diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 3180d1c60..bf274dee1 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -164,6 +164,7 @@
     "chalk": "^5.6.2",
     "chokidar": "^5.0.0",
     "chromium-bidi": "12.0.1",
+    "cli-highlight": "^2.1.11",
     "commander": "^14.0.2",
     "croner": "^9.1.0",
     "detect-libc": "^2.1.2",
diff --git a/pnpm-lock.yaml b/pnpm-lock.yaml
index 4c51170b5..c60188274 100644
--- a/pnpm-lock.yaml
+++ b/pnpm-lock.yaml
@@ -76,6 +76,9 @@ importers:
       chromium-bidi:
         specifier: 12.0.1
         version: 12.0.1(devtools-protocol@0.0.1561482)
+      cli-highlight:
+        specifier: ^2.1.11
+        version: 2.1.11
       commander:
         specifier: ^14.0.2
         version: 14.0.2
diff --git a/src/tui/theme/theme.test.ts b/src/tui/theme/theme.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..648ff87d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tui/theme/theme.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { markdownTheme } from "./theme.js";
+
+describe("markdownTheme", () => {
+  describe("highlightCode", () => {
+    it("should return an array of lines for JavaScript code", () => {
+      const code = `const x = 42;`;
+      const result = markdownTheme.highlightCode!(code, "javascript");
+
+      expect(result).toBeInstanceOf(Array);
+      expect(result).toHaveLength(1);
+      // Result should contain the original code (possibly with ANSI codes)
+      expect(result[0]).toContain("const");
+      expect(result[0]).toContain("42");
+    });
+
+    it("should return correct line count for multi-line code", () => {
+      const code = `function greet(name: string) {
+  return "Hello, " + name;
+}`;
+      const result = markdownTheme.highlightCode!(code, "typescript");
+
+      expect(result).toHaveLength(3);
+      expect(result[0]).toContain("function");
+      expect(result[1]).toContain("return");
+      expect(result[2]).toContain("}");
+    });
+
+    it("should handle Python code", () => {
+      const code = `def hello():
+    print("world")`;
+      const result = markdownTheme.highlightCode!(code, "python");
+
+      expect(result).toHaveLength(2);
+      expect(result[0]).toContain("def");
+      expect(result[1]).toContain("print");
+    });
+
+    it("should handle unknown languages gracefully", () => {
+      const code = `const x = 42;`;
+      const result = markdownTheme.highlightCode!(code, "not-a-real-language");
+
+      expect(result).toBeInstanceOf(Array);
+      expect(result).toHaveLength(1);
+      // Should still return the code content
+      expect(result[0]).toContain("const");
+    });
+
+    it("should handle code without language specifier", () => {
+      const code = `echo "hello"`;
+      const result = markdownTheme.highlightCode!(code, undefined);
+
+      expect(result).toBeInstanceOf(Array);
+      expect(result).toHaveLength(1);
+      expect(result[0]).toContain("echo");
+    });
+
+    it("should handle empty code", () => {
+      const result = markdownTheme.highlightCode!("", "javascript");
+
+      expect(result).toBeInstanceOf(Array);
+      expect(result).toHaveLength(1);
+      expect(result[0]).toBe("");
+    });
+
+    it("should handle bash/shell code", () => {
+      const code = `#!/bin/bash
+echo "Hello"
+for i in {1..5}; do
+  echo $i
+done`;
+      const result = markdownTheme.highlightCode!(code, "bash");
+
+      expect(result).toHaveLength(5);
+      expect(result[0]).toContain("#!/bin/bash");
+      expect(result[1]).toContain("echo");
+    });
+
+    it("should handle JSON", () => {
+      const code = `{"name": "test", "count": 42, "active": true}`;
+      const result = markdownTheme.highlightCode!(code, "json");
+
+      expect(result).toHaveLength(1);
+      expect(result[0]).toContain("name");
+      expect(result[0]).toContain("42");
+    });
+
+    it("should handle code with special characters", () => {
+      const code = `const regex = /\\d+/g;
+const str = "Hello\\nWorld";`;
+      const result = markdownTheme.highlightCode!(code, "javascript");
+
+      expect(result).toHaveLength(2);
+      // Should not throw and should return valid output
+      expect(result[0].length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+      expect(result[1].length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    });
+
+    it("should preserve code content through highlighting", () => {
+      const code = `const message = "Hello, World!";
+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, "");
+      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 b8072fda3..4c46a6fa5 100644
--- a/src/tui/theme/theme.ts
+++ b/src/tui/theme/theme.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import type {
   SettingsListTheme,
 } from "@mariozechner/pi-tui";
 import chalk from "chalk";
+import { highlight, supportsLanguage } from "cli-highlight";
 import type { SearchableSelectListTheme } from "../components/searchable-select-list.js";
 
 const palette = {
@@ -34,6 +35,73 @@ const palette = {
 const fg = (hex: string) => (text: string) => chalk.hex(hex)(text);
 const bg = (hex: string) => (text: string) => chalk.bgHex(hex)(text);
 
+/**
+ * Syntax highlighting theme for code blocks.
+ * Uses chalk functions to style different token types.
+ */
+const syntaxTheme = {
+  keyword: chalk.hex("#C586C0"), // purple - if, const, function, etc.
+  built_in: chalk.hex("#4EC9B0"), // teal - console, Math, etc.
+  type: chalk.hex("#4EC9B0"), // teal - types
+  literal: chalk.hex("#569CD6"), // blue - true, false, null
+  number: chalk.hex("#B5CEA8"), // green - numbers
+  string: chalk.hex("#CE9178"), // orange - strings
+  regexp: chalk.hex("#D16969"), // red - regex
+  symbol: chalk.hex("#B5CEA8"), // green - symbols
+  class: chalk.hex("#4EC9B0"), // teal - class names
+  function: chalk.hex("#DCDCAA"), // yellow - function names
+  title: chalk.hex("#DCDCAA"), // yellow - titles/names
+  params: chalk.hex("#9CDCFE"), // light blue - parameters
+  comment: chalk.hex("#6A9955"), // green - comments
+  doctag: chalk.hex("#608B4E"), // darker green - jsdoc tags
+  meta: chalk.hex("#9CDCFE"), // light blue - meta/preprocessor
+  "meta-keyword": chalk.hex("#C586C0"), // purple
+  "meta-string": chalk.hex("#CE9178"), // orange
+  section: chalk.hex("#DCDCAA"), // yellow - sections
+  tag: chalk.hex("#569CD6"), // blue - HTML/XML tags
+  name: chalk.hex("#9CDCFE"), // light blue - tag names
+  attr: chalk.hex("#9CDCFE"), // light blue - attributes
+  attribute: chalk.hex("#9CDCFE"), // light blue - attributes
+  variable: chalk.hex("#9CDCFE"), // light blue - variables
+  bullet: chalk.hex("#D7BA7D"), // gold - list bullets in markdown
+  code: chalk.hex("#CE9178"), // orange - inline code
+  emphasis: chalk.italic, // italic
+  strong: chalk.bold, // bold
+  formula: chalk.hex("#C586C0"), // purple - math
+  link: chalk.hex("#4EC9B0"), // teal - links
+  quote: chalk.hex("#6A9955"), // green - quotes
+  addition: chalk.hex("#B5CEA8"), // green - diff additions
+  deletion: chalk.hex("#F44747"), // red - diff deletions
+  "selector-tag": chalk.hex("#D7BA7D"), // gold - CSS selectors
+  "selector-id": chalk.hex("#D7BA7D"), // gold
+  "selector-class": chalk.hex("#D7BA7D"), // gold
+  "selector-attr": chalk.hex("#D7BA7D"), // gold
+  "selector-pseudo": chalk.hex("#D7BA7D"), // gold
+  "template-tag": chalk.hex("#C586C0"), // purple
+  "template-variable": chalk.hex("#9CDCFE"), // light blue
+  default: fg(palette.code), // fallback to code color
+};
+
+/**
+ * Highlight code with syntax coloring.
+ * Returns an array of lines with ANSI escape codes.
+ */
+function highlightCode(code: string, lang?: string): string[] {
+  try {
+    // Check if language is supported, fall back to auto-detect
+    const language = lang && supportsLanguage(lang) ? lang : undefined;
+    const highlighted = highlight(code, {
+      language,
+      theme: syntaxTheme,
+      ignoreIllegals: true,
+    });
+    return highlighted.split("\n");
+  } catch {
+    // If highlighting fails, return plain code
+    return code.split("\n").map((line) => fg(palette.code)(line));
+  }
+}
+
 export const theme = {
   fg: fg(palette.text),
   dim: fg(palette.dim),
@@ -70,6 +138,7 @@ export const markdownTheme: MarkdownTheme = {
   italic: (text) => chalk.italic(text),
   strikethrough: (text) => chalk.strikethrough(text),
   underline: (text) => chalk.underline(text),
+  highlightCode,
 };
 
 export const selectListTheme: SelectListTheme = {