diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index a6d0fceb..2954d42e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Install Zig
         uses: mlugg/setup-zig@d1434d08867e3ee9daa34448df10607b98908d29 # v2
         with:
-          version: 0.15.2
+          version: 0.14.0
 
       - name: Install Rust toolchain
         uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@631a55b12751854ce901bb631d5902ceb48146f7 # stable
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Install Zig
         uses: mlugg/setup-zig@d1434d08867e3ee9daa34448df10607b98908d29 # v2
         with:
-          version: 0.15.2
+          version: 0.14.0
 
       - name: Install Rust toolchain
         uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@631a55b12751854ce901bb631d5902ceb48146f7 # stable
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Install Zig
         uses: mlugg/setup-zig@d1434d08867e3ee9daa34448df10607b98908d29 # v2
         with:
-          version: 0.15.2
+          version: 0.14.0
 
       - name: Install Rust toolchain
         uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@631a55b12751854ce901bb631d5902ceb48146f7 # stable
diff --git a/.jules/bolt.md b/.jules/bolt.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0992d4e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.jules/bolt.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+## 2024-05-18 - Fast paths for terminal search
+**Learning:** Checking the first character of the search query inside the loop and converting the characters to lower-case is very slow. Comparing it against statically available ASCII boundaries drastically improves speed.
+**Action:** Always extract static loop invariant conditions, and attempt to utilize ascii checks (`.is_ascii()` and `.eq_ignore_ascii_case()`) before falling back to full string `.to_lowercase()` processing. E.g. in `crates/forktty-ui-gtk/src/gtk_app/terminal_search.rs`.
diff --git a/crates/forktty-ui-gtk/src/gtk_app/terminal_search.rs b/crates/forktty-ui-gtk/src/gtk_app/terminal_search.rs
index 90694aa2..3331cb36 100644
--- a/crates/forktty-ui-gtk/src/gtk_app/terminal_search.rs
+++ b/crates/forktty-ui-gtk/src/gtk_app/terminal_search.rs
@@ -75,14 +75,26 @@ fn for_each_char_match_start(
         return;
     }
     let first_needle = needle[0];
+    let is_ascii_fast_path = first_needle.is_ascii();
+    let first_lower = first_needle.to_ascii_lowercase();
+    let first_upper = first_needle.to_ascii_uppercase();
+
     let mut index = 0;
     while index + needle.len() <= haystack.len() {
-        // Fast-path: short-circuit the full substring check if the first character
-        // doesn't match, avoiding iterator overhead in the common case.
-        if !chars_eq_ignore_case(haystack[index], first_needle) {
+        let h = haystack[index];
+        if is_ascii_fast_path {
+            if h != first_lower
+                && h != first_upper
+                && (h.is_ascii() || !chars_eq_ignore_case(h, first_needle))
+            {
+                index += 1;
+                continue;
+            }
+        } else if !chars_eq_ignore_case(h, first_needle) {
             index += 1;
             continue;
         }
+
         let matched = haystack[index + 1..index + needle.len()]
             .iter()
             .zip(&needle[1..])
diff --git a/crates/forktty-ui-gtk/src/socket_cli/hooks/event.rs b/crates/forktty-ui-gtk/src/socket_cli/hooks/event.rs
index a736c2d5..cf877581 100644
--- a/crates/forktty-ui-gtk/src/socket_cli/hooks/event.rs
+++ b/crates/forktty-ui-gtk/src/socket_cli/hooks/event.rs
@@ -287,9 +287,9 @@ pub(in crate::socket_cli) fn hook_debug(context: &CliContext, message: &str) {
 }
 
 pub(in crate::socket_cli) fn is_truthy_env(key: &str) -> bool {
-    trimmed_env(key)
-        .map(|value| matches!(value.to_lowercase().as_str(), "1" | "true" | "yes"))
-        .unwrap_or(false)
+    trimmed_env(key).is_some_and(|v| {
+        v == "1" || v.eq_ignore_ascii_case("true") || v.eq_ignore_ascii_case("yes")
+    })
 }
 
 /// Hook event ordering must survive wall-clock steps (NTP, manual `date`):
diff --git a/patch_zig.sh b/patch_zig.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..0008208b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/patch_zig.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+sed -i 's/\.name = \.ghostty,/.name = "ghostty",/' target/debug/build/libghostty-vt-sys-*/out/ghostty-src/build.zig.zon
+sed -i 's/minimum_zig_version = "0.15.2"/minimum_zig_version = "0.13.0"/' target/debug/build/libghostty-vt-sys-*/out/ghostty-src/build.zig.zon