diff --git a/packages/cli/src/test-utils/render.tsx b/packages/cli/src/test-utils/render.tsx
index a9e997a859..4425e12568 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/test-utils/render.tsx
+++ b/packages/cli/src/test-utils/render.tsx
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ vi.mock('../ui/utils/terminalUtils.js', () => ({
   isLowColorDepth: vi.fn(() => false),
   getColorDepth: vi.fn(() => 24),
   isITerm2: vi.fn(() => false),
+  shouldUseEmoji: vi.fn(() => true),
 }));
 
 // Wrapper around ink-testing-library's render that ensures act() is called
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/components/shared/IconText.tsx b/packages/cli/src/ui/components/shared/IconText.tsx
index f23bb6a72d..1b7ecbde01 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/components/shared/IconText.tsx
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/components/shared/IconText.tsx
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 import type React from 'react';
 import { Text } from 'ink';
-import process from 'node:process';
+import { shouldUseEmoji } from '../../utils/terminalUtils.js';
 
 interface IconTextProps {
   icon: string;
@@ -30,22 +30,3 @@ export const IconText: React.FC<IconTextProps> = ({
     </Text>
   );
 };
-
-function shouldUseEmoji(): boolean {
-  const locale = (
-    process.env['LC_ALL'] ||
-    process.env['LC_CTYPE'] ||
-    process.env['LANG'] ||
-    ''
-  ).toLowerCase();
-  const supportsUtf8 = locale.includes('utf-8') || locale.includes('utf8');
-  if (!supportsUtf8) {
-    return false;
-  }
-
-  if (process.env['TERM'] === 'linux') {
-    return false;
-  }
-
-  return true;
-}
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/terminalUtils.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/terminalUtils.test.ts
index 70b2a08f17..7cc3b23ad1 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/terminalUtils.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/terminalUtils.test.ts
@@ -5,12 +5,16 @@
  */
 
 import { describe, it, expect, vi, beforeEach, afterEach } from 'vitest';
-import { isITerm2, resetITerm2Cache } from './terminalUtils.js';
+import { isITerm2, resetITerm2Cache, shouldUseEmoji } from './terminalUtils.js';
 
 describe('terminalUtils', () => {
   beforeEach(() => {
     vi.stubEnv('TERM_PROGRAM', '');
     vi.stubEnv('ITERM_SESSION_ID', '');
+    vi.stubEnv('LC_ALL', '');
+    vi.stubEnv('LC_CTYPE', '');
+    vi.stubEnv('LANG', '');
+    vi.stubEnv('TERM', '');
     resetITerm2Cache();
   });
 
@@ -19,30 +23,61 @@ describe('terminalUtils', () => {
     vi.restoreAllMocks();
   });
 
-  it('should detect iTerm2 via TERM_PROGRAM', () => {
-    vi.stubEnv('TERM_PROGRAM', 'iTerm.app');
-    expect(isITerm2()).toBe(true);
+  describe('isITerm2', () => {
+    it('should detect iTerm2 via TERM_PROGRAM', () => {
+      vi.stubEnv('TERM_PROGRAM', 'iTerm.app');
+      expect(isITerm2()).toBe(true);
+    });
+
+    it('should detect iTerm2 via ITERM_SESSION_ID', () => {
+      vi.stubEnv('ITERM_SESSION_ID', 'w0t0p0:6789...');
+      expect(isITerm2()).toBe(true);
+    });
+
+    it('should return false if not iTerm2', () => {
+      vi.stubEnv('TERM_PROGRAM', 'vscode');
+      expect(isITerm2()).toBe(false);
+    });
+
+    it('should cache the result', () => {
+      vi.stubEnv('TERM_PROGRAM', 'iTerm.app');
+      expect(isITerm2()).toBe(true);
+
+      // Change env but should still be true due to cache
+      vi.stubEnv('TERM_PROGRAM', 'vscode');
+      expect(isITerm2()).toBe(true);
+
+      resetITerm2Cache();
+      expect(isITerm2()).toBe(false);
+    });
   });
 
-  it('should detect iTerm2 via ITERM_SESSION_ID', () => {
-    vi.stubEnv('ITERM_SESSION_ID', 'w0t0p0:6789...');
-    expect(isITerm2()).toBe(true);
-  });
+  describe('shouldUseEmoji', () => {
+    it('should return true when UTF-8 is supported', () => {
+      vi.stubEnv('LANG', 'en_US.UTF-8');
+      expect(shouldUseEmoji()).toBe(true);
+    });
 
-  it('should return false if not iTerm2', () => {
-    vi.stubEnv('TERM_PROGRAM', 'vscode');
-    expect(isITerm2()).toBe(false);
-  });
+    it('should return true when utf8 (no hyphen) is supported', () => {
+      vi.stubEnv('LANG', 'en_US.utf8');
+      expect(shouldUseEmoji()).toBe(true);
+    });
 
-  it('should cache the result', () => {
-    vi.stubEnv('TERM_PROGRAM', 'iTerm.app');
-    expect(isITerm2()).toBe(true);
+    it('should check LC_ALL first', () => {
+      vi.stubEnv('LC_ALL', 'en_US.UTF-8');
+      vi.stubEnv('LANG', 'C');
+      expect(shouldUseEmoji()).toBe(true);
+    });
 
-    // Change env but should still be true due to cache
-    vi.stubEnv('TERM_PROGRAM', 'vscode');
-    expect(isITerm2()).toBe(true);
+    it('should return false when UTF-8 is not supported', () => {
+      vi.stubEnv('LANG', 'C');
+      expect(shouldUseEmoji()).toBe(false);
+    });
 
-    resetITerm2Cache();
-    expect(isITerm2()).toBe(false);
+    it('should return false on linux console (TERM=linux)', () => {
+      vi.stubEnv('LANG', 'en_US.UTF-8');
+      vi.stubEnv('TERM', 'linux');
+      expect(shouldUseEmoji()).toBe(false);
+    });
   });
 });
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/terminalUtils.ts b/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/terminalUtils.ts
index 5c03198f71..ea83c43e89 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/terminalUtils.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/utils/terminalUtils.ts
@@ -45,3 +45,25 @@ export function isITerm2(): boolean {
 export function resetITerm2Cache(): void {
   cachedIsITerm2 = undefined;
 }
+
+/**
+ * Returns true if the terminal likely supports emoji.
+ */
+export function shouldUseEmoji(): boolean {
+  const locale = (
+    process.env['LC_ALL'] ||
+    process.env['LC_CTYPE'] ||
+    process.env['LANG'] ||
+    ''
+  ).toLowerCase();
+  const supportsUtf8 = locale.includes('utf-8') || locale.includes('utf8');
+  if (!supportsUtf8) {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  if (process.env['TERM'] === 'linux') {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  return true;
+}