diff --git a/src/main/git-service.ts b/src/main/git-service.ts
index 23d40db..705e474 100644
--- a/src/main/git-service.ts
+++ b/src/main/git-service.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,22 @@ import { spawn } from 'node:child_process'
 
 const delay = (ms: number): Promise<void> => new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, ms))
 
+/** Map `fn` over `items` with at most `limit` running at once, preserving order.
+ * Keeps the per-file git/disk reads overlapping without spawning hundreds of
+ * subprocesses at once (macOS has a low default open-file limit). */
+async function mapLimit<T, R>(items: T[], limit: number, fn: (item: T, index: number) => Promise<R>): Promise<R[]> {
+  const out = new Array<R>(items.length)
+  let next = 0
+  const worker = async (): Promise<void> => {
+    while (next < items.length) {
+      const i = next++
+      out[i] = await fn(items[i], i)
+    }
+  }
+  await Promise.all(Array.from({ length: Math.min(limit, items.length) }, worker))
+  return out
+}
+
 export type GitStatusLetter = 'A' | 'M' | 'D' | 'R' | 'U'
 
 export interface GitChange {
@@ -193,15 +209,19 @@ async function doLoad(root: string): Promise<GitLoad | null> {
   if (raw == null) return null
 
   const { branch, files } = parseStatus(raw)
-  const changes: GitChange[] = []
-  for (const f of files) {
+  // Each changed file needs its HEAD blob (a `git show` spawn) + its disk text.
+  // Done serially this is O(files) subprocess spawns in a row — staging one file
+  // re-reads ALL of them, which is the dominant cost of a reload. Run them with
+  // bounded concurrency instead so the spawns overlap (cap keeps us well under
+  // macOS's low default FD limit). Order is preserved by index.
+  const changes = await mapLimit(files, 12, async (f) => {
     const { letter, staged } = classify(f.index, f.working)
     const isNew = f.index === '?' || f.index === 'A'
     const isDeleted = letter === 'D'
     const original = isNew ? '' : await headText(root, f.path)
     const updated = isDeleted ? '' : await diskText(root, f.path)
-    changes.push({ path: f.path, status: letter, staged, original, updated })
-  }
+    return { path: f.path, status: letter, staged, original, updated } as GitChange
+  })
 
   return { branch, changes }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/pty-service.ts b/src/main/pty-service.ts
index 13b5fce..7d51e01 100644
--- a/src/main/pty-service.ts
+++ b/src/main/pty-service.ts
@@ -30,11 +30,21 @@ let seq = 0
  * `npm_config_prefix` (e.g. "/opt/homebrew") into the child shell, which makes
  * nvm refuse to load ("nvm is not compatible with the npm_config_prefix
  * environment variable"). Strip it so the user's shell init runs cleanly.
+ *
+ * A macOS app launched from Spotlight/Finder (launchd GUI context) inherits NO
+ * `LANG`/`LC_*`, so the child shell falls back to the `C`/POSIX locale — not
+ * UTF-8. Anything multibyte the shell or `claude` emits then renders as high-byte
+ * mojibake in xterm. Launching from a terminal (`npm run dev`) inherits the
+ * terminal's UTF-8 locale, which is why dev looks fine and the packaged app does
+ * not. Default a UTF-8 locale when none is set so both paths match.
  */
 function ptyEnv(): { [key: string]: string } {
   const env = { ...process.env } as { [key: string]: string }
   delete env.npm_config_prefix
   delete env.npm_config_globalconfig
+  if (process.platform !== 'win32' && !env.LC_ALL && !env.LC_CTYPE && !env.LANG) {
+    env.LANG = 'en_US.UTF-8'
+  }
   return env
 }