diff --git a/packages/app/src/session/terminal/serialize.test.ts b/packages/app/src/session/terminal/serialize.test.ts
index 1927a581083..69ccf24791b 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/session/terminal/serialize.test.ts
+++ b/packages/app/src/session/terminal/serialize.test.ts
@@ -63,6 +63,36 @@ describe("SerializeAddon", () => {
     }
   })
 
+  describe("scrollback option", () => {
+    test("reads only the requested tail and restores the cursor on its screen row", async () => {
+      const { term, addon } = createTerminal(20, 5)
+      await writeAndWait(term, Array.from({ length: 30 }, (_, i) => `line ${i}`).join("\r\n"))
+      await writeAndWait(term, "\x1b[2A\x1b[3G")
+      expect(term.buffer.normal.length).toBe(30)
+      expect([term.buffer.normal.cursorX, term.buffer.normal.cursorY]).toEqual([2, 2])
+
+      const reads = spyOn(term.buffer.normal, "getLine")
+      const serialized = addon.serialize({ scrollback: 3 })
+      expect(new Set(reads.mock.calls.map((args) => args[0]))).toEqual(new Set([22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29]))
+      reads.mockRestore()
+
+      const restored = createTerminal(20, 5)
+      await writeAndWait(restored.term, serialized)
+      expect(restored.term.getScrollbackLength()).toBe(3)
+      for (let row = 0; row < 8; row++) {
+        expect(restored.term.buffer.normal.getLine(row)?.translateToString(true)).toBe(`line ${22 + row}`)
+      }
+      expect([restored.term.buffer.normal.cursorX, restored.term.buffer.normal.cursorY]).toEqual([2, 2])
+    })
+
+    test("serializes the whole buffer when it has fewer rows than requested", async () => {
+      const { term, addon } = createTerminal(20, 5)
+      await writeAndWait(term, Array.from({ length: 30 }, (_, i) => `line ${i}`).join("\r\n"))
+
+      expect(addon.serialize({ scrollback: 100 })).toBe(addon.serialize())
+    })
+  })
+
   test("preserves color scheme reporting mode", async () => {
     const { term, addon } = createTerminal()
     await writeAndWait(term, "\x1b[?2031h")
diff --git a/packages/app/src/session/terminal/serialize.ts b/packages/app/src/session/terminal/serialize.ts
index 2b37f546207..f29b8950df0 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/session/terminal/serialize.ts
+++ b/packages/app/src/session/terminal/serialize.ts
@@ -481,12 +481,12 @@ class StringSerializeHandler extends BaseSerializeHandler {
 
     if (excludeFinalCursorPosition) return content
 
-    const absoluteCursorRow = (this._buffer.baseY ?? 0) + this._buffer.cursorY
-    const cursorRow = constrain(absoluteCursorRow - this._firstRow + 1, 1, Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER)
-    const cursorCol = this._buffer.cursorX + 1
-    content += `\u001b[${cursorRow};${cursorCol}H`
+    // CUP addresses the screen and ghostty-web reports cursorY relative to the screen, so the
+    // serialized range start must not shift the row. The cursor line sits in the screen region
+    // at the bottom of the buffer, after any scrollback rows.
+    content += `\u001b[${this._buffer.cursorY + 1};${this._buffer.cursorX + 1}H`
 
-    const line = this._buffer.getLine(absoluteCursorRow)
+    const line = this._buffer.getLine(this._buffer.length - this._terminal.rows + this._buffer.cursorY)
     const cell = line?.getCell(this._buffer.cursorX)
     const style = (() => {
       if (!cell) return this._buffer.getNullCell()
diff --git a/packages/app/src/session/terminal/terminal.tsx b/packages/app/src/session/terminal/terminal.tsx
index 1e6c95c9126..36eebc3173d 100644
--- a/packages/app/src/session/terminal/terminal.tsx
+++ b/packages/app/src/session/terminal/terminal.tsx
@@ -20,6 +20,12 @@ import { terminalWriter } from "@/session/terminal/writer"
 
 const TOGGLE_TERMINAL_ID = "terminal.toggle"
 const DEFAULT_TOGGLE_TERMINAL_KEYBIND = "ctrl+`"
+// Serialization on unmount is a synchronous O(rows x cols) walk on the main thread and the
+// result is written to localStorage or desktop state for every terminal in the workspace.
+// Persisting the most recent 2k scrollback rows keeps restore fidelity for the history users
+// actually scroll back through while capping teardown cost and snapshot size; the live
+// terminal keeps its full 10k scrollback while mounted.
+const persistedScrollbackRows = 2_000
 export interface TerminalProps extends ComponentProps<"div"> {
   pty: LocalPTY
   autoFocus?: boolean
@@ -152,7 +158,7 @@ const persistTerminal = (input: {
   if (!input.addon || !input.onCleanup || !input.term) return
   const buffer = (() => {
     try {
-      return input.addon.serialize()
+      return input.addon.serialize({ scrollback: persistedScrollbackRows })
     } catch {
       debugTerminal("failed to serialize terminal buffer")
       return ""