diff --git a/apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs b/apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs
index 35abc987d87..0da63e69c4c 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs
+++ b/apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs
@@ -3137,7 +3137,7 @@ function buildApplicationMenu() {
         label: 'Actual Size',
         accelerator: 'CommandOrControl+0',
         click: () => {
-          if (mainWindow && !mainWindow.isDestroyed()) mainWindow.webContents.setZoomLevel(0)
+          setAndPersistZoomLevel(mainWindow, 0)
         }
       },
       {
@@ -3145,8 +3145,7 @@ function buildApplicationMenu() {
         accelerator: 'CommandOrControl+Plus',
         click: () => {
           if (mainWindow && !mainWindow.isDestroyed()) {
-            const next = Math.min(mainWindow.webContents.getZoomLevel() + 0.1, 9)
-            mainWindow.webContents.setZoomLevel(next)
+            setAndPersistZoomLevel(mainWindow, mainWindow.webContents.getZoomLevel() + 0.1)
           }
         }
       },
@@ -3155,8 +3154,7 @@ function buildApplicationMenu() {
         accelerator: 'CommandOrControl+-',
         click: () => {
           if (mainWindow && !mainWindow.isDestroyed()) {
-            const next = Math.max(mainWindow.webContents.getZoomLevel() - 0.1, -9)
-            mainWindow.webContents.setZoomLevel(next)
+            setAndPersistZoomLevel(mainWindow, mainWindow.webContents.getZoomLevel() - 0.1)
           }
         }
       },
@@ -3218,6 +3216,38 @@ function installPreviewShortcut(window) {
   })
 }
 
+// Zoom level is persisted in the renderer's own localStorage (per-origin,
+// survives reloads/restarts) rather than a main-process JSON file. The main
+// process owns setZoomLevel, so we mirror each change into localStorage and
+// read it back on did-finish-load to re-apply after reloads or crash recovery.
+const ZOOM_STORAGE_KEY = 'hermes:desktop:zoomLevel'
+
+function clampZoomLevel(value) {
+  if (!Number.isFinite(value)) return 0
+  return Math.min(Math.max(value, -9), 9)
+}
+
+function setAndPersistZoomLevel(window, zoomLevel) {
+  if (!window || window.isDestroyed()) return
+  const next = clampZoomLevel(zoomLevel)
+  window.webContents.setZoomLevel(next)
+  window.webContents
+    .executeJavaScript(`try { localStorage.setItem(${JSON.stringify(ZOOM_STORAGE_KEY)}, ${JSON.stringify(String(next))}) } catch {}`)
+    .catch(error => rememberLog(`[zoom] persist failed: ${error?.message || error}`))
+}
+
+function restorePersistedZoomLevel(window) {
+  if (!window || window.isDestroyed()) return
+  window.webContents
+    .executeJavaScript(`(() => { try { return localStorage.getItem(${JSON.stringify(ZOOM_STORAGE_KEY)}) } catch { return null } })()`)
+    .then(stored => {
+      if (stored == null || !window || window.isDestroyed()) return
+      const level = clampZoomLevel(Number(stored))
+      window.webContents.setZoomLevel(level)
+    })
+    .catch(error => rememberLog(`[zoom] restore failed: ${error?.message || error}`))
+}
+
 function installZoomShortcuts(window) {
   // Override Ctrl/Cmd + +/-/0 with half the default zoom step (0.1 vs 0.2).
   // The menu items handle this on macOS (where the menu is always present),
@@ -3231,15 +3261,13 @@ function installZoomShortcuts(window) {
     const key = input.key
     if (key === '0') {
       event.preventDefault()
-      window.webContents.setZoomLevel(0)
+      setAndPersistZoomLevel(window, 0)
     } else if (key === '=' || key === '+') {
       event.preventDefault()
-      const next = Math.min(window.webContents.getZoomLevel() + ZOOM_STEP, 9)
-      window.webContents.setZoomLevel(next)
+      setAndPersistZoomLevel(window, window.webContents.getZoomLevel() + ZOOM_STEP)
     } else if (key === '-') {
       event.preventDefault()
-      const next = Math.max(window.webContents.getZoomLevel() - ZOOM_STEP, -9)
-      window.webContents.setZoomLevel(next)
+      setAndPersistZoomLevel(window, window.webContents.getZoomLevel() - ZOOM_STEP)
     }
   })
 }
@@ -4730,6 +4758,7 @@ function createWindow() {
   }
 
   mainWindow.webContents.once('did-finish-load', () => {
+    restorePersistedZoomLevel(mainWindow)
     broadcastBootProgress()
     sendWindowStateChanged()
     startHermes().catch(error => rememberLog(error.stack || error.message))