diff --git a/scripts/bench-latency.ts b/scripts/bench-latency.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4c5bef2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/bench-latency.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,163 @@
+import { performance } from "node:perf_hooks";
+import { spawn } from "../src/index.ts";
+
+type IterationResult = {
+  spawnToFirstMs: number;
+  roundTripMs: number;
+};
+
+const DEFAULT_ITERATIONS = 30;
+const DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_MS = 5000;
+
+async function main(): Promise<void> {
+  if (process.platform === "win32") {
+    throw new Error("bench-latency currently supports Unix only");
+  }
+
+  const iterationsArg = Number.parseInt(process.argv[2] ?? "", 10);
+  const iterations = Number.isFinite(iterationsArg) && iterationsArg > 0 ? iterationsArg : DEFAULT_ITERATIONS;
+  const timeoutArg = Number.parseInt(process.argv[3] ?? "", 10);
+  const timeoutMs = Number.isFinite(timeoutArg) && timeoutArg > 0 ? timeoutArg : DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_MS;
+
+  const results: IterationResult[] = [];
+
+  for (let i = 0; i < iterations; i++) {
+    const result = await runIteration(i, timeoutMs);
+    results.push(result);
+    console.log(
+      `iter ${String(i + 1).padStart(2, "0")}/${iterations}: ` +
+      `spawn->first=${result.spawnToFirstMs.toFixed(3)}ms ` +
+      `roundtrip=${result.roundTripMs.toFixed(3)}ms`,
+    );
+  }
+
+  const spawnMetrics = summarize(results.map((r) => r.spawnToFirstMs));
+  const roundTripMetrics = summarize(results.map((r) => r.roundTripMs));
+
+  console.log("");
+  console.log(`iterations: ${iterations}`);
+  printMetrics("spawn_to_first_ms", spawnMetrics);
+  printMetrics("write_roundtrip_ms", roundTripMetrics);
+}
+
+async function runIteration(iteration: number, timeoutMs: number): Promise<IterationResult> {
+  const nonce = `${Date.now()}_${process.pid}_${iteration}`;
+  const readyMarker = `__zigpty_ready_${nonce}__`;
+  const echoMarker = `__zigpty_echo_${nonce}__`;
+
+  const tSpawn = performance.now();
+  const pty = spawn("/bin/sh", ["-c", `printf '${readyMarker}\\n'; exec cat`], { cols: 80, rows: 24 });
+
+  let firstChunkAt: number | null = null;
+  let output = "";
+  let resolveReady!: () => void;
+  let rejectReady!: (err: Error) => void;
+  const readyPromise = new Promise<void>((resolve, reject) => {
+    resolveReady = resolve;
+    rejectReady = reject;
+  });
+
+  let resolveEcho!: () => void;
+  let rejectEcho!: (err: Error) => void;
+  const echoPromise = new Promise<void>((resolve, reject) => {
+    resolveEcho = resolve;
+    rejectEcho = reject;
+  });
+  echoPromise.catch(() => {}); // prevent unhandled rejection on early exit
+
+  let wroteMarker = false;
+
+  const onDataDisposable = pty.onData((data) => {
+    const now = performance.now();
+    if (firstChunkAt === null) {
+      firstChunkAt = now;
+    }
+
+    const text = typeof data === "string" ? data : data.toString("utf8");
+    output += text;
+
+    if (output.includes(readyMarker)) {
+      resolveReady();
+    }
+    if (wroteMarker && output.includes(echoMarker)) {
+      resolveEcho();
+    }
+  });
+
+  const onExitDisposable = pty.onExit((info) => {
+    const message = `pty exited early (exitCode=${info.exitCode}, signal=${info.signal})`;
+    rejectReady(new Error(message));
+    rejectEcho(new Error(message));
+  });
+
+  const readyTimer = setTimeout(() => {
+    rejectReady(new Error(`timeout waiting for ready marker after ${timeoutMs}ms`));
+  }, timeoutMs);
+
+  try {
+    await readyPromise;
+  } finally {
+    clearTimeout(readyTimer);
+  }
+
+  const spawnToFirstMs = (firstChunkAt ?? performance.now()) - tSpawn;
+
+  const tWrite = performance.now();
+  wroteMarker = true;
+  pty.write(`${echoMarker}\n`);
+
+  const echoTimer = setTimeout(() => {
+    rejectEcho(new Error(`timeout waiting for echo marker after ${timeoutMs}ms`));
+  }, timeoutMs);
+
+  let roundTripMs = 0;
+  try {
+    await echoPromise;
+    roundTripMs = performance.now() - tWrite;
+  } finally {
+    clearTimeout(echoTimer);
+    onDataDisposable.dispose();
+    onExitDisposable.dispose();
+    try {
+      pty.close();
+    } catch {}
+    await Promise.race([pty.exited.catch(() => undefined), sleep(50)]);
+  }
+
+  return { spawnToFirstMs, roundTripMs };
+}
+
+function summarize(values: number[]): { min: number; max: number; avg: number; p95: number } {
+  const sorted = [...values].sort((a, b) => a - b);
+  const min = sorted[0] ?? 0;
+  const max = sorted[sorted.length - 1] ?? 0;
+  const sum = values.reduce((acc, value) => acc + value, 0);
+  const avg = values.length > 0 ? sum / values.length : 0;
+  const p95 = percentile(sorted, 95);
+  return { min, max, avg, p95 };
+}
+
+function percentile(sortedValues: number[], p: number): number {
+  if (sortedValues.length === 0) return 0;
+  const rank = Math.ceil((p / 100) * sortedValues.length) - 1;
+  const index = Math.max(0, Math.min(rank, sortedValues.length - 1));
+  return sortedValues[index]!;
+}
+
+function printMetrics(label: string, metrics: { min: number; max: number; avg: number; p95: number }): void {
+  console.log(
+    `${label}: min=${metrics.min.toFixed(3)} avg=${metrics.avg.toFixed(3)} ` +
+    `max=${metrics.max.toFixed(3)} p95=${metrics.p95.toFixed(3)} ms`,
+  );
+}
+
+function sleep(ms: number): Promise<void> {
+  return new Promise((resolve) => {
+    setTimeout(resolve, ms);
+  });
+}
+
+main().catch((error) => {
+  console.error(error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error));
+  process.exitCode = 1;
+});
diff --git a/src/terminal.ts b/src/terminal.ts
index 92d4f91..c25ee9c 100644
--- a/src/terminal.ts
+++ b/src/terminal.ts
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ export class Terminal implements AsyncDisposable {
   private _onData?: (terminal: Terminal, data: Uint8Array) => void;
   private _onExit?: (terminal: Terminal, exitCode: number, signal: string | null) => void;
   private _onDrain?: (terminal: Terminal) => void;
+  private _textDecoder = new TextDecoder();
   /** @internal Listeners for waitFor support. */
   _dataListeners: Array<(data: string) => void> = [];
 
@@ -182,7 +183,7 @@ export class Terminal implements AsyncDisposable {
   _emitData(data: Uint8Array): void {
     this._onData?.(this, data);
     if (this._dataListeners.length > 0) {
-      const text = new TextDecoder().decode(data);
+      const text = this._textDecoder.decode(data);
       for (const listener of this._dataListeners) {
         listener(text);
       }
@@ -211,7 +212,7 @@ export class Terminal implements AsyncDisposable {
 
   private _writeWindows(data: string | Uint8Array): number {
     if (!this._winHandle) return 0;
-    const str = typeof data === "string" ? data : new TextDecoder().decode(data);
+    const str = typeof data === "string" ? data : this._textDecoder.decode(data);
     const len = typeof data === "string" ? Buffer.byteLength(data) : data.byteLength;
     const doWrite = () => this._winNative!.write(this._winHandle!, str);
     if (this._winReady) doWrite();
diff --git a/zig/pty_darwin.zig b/zig/pty_darwin.zig
index 2f4cce2..377ce46 100644
--- a/zig/pty_darwin.zig
+++ b/zig/pty_darwin.zig
@@ -62,16 +62,41 @@ pub fn resetSignalHandlers() void {
     }
 }
 
-extern fn sysconf(name: c_int) c_long;
-
 pub fn closeExcessFds() void {
-    // macOS has no close_range or /proc/self/fd.
-    // Use sysconf(_SC_OPEN_MAX) to get the actual limit.
-    const SC_OPEN_MAX = 5; // _SC_OPEN_MAX on macOS
-    const max_fd = sysconf(SC_OPEN_MAX);
-    const limit: c_int = if (max_fd > 0) @intCast(max_fd) else 256;
-    var fd: c_int = 3;
-    while (fd < limit) : (fd += 1) {
-        _ = std.c.close(fd);
+    // Enumerate /dev/fd to close only open FDs, avoids ~1M close() syscalls via sysconf.
+    const dir_fd = std.c.open("/dev/fd", .{
+        .ACCMODE = .RDONLY,
+        .DIRECTORY = true,
+        .CLOEXEC = true,
+    });
+    if (dir_fd < 0) {
+        // Last resort: brute-force close FDs 3..255
+        var fd: c_int = 3;
+        while (fd < 256) : (fd += 1) {
+            _ = std.c.close(fd);
+        }
+        return;
+    }
+    defer _ = std.c.close(dir_fd);
+
+    var base: i64 = 0;
+    var buf: [1024]u8 align(@alignOf(std.c.dirent)) = undefined;
+    while (true) {
+        const nread = std.c.getdirentries(dir_fd, &buf, buf.len, &base);
+        if (nread <= 0) break;
+
+        var offset: usize = 0;
+        const end: usize = @intCast(nread);
+        while (offset < end) {
+            const d: *align(1) const std.c.dirent = @ptrCast(buf[offset..]);
+            const reclen: usize = d.reclen;
+            if (reclen == 0 or offset + reclen > end) break;
+            offset += reclen;
+
+            const fd_num = std.fmt.parseInt(c_int, d.name[0..d.namlen], 10) catch continue;
+            if (fd_num > 2 and fd_num != dir_fd) {
+                _ = std.c.close(fd_num);
+            }
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/zig/pty_unix.zig b/zig/pty_unix.zig
index 3570989..35cc9d8 100644
--- a/zig/pty_unix.zig
+++ b/zig/pty_unix.zig
@@ -122,6 +122,7 @@ fn forkImpl(env: napi.napi_env, info: napi.napi_callback_info) !napi.napi_value
         pty.exitCallJs,
         &tsfn,
     ));
+    _ = napi.napi_unref_threadsafe_function(env, tsfn);
 
     const ctx = alloc.create(ExitContext) catch {
         _ = napi.napi_release_threadsafe_function(tsfn, .abort);