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Default terminal font is too small and changing font size is extremely laggy #3354

@nicobeyond

Description

@nicobeyond

Environment

  • OS: macOS 26.5 (arm64)
  • User: liuishihua
  • Wave Terminal version: Client Version 0.14.5 (202604161535)
  • Open widget: one local CLI terminal (fish 4.6.0 cod in /Users/gzxworkspace/2026/gzxHrApp2026`

Problem

  1. Default terminal font size is too small

    On a high‑DPI display, the default font size is noticeably too small for comfortable daily use.
    Every time after installing / updating, I immediately have to go to settings and increase the font
    size before I can actually work.

    I would strongly prefer the default terminal font size to be at least 14.

  2. Changing font size in settings is extremely laggy

    When I try to change the font size (or font family) in the settings UI, the whole app becomes very
    slow and sometimes feels close to frozen:

    • This happens even when the current tab has almost no content, just a local terminal.
    • Dragging the font-size slider or clicking around font settings causes massive UI lag.
    • Because of this, I barely dare to touch the font-related settings once the app is running.

    It feels like every tiny change to the font triggers a very heavy re-render on the whole layout.

Steps to reproduce

  1. Open Wave Terminal with the default settings.
  2. Open a local terminal (fish 4.6.0 in my case), run some simple command (e.g. codex-cli)
    or even keep the terminal almost empty.
  3. Go to Settings → Appearance / Font.
  4. Try to:
    • Increase the font size step by step, or
    • Drag the font-size slider, or
    • Change the font family a few times.

Actual behavior

  • The UI becomes very laggy while changing the font size.
  • Sometimes it feels like the app is almost frozen for a short period.
  • This lag happens even when the current tab has almost no output content.

Expected behavior

  1. More reasonable default font size

    • Please consider increasing the default terminal font size (suggestion: 14),
      or provide a clear font-size selection step on first launch.
    • Many users likely immediately bump the font up anyway, so having a more readable default
      would improve first‑time experience.
  2. Better performance when changing font settings

    • Changing font size / font family should not cause such heavy lag, especially on an almost-empty tab.
    • Ideally, font changes should be batched or only applied to the relevant components, instead of
      forcing a full expensive re-render on every small step.

Impact

This issue significantly affects daily usability:

  • The default font makes long sessions tiring.
  • The laggy font settings make it painful to tune the appearance to something comfortable.

I would really appreciate it if this could be prioritized in upcoming releases. Thanks!

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