diff --git a/hermes_cli/main.py b/hermes_cli/main.py
index fc29b848a6..489a1652db 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/main.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/main.py
@@ -1005,15 +1005,15 @@ def _launch_tui(resume_session_id: Optional[str] = None, tui_dev: bool = False):
     env.setdefault("HERMES_CWD", os.getcwd())
     # Guarantee an 8GB V8 heap + exposed GC for the TUI. Default node cap is
     # ~1.5–4GB depending on version and can fatal-OOM on long sessions with
-    # large transcripts / reasoning blobs. Append (don't clobber) any user
-    # NODE_OPTIONS.
-    _existing_node_opts = env.get("NODE_OPTIONS", "").strip()
-    _hermes_tui_node_opts = "--max-old-space-size=8192 --expose-gc"
-    env["NODE_OPTIONS"] = (
-        f"{_existing_node_opts} {_hermes_tui_node_opts}".strip()
-        if _hermes_tui_node_opts not in _existing_node_opts
-        else _existing_node_opts
-    )
+    # large transcripts / reasoning blobs. Token-level merge: respect any
+    # user-supplied --max-old-space-size (they may have set it higher) and
+    # avoid duplicating --expose-gc.
+    _tokens = env.get("NODE_OPTIONS", "").split()
+    if not any(t.startswith("--max-old-space-size=") for t in _tokens):
+        _tokens.append("--max-old-space-size=8192")
+    if "--expose-gc" not in _tokens:
+        _tokens.append("--expose-gc")
+    env["NODE_OPTIONS"] = " ".join(_tokens)
     if resume_session_id:
         env["HERMES_TUI_RESUME"] = resume_session_id
 
diff --git a/ui-tui/src/app/slash/commands/debug.ts b/ui-tui/src/app/slash/commands/debug.ts
index d44c76f34b..b4bfc16bfb 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/app/slash/commands/debug.ts
+++ b/ui-tui/src/app/slash/commands/debug.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import type { SlashCommand } from '../types.js'
 
 export const debugCommands: SlashCommand[] = [
   {
-    help: 'write a V8 heap snapshot + memory diagnostics to ~/.hermes/heapdumps',
+    help: 'write a V8 heap snapshot + memory diagnostics (see HERMES_HEAPDUMP_DIR)',
     name: 'heapdump',
     run: (_arg, ctx) => {
       const { heapUsed, rss } = process.memoryUsage()
diff --git a/ui-tui/src/gatewayClient.ts b/ui-tui/src/gatewayClient.ts
index bf5210faa8..9bf681f8b2 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/gatewayClient.ts
+++ b/ui-tui/src/gatewayClient.ts
@@ -218,7 +218,9 @@ export class GatewayClient extends EventEmitter {
     this.pending.clear()
   }
 
-  private onTimeout(id: string) {
+  // Arrow class-field — stable identity, so `setTimeout(this.onTimeout, …, id)`
+  // doesn't allocate a bound function per request.
+  private onTimeout = (id: string) => {
     const p = this.pending.get(id)
 
     if (p) {
@@ -258,7 +260,7 @@ export class GatewayClient extends EventEmitter {
     const id = `r${++this.reqId}`
 
     return new Promise<T>((resolve, reject) => {
-      const timeout = setTimeout(this.onTimeout.bind(this), REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS, id)
+      const timeout = setTimeout(this.onTimeout, REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS, id)
 
       timeout.unref?.()
 
diff --git a/ui-tui/src/hooks/useVirtualHistory.ts b/ui-tui/src/hooks/useVirtualHistory.ts
index c21e25fdae..17bc8dfd3e 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/hooks/useVirtualHistory.ts
+++ b/ui-tui/src/hooks/useVirtualHistory.ts
@@ -124,14 +124,17 @@ export function useVirtualHistory(
   const vp = Math.max(0, scrollRef.current?.getViewportHeight() ?? 0)
   const sticky = scrollRef.current?.isSticky() ?? true
 
-  const frozenRange = freezeRenders.current > 0 ? prevRange.current : null
+  // During a freeze, drop the frozen range if items shrank past its start
+  // (/clear, compaction) — clamping would collapse to an empty mount and
+  // flash blank. Fall through to the normal path in that case.
+  const frozenRange =
+    freezeRenders.current > 0 && prevRange.current && prevRange.current[0] < n ? prevRange.current : null
 
   let start = 0
   let end = n
 
   if (frozenRange) {
-    // Clamp in case items shrank (/clear, compaction) mid-freeze.
-    start = Math.min(frozenRange[0], n)
+    start = frozenRange[0]
     end = Math.min(frozenRange[1], n)
   } else if (n > 0) {
     if (vp <= 0) {
diff --git a/ui-tui/src/lib/circularBuffer.ts b/ui-tui/src/lib/circularBuffer.ts
index 675a508f22..31502fc227 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/lib/circularBuffer.ts
+++ b/ui-tui/src/lib/circularBuffer.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ export class CircularBuffer<T> {
   private len = 0
 
   constructor(private capacity: number) {
+    if (!Number.isInteger(capacity) || capacity <= 0) {
+      throw new RangeError(`CircularBuffer capacity must be a positive integer, got ${capacity}`)
+    }
+
     this.buf = new Array<T>(capacity)
   }
 
diff --git a/ui-tui/src/lib/memory.ts b/ui-tui/src/lib/memory.ts
index efeff6eb89..9f157adffc 100644
--- a/ui-tui/src/lib/memory.ts
+++ b/ui-tui/src/lib/memory.ts
@@ -80,7 +80,10 @@ export async function captureMemoryDiagnostics(trigger: MemoryTrigger): Promise<
   const smapsRollup = await swallow(() => readFile('/proc/self/smaps_rollup', 'utf8'))
 
   const nativeMemory = usage.rss - usage.heapUsed
-  const bytesPerSecond = uptimeSeconds > 0 ? usage.rss / uptimeSeconds : 0
+  // Real growth rate since STARTED_AT (captured at module load) — NOT a lifetime
+  // average of rss/uptime, which would report phantom "growth" for a stable process.
+  const elapsed = Math.max(0, uptimeSeconds - STARTED_AT.uptime)
+  const bytesPerSecond = elapsed > 0 ? (usage.rss - STARTED_AT.rss) / elapsed : 0
   const mbPerHour = (bytesPerSecond * 3600) / (1024 * 1024)
 
   const potentialLeaks = [
@@ -172,6 +175,8 @@ export function formatBytes(bytes: number): string {
 
 const UNITS = ['B', 'KB', 'MB', 'GB', 'TB']
 
+const STARTED_AT = { rss: process.memoryUsage().rss, uptime: process.uptime() }
+
 // Returns undefined when the probe isn't available (non-Linux paths, sandboxed FS).
 const swallow = async <T>(fn: () => Promise<T>): Promise<T | undefined> => {
   try {