diff --git a/src/bin/ui.rs b/src/bin/ui.rs
index c5f9ed63..01d85a65 100644
--- a/src/bin/ui.rs
+++ b/src/bin/ui.rs
@@ -1899,8 +1899,7 @@ impl App {
                     let custom_label = ui.add_sized(
                         [0.0, 0.0],
                         egui::Label::new(
-                            egui::RichText::new("Custom SNI")
-                                .color(egui::Color32::TRANSPARENT),
+                            egui::RichText::new("Custom SNI").color(egui::Color32::TRANSPARENT),
                         ),
                     );
                     ui.add(
@@ -1966,8 +1965,38 @@ fn fmt_bytes(b: u64) -> String {
 
 // ---------- Background thread: owns the tokio runtime + proxy lifecycle ----------
 
+const DESKTOP_RUNTIME_MIN_WORKERS: usize = 2;
+const DESKTOP_RUNTIME_MAX_WORKERS: usize = 4;
+const DESKTOP_RUNTIME_MAX_BLOCKING_THREADS: usize = 32;
+
+fn desktop_runtime_worker_count(available_parallelism: usize) -> usize {
+    available_parallelism.clamp(DESKTOP_RUNTIME_MIN_WORKERS, DESKTOP_RUNTIME_MAX_WORKERS)
+}
+
+fn build_desktop_runtime() -> std::io::Result<(Runtime, usize)> {
+    let available = std::thread::available_parallelism()
+        .map(|n| n.get())
+        .unwrap_or(DESKTOP_RUNTIME_MIN_WORKERS);
+    let workers = desktop_runtime_worker_count(available);
+    let runtime = tokio::runtime::Builder::new_multi_thread()
+        .thread_name("mhrv-ui-worker")
+        .worker_threads(workers)
+        .max_blocking_threads(DESKTOP_RUNTIME_MAX_BLOCKING_THREADS)
+        .thread_keep_alive(Duration::from_secs(30))
+        .enable_all()
+        .build()?;
+    Ok((runtime, workers))
+}
+
 fn background_thread(shared: Arc<Shared>, rx: Receiver<Cmd>) {
-    let rt = Runtime::new().expect("failed to create tokio runtime");
+    let (rt, runtime_workers) = build_desktop_runtime().expect("failed to create tokio runtime");
+    push_log(
+        &shared,
+        &format!(
+            "[ui] tokio runtime ready: {} worker threads, {} max blocking threads",
+            runtime_workers, DESKTOP_RUNTIME_MAX_BLOCKING_THREADS
+        ),
+    );
 
     let mut active: Option<(
         JoinHandle<()>,
@@ -2113,14 +2142,14 @@ fn background_thread(shared: Arc<Shared>, rx: Receiver<Cmd>) {
                          https://whatismyipaddress.com in your browser \
                          via 127.0.0.1:8085. The IP shown should be your \
                          tunnel-node's VPS IP. Tracking a real Full-mode \
-                         test in #160."
+                         test in #160.",
                     ),
                     Some(mhrv_rs::config::Mode::Direct) => Some(
                         "Test Relay is wired only for apps_script mode. \
                          In direct mode there is no Apps Script relay — \
                          every request goes through the SNI-rewrite tunnel \
                          straight to Google's edge. Verify by loading \
-                         https://www.google.com via the proxy."
+                         https://www.google.com via the proxy.",
                     ),
                     _ => None,
                 };
@@ -2492,10 +2521,7 @@ fn install_ui_tracing(shared: Arc<Shared>, config_level: &str) {
 /// by `install_ui_tracing`. `apply_log_level` uses it to swap in a new
 /// filter when the user clicks Save with a different log level (#401).
 static LOG_RELOAD: std::sync::OnceLock<
-    tracing_subscriber::reload::Handle<
-        tracing_subscriber::EnvFilter,
-        tracing_subscriber::Registry,
-    >,
+    tracing_subscriber::reload::Handle<tracing_subscriber::EnvFilter, tracing_subscriber::Registry>,
 > = std::sync::OnceLock::new();
 
 /// Reinstall the tracing filter at runtime. Called from the Save handler
@@ -2568,3 +2594,27 @@ fn push_log(shared: &Shared, msg: &str) {
         s.log.pop_front();
     }
 }
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn desktop_runtime_worker_count_clamps_small_devices_to_two_workers() {
+        assert_eq!(desktop_runtime_worker_count(0), 2);
+        assert_eq!(desktop_runtime_worker_count(1), 2);
+        assert_eq!(desktop_runtime_worker_count(2), 2);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn desktop_runtime_worker_count_uses_midrange_core_counts_directly() {
+        assert_eq!(desktop_runtime_worker_count(3), 3);
+        assert_eq!(desktop_runtime_worker_count(4), 4);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn desktop_runtime_worker_count_caps_large_desktops_at_four_workers() {
+        assert_eq!(desktop_runtime_worker_count(8), 4);
+        assert_eq!(desktop_runtime_worker_count(32), 4);
+    }
+}