diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 89092532..7210b8d0 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,23 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Fixed
+
+- **CJK and emoji stop falling through to the OS on Windows and Linux** — the
+  default `font_fallbacks` named only faces that ship with macOS (Menlo, Apple
+  Color Emoji), so off macOS the entire chain matched nothing and every
+  ideograph and pictograph was resolved by the platform's own cascade instead.
+  The bundled Hack primary carries no CJK at all, so on Windows this was every
+  Chinese character in every pane. Defaults are now chosen per platform —
+  PingFang SC / Apple Color Emoji on macOS, Microsoft YaHei / Segoe UI Emoji on
+  Windows, Noto on Linux — and those stock names are appended to a
+  hand-written list as well, so a `config.json` that predates this change (or
+  was copied from another machine) is repaired at use time without being
+  rewritten. Maple Mono NF CN stays first on every platform: its 1.2em CJK
+  advance is the only exact fit for the two-column slot Hack's 0.60205em cell
+  produces, so a 1.0em stock face is left-aligned there with the remaining
+  ~0.2em showing as a gap on the right of each character.
+
 ## [26.7.4] - 2026-07-26
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/docs/features.md b/docs/features.md
index 4249caf5..4f778752 100644
--- a/docs/features.md
+++ b/docs/features.md
@@ -24,6 +24,31 @@
 - **Window opacity & blur** — Settings → Appearance → Window; applies to every theme, *Follow theme* returns to the theme's own `opacity` / `blur`
 - **CJK / IME input**
 
+## Fonts
+
+- **Hack is bundled** — it ships inside the binary, so the default renders identically everywhere without relying on a system install
+- **Primary + ordered fallbacks** — `font_family` and `font_fallbacks` in `config.json`; optional `font_family_bold` / `font_family_italic` for distinct faces, and `font_features` to pass OpenType features through (contextual ligatures stay off unless you ask for them)
+- **Platform-aware defaults** — the fallback list names faces the host OS actually ships (PingFang SC / Apple Color Emoji on macOS, Microsoft YaHei / Segoe UI Emoji on Windows, Noto on Linux). Those stock names are appended to a hand-written list too, so a `config.json` written on another platform still resolves
+
+### CJK and the two-column grid
+
+A cell is one advance of the primary face, and a wide (CJK) character is pinned
+to exactly two of them. A CJK fallback therefore sits flush in its slot only if
+its ideographs advance **twice** the primary's Latin advance.
+
+Bundled Hack advances 0.60205em, so a two-column slot is 1.2041em — while every
+stock CJK face (Microsoft YaHei, PingFang SC, Noto Sans CJK) advances 1.0em.
+Those glyphs get left-aligned in the slot and the leftover ~0.2em lands as a gap
+on the right of every character.
+
+[Maple Mono NF CN](https://github.com/subframe7536/maple-font) is tried first on
+every platform for exactly this reason — 0.6em Latin, 1.2em CJK, an exact
+two-cell fit against Hack. It is referenced by name only, never bundled (~20MB
+per weight): install it and tty7 picks it up with no config change.
+
+For CJK set *tight* rather than merely even, change the primary face instead —
+one that advances 0.5em (Sarasa Mono SC, say) makes two columns exactly 1.0em.
+
 ## Coding agents
 
 tty7 recognizes third-party coding agents running in a pane (Claude Code,
diff --git a/docs/features.zh-CN.md b/docs/features.zh-CN.md
index 11325ca7..9c59192f 100644
--- a/docs/features.zh-CN.md
+++ b/docs/features.zh-CN.md
@@ -24,6 +24,29 @@
 - **窗口透明与模糊** — 设置 → Appearance → Window；对所有主题生效，*Follow theme* 恢复主题自带的 `opacity` / `blur`
 - **CJK / 输入法输入**
 
+## 字体
+
+- **内置 Hack** —— 打包进二进制，默认配置在各平台渲染完全一致，不依赖系统安装
+- **主字体 + 有序 fallback** —— `config.json` 里的 `font_family` 和 `font_fallbacks`；可选 `font_family_bold` / `font_family_italic` 指定独立字面，`font_features` 透传 OpenType 特性（上下文连字默认关闭）
+- **默认列表按平台分支** —— fallback 只写宿主系统真正自带的字体（macOS 用 PingFang SC / Apple Color Emoji，Windows 用 Microsoft YaHei / Segoe UI Emoji，Linux 用 Noto）。这些名字也会追加到你手写的列表后面，所以在别的平台写出来的 `config.json` 一样能落地
+
+### 中文与两列网格
+
+一个格子等于主字体的一个 advance，宽字符（CJK）被钉死在正好两格上。所以中文
+fallback 只有在**汉字 advance 等于主字体西文 advance 的两倍**时，才能严丝合缝地
+填满自己的槽。
+
+内置 Hack 的 advance 是 0.60205em，两格就是 1.2041em —— 而系统自带的中文字体
+（Microsoft YaHei、PingFang SC、Noto Sans CJK）全都是 1.0em。这些字形在槽里左
+对齐，多出来的约 0.2em 就变成每个字右边的一道空隙。
+
+[Maple Mono NF CN](https://github.com/subframe7536/maple-font) 在所有平台都排在
+第一位正是因为这个 —— 西文 0.6em、中文 1.2em，对上 Hack 正好两格。它只按名字引
+用，不打包（每字重约 20MB）：装上即生效，不用改配置。
+
+想让中文排得**紧**而不只是均匀，要换的是主字体：选一个 advance 为 0.5em 的
+（比如 Sarasa Mono SC 更纱黑体等宽），两格就正好 1.0em。
+
 ## Coding agent
 
 tty7 能识别 pane 里跑着的第三方 coding agent（Claude Code、Codex、Gemini CLI、
diff --git a/src/core/config.rs b/src/core/config.rs
index d136c30e..02a2ee30 100644
--- a/src/core/config.rs
+++ b/src/core/config.rs
@@ -495,6 +495,70 @@ pub struct ShellConfig {
     pub args: Vec<String>,
 }
 
+/// The default fallback chain for the platform we were built for.
+///
+/// Fallbacks are resolved by *family name* against installed fonts, so a list
+/// that reads well on one OS can miss entirely on another: every name in the
+/// original list (Menlo, Apple Color Emoji) shipped with macOS, which left
+/// Windows and Linux with a chain that matched nothing and fell straight
+/// through to the platform's own cascade.
+///
+/// That fall-through is not merely cosmetic. `element.rs` pins each wide cell
+/// to `2 × cell_width`, and with the bundled Hack primary a cell is 0.60205em,
+/// so a two-column slot is 1.2041em. The OS cascade serves a *1.0em* CJK face
+/// (Microsoft YaHei, PingFang, Noto Sans CJK), and `force_width` left-aligns —
+/// the ideograph hugs the left of its slot and dumps the whole 0.2em remainder
+/// on the right. Naming a 1.2em face first (Maple Mono NF CN: 0.6em Latin,
+/// 1.2em CJK — an exact two-cell fit) keeps the ink centered instead.
+///
+/// Maple is referenced by name only, never bundled — it is ~20MB per weight.
+/// Users who lack it land on the stock CJK face below, which still renders;
+/// it just carries the left-hugging tracking described above.
+pub fn default_font_fallbacks() -> Vec<String> {
+    let names: &[&str] = if cfg!(target_os = "macos") {
+        &[
+            "Menlo",
+            "Hasklug Nerd Font Mono",
+            "Maple Mono NF CN",
+            "PingFang SC",
+            "Apple Color Emoji",
+        ]
+    } else if cfg!(target_os = "windows") {
+        &[
+            "Maple Mono NF CN",
+            "Cascadia Mono",
+            "Microsoft YaHei",
+            "Segoe UI Emoji",
+        ]
+    } else {
+        &[
+            "Maple Mono NF CN",
+            "DejaVu Sans Mono",
+            "Noto Sans CJK SC",
+            "Noto Color Emoji",
+        ]
+    };
+    names.iter().map(|n| n.to_string()).collect()
+}
+
+/// Stock faces this platform is expected to ship, appended to whatever the user
+/// configured (see `terminal::view::fallback_chain`).
+///
+/// [`default_font_fallbacks`] only helps a *fresh* config. Anyone who already
+/// has a `config.json` carries the old macOS-only list forever, so the same
+/// repair has to happen at use time. Appending is safe by construction: a
+/// fallback is consulted only once everything ahead of it has missed, so these
+/// can never displace a face the user chose.
+pub fn platform_last_resort_fallbacks() -> &'static [&'static str] {
+    if cfg!(target_os = "macos") {
+        &["PingFang SC", "Apple Color Emoji"]
+    } else if cfg!(target_os = "windows") {
+        &["Microsoft YaHei", "Segoe UI Emoji"]
+    } else {
+        &["Noto Sans CJK SC", "Noto Color Emoji"]
+    }
+}
+
 impl Default for Config {
     fn default() -> Self {
         // These defaults match the values that used to be hardcoded in
@@ -504,14 +568,7 @@ impl Default for Config {
             // main.rs), so this default renders identically everywhere without
             // relying on a system install. Menlo stays as a safety net.
             font_family: "Hack".to_string(),
-            font_fallbacks: vec![
-                "Menlo".to_string(),
-                "Hasklug Nerd Font Mono".to_string(),
-                // CJK 兜底:Hack 不含中文,缺字时退到等宽中文字体。仅按名字
-                // 引用(不打包,该字体每字重 ~20MB),用户未安装则跳到下一项。
-                "Maple Mono NF CN".to_string(),
-                "Apple Color Emoji".to_string(),
-            ],
+            font_fallbacks: default_font_fallbacks(),
             font_family_bold: None,
             font_family_italic: None,
             font_features: None,
@@ -1268,6 +1325,42 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(cfg.prefix, "ctrl-a");
     }
 
+    /// A fresh config must name a CJK face the *host* platform actually ships.
+    /// The pre-fix list was macOS-only, so Windows and Linux wrote a chain that
+    /// matched nothing and left every ideograph to the OS cascade.
+    #[test]
+    fn default_font_fallbacks_are_platform_appropriate() {
+        let defaults = default_font_fallbacks();
+        assert!(!defaults.is_empty());
+
+        for name in platform_last_resort_fallbacks() {
+            assert!(
+                defaults.iter().any(|f| f == name),
+                "default chain {defaults:?} omits stock face {name}"
+            );
+        }
+
+        // Maple Mono NF CN is the only face whose CJK advance (1.2em) is an exact
+        // two-cell fit against the bundled Hack primary, so it must be tried
+        // before the stock face on every platform.
+        let maple = defaults.iter().position(|f| f == "Maple Mono NF CN");
+        let maple = maple.expect("the exact-fit CJK face must stay in the chain");
+        for name in platform_last_resort_fallbacks() {
+            let stock = defaults.iter().position(|f| f == name).unwrap();
+            assert!(maple < stock, "{name} must not preempt Maple Mono NF CN");
+        }
+
+        // macOS-only names must not leak into the other platforms' defaults.
+        if !cfg!(target_os = "macos") {
+            for name in ["Menlo", "Apple Color Emoji"] {
+                assert!(
+                    !defaults.iter().any(|f| f == name),
+                    "{name} ships only with macOS"
+                );
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn config_deserialize_fills_missing_fields_from_defaults() {
         // Only one field present; the rest must fall back via #[serde(default)].
diff --git a/src/terminal/view.rs b/src/terminal/view.rs
index e7ee2388..36b78b74 100644
--- a/src/terminal/view.rs
+++ b/src/terminal/view.rs
@@ -784,19 +784,34 @@ fn transcode_to_png(bytes: &[u8], format: gpui::ImageFormat) -> Option<Vec<u8>>
     Some(out)
 }
 
-/// The font fallback chain: the user's configured list with the bundled "Hack"
-/// pinned to the end. Hack ships inside the binary (`register_bundled_fonts`)
-/// and covers the symbols prompt themes lean on — `❯`, `➜`, box drawing, the
-/// sharp powerline wedges — with ink that fits a monospace advance. Without
-/// this anchor, a custom `font_family` that lacks one of those codepoints
-/// falls through the whole configured list into the OS cascade, which happily
-/// serves a proportional glyph wider than the cell that `paint_glyphs`'
-/// per-cell clip then truncates (issue #17's severed `➜`).
+/// The font fallback chain: the user's configured list, then this platform's
+/// stock faces, then the bundled "Hack" pinned to the end.
+///
+/// Hack ships inside the binary (`register_bundled_fonts`) and covers the
+/// symbols prompt themes lean on — `❯`, `➜`, box drawing, the sharp powerline
+/// wedges — with ink that fits a monospace advance. Without this anchor, a
+/// custom `font_family` that lacks one of those codepoints falls through the
+/// whole configured list into the OS cascade, which happily serves a
+/// proportional glyph wider than the cell that `paint_glyphs`' per-cell clip
+/// then truncates (issue #17's severed `➜`).
+///
+/// Hack carries no CJK at all (1548 codepoints mapped, zero ideographs), so on
+/// a chain that names only macOS faces every Chinese character falls through to
+/// the OS cascade too. [`platform_last_resort_fallbacks`] is appended for the
+/// same reason the Hack anchor exists — to keep the last word ours rather than
+/// the cascade's — and it repairs already-persisted configs, which a change to
+/// `Config::default` alone would never reach.
 fn fallback_chain(family: &str, configured: &[String]) -> Vec<String> {
     let mut chain = configured.to_vec();
-    if family != "Hack" && !chain.iter().any(|f| f == "Hack") {
-        chain.push("Hack".to_string());
+    let mut pin = |name: &str| {
+        if family != name && !chain.iter().any(|f| f == name) {
+            chain.push(name.to_string());
+        }
+    };
+    for name in crate::core::config::platform_last_resort_fallbacks() {
+        pin(name);
     }
+    pin("Hack");
     chain
 }
 
@@ -6040,29 +6055,68 @@ mod tests {
         let configured = vec!["Menlo".to_string(), "Apple Color Emoji".to_string()];
 
         // A custom primary that may lack the prompt symbols → Hack appended.
-        assert_eq!(
-            fallback_chain("JetBrains Mono", &configured),
-            ["Menlo", "Apple Color Emoji", "Hack"]
-        );
+        let chain = fallback_chain("JetBrains Mono", &configured);
+        assert_eq!(chain[..2], ["Menlo", "Apple Color Emoji"]);
+        assert_eq!(chain.last().unwrap(), "Hack");
 
         // Hack as the primary face already covers everything it could add.
-        assert_eq!(
-            fallback_chain("Hack", &configured),
-            ["Menlo", "Apple Color Emoji"]
-        );
+        let chain = fallback_chain("Hack", &configured);
+        assert_eq!(chain[..2], ["Menlo", "Apple Color Emoji"]);
+        assert!(!chain.iter().any(|f| f == "Hack"));
 
         // A user who lists Hack explicitly keeps their chosen position.
         let with_hack = vec!["Hack".to_string(), "Menlo".to_string()];
-        assert_eq!(fallback_chain("SF Mono", &with_hack), ["Hack", "Menlo"]);
+        let chain = fallback_chain("SF Mono", &with_hack);
+        assert_eq!(chain[..2], ["Hack", "Menlo"]);
 
         // "Hack Nerd Font" is a different family — the bundled face still lands.
         assert_eq!(
-            fallback_chain("Hack Nerd Font", &[]),
-            ["Hack"],
+            fallback_chain("Hack Nerd Font", &[]).last().unwrap(),
+            "Hack",
             "a Hack-prefixed family name must not suppress the bundled anchor"
         );
     }
 
+    /// Hack has no ideographs, so a chain naming only faces this OS lacks sends
+    /// every CJK glyph into the platform cascade — where a 1.0em face gets
+    /// left-aligned inside `element.rs`'s 1.2041em two-column slot. The stock
+    /// names have to be in the chain even for a config written before the fix.
+    #[test]
+    fn fallback_chain_appends_platform_stock_faces() {
+        let stock = crate::core::config::platform_last_resort_fallbacks();
+        assert!(!stock.is_empty(), "every platform needs a CJK last resort");
+
+        // The pre-fix default: macOS-only names, nothing Windows/Linux can match.
+        let legacy = vec![
+            "Menlo".to_string(),
+            "Hasklug Nerd Font Mono".to_string(),
+            "Maple Mono NF CN".to_string(),
+            "Apple Color Emoji".to_string(),
+        ];
+        let chain = fallback_chain("Hack", &legacy);
+        for name in stock {
+            assert!(
+                chain.iter().any(|f| f == name),
+                "{name} missing from repaired chain {chain:?}"
+            );
+        }
+
+        // The user's own order is never displaced — stock faces land behind it.
+        assert_eq!(chain[..legacy.len()], legacy[..]);
+
+        // Already-listed stock faces aren't duplicated.
+        let explicit = vec![stock[0].to_string()];
+        let chain = fallback_chain("Hack", &explicit);
+        assert_eq!(
+            chain.iter().filter(|f| *f == stock[0]).count(),
+            1,
+            "stock face duplicated in {chain:?}"
+        );
+
+        // A stock face chosen as the *primary* isn't re-added as its own fallback.
+        assert!(!fallback_chain(stock[0], &[]).iter().any(|f| f == stock[0]));
+    }
+
     /// The wheel reaches the app only through the modes it negotiated: mouse
     /// reporting first, alternate scroll second, local scrollback otherwise.
     #[test]