--- a/src/codec/compression.rs
+++ b/src/codec/compression.rs
@@ -239,8 +239,9 @@
         CompressionEncoding::Zstd => {
             let mut zstd_encoder = Encoder::new(
                 &decompressed_buf[0..len],
-                // FIXME: support customizing the compression level
-                zstd::DEFAULT_COMPRESSION_LEVEL,
+                // Favor CodeModeHost response latency over compression ratio.
+                // Level 1 is the fastest positive level and matches the benchmark.
+                1,
             )?;
             std::io::copy(&mut zstd_encoder, &mut out_writer)?;
         }