diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/generate/dashboard-inplace/output.txt b/acceptance/bundle/generate/dashboard-inplace/output.txt
index 90d054197aa..5b8f9dfbdb4 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/generate/dashboard-inplace/output.txt
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/generate/dashboard-inplace/output.txt
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ Deployment complete!
   "lifecycle_state": "ACTIVE",
   "parent_path": "/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/dashboard update inplace/default/resources",
   "path": "/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/dashboard update inplace/default/resources/test dashboard.lvdash.json",
-  "serialized_dashboard": "{\"a\":\"b\"}\n",
+  "serialized_dashboard": "{\"a\":\"b\"}",
   "update_time": "[TIMESTAMP]",
   "warehouse_id": ""
 }
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/detect-change/out.plan.direct.json b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/detect-change/out.plan.direct.json
index b113b73d33a..635fdd0f193 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/detect-change/out.plan.direct.json
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/detect-change/out.plan.direct.json
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
         "parent_path": "/Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/[UNIQUE_NAME]/resources",
         "path": "/Users/[USERNAME]/.bundle/[UNIQUE_NAME]/resources/test-dashboard-[UNIQUE_NAME].lvdash.json",
         "published": true,
-        "serialized_dashboard": "{}\n",
+        "serialized_dashboard": "{}",
         "update_time": "[TIMESTAMP]",
         "warehouse_id": "[TEST_DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE_ID]"
       },
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@
           "reason": "etag_based",
           "old": "{\n  \"pages\": [\n    {\n      \"displayName\": \"New Page\",\n      \"layout\": [\n        {\n          \"position\": {\n            \"height\": 2,\n            \"width\": 6,\n            \"x\": 0,\n            \"y\": 0\n          },\n          \"widget\": {\n            \"name\": \"82eb9107\",\n            \"textbox_spec\": \"# I'm a title\"\n          }\n        },\n        {\n          \"position\": {\n            \"height\": 2,\n            \"width\": 6,\n            \"x\": 0,\n            \"y\": 2\n          },\n          \"widget\": {\n            \"name\": \"ffa6de4f\",\n            \"textbox_spec\": \"Text\"\n          }\n        }\n      ],\n      \"name\": \"fdd21a3c\"\n    }\n  ]\n}\n",
           "new": "{\n  \"pages\": [\n    {\n      \"displayName\": \"New Page\",\n      \"layout\": [\n        {\n          \"position\": {\n            \"height\": 2,\n            \"width\": 6,\n            \"x\": 0,\n            \"y\": 0\n          },\n          \"widget\": {\n            \"name\": \"82eb9107\",\n            \"textbox_spec\": \"# I'm a title\"\n          }\n        },\n        {\n          \"position\": {\n            \"height\": 2,\n            \"width\": 6,\n            \"x\": 0,\n            \"y\": 2\n          },\n          \"widget\": {\n            \"name\": \"ffa6de4f\",\n            \"textbox_spec\": \"Text\"\n          }\n        }\n      ],\n      \"name\": \"fdd21a3c\"\n    }\n  ]\n}\n",
-          "remote": "{}\n"
+          "remote": "{}"
         }
       }
     }
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/generate_inplace/out.test.toml b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/generate_inplace/out.test.toml
index bbcef543fa6..7edd52865f7 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/generate_inplace/out.test.toml
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/generate_inplace/out.test.toml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-Local = false
+Local = true
 Cloud = true
 RequiresWarehouse = true
 RunsOnDbr = true
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/generate_inplace/test.toml b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/generate_inplace/test.toml
index 731f8ff31b5..58053ece188 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/generate_inplace/test.toml
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/generate_inplace/test.toml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Cloud = true
-Local = false
+Local = true
 RecordRequests = false
 RunsOnDbr = true
 
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/simple/out.plan.direct.json b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/simple/out.plan.direct.json
index f0e8fb6f047..3a5fe0e2eb8 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/simple/out.plan.direct.json
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/simple/out.plan.direct.json
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
         "parent_path": "/Workspace/Users/[USERNAME]",
         "path": "/Users/[USERNAME]/test bundle-deploy-dashboard [UUID].lvdash.json",
         "published": true,
-        "serialized_dashboard": "{}\n",
+        "serialized_dashboard": "{ }\n",
         "update_time": "[TIMESTAMP]",
         "warehouse_id": "[TEST_DEFAULT_WAREHOUSE_ID]"
       },
@@ -26,13 +26,6 @@
           "reason": "custom",
           "old": "[ETAG]",
           "remote": "[ETAG]"
-        },
-        "serialized_dashboard": {
-          "action": "skip",
-          "reason": "etag_based",
-          "old": "{ }\n",
-          "new": "{ }\n",
-          "remote": "{}\n"
         }
       }
     }
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/simple/output.txt b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/simple/output.txt
index 7464a2e50f5..422aca2a79e 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/simple/output.txt
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/simple/output.txt
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ Deployment complete!
   "lifecycle_state": "ACTIVE",
   "parent_path": "/Users/[USERNAME]",
   "path": "/Users/[USERNAME]/test bundle-deploy-dashboard [UUID].lvdash.json",
-  "serialized_dashboard": "{}\n"
+  "serialized_dashboard": "{ }\n"
 }
 
 >>> [CLI] bundle plan -o json
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/simple_outside_bundle_root/output.txt b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/simple_outside_bundle_root/output.txt
index 6e16fb6ef0b..9b773af8b9f 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/simple_outside_bundle_root/output.txt
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/simple_outside_bundle_root/output.txt
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ Deployment complete!
   "lifecycle_state": "ACTIVE",
   "parent_path": "/Users/[USERNAME]",
   "path": "/Users/[USERNAME]/test bundle-deploy-dashboard [UUID].lvdash.json",
-  "serialized_dashboard": "{}\n"
+  "serialized_dashboard": "{ }\n"
 }
 
 >>> [CLI] bundle destroy --auto-approve
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/simple_syncroot/output.txt b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/simple_syncroot/output.txt
index 8bb6baeca54..a51090b98af 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/simple_syncroot/output.txt
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/resources/dashboards/simple_syncroot/output.txt
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ Deployment complete!
   "lifecycle_state": "ACTIVE",
   "parent_path": "/Users/[USERNAME]",
   "path": "/Users/[USERNAME]/test bundle-deploy-dashboard [UUID].lvdash.json",
-  "serialized_dashboard": "{}\n"
+  "serialized_dashboard": "{ }\n"
 }
 
 >>> [CLI] bundle destroy --auto-approve
diff --git a/libs/testserver/dashboards.go b/libs/testserver/dashboards.go
index 10cc03a477c..673973236bd 100644
--- a/libs/testserver/dashboards.go
+++ b/libs/testserver/dashboards.go
@@ -32,11 +32,18 @@ func transformSerializedDashboard(serializedDashboard, datasetCatalog, datasetSc
 		return serializedDashboard
 	}
 
+	// The real backend stores and returns the serialized dashboard verbatim,
+	// modulo the mutations applied below. Track whether any mutation actually
+	// happens so we can preserve the caller's original formatting (whitespace
+	// and key order) when it doesn't, matching cloud behavior.
+	mutated := false
+
 	// Add pageType to each page in the pages array (as of June 2025, this is an undocumented Lakeview API behaviour)
 	if pages, ok := dashboardContent["pages"].([]any); ok {
 		for _, page := range pages {
 			if pageMap, ok := page.(map[string]any); ok {
 				pageMap["pageType"] = "PAGE_TYPE_CANVAS"
+				mutated = true
 			}
 		}
 	}
@@ -47,14 +54,20 @@ func transformSerializedDashboard(serializedDashboard, datasetCatalog, datasetSc
 			if datasetMap, ok := dataset.(map[string]any); ok {
 				if datasetCatalog != "" {
 					datasetMap["catalog"] = datasetCatalog
+					mutated = true
 				}
 				if datasetSchema != "" {
 					datasetMap["schema"] = datasetSchema
+					mutated = true
 				}
 			}
 		}
 	}
 
+	if !mutated {
+		return serializedDashboard
+	}
+
 	updatedContent, err := json.Marshal(dashboardContent)
 	if err != nil {
 		return serializedDashboard