diff --git a/src/terminal/Terminal.zig b/src/terminal/Terminal.zig
index 882ef41c0..a2bf6d50e 100644
--- a/src/terminal/Terminal.zig
+++ b/src/terminal/Terminal.zig
@@ -2621,12 +2621,59 @@ pub fn plainStringUnwrapped(self: *Terminal, alloc: Allocator) ![]const u8 {
     return try self.screen.dumpStringAllocUnwrapped(alloc, .{ .viewport = .{} });
 }
 
-/// Full reset
+/// Full reset.
+///
+/// This will attempt to free the existing screen memory and allocate
+/// new screens but if that fails this will reuse the existing memory
+/// from the prior screens. In the latter case, memory may be wasted
+/// (since its unused) but it isn't leaked.
 pub fn fullReset(self: *Terminal) void {
-    // Switch back to primary screen and clear it. We do not restore cursor
-    // because see the next step...
-    self.primaryScreen(.{ .clear_on_exit = true, .cursor_save = false });
+    // Attempt to initialize new screens.
+    var new_primary = Screen.init(
+        self.screen.alloc,
+        self.cols,
+        self.rows,
+        self.screen.pages.explicit_max_size,
+    ) catch |err| {
+        log.warn("failed to allocate new primary screen, reusing old memory err={}", .{err});
+        self.fallbackReset();
+        return;
+    };
+    const new_secondary = Screen.init(
+        self.secondary_screen.alloc,
+        self.cols,
+        self.rows,
+        0,
+    ) catch |err| {
+        log.warn("failed to allocate new secondary screen, reusing old memory err={}", .{err});
+        new_primary.deinit();
+        self.fallbackReset();
+        return;
+    };
 
+    // If we got here, both new screens were successfully allocated
+    // and we can deinitialize the old screens.
+    self.screen.deinit();
+    self.secondary_screen.deinit();
+
+    // Replace with the newly allocated screens.
+    self.screen = new_primary;
+    self.secondary_screen = new_secondary;
+
+    self.resetCommonState();
+}
+
+fn fallbackReset(self: *Terminal) void {
+    // Clear existing screens without reallocation
+    self.primaryScreen(.{ .clear_on_exit = true, .cursor_save = false });
+    self.screen.clearSelection();
+    self.eraseDisplay(.scrollback, false);
+    self.eraseDisplay(.complete, false);
+    self.screen.cursorAbsolute(0, 0);
+    self.resetCommonState();
+}
+
+fn resetCommonState(self: *Terminal) void {
     // We set the saved cursor to null and then restore. This will force
     // our cursor to go back to the default which will also move the cursor
     // to the top-left.
@@ -2640,7 +2687,6 @@ pub fn fullReset(self: *Terminal) void {
     self.modes = .{};
     self.flags = .{};
     self.tabstops.reset(TABSTOP_INTERVAL);
-    self.screen.clearSelection();
     self.screen.kitty_keyboard = .{};
     self.secondary_screen.kitty_keyboard = .{};
     self.screen.protected_mode = .off;
@@ -2651,9 +2697,6 @@ pub fn fullReset(self: *Terminal) void {
         .right = self.cols - 1,
     };
     self.previous_char = null;
-    self.eraseDisplay(.scrollback, false);
-    self.eraseDisplay(.complete, false);
-    self.screen.cursorAbsolute(0, 0);
     self.pwd.clearRetainingCapacity();
     self.status_display = .main;
 }