diff --git a/src/client/builtins/tab-icons.module.css b/src/client/builtins/tab-icons.module.css
index 1b74378..0655970 100644
--- a/src/client/builtins/tab-icons.module.css
+++ b/src/client/builtins/tab-icons.module.css
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@
 }
 
 .terminal {
+  /* The shell chip is ink, not accent — and it is the widest glyph in the set,
+     so it renders a step smaller than its siblings (see tab-icons.tsx). */
   color: var(--dsw-alias-label-primary);
 }
 
diff --git a/src/client/builtins/tab-icons.tsx b/src/client/builtins/tab-icons.tsx
index 2381dc8..e0d389a 100644
--- a/src/client/builtins/tab-icons.tsx
+++ b/src/client/builtins/tab-icons.tsx
@@ -14,14 +14,14 @@
  * `files` is the one exception in kind rather than in color: it renders DSH's
  * own folder artwork (`FileTypeIcon`), matching the file rows this tab shows.
  */
-import type { ReactNode } from 'react'
+import { cloneElement, type ReactElement, type ReactNode } from 'react'
 import { FileTypeIcon } from '@deepseek-ai/dsh-client-ui-primitives'
 import styles from './tab-icons.module.css'
 import {
   VscCommentDiscussion,
   VscGitCommit,
   VscGlobe,
-  VscTasklist,
+  VscLayers,
   VscTerminal,
 } from 'react-icons/vsc'
 /** The styled wrapper classes; typed so a renamed rule fails the build. */
@@ -35,6 +35,35 @@ function themed(className: string, glyph: ReactNode): ReactNode {
   return <span className={className}>{glyph}</span>
 }
 
+/**
+ * Give a filled VSCodicon a hairline of its own ink.
+ *
+ * The plugin's hand-drawn icons are 1.5px strokes on a 16px grid; the
+ * VSCodicon set is filled at that size, and next to the plugin's own chrome a
+ * bare fill reads heavy and slightly out of place — most visibly on the
+ * terminal chip. A `currentColor` stroke in the SVG's own user units keeps the
+ * host's shape and the token's color while lending it the same drawn weight,
+ * and `paint-order: stroke` centres that hairline on the fill's edge instead
+ * of fattening it.
+ * @param icon - the glyph element to outline.
+ * @returns the same glyph with its outline applied.
+ */
+function outlined(icon: ReactElement): ReactElement {
+  return cloneElement(icon as ReactElement<{ style?: React.CSSProperties }>, {
+    style: {
+      // `non-scaling-stroke` keeps the hairline one device pixel whatever the
+      // glyph's own grid is (the sets mix 16- and 24-unit viewBoxes and the
+      // strip renders at 14px), and `paint-order: stroke` centres it on the
+      // fill's edge instead of fattening the shape.
+      stroke: 'currentColor',
+      strokeWidth: 1,
+      strokeLinejoin: 'round',
+      paintOrder: 'stroke',
+      vectorEffect: 'non-scaling-stroke',
+    },
+  })
+}
+
 /** The Files tab: the host's folder artwork, like the rows it opens. */
 export const filesTabIcon: TabIcon = (size) => (
   <span className={css.files}>
@@ -44,20 +73,28 @@ export const filesTabIcon: TabIcon = (size) => (
 
 /** Changes / diff: the commit glyph, green like the diff affordances. */
 export const changesTabIcon: TabIcon = (size) =>
-  themed(css.changes, <VscGitCommit size={size} />)
+  themed(css.changes, outlined(<VscGitCommit size={size} />))
 
-/** Tasks (subagent) — the live-activity amber. */
+/**
+ * Tasks (subagents and background jobs) — the live-activity amber. The glyph
+ * is layered sheets, not a checklist: this page lists RUNNING work (subagent
+ * sessions plus the host's background jobs), not a to-do list.
+ */
 export const tasksTabIcon: TabIcon = (size) =>
-  themed(css.tasks, <VscTasklist size={size} />)
+  themed(css.tasks, outlined(<VscLayers size={size} />))
 
 /** Side chat — the conversational/secondary accent. */
 export const sidechatTabIcon: TabIcon = (size) =>
-  themed(css.sidechat, <VscCommentDiscussion size={size} />)
+  themed(css.sidechat, outlined(<VscCommentDiscussion size={size} />))
 
-/** Terminal — primary ink, the shell is text. */
+/**
+ * Terminal — primary ink, the shell is text. Drawn one step down from the
+ * strip's 14px and with the outline above: the VSCodicon terminal is a wide
+ * filled rectangle that dominated the chip at full size.
+ */
 export const terminalTabIcon: TabIcon = (size) =>
-  themed(css.terminal, <VscTerminal size={size} />)
+  themed(css.terminal, outlined(<VscTerminal size={Math.max(10, Math.round(size * 0.85))} />))
 
 /** Browser — the same secondary accent as the side chat's sibling surfaces. */
 export const browserTabIcon: TabIcon = (size) =>
-  themed(css.browser, <VscGlobe size={size} />)
+  themed(css.browser, outlined(<VscGlobe size={size} />))
diff --git a/tests/builtins.spec.ts b/tests/builtins.spec.ts
index 76c3a94..fab73dc 100644
--- a/tests/builtins.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/builtins.spec.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
  * tab (git lens + session lens, PR #471's file-trace merged in).
  */
 import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+import type { ReactElement } from 'react'
+import { VscCommentDiscussion, VscGitCommit, VscGlobe, VscLayers, VscTerminal } from 'react-icons/vsc'
 // First import: browser globals before the xterm-carrying builtin graph loads.
 import './browser-globals.ts'
 
@@ -235,6 +237,36 @@ describe('built-in tab registrations', () => {
       expect(tab.icon, tab.id).toBeDefined()
     }
   })
+
+  it('the tab glyphs say what the page shows (colored, token-driven)', () => {
+    const { service } = setup()
+    const iconOf = (id: string): ReactElement => {
+      const icon = service.getTab(id)?.icon
+      expect(icon, id).toBeDefined()
+      return (typeof icon === 'function' ? icon(14) : icon) as ReactElement
+    }
+    // Every colored glyph is [wrapper][glyph]; unwrap the themed wrapper.
+    const glyphOf = (id: string): unknown => {
+      const wrapper = iconOf(id) as ReactElement<{ children?: ReactElement }>
+      return (wrapper.props.children as ReactElement | undefined)?.type ?? wrapper.type
+    }
+    // Tasks lists subagent sessions AND background jobs — layered sheets say
+    // "work running in the background"; a checklist glyph would say "to-do
+    // list", which this page is not.
+    expect(glyphOf('subagent')).toBe(VscLayers)
+    expect(glyphOf('git')).toBe(VscGitCommit)
+    expect(glyphOf('sidechat')).toBe(VscCommentDiscussion)
+    expect(glyphOf('browser')).toBe(VscGlobe)
+    // The terminal glyph is the widest in the set: it renders a step down from
+    // the strip's size and keeps a hairline outline so it matches the plugin's
+    // own drawn chrome instead of reading as a heavy filled block.
+    const wrapper = iconOf('terminal') as ReactElement<{ children?: ReactElement }>
+    const terminal = wrapper.props.children as ReactElement<{ size?: number; style?: Record<string, unknown> }>
+    expect(terminal.type).toBe(VscTerminal)
+    expect(terminal.props.size).toBeLessThan(14)
+    expect(terminal.props.style?.strokeWidth).toBe(1)
+    expect(terminal.props.style?.vectorEffect).toBe('non-scaling-stroke')
+  })
 })
 
 describe('built-in file viewer registrations', () => {