diff --git a/.changeset/strange-papayas-beg.md b/.changeset/strange-papayas-beg.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a845151cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/strange-papayas-beg.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+---
+---
diff --git a/.storybook/actionArgs.js b/.storybook/actionArgs.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8c1ddf4cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.storybook/actionArgs.js
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+/**
+ * Keeps Storybook's auto-wired action spies from serializing DOM events.
+ *
+ * Storybook attaches an `action()` spy to every `on*` prop it finds in a
+ * component's argTypes (`addActionsFromArgTypes`). React Aria calls those spies
+ * with the raw React synthetic event, and the preview channel then serializes
+ * the whole payload with telejson at `maxDepth: 15` — once for the postMessage
+ * transport, and again for the dev-server websocket, which hardcodes that depth
+ * and ignores per-event options.
+ *
+ * A synthetic event reaches `nativeEvent`, `target` and `_targetInst` (the React
+ * fiber), so that walk drags in the entire component tree: ~174k
+ * `JSON.stringify` calls and ~435k regex tests, i.e. ~600ms of synchronous work
+ * on *every* focus change, in *every* story. Replacing event-like arguments
+ * with a compact plain summary before the spy sees them keeps the Actions panel
+ * readable and drops the cost to ~1ms.
+ *
+ * This is dev-server-only: a production build of the kit has no channel and no
+ * action spies, and pays none of this.
+ */
+
+const isEventLike = (value) =>
+  !!value &&
+  typeof value === 'object' &&
+  typeof value.preventDefault === 'function' &&
+  typeof value.stopPropagation === 'function';
+
+const isDomNode = (value) =>
+  !!value && typeof value === 'object' && typeof value.tagName === 'string';
+
+/** `input#«r0»[data-qa="Input"]` — enough to identify the node in the panel. */
+const describeNode = (node) => {
+  if (!isDomNode(node)) return undefined;
+
+  const qa = node.getAttribute?.('data-qa');
+
+  return [
+    node.tagName.toLowerCase(),
+    node.id ? `#${node.id}` : '',
+    qa ? `[data-qa="${qa}"]` : '',
+  ].join('');
+};
+
+const summarizeEvent = (event) => {
+  const summary = { __event: event.type ?? 'event' };
+  const target = describeNode(event.target);
+  const currentTarget = describeNode(event.currentTarget);
+
+  if (target) summary.target = target;
+  if (currentTarget && currentTarget !== target) {
+    summary.currentTarget = currentTarget;
+  }
+  if (typeof event.key === 'string') summary.key = event.key;
+  if (typeof event.target?.value === 'string') {
+    summary.value = event.target.value;
+  }
+
+  return summary;
+};
+
+const summarizeArg = (arg) => {
+  if (isEventLike(arg)) return summarizeEvent(arg);
+  if (isDomNode(arg)) return { __node: describeNode(arg) };
+
+  return arg;
+};
+
+/**
+ * Wraps every action arg so its arguments are summarized before the spy runs.
+ *
+ * Project annotations are composed last, so by the time this runs the actions
+ * addon has already attached its `action()` handlers and `storybook/test` has
+ * wrapped each one in an `fn()` spy. Wrapping from the outside is what makes
+ * this independent of both: neither the postMessage nor the websocket transport
+ * gets a live event to walk, whatever `maxDepth` each one happens to use.
+ *
+ * The spy's own properties are carried over, so it still reads as a mock and
+ * the Actions panel still recognises it. Its recorded calls hold the summarized
+ * arguments — no story in this repo asserts on them, and an assertion against a
+ * live `FocusEvent` is not something to preserve anyway.
+ */
+export const argsEnhancers = [
+  ({ initialArgs }) => {
+    const patched = {};
+
+    for (const [name, value] of Object.entries(initialArgs)) {
+      if (typeof value !== 'function' || !value.isAction) continue;
+
+      const spy = value;
+      const wrapped = (...args) => spy(...args.map(summarizeArg));
+
+      Object.assign(wrapped, spy);
+      wrapped.isAction = true;
+      patched[name] = wrapped;
+    }
+
+    return patched;
+  },
+];
diff --git a/.storybook/preview.jsx b/.storybook/preview.jsx
index cc90eaba2..5150b4dcf 100644
--- a/.storybook/preview.jsx
+++ b/.storybook/preview.jsx
@@ -10,6 +10,11 @@ import { Root } from '../src/components/Root';
 import { getI18n, LOCALE_LABELS, SUPPORTED_LOCALES } from '../src/i18n';
 import { setToolbarScheme } from '../src/stories/decorators/colorSchemeBridge';
 
+// Summarizes DOM/React events before Storybook's action spies see them. Without
+// it, serializing a focus event over the preview channel costs ~600ms per focus
+// change in every story — see `.storybook/actionArgs.js`.
+export { argsEnhancers } from './actionArgs';
+
 // Brand both Storybook themes (manager chrome, sidebar selection, toolbar
 // active tab, etc.) with the design system's primary purple — the same color
 // the `#primary` token resolves to in `src/tokens/palette.ts`.