diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 882f939..a2c0262 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -559,7 +559,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "tokenizers",
  "tokio",
  "tokio-rustls",
- "tokio-scoped",
  "tokio-util",
  "tui-markdown",
  "tui-textarea-2",
@@ -3160,27 +3159,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "tokio",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "tokio-scoped"
-version = "0.2.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "e4beb8ba13bc53ac53ce1d52b42f02e5d8060f0f42138862869beb769722b256"
-dependencies = [
- "tokio",
- "tokio-stream",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "tokio-stream"
-version = "0.1.18"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "32da49809aab5c3bc678af03902d4ccddea2a87d028d86392a4b1560c6906c70"
-dependencies = [
- "futures-core",
- "pin-project-lite",
- "tokio",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "tokio-util"
 version = "0.7.18"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 096c390..c97840f 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -57,7 +57,6 @@ rayon = "1"
 
 tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }
 tokio-util = { version = "0.7", features = ["compat"] }
-tokio-scoped = "0.2.0"
 futures = "0.3"
 capnp = "0.25"
 capnp-rpc = "0.25"
diff --git a/src/user/mod.rs b/src/user/mod.rs
index 9ec1de6..8904dcd 100644
--- a/src/user/mod.rs
+++ b/src/user/mod.rs
@@ -190,25 +190,30 @@ async fn start(cli: crate::user::CliArgs) -> Result<()> {
     let (turn_tx, turn_rx) = tokio::sync::mpsc::channel(1);
     let (mind_tx, mind_rx) = tokio::sync::mpsc::unbounded_channel();
 
-    let mind = crate::mind::Mind::new(config, turn_tx).await;
+    let mind = std::sync::Arc::new(crate::mind::Mind::new(config, turn_tx).await);
 
-    let mut result = Ok(());
-    tokio_scoped::scope(|s| {
-        // Mind event loop — init + run
-        s.spawn(async {
-            mind.init().await;
-            mind.run(mind_rx, turn_rx).await;
-        });
+    // UI runs on a dedicated OS thread so CPU-intensive work on the
+    // main tokio runtime can't starve rendering.
+    let ui_mind = mind.clone();
+    let ui_handle = std::thread::Builder::new()
+        .name("ui".into())
+        .spawn(move || {
+            let rt = tokio::runtime::Builder::new_current_thread()
+                .enable_all()
+                .build()
+                .expect("UI tokio runtime");
+            rt.block_on(run(
+                tui::App::new(String::new(), ui_mind.agent.clone()),
+                &ui_mind, mind_tx,
+            ))
+        })
+        .expect("spawn UI thread");
 
-        // UI event loop
-        s.spawn(async {
-            result = run(
-                tui::App::new(String::new(), mind.agent.clone()),
-                &mind, mind_tx,
-            ).await;
-        });
-    });
-    result
+    // Mind event loop — runs on the main tokio runtime
+    mind.init().await;
+    mind.run(mind_rx, turn_rx).await;
+
+    ui_handle.join().unwrap_or_else(|_| Err(anyhow::anyhow!("UI thread panicked")))
 }
 
 fn hotkey_cycle_reasoning(mind: &crate::mind::Mind) {