From 3e06fe84dc589f7a385130b4163d492e3e9246ab Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Peter Steinberger <steipete@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2026 05:05:36 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] feat: add TUI code block syntax highlighting (#1200) (thanks
 @vignesh07)

---
 CHANGELOG.md                | 1 +
 src/tui/theme/theme.test.ts | 3 ++-
 src/tui/theme/theme.ts      | 1 +
 3 files changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index b7ad5b6bc..e95e86f97 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.clawd.bot
 ### Changes
 - Usage: add `/usage cost` summaries and macOS menu cost submenu with daily charting.
 - Agents: clarify node_modules read-only guidance in agent instructions.
+- TUI: add syntax highlighting for code blocks. (#1200) — thanks @vignesh07.
 
 ### Fixes
 - Plugins: surface plugin load/register/config errors in gateway logs with plugin/source context.
diff --git a/src/tui/theme/theme.test.ts b/src/tui/theme/theme.test.ts
index 648ff87d8..ac3ebd304 100644
--- a/src/tui/theme/theme.test.ts
+++ b/src/tui/theme/theme.test.ts
@@ -102,7 +102,8 @@ console.log(message);`;
       const result = markdownTheme.highlightCode!(code, "javascript");
 
       // Strip ANSI codes to verify content is preserved
-      const stripAnsi = (str: string) => str.replace(/\x1b\[[0-9;]*m/g, "");
+      const stripAnsi = (str: string) =>
+        str.replace(new RegExp(`${String.fromCharCode(27)}\\[[0-9;]*m`, "g"), "");
       expect(stripAnsi(result[0])).toBe(`const message = "Hello, World!";`);
       expect(stripAnsi(result[1])).toBe("console.log(message);");
     });
diff --git a/src/tui/theme/theme.ts b/src/tui/theme/theme.ts
index 4c46a6fa5..1ceef7f63 100644
--- a/src/tui/theme/theme.ts
+++ b/src/tui/theme/theme.ts
@@ -88,6 +88,7 @@ const syntaxTheme = {
  */
 function highlightCode(code: string, lang?: string): string[] {
   try {
+    // Auto-detect can be slow for very large blocks; prefer explicit language when available.
     // Check if language is supported, fall back to auto-detect
     const language = lang && supportsLanguage(lang) ? lang : undefined;
     const highlighted = highlight(code, {