diff --git a/apps/code/src/main/services/shell/service.test.ts b/apps/code/src/main/services/shell/service.test.ts
index 929f8d91d..6cafe2b3f 100644
--- a/apps/code/src/main/services/shell/service.test.ts
+++ b/apps/code/src/main/services/shell/service.test.ts
@@ -185,6 +185,32 @@ describe("ShellService", () => {
     vi.clearAllMocks();
   });
 
+  it.each([
+    [
+      "interactive shell session",
+      () => service.create("session-1", "/home/user/project"),
+    ],
+    [
+      "command session",
+      () =>
+        service.createCommandSession({
+          sessionId: "session-1",
+          command: "echo hello",
+          cwd: "/home/user/project",
+        }),
+    ],
+  ])("spawns %s with UTF-8 output decoding", async (_name, createSession) => {
+    await createSession();
+
+    expect(mockPty.spawn).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.any(String),
+      expect.any(Array),
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        encoding: "utf8",
+      }),
+    );
+  });
+
   describe("create", () => {
     it("creates a new shell session", async () => {
       await service.create("session-1", "/home/user/project");
diff --git a/apps/code/src/main/services/shell/service.ts b/apps/code/src/main/services/shell/service.ts
index 5e286311c..f82fec5da 100644
--- a/apps/code/src/main/services/shell/service.ts
+++ b/apps/code/src/main/services/shell/service.ts
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ declare module "node-pty" {
 }
 
 const log = logger.scope("shell");
+const PTY_ENCODING = "utf8";
 
 export interface ShellSession {
   pty: pty.IPty;
@@ -135,7 +136,7 @@ export class ShellService extends TypedEventEmitter<ShellEvents> {
       rows: 24,
       cwd: workingDir,
       env: buildShellEnv(mergedEnv),
-      encoding: null,
+      encoding: PTY_ENCODING,
     });
 
     this.processTracking.register(
@@ -215,7 +216,7 @@ export class ShellService extends TypedEventEmitter<ShellEvents> {
       rows: 24,
       cwd: workingDir,
       env: buildShellEnv(taskEnv),
-      encoding: null,
+      encoding: PTY_ENCODING,
     });
 
     this.processTracking.register(
diff --git a/apps/code/src/renderer/features/terminal/services/TerminalManager.ts b/apps/code/src/renderer/features/terminal/services/TerminalManager.ts
index bd15de20c..007a80589 100644
--- a/apps/code/src/renderer/features/terminal/services/TerminalManager.ts
+++ b/apps/code/src/renderer/features/terminal/services/TerminalManager.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ import { WebLinksAddon } from "@xterm/addon-web-links";
 import { Terminal as XTerm } from "@xterm/xterm";
 
 const log = logger.scope("terminal-manager");
+const TERMINAL_FONT_FAMILY =
+  'var(--code-font-family, "Berkeley Mono", "JetBrains Mono", "Consolas", "Monaco", monospace)';
 
 let parkingContainer: HTMLElement | null = null;
 
@@ -161,7 +163,7 @@ class TerminalManagerImpl {
     const term = new XTerm({
       cursorBlink: true,
       fontSize: 12,
-      fontFamily: "monospace",
+      fontFamily: TERMINAL_FONT_FAMILY,
       theme: getTerminalTheme(this.isDarkMode),
       cursorStyle: "block",
       cursorWidth: 8,