diff --git a/tools/public/assets/style.css b/tools/public/assets/style.css
index 3936734..a962cbd 100644
--- a/tools/public/assets/style.css
+++ b/tools/public/assets/style.css
@@ -68,9 +68,6 @@ cds-side-nav[expanded] { pointer-events: auto; }
 .side-nav-brand { display: flex; align-items: center; gap: 0.75rem; padding: 2rem 1rem 1rem; color: var(--cds-text-primary, #161616); font-weight: 600; font-size: 14px; }
 .side-nav-brand img { display: block; }
 
-/* separator between the service links and Help in the header nav */
-.header-nav-divider { width: 1px; align-self: stretch; margin: 0.7rem 0.25rem; background: var(--cds-border-subtle, #e0e0e0); }
-
 /* ── layout ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── */
 .container { width: 100%; max-width: 1136px; margin: 0 auto; padding: 0 1.5rem; }
 main.container { flex: 1 0 auto; padding-top: 1.5rem; padding-bottom: 1.5rem; }
diff --git a/tools/server.js b/tools/server.js
index b6eca9c..148f883 100644
--- a/tools/server.js
+++ b/tools/server.js
@@ -134,10 +134,12 @@ const appHeader = (session, active) => {
   const sideLink = (href, label, key, icon) =>
     `<cds-side-nav-link href="${href}"${key === active ? ' aria-current="page"' : ''}>${icon || ''}${label}</cds-side-nav-link>`;
   const name = session ? (session.firstName || session.phone || '') : '';
-  // Auth is a menu item now, so the header's right side only carries identity.
+  // Help and the auth action are icon-only global header actions.
+  const headerAction = (href, label, svg, extra = '') =>
+    `<cds-header-global-action href="${href}"${extra}>${svg.replace('slot="title-icon"', 'slot="icon"')}<span class="cds--visually-hidden">${label}</span></cds-header-global-action>`;
   const headerAuth = session
-    ? '<cds-header-nav-item href="/auth/logout" data-signout>Sign out</cds-header-nav-item>'
-    : '<cds-header-nav-item href="/auth/login">Sign in</cds-header-nav-item>';
+    ? headerAction('/auth/logout', 'Sign out', SIDE_NAV_ICONS.logout, ' data-signout')
+    : headerAction('/auth/login', 'Sign in', SIDE_NAV_ICONS.login);
   const sideAuth = session
     ? `<cds-side-nav-link href="/auth/logout" data-signout>${SIDE_NAV_ICONS.logout}Sign out</cds-side-nav-link>`
     : `<cds-side-nav-link href="/auth/login">${SIDE_NAV_ICONS.login}Sign in</cds-side-nav-link>`;
@@ -150,13 +152,14 @@ const appHeader = (session, active) => {
   <cds-header-nav>
     ${toolLink('/', 'Home', 'home')}
     ${session ? `${toolLink('/cropper', 'Image Cropper', 'cropper')}
-    ${toolLink('/fingerprint', 'Fingerprint Agent', 'fingerprint')}
-    <span class="header-nav-divider" aria-hidden="true"></span>` : ''}
-    ${toolLink('/help', 'Help', 'help')}
-    ${headerAuth}
+    ${toolLink('/fingerprint', 'Fingerprint Agent', 'fingerprint')}` : ''}
   </cds-header-nav>
   ${active === 'fingerprint' ? '<cds-tag id="agent-status" type="red" class="header-agent">Agent offline</cds-tag>' : ''}
-  ${session ? `<div class="header-right"><span class="user-chip"><span class="avatar">${esc(name.trim().slice(0, 2).toUpperCase())}</span>${esc(name)}</span></div>` : ''}
+  <div class="header-right">
+    ${headerAction('/help', 'Help', SIDE_NAV_ICONS.help)}
+    ${headerAuth}
+    ${session ? `<span class="user-chip"><span class="avatar">${esc(name.trim().slice(0, 2).toUpperCase())}</span>${esc(name)}</span>` : ''}
+  </div>
 </cds-header>
 <cds-side-nav aria-label="Tools" id="side-nav">
   <div class="side-nav-brand">
@@ -164,6 +167,7 @@ const appHeader = (session, active) => {
   </div>
   <cds-side-nav-items>
     ${sideLink('/', 'Home', 'home', SIDE_NAV_ICONS.home)}
+    <cds-side-nav-divider></cds-side-nav-divider>
     ${session ? `${sideLink('/cropper', 'Image Cropper', 'cropper', SIDE_NAV_ICONS.crop)}
     ${sideLink('/fingerprint', 'Fingerprint Agent', 'fingerprint', SIDE_NAV_ICONS.fingerprint)}
     <cds-side-nav-divider></cds-side-nav-divider>` : ''}
diff --git a/tools/test/server.test.js b/tools/test/server.test.js
index c907f5c..6077e52 100644
--- a/tools/test/server.test.js
+++ b/tools/test/server.test.js
@@ -353,16 +353,20 @@ test('landing header is server-rendered for the session', async () => {
   const { base, stop } = await bootApp();
   try {
     const anon = await (await fetch(`${base}/`)).text();
-    assert.match(anon, /href="\/auth\/login">Sign in</);
     assert.ok(!anon.includes('<!--app-header-->'), 'header marker is replaced');
-    // signed out: no service links, but Help and Sign in are always there
+    // signed out: Home only in the header nav; Help and Sign in are icon-only
+    // global header actions
+    assert.match(anon, /cds-header-nav-item href="\/" aria-current="page"/);
     assert.ok(!anon.includes('cds-header-nav-item href="/cropper"'), 'no cropper in header nav when signed out');
     assert.ok(!anon.includes('cds-header-nav-item href="/fingerprint"'), 'no fingerprint in header nav when signed out');
-    assert.match(anon, /cds-header-nav-item href="\/help"/);
+    assert.match(anon, /cds-header-global-action href="\/help"><svg slot="icon"/);
+    assert.match(anon, /cds-header-global-action href="\/auth\/login"><svg slot="icon"/);
+    // icon-only: the accessible name is a visually-hidden span
+    assert.match(anon, /<span class="cds--visually-hidden">Help<\/span>/);
+    assert.match(anon, /<span class="cds--visually-hidden">Sign in<\/span>/);
+    // side nav groups Home | Help, Sign in with a single divider
     assert.match(anon, /cds-side-nav-link href="\/help"/);
-    // the divider only groups the services, so it is absent when signed out
-    assert.ok(!anon.includes('cds-side-nav-divider'), 'no side nav divider without services');
-    assert.ok(!anon.includes('header-nav-divider'), 'no header divider without services');
+    assert.equal((anon.match(/<cds-side-nav-divider>/g) || []).length, 1, 'one side nav divider when signed out');
     // no identity or sign-out when signed out
     assert.ok(!anon.includes('user-chip'), 'no user chip when signed out');
     assert.ok(!anon.includes('data-signout'), 'no sign-out when signed out');
@@ -378,16 +382,17 @@ test('landing header is server-rendered for the session', async () => {
     const authed = await (await fetch(`${base}/`, { headers: { cookie: cookies } })).text();
     assert.match(authed, /Ada/);
     assert.match(authed, /user-chip/);
-    assert.match(authed, /href="\/auth\/logout"[^>]*>Sign out</);
-    // signed in: services live in the header nav and in the mobile side nav
+    // signed in: services live in the header nav; Help and Sign out are icon-only
     assert.match(authed, /cds-header-nav-item href="\/cropper"/);
     assert.match(authed, /cds-header-nav-item href="\/fingerprint"/);
-    assert.match(authed, /cds-header-nav-item href="\/help"/);
-    assert.match(authed, /cds-header-nav-item href="\/auth\/logout" data-signout/);
+    assert.ok(!authed.includes('cds-header-nav-item href="/help"'), 'Help is not a text header nav item');
+    assert.match(authed, /cds-header-global-action href="\/help"><svg slot="icon"/);
+    assert.match(authed, /cds-header-global-action href="\/auth\/logout" data-signout><svg slot="icon"/);
+    assert.match(authed, /<span class="cds--visually-hidden">Sign out<\/span>/);
+    // side nav groups Home | services | Help, Sign out with two dividers
     assert.match(authed, /cds-side-nav-link href="\/cropper"/);
     assert.match(authed, /cds-side-nav-link href="\/help"/);
-    assert.match(authed, /cds-side-nav-divider/);
-    assert.match(authed, /header-nav-divider/);
+    assert.equal((authed.match(/<cds-side-nav-divider>/g) || []).length, 2, 'two side nav dividers when signed in');
     // side nav items carry Carbon icons in the title-icon slot
     assert.match(authed, /cds-side-nav-link href="\/cropper"[^>]*><svg slot="title-icon"/);
     assert.match(authed, /cds-side-nav-link href="\/fingerprint"[^>]*><svg slot="title-icon"/);
@@ -412,7 +417,7 @@ test('help page is public and documents each service', async () => {
     assert.match(html, /cds-accordion-item title="Image Cropper"/);
     assert.match(html, /cds-accordion-item title="Fingerprint Agent"/);
     assert.match(html, /accordion\.min\.js/);
-    assert.match(html, /cds-header-nav-item href="\/help" aria-current="page"/);
+    assert.match(html, /cds-header-global-action href="\/help"/);
     assert.match(html, /cds-side-nav-link href="\/help" aria-current="page"/);
   } finally {
     await stop();