diff --git a/database/csvx/blank_test.go b/database/csvx/blank_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8846921
--- /dev/null
+++ b/database/csvx/blank_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+package csvx
+
+import (
+	"encoding/csv"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+type blankRec struct {
+	A string `json:"a"`
+	B string `json:"b"`
+}
+
+func parseBlank[T any](in string) ([]T, error) {
+	c := csv.NewReader(strings.NewReader(in))
+	c.FieldsPerRecord = -1 // ragged-tolerant, as sheet readers configure
+	return ParseCSV[T](c)
+}
+
+// Leading blank rows must not be taken as the header (Google Sheets
+// exports with an empty row 1).
+func TestParseCSVBlankHeaderRow(t *testing.T) {
+	items, err := parseBlank[blankRec](",,,,\r\n\r\na,b\r\n1,x\r\n2,y\r\n")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("parse: %v", err)
+	}
+	want := []blankRec{{A: "1", B: "x"}, {A: "2", B: "y"}}
+	if len(items) != len(want) {
+		t.Fatalf("rows: %d, want %d (%+v)", len(items), len(want), items)
+	}
+	for i := range want {
+		if items[i] != want[i] {
+			t.Errorf("row %d: %+v, want %+v", i, items[i], want[i])
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// Blank and whitespace-only data rows are skipped.
+func TestParseCSVBlankDataRows(t *testing.T) {
+	items, err := parseBlank[blankRec]("a,b\r\n1,x\r\n\r\n   ,\r\n2,y\r\n")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("parse: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(items) != 2 || items[0] != (blankRec{A: "1", B: "x"}) || items[1] != (blankRec{A: "2", B: "y"}) {
+		t.Fatalf("rows: %+v", items)
+	}
+}
+
+// Normal input is unchanged.
+func TestParseCSVNoBlanks(t *testing.T) {
+	items, err := parseBlank[blankRec]("a,b\r\n1,x\r\n2,y\r\n")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("parse: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(items) != 2 || items[1] != (blankRec{A: "2", B: "y"}) {
+		t.Fatalf("rows: %+v", items)
+	}
+}
+
+// TSV: blank header row with tab delimiter.
+func TestParseCSVBlankHeaderTSV(t *testing.T) {
+	in := "\t\t\r\na\tb\r\n1\tx\r\n"
+	c := csv.NewReader(strings.NewReader(in))
+	c.Comma = '\t'
+	c.FieldsPerRecord = -1
+	items, err := ParseCSV[blankRec](c)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("parse: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(items) != 1 || items[0] != (blankRec{A: "1", B: "x"}) {
+		t.Fatalf("rows: %+v", items)
+	}
+}
+
+// All-blank input: no header, no rows.
+func TestParseCSVAllBlank(t *testing.T) {
+	items, err := parseBlank[blankRec]("\r\n,\r\n")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("parse: %v", err)
+	}
+	if items != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("rows: %+v, want nil", items)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/database/csvx/encoding.go b/database/csvx/encoding.go
index b7743c7..aa36de4 100644
--- a/database/csvx/encoding.go
+++ b/database/csvx/encoding.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/jszwec/csvutil"
 )
@@ -34,7 +35,63 @@ func Parse[T any](r io.Reader, format string) ([]T, error) {
 // ParseCSV reads CSV/TSV from a csvutil Reader using csvutil streaming.
 // The reader must already have its delimiter configured.
 // Uses json struct tags and csvx marshalers for type handling.
+//
+// Blank records — rows where every cell is empty or whitespace-only —
+// are skipped everywhere, including before the header. Human-maintained
+// sources routinely carry stray blank lines (e.g. a Google Sheets export
+// with an empty row above the header); without skipping, the first blank
+// row would be taken as the header and every data row would decode to
+// zero values.
 func ParseCSV[T any](r csvutil.Reader) ([]T, error) {
+	records := make([][]string, 0, 16)
+	for {
+		rec, err := r.Read()
+		if err == io.EOF {
+			break
+		}
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		if isBlankRecord(rec) {
+			continue
+		}
+		records = append(records, rec)
+	}
+	if len(records) == 0 {
+		return nil, nil
+	}
+	return parseDecoded[T](&recordReader{records: records})
+}
+
+// isBlankRecord reports whether every cell is empty or whitespace-only.
+func isBlankRecord(rec []string) bool {
+	for _, f := range rec {
+		if strings.TrimSpace(f) != "" {
+			return false
+		}
+	}
+	return true
+}
+
+// recordReader replays in-memory records through the csvutil.Reader
+// interface so the csvutil decoder sees a blank-free stream; the first
+// record is the header.
+type recordReader struct {
+	records [][]string
+	i       int
+}
+
+func (rr *recordReader) Read() ([]string, error) {
+	if rr.i >= len(rr.records) {
+		return nil, io.EOF
+	}
+	rec := rr.records[rr.i]
+	rr.i++
+	return rec, nil
+}
+
+// parseDecoded runs the csvutil decode loop over a csvutil.Reader.
+func parseDecoded[T any](r csvutil.Reader) ([]T, error) {
 	dec, err := csvutil.NewDecoder(r)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err