
+    "path": "/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/resources/Inline Dash.lvdash.json",
+    "serialized_dashboard": "{\"pages\":[{\"displayName\":\"Page One\",\"name\":\"page1\"}]}",
+    "update_time": "[TIMESTAMP]",
+    "warehouse_id": "[TEST_DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE_ID]"
+  }
+}
+{
+  "method": "POST",
+  "path": "/api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards/[DASHBOARD_ID]/published",
+  "body": {
+    "embed_credentials": false,
+    "warehouse_id": "[TEST_DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE_ID]"
+  }
+}
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
index cc8d4af20c4..c58380f7a21 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
@@ -21,15 +21,12 @@ trace $CLI bundle plan | contains.py "update" "!recreate"
 # Per-engine JSON plan; also the saved plan for READPLAN=1.
 trace $CLI bundle plan -o json > out.plan.$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE.json
 
-# Drop initial-deploy requests so we capture only the change (direct only).
-if [ "$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE" = "direct" ]; then
-    print_requests.py //api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards > /dev/null
-fi
+# Drop the initial-deploy requests so the capture below shows only the change.
+print_requests.py //api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards > /dev/null
 
 # Deploy the change: in-memory (READPLAN="") or from the saved plan (READPLAN="1").
 title "deploy the change\n"
 $CLI bundle deploy $(readplanarg out.plan.$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE.json)
 
-if [ "$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE" = "direct" ]; then
-    print_requests.py //api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards > out.requests.direct.txt
-fi
+# Capture the update request per engine (terraform echoes OUTPUT_ONLY fields).
+print_requests.py //api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards > out.requests.$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE.txt

From 2806b22594b2d8e24b6c8b332f8a2d435b5f0e6e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sankalp-Mittal <sankalp.mittal@databricks.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2026 20:21:51 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 12/24] Project change-serialized-inline plan golden to the
 asserted change

The direct plan dumped remote_state (etag, timestamps, and the API's
pretty-printed serialized_dashboard string), which a real workspace formats
differently than the local fake, breaking the cloud run. Project the golden to
just the resource action and the serialized_dashboard old/new diff; keep the
full plan in a tmp file for the READPLAN=1 deploy.

Co-authored-by: Isaac <no-reply@databricks.com>
---
 .../out.plan.direct.json                      | 69 +------------------
 .../out.plan.terraform.json                   |  1 -
 .../change-serialized-inline/output.txt       |  2 +-
 .../change-serialized-inline/script           |  9 ++-
 .../change-serialized-inline/test.toml        |  1 +
 5 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 73 deletions(-)

diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.direct.json b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.direct.json
index b9244b3ab9d..8228bcdebe1 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.direct.json
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.direct.json
@@ -1,69 +1,8 @@
 {
-  "plan_version": 2,
-  "cli_version": "[CLI_VERSION]",
-  "lineage": "[UUID]",
-  "serial": 1,
   "plan": {
     "resources.dashboards.inline_dash": {
       "action": "update",
-      "new_state": {
-        "value": {
-          "display_name": "Inline Dash",
-          "embed_credentials": false,
-          "parent_path": "/Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/resources",
-          "published": true,
-          "serialized_dashboard": {
-            "pages": [
-              {
-                "displayName": "Page One",
-                "name": "page1"
-              }
-            ]
-          },
-          "warehouse_id": "[TEST_DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE_ID]"
-        }
-      },
-      "remote_state": {
-        "create_time": "[TIMESTAMP]",
-        "dashboard_id": "[DASHBOARD_ID]",
-        "display_name": "Inline Dash",
-        "embed_credentials": false,
-        "etag": "[NUMID]",
-        "lifecycle_state": "ACTIVE",
-        "parent_path": "/Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/resources",
-        "path": "/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/resources/Inline Dash.lvdash.json",
-        "published": true,
-        "serialized_dashboard": "{\"pages\":[{\"displayName\":\"Page 1\",\"name\":\"page1\",\"pageType\":\"PAGE_TYPE_CANVAS\"}]}\n",
-        "update_time": "[TIMESTAMP]",
-        "warehouse_id": "[TEST_DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE_ID]"
-      },
       "changes": {
-        "create_time": {
-          "action": "skip",
-          "reason": "spec:output_only",
-          "remote": "[TIMESTAMP]"
-        },
-        "dashboard_id": {
-          "action": "skip",
-          "reason": "spec:output_only",
-          "remote": "[DASHBOARD_ID]"
-        },
-        "etag": {
-          "action": "skip",
-          "reason": "custom",
-          "old": "[NUMID]",
-          "remote": "[NUMID]"
-        },
-        "lifecycle_state": {
-          "action": "skip",
-          "reason": "spec:output_only",
-          "remote": "ACTIVE"
-        },
-        "path": {
-          "action": "skip",
-          "reason": "spec:output_only",
-          "remote": "/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/resources/Inline Dash.lvdash.json"
-        },
         "serialized_dashboard": {
           "action": "update",
           "old": {
@@ -81,13 +20,7 @@
                 "name": "page1"
               }
             ]
-          },
-          "remote": "{\"pages\":[{\"displayName\":\"Page 1\",\"name\":\"page1\",\"pageType\":\"PAGE_TYPE_CANVAS\"}]}\n"
-        },
-        "update_time": {
-          "action": "skip",
-          "reason": "spec:output_only",
-          "remote": "[TIMESTAMP]"
+          }
         }
       }
     }
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.terraform.json b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.terraform.json
index 7795272689a..8fc18e647ba 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.terraform.json
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.terraform.json
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 {
-  "cli_version": "[CLI_VERSION]",
   "plan": {
     "resources.dashboards.inline_dash": {
       "action": "update"
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/output.txt b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/output.txt
index ca5a2744eaf..d8537af591b 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/output.txt
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/output.txt
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ Plan: 0 to add, 1 to change, 0 to delete, 0 unchanged
 === deploy the change
 Uploading bundle files to /Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/files...
 Updated dashboards.inline_dash
-Files: 4 uploaded, 0 deleted
+Files: 5 uploaded, 0 deleted
 Resources: 0 created, 1 changed, 0 deleted, 0 unchanged
 
 >>> [CLI] bundle destroy --auto-approve
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
index c58380f7a21..37a92247b4f 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
@@ -18,15 +18,18 @@ update_file.py databricks.yml "Page 1" "Page One"
 
 trace $CLI bundle plan | contains.py "update" "!recreate"
 
-# Per-engine JSON plan; also the saved plan for READPLAN=1.
-trace $CLI bundle plan -o json > out.plan.$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE.json
+# Full plan drives the READPLAN=1 deploy below.
+trace $CLI bundle plan -o json > tmp.plan.json
+# Golden keeps only the asserted change; a real workspace formats the dropped
+# remote_state/etag/serialized_dashboard fields differently than the local fake.
+jq '{plan: (.plan | map_values({action} + (if .changes then {changes: {serialized_dashboard: (.changes.serialized_dashboard | {action, old, new})}} else {} end)))}' tmp.plan.json > out.plan.$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE.json
 
 # Drop the initial-deploy requests so the capture below shows only the change.
 print_requests.py //api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards > /dev/null
 
 # Deploy the change: in-memory (READPLAN="") or from the saved plan (READPLAN="1").
 title "deploy the change\n"
-$CLI bundle deploy $(readplanarg out.plan.$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE.json)
+$CLI bundle deploy $(readplanarg tmp.plan.json)
 
 # Capture the update request per engine (terraform echoes OUTPUT_ONLY fields).
 print_requests.py //api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards > out.requests.$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE.txt
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml
index eb67230b265..6f91063a6ee 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 Ignore = [
     "databricks.yml",
+    "tmp.plan.json",
 ]
 
 EnvMatrix.READPLAN = ["", "1"]

From da5627c16dbea3f040fa656fdc8216ef24cfee6b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sankalp-Mittal <sankalp.mittal@databricks.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2026 20:33:13 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 13/24] Make change-serialized-inline local-only, revert plan
 projection

The real Lakeview API pretty-prints serialized_dashboard and returns a
differently-shaped etag, which the recorded plan golden can't match on a real
workspace. Mark the test Cloud=false and drop the jq projection, dumping the
full plan again (stable against the local fake).

Co-authored-by: Isaac <no-reply@databricks.com>
---
 .../out.plan.direct.json                      | 69 ++++++++++++++++++-
 .../out.plan.terraform.json                   |  1 +
 .../change-serialized-inline/out.test.toml    |  2 +-
 .../change-serialized-inline/output.txt       |  2 +-
 .../change-serialized-inline/script           |  9 +--
 .../change-serialized-inline/test.toml        |  5 +-
 6 files changed, 78 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.direct.json b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.direct.json
index 8228bcdebe1..b9244b3ab9d 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.direct.json
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.direct.json
@@ -1,8 +1,69 @@
 {
+  "plan_version": 2,
+  "cli_version": "[CLI_VERSION]",
+  "lineage": "[UUID]",
+  "serial": 1,
   "plan": {
     "resources.dashboards.inline_dash": {
       "action": "update",
+      "new_state": {
+        "value": {
+          "display_name": "Inline Dash",
+          "embed_credentials": false,
+          "parent_path": "/Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/resources",
+          "published": true,
+          "serialized_dashboard": {
+            "pages": [
+              {
+                "displayName": "Page One",
+                "name": "page1"
+              }
+            ]
+          },
+          "warehouse_id": "[TEST_DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE_ID]"
+        }
+      },
+      "remote_state": {
+        "create_time": "[TIMESTAMP]",
+        "dashboard_id": "[DASHBOARD_ID]",
+        "display_name": "Inline Dash",
+        "embed_credentials": false,
+        "etag": "[NUMID]",
+        "lifecycle_state": "ACTIVE",
+        "parent_path": "/Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/resources",
+        "path": "/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/resources/Inline Dash.lvdash.json",
+        "published": true,
+        "serialized_dashboard": "{\"pages\":[{\"displayName\":\"Page 1\",\"name\":\"page1\",\"pageType\":\"PAGE_TYPE_CANVAS\"}]}\n",
+        "update_time": "[TIMESTAMP]",
+        "warehouse_id": "[TEST_DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE_ID]"
+      },
       "changes": {
+        "create_time": {
+          "action": "skip",
+          "reason": "spec:output_only",
+          "remote": "[TIMESTAMP]"
+        },
+        "dashboard_id": {
+          "action": "skip",
+          "reason": "spec:output_only",
+          "remote": "[DASHBOARD_ID]"
+        },
+        "etag": {
+          "action": "skip",
+          "reason": "custom",
+          "old": "[NUMID]",
+          "remote": "[NUMID]"
+        },
+        "lifecycle_state": {
+          "action": "skip",
+          "reason": "spec:output_only",
+          "remote": "ACTIVE"
+        },
+        "path": {
+          "action": "skip",
+          "reason": "spec:output_only",
+          "remote": "/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/resources/Inline Dash.lvdash.json"
+        },
         "serialized_dashboard": {
           "action": "update",
           "old": {
@@ -20,7 +81,13 @@
                 "name": "page1"
               }
             ]
-          }
+          },
+          "remote": "{\"pages\":[{\"displayName\":\"Page 1\",\"name\":\"page1\",\"pageType\":\"PAGE_TYPE_CANVAS\"}]}\n"
+        },
+        "update_time": {
+          "action": "skip",
+          "reason": "spec:output_only",
+          "remote": "[TIMESTAMP]"
         }
       }
     }
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.terraform.json b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.terraform.json
index 8fc18e647ba..7795272689a 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.terraform.json
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.plan.terraform.json
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 {
+  "cli_version": "[CLI_VERSION]",
   "plan": {
     "resources.dashboards.inline_dash": {
       "action": "update"
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.test.toml b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.test.toml
index b1bef937a27..bf4f0e7d3c6 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.test.toml
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/out.test.toml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-Cloud = true
+Cloud = false
 EnvMatrix.DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE = ["terraform", "direct"]
 EnvMatrix.DMS = ["", "true"]
 EnvMatrix.READPLAN = ["", "1"]
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/output.txt b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/output.txt
index d8537af591b..ca5a2744eaf 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/output.txt
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/output.txt
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ Plan: 0 to add, 1 to change, 0 to delete, 0 unchanged
 === deploy the change
 Uploading bundle files to /Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/change-serialized-inline-[UNIQUE_NAME]/default/files...
 Updated dashboards.inline_dash
-Files: 5 uploaded, 0 deleted
+Files: 4 uploaded, 0 deleted
 Resources: 0 created, 1 changed, 0 deleted, 0 unchanged
 
 >>> [CLI] bundle destroy --auto-approve
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
index 37a92247b4f..c58380f7a21 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
@@ -18,18 +18,15 @@ update_file.py databricks.yml "Page 1" "Page One"
 
 trace $CLI bundle plan | contains.py "update" "!recreate"
 
-# Full plan drives the READPLAN=1 deploy below.
-trace $CLI bundle plan -o json > tmp.plan.json
-# Golden keeps only the asserted change; a real workspace formats the dropped
-# remote_state/etag/serialized_dashboard fields differently than the local fake.
-jq '{plan: (.plan | map_values({action} + (if .changes then {changes: {serialized_dashboard: (.changes.serialized_dashboard | {action, old, new})}} else {} end)))}' tmp.plan.json > out.plan.$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE.json
+# Per-engine JSON plan; also the saved plan for READPLAN=1.
+trace $CLI bundle plan -o json > out.plan.$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE.json
 
 # Drop the initial-deploy requests so the capture below shows only the change.
 print_requests.py //api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards > /dev/null
 
 # Deploy the change: in-memory (READPLAN="") or from the saved plan (READPLAN="1").
 title "deploy the change\n"
-$CLI bundle deploy $(readplanarg tmp.plan.json)
+$CLI bundle deploy $(readplanarg out.plan.$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE.json)
 
 # Capture the update request per engine (terraform echoes OUTPUT_ONLY fields).
 print_requests.py //api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards > out.requests.$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE.txt
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml
index 6f91063a6ee..5bb2a87bbbc 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
+# Local only: the real Lakeview API pretty-prints serialized_dashboard and returns a
+# differently-shaped etag, which the recorded plan golden can't match.
+Cloud = false
+
 Ignore = [
     "databricks.yml",
-    "tmp.plan.json",
 ]
 
 EnvMatrix.READPLAN = ["", "1"]

From 94fc3938cd24dda3df2b78150520256cb691fe59 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sankalp-Mittal <sankalp.mittal@databricks.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2026 20:34:48 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 14/24] humanize comment

---
 .../resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml  | 5 +++--
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml
index 5bb2a87bbbc..5cab5faff69 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/test.toml
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
-# Local only: the real Lakeview API pretty-prints serialized_dashboard and returns a
-# differently-shaped etag, which the recorded plan golden can't match.
+# the real API returns a pretty printed JSON output which causes
+# the test to fail, since we are testing CLI only feature, we can set to
+# Cloud = true
 Cloud = false
 
 Ignore = [

From 88bd16918cc2daac84b2576fbdda3879d6aef988 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sankalp-Mittal <sankalp.mittal@databricks.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2026 21:04:01 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 15/24] Fix Windows: unset MSYS_NO_PATHCONV so bare python
 helpers resolve

The inherited MSYS_NO_PATHCONV=1 stops Git-Bash from converting a helper
script's own /c/... path when handing it to python3.exe, so replace_ids.py /
update_file.py / print_requests.py fail to open on Windows. These tests pass no
absolute paths to the CLI (print_requests.py uses the // form), so unset it.

Co-authored-by: Isaac <no-reply@databricks.com>
---
 .../resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script       | 3 +++
 .../bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/script       | 3 +++
 2 files changed, 6 insertions(+)

diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
index c58380f7a21..cc0783834fb 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+# Inherited MSYS_NO_PATHCONV breaks bare python helpers on Windows; this test doesn't need it.
+unset MSYS_NO_PATHCONV
+
 cleanup() {
     trace $CLI bundle destroy --auto-approve
     rm -f out.requests.txt
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/script b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/script
index dc1b6d7a15b..78c6503704b 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/script
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/serialized-inline/script
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+# Inherited MSYS_NO_PATHCONV breaks bare python helpers on Windows; this test doesn't need it.
+unset MSYS_NO_PATHCONV
+
 envsubst < databricks.yml.tmpl > databricks.yml
 
 cleanup() {

From 8766edc3aa11c861835edd46d33ce68b444d5519 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sankalp-Mittal <sankalp.mittal@databricks.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2026 08:01:03 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 16/24] address comments

---
 .../dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script         | 10 +++-------
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
index cc0783834fb..03b8c2ac46b 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/change-serialized-inline/script
@@ -11,25 +11,21 @@ trap cleanup EXIT
 envsubst < databricks.yml.tmpl > databricks.yml
 trace $CLI bundle deploy
 
+rm out.requests.txt
+
 dashboard_id=$($CLI bundle summary --output json | jq -r '.resources.dashboards.inline_dash.id')
 add_repl "$dashboard_id" DASHBOARD_ID
 
-# Wait out eventual consistency (direct's first read 404s) before changing.
+# Wait out eventual consistency before changing.
 retry --until "Page 1" $CLI lakeview get "$dashboard_id" > /dev/null
 
 update_file.py databricks.yml "Page 1" "Page One"
 
 trace $CLI bundle plan | contains.py "update" "!recreate"
 
-# Per-engine JSON plan; also the saved plan for READPLAN=1.
 trace $CLI bundle plan -o json > out.plan.$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE.json
 
-# Drop the initial-deploy requests so the capture below shows only the change.
-print_requests.py //api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards > /dev/null
-
-# Deploy the change: in-memory (READPLAN="") or from the saved plan (READPLAN="1").
 title "deploy the change\n"
 $CLI bundle deploy $(readplanarg out.plan.$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE.json)
 
-# Capture the update request per engine (terraform echoes OUTPUT_ONLY fields).
 print_requests.py //api/2.0/lakeview/dashboards > out.requests.$DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE.txt

From b3232d4b8ddd2ef720c6d4eced2fa34fe96f99c4 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sankalp-Mittal <sankalp.mittal@databricks.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2026 09:10:26 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 17/24] trim strings

---
 .../configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard.go         | 9 ++-------
 bundle/direct/dresources/all_test.go                     | 9 +++------
 bundle/direct/dresources/dashboard.go                    | 3 ---
 3 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-)

diff --git a/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard.go b/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard.go
index 4cab2c9ff9c..a6fe8e1e452 100644
--- a/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard.go
+++ b/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard.go
@@ -52,8 +52,7 @@ func (c configureDashboardSerializedDashboard) Apply(_ context.Context, b *bundl
 					})
 					return v, nil
 				}
-				// Note: the Terraform resource supports "file_path" natively, but we read the contents of the dashboard here
-				// to be able to read file contents in Databricks Workspace (reading a dashboard file via file system fails there)
+
 				contents, err := b.SyncRoot.ReadFile(filePath)
 				if err != nil {
 					return dyn.InvalidValue, fmt.Errorf("failed to read serialized dashboard from file_path %s: %w", filePath, err)
@@ -61,11 +60,7 @@ func (c configureDashboardSerializedDashboard) Apply(_ context.Context, b *bundl
 				return dyn.Set(v, serializedDashboardFieldName, dyn.V(string(contents)))
 			}
 
-			// Marshal an inline structured serialized_dashboard to a JSON string so
-			// both config-side and state-side carry the same plain string.
-			// Otherwise YAML decodes small ints as Go `int` while state JSON
-			// round-trip decodes them as `float64`, and structdiff reports
-			// false drift on every plan.
+			// Marshal an inline structured serialized_dashboard to a JSON string
 			switch sd.Kind() {
 			case dyn.KindInvalid, dyn.KindNil, dyn.KindString:
 				// KindInvalid means serialized_dashboard is absent (neither it nor
diff --git a/bundle/direct/dresources/all_test.go b/bundle/direct/dresources/all_test.go
index 41e0aac7e26..95742506887 100644
--- a/bundle/direct/dresources/all_test.go
+++ b/bundle/direct/dresources/all_test.go
@@ -256,12 +256,9 @@ var testConfig map[string]any = map[string]any{
 
 	"dashboards": &resources.Dashboard{
 		DashboardConfig: resources.DashboardConfig{
-			DisplayName: "my-dashboard",
-			ParentPath:  "/Workspace/Users/user@example.com",
-			WarehouseId: "test-warehouse-id",
-			// ConfigureDashboardSerializedDashboard normalizes this any-typed field
-			// to a JSON string before the deploy engine runs, so it is always a
-			// string by the time DoCreate/DoUpdate see it.
+			DisplayName:         "my-dashboard",
+			ParentPath:          "/Workspace/Users/user@example.com",
+			WarehouseId:         "test-warehouse-id",
 			SerializedDashboard: `{"pages":[{"name":"page1","displayName":"Page 1","pageType":"PAGE_TYPE_CANVAS"}]}`,
 
 			DatasetCatalog: "main",
diff --git a/bundle/direct/dresources/dashboard.go b/bundle/direct/dresources/dashboard.go
index 8b634f72a39..5103858974a 100644
--- a/bundle/direct/dresources/dashboard.go
+++ b/bundle/direct/dresources/dashboard.go
@@ -236,9 +236,6 @@ func prepareDashboardRequest(config *DashboardState) (dashboards.Dashboard, erro
 		// Thus we need to filter such fields out.
 		ForceSendFields: utils.FilterFields[dashboards.Dashboard](config.ForceSendFields),
 	}
-	// ConfigureDashboardSerializedDashboard normalizes serialized_dashboard to a JSON
-	// string (read from file_path, or marshalled from inline YAML) before the deploy
-	// engine runs, so the value is always a string or unset by this point.
 	switch v := config.SerializedDashboard.(type) {
 	case nil:
 	case string:

From 5b66b758dadf89462edfa7c93c174ec1a502cbe3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sankalp-Mittal <sankalp.mittal@databricks.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2026 09:15:33 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 18/24] Retrigger CI

Co-authored-by: Isaac <no-reply@databricks.com>

From 245df9957b10bb3a76fb9b265b98ee4b5f0cf8e1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sankalp-Mittal <sankalp.mittal@databricks.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2026 12:39:37 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 19/24] restore comment

---
 .../configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard.go               | 3 +++
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)

diff --git a/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard.go b/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard.go
index a6fe8e1e452..cadabf27e51 100644
--- a/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard.go
+++ b/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard.go
@@ -37,6 +37,9 @@ func (c configureDashboardSerializedDashboard) Apply(_ context.Context, b *bundl
 	// Configure serialized_dashboard field for all dashboards.
 	err := b.Config.Mutate(func(v dyn.Value) (dyn.Value, error) {
 		return dyn.MapByPattern(v, pattern, func(p dyn.Path, v dyn.Value) (dyn.Value, error) {
+			// Include "serialized_dashboard" field if "file_path" is set.
+			// Note: the Terraform resource supports "file_path" natively, but we read the contents of the dashboard here
+			// to be able to read file contents in Databricks Workspace (reading a dashboard file via file system fails there)
 			filePath, hasFilePath := v.Get(filePathFieldName).AsString()
 			sd := v.Get(serializedDashboardFieldName)
 

From bf16b52ff49ca49710a7f100c64aab719207aa4d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sankalp-Mittal <sankalp.mittal@databricks.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2026 16:40:04 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 20/24] remove sequence

---
 .../configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard.go          | 4 ++--
 .../configure_genie_space_serialized_space_test.go        | 8 +++++++-
 2 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard.go b/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard.go
index cadabf27e51..a17e5c6b07c 100644
--- a/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard.go
+++ b/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard.go
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ func (c configureDashboardSerializedDashboard) Apply(_ context.Context, b *bundl
 				// KindInvalid means serialized_dashboard is absent (neither it nor
 				// file_path is set); leave it for backend validation to reject.
 				return v, nil
-			case dyn.KindMap, dyn.KindSequence:
+			case dyn.KindMap:
 				jsonBytes, err := json.Marshal(sd.AsAny())
 				if err != nil {
 					return dyn.InvalidValue, fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal inline serialized_dashboard: %w", err)
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ func (c configureDashboardSerializedDashboard) Apply(_ context.Context, b *bundl
 			default:
 				diags = diags.Append(diag.Diagnostic{
 					Severity:  diag.Error,
-					Summary:   fmt.Sprintf("serialized_dashboard must be a string, map, or sequence, got %s", sd.Kind()),
+					Summary:   fmt.Sprintf("serialized_dashboard must be a string or map, got %s", sd.Kind()),
 					Locations: sd.Locations(),
 				})
 				return v, nil
diff --git a/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_genie_space_serialized_space_test.go b/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_genie_space_serialized_space_test.go
index 19c1b685f10..b15872bf106 100644
--- a/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_genie_space_serialized_space_test.go
+++ b/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_genie_space_serialized_space_test.go
@@ -70,8 +70,14 @@ func TestConfigureGenieSpaceSerializedSpace(t *testing.T) {
 			name:            "non-structured serialized_space is rejected",
 			setSerialized:   true,
 			serializedSpace: true,
-			wantErr:         "serialized_space must be a string, map, or sequence, got bool",
+			wantErr:         "serialized_space must be a string or map, got bool",
 		},
+		{
+			name: "inline sequence is rejected",
+			setSerialized:   true,
+			serializedSpace: []any{map[string]any{"version": 1}},
+			wantErr:         "serialized_space must be a string or map, got sequence",
+		}
 		{
 			name:     "unreadable file_path is an error",
 			filePath: "does_not_exist.json",

From 49c7ce56857d0a3752b5bc30dabae36beb27141c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sankalp-Mittal <sankalp.mittal@databricks.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2026 16:41:07 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 21/24] revert wrong commit

---
 .../configure_genie_space_serialized_space_test.go        | 8 +-------
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_genie_space_serialized_space_test.go b/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_genie_space_serialized_space_test.go
index b15872bf106..19c1b685f10 100644
--- a/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_genie_space_serialized_space_test.go
+++ b/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_genie_space_serialized_space_test.go
@@ -70,14 +70,8 @@ func TestConfigureGenieSpaceSerializedSpace(t *testing.T) {
 			name:            "non-structured serialized_space is rejected",
 			setSerialized:   true,
 			serializedSpace: true,
-			wantErr:         "serialized_space must be a string or map, got bool",
+			wantErr:         "serialized_space must be a string, map, or sequence, got bool",
 		},
-		{
-			name: "inline sequence is rejected",
-			setSerialized:   true,
-			serializedSpace: []any{map[string]any{"version": 1}},
-			wantErr:         "serialized_space must be a string or map, got sequence",
-		}
 		{
 			name:     "unreadable file_path is an error",
 			filePath: "does_not_exist.json",

From f40a8a0157ea60a28359f194500f18a2253a2114 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sankalp-Mittal <sankalp.mittal@databricks.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2026 16:42:31 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 22/24] update test

---
 .../configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard_test.go     | 8 +++++++-
 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard_test.go b/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard_test.go
index 7800e4741a5..41111291972 100644
--- a/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard_test.go
+++ b/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard_test.go
@@ -70,8 +70,14 @@ func TestConfigureDashboardSerializedDashboard(t *testing.T) {
 			name:                "non-structured serialized_dashboard is rejected",
 			setSerialized:       true,
 			serializedDashboard: true,
-			wantErr:             "serialized_dashboard must be a string, map, or sequence, got bool",
+			wantErr:             "serialized_dashboard must be a string or map, got bool",
 		},
+		{
+			name: "inline sequence is rejected",
+			setSerialized:   true,
+			serializedDashboard: []any{map[string]any{"version": 1}},
+			wantErr:         "serialized_dashboard must be a string or map, got sequence",
+		}
 		{
 			name:     "unreadable file_path is an error",
 			filePath: "does_not_exist.json",

From 3a89112e56f7faff9c009f60b9feebed6481d50e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sankalp-Mittal <sankalp.mittal@databricks.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2026 16:44:32 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 23/24] keep older content

---
 bundle/deploy/terraform/tfdyn/convert_dashboard_test.go | 4 ++--
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/bundle/deploy/terraform/tfdyn/convert_dashboard_test.go b/bundle/deploy/terraform/tfdyn/convert_dashboard_test.go
index 44b36abd32a..aa23b90df78 100644
--- a/bundle/deploy/terraform/tfdyn/convert_dashboard_test.go
+++ b/bundle/deploy/terraform/tfdyn/convert_dashboard_test.go
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ func TestConvertDashboardDropsFilePath(t *testing.T) {
 	// but keeps file_path around, so the converter sees both and must drop file_path.
 	src := resources.Dashboard{
 		DashboardConfig: resources.DashboardConfig{
-			SerializedDashboard: `{ "json": true }`,
+			SerializedDashboard: `{"pages":[{"displayName":"New Page","layout":[]}]}`,
 		},
 		FilePath: "some/path/to/dashboard.lvdash.json",
 	}
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ func TestConvertDashboardDropsFilePath(t *testing.T) {
 
 	// Assert that the "serialized_dashboard" is included.
 	assert.Subset(t, out.Dashboard["my_dashboard"], map[string]any{
-		"serialized_dashboard": `{ "json": true }`,
+		"serialized_dashboard": `{"pages":[{"displayName":"New Page","layout":[]}]}`,
 	})
 
 	// Assert that the "file_path" is dropped.

From 85ce5e402613418b3e14d99c8050be11e7778b16 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sankalp-Mittal <sankalp.mittal@databricks.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2026 16:56:58 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 24/24] Fix syntax error in dashboard serialized_dashboard
 mutator test

The "inline sequence is rejected" case was missing the trailing comma after
its struct literal, a syntax error that failed to compile the whole
resourcemutator_test package and broke lint and every task test job.

Co-authored-by: Isaac <no-reply@databricks.com>
---
 .../configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard_test.go     | 8 ++++----
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard_test.go b/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard_test.go
index 41111291972..b4437874b8c 100644
--- a/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard_test.go
+++ b/bundle/config/mutator/resourcemutator/configure_dashboards_serialized_dashboard_test.go
@@ -73,11 +73,11 @@ func TestConfigureDashboardSerializedDashboard(t *testing.T) {
 			wantErr:             "serialized_dashboard must be a string or map, got bool",
 		},
 		{
-			name: "inline sequence is rejected",
-			setSerialized:   true,
+			name:                "inline sequence is rejected",
+			setSerialized:       true,
 			serializedDashboard: []any{map[string]any{"version": 1}},
-			wantErr:         "serialized_dashboard must be a string or map, got sequence",
-		}
+			wantErr:             "serialized_dashboard must be a string or map, got sequence",
+		},
 		{
 			name:     "unreadable file_path is an error",
 			filePath: "does_not_exist.json",