diff --git a/examples/basic-line.tsx b/examples/basic-line.tsx
index 3a36ec2..1e33fac 100644
--- a/examples/basic-line.tsx
+++ b/examples/basic-line.tsx
@@ -7,13 +7,14 @@ const timestamps = Array.from({ length: count }, (_, i) => i);
 const values = timestamps.map(t => Math.sin(t / 5) * 40 + 50);
 
 const opts = {
+  scales: { x: { time: false } },
   series: [
     {},
     { stroke: 'cyan', label: 'Value', width: 2 },
   ],
   axes: [
-    { stroke: '#555', grid: { stroke: '#333' } },
-    { stroke: '#555', grid: { stroke: '#333' } },
+    { stroke: '#999', grid: { stroke: '#333' } },
+    { stroke: '#999', grid: { stroke: '#333' } },
   ],
 };
 
diff --git a/examples/dual-y-axis.tsx b/examples/dual-y-axis.tsx
index fbb1ac0..da16af2 100644
--- a/examples/dual-y-axis.tsx
+++ b/examples/dual-y-axis.tsx
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ const opts = {
     { stroke: '#ffaa00', label: 'Volume', width: 1, scale: 'volume' },
   ],
   axes: [
-    { stroke: '#555', grid: { stroke: '#222' } },
+    { stroke: '#999', grid: { stroke: '#222' } },
     { stroke: '#00ccff', grid: { stroke: '#222' }, scale: 'y' },
     { stroke: '#ffaa00', grid: { show: false }, scale: 'volume', side: 1 },
   ],
diff --git a/examples/live-trading.tsx b/examples/live-trading.tsx
index ea1a9bd..d38dfe2 100644
--- a/examples/live-trading.tsx
+++ b/examples/live-trading.tsx
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ function App({ exit }: { exit: () => void }) {
     ],
     axes: [
       {
-        stroke: '#555',
+        stroke: '#999',
         grid: { stroke: '#222' },
         values: (_u: any, vals: number[]) => vals.map(v => {
           const m = Math.floor(Math.abs(v) / 60);
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ function App({ exit }: { exit: () => void }) {
           return `${v < 0 ? '-' : ''}${m}:${String(s).padStart(2, '0')}`;
         }),
       },
-      { stroke: '#555', grid: { stroke: '#222' }, scale: 'y', side: 1 },
+      { stroke: '#999', grid: { stroke: '#222' }, scale: 'y', side: 1 },
     ],
   };
 
diff --git a/examples/multi-series.tsx b/examples/multi-series.tsx
index abd46fd..0a49e0b 100644
--- a/examples/multi-series.tsx
+++ b/examples/multi-series.tsx
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ const cos = x.map(t => Math.cos(t / 8) * 30 + 50);
 const saw = x.map(t => ((t % 40) / 40) * 80 + 10);
 
 const opts = {
+  scales: { x: { time: false } },
   series: [
     {},
     { stroke: 'cyan', label: 'Sin', width: 2 },
@@ -17,8 +18,8 @@ const opts = {
     { stroke: '#aa44ff', label: 'Saw', width: 2 },
   ],
   axes: [
-    { stroke: '#555', grid: { stroke: '#222' } },
-    { stroke: '#555', grid: { stroke: '#222' } },
+    { stroke: '#999', grid: { stroke: '#222' } },
+    { stroke: '#999', grid: { stroke: '#222' } },
   ],
 };
 
diff --git a/examples/shaded-area.tsx b/examples/shaded-area.tsx
index 248d654..0da0747 100644
--- a/examples/shaded-area.tsx
+++ b/examples/shaded-area.tsx
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ const y1 = x.map(t => Math.sin(t / 12) * 30 + 60);
 const y2 = x.map(t => Math.cos(t / 15) * 20 + 30);
 
 const opts = {
+  scales: { x: { time: false } },
   series: [
     {},
     {
@@ -25,8 +26,8 @@ const opts = {
     },
   ],
   axes: [
-    { stroke: '#555', grid: { stroke: '#222' } },
-    { stroke: '#555', grid: { stroke: '#222' } },
+    { stroke: '#999', grid: { stroke: '#222' } },
+    { stroke: '#999', grid: { stroke: '#222' } },
   ],
 };
 
diff --git a/examples/timestamps.tsx b/examples/timestamps.tsx
index 54d9da0..b0b6b2d 100644
--- a/examples/timestamps.tsx
+++ b/examples/timestamps.tsx
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@ const opts = {
     { stroke: '#f7931a', label: 'BTC/USD', width: 2 },
   ],
   axes: [
-    { stroke: '#555', grid: { stroke: '#222' } },
-    { stroke: '#555', grid: { stroke: '#222' } },
+    { stroke: '#999', grid: { stroke: '#222' } },
+    { stroke: '#999', grid: { stroke: '#222' } },
   ],
 };
 
diff --git a/src/InkUPlot.tsx b/src/InkUPlot.tsx
index 984a9e4..f28fb2d 100644
--- a/src/InkUPlot.tsx
+++ b/src/InkUPlot.tsx
@@ -83,11 +83,13 @@ export function InkUPlot({
   const chartCols = rawMode ? termCols : Math.max(1, termCols - leftLabelWidth - rightLabelWidth);
   const chartRows = rawMode ? effHeight : Math.max(1, showAxes ? effHeight - 2 : effHeight);
 
-  // Cap canvas pixel dimensions to avoid WASM memory issues.
+  // Render at 2x cell density (supersample) so the chart stays crisp when the terminal
+  // upscales the image — at 1x it looks blurry on small/hi-DPI terminals. Display size is
+  // unchanged; only the pixel resolution goes up. Capped to avoid WASM memory issues.
   const MAX_DIM = 4096;
   const MAX_PIXELS = 2_000_000;
-  let canvasWidth = Math.min(chartCols * 8, MAX_DIM);
-  let canvasHeight = Math.min(chartRows * 16, MAX_DIM);
+  let canvasWidth = Math.min(chartCols * 16, MAX_DIM);
+  let canvasHeight = Math.min(chartRows * 32, MAX_DIM);
   if (canvasWidth * canvasHeight > MAX_PIXELS) {
     const scale = Math.sqrt(MAX_PIXELS / (canvasWidth * canvasHeight));
     canvasWidth = Math.floor(canvasWidth * scale);
@@ -117,11 +119,11 @@ export function InkUPlot({
 
         if (format === 'iterm2') {
           // Fast path: node-canvas encodes PNG natively (C), skip chafa WASM entirely.
-          const png = await renderToPNG(opts, data, canvasWidth, canvasHeight, format);
+          const png = await renderToPNG(opts, data, canvasWidth, canvasHeight, format, showAxes);
           if (cancelled) return;
           ansi = iterm2Escape(png, chartCols, chartRows);
         } else {
-          const imageData = await renderToImageData(opts, data, canvasWidth, canvasHeight, format);
+          const imageData = await renderToImageData(opts, data, canvasWidth, canvasHeight, format, showAxes);
           if (cancelled) return;
           ansi = await pixelsToTerminal(imageData, {
             width: chartCols,
@@ -160,7 +162,7 @@ export function InkUPlot({
     });
 
     return () => { cancelled = true; };
-  }, [opts, data, canvasWidth, canvasHeight, chartCols, chartRows, format, color, resizeTick]);
+  }, [opts, data, canvasWidth, canvasHeight, chartCols, chartRows, format, color, showAxes, resizeTick]);
 
   if (error) {
     return <Text color="red">Error rendering chart: {error}</Text>;
diff --git a/src/renderer.ts b/src/renderer.ts
index 3d87207..38c5ec9 100644
--- a/src/renderer.ts
+++ b/src/renderer.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ function sanitizeOpts(
   width: number,
   height: number,
   format: RenderFormat,
+  showAxes: boolean,
 ): uPlotType.Options {
   const base: uPlotType.Options = {
     ...opts,
@@ -22,8 +23,10 @@ function sanitizeOpts(
   };
 
   if (format === 'symbols') {
-    // Braille mode: hide axes (rendered as text by the component), thin lines.
-    base.axes = (opts.axes ?? []).map(a => ({
+    // Braille mode: hide canvas axes (rendered as text by the component), thin lines.
+    // Default to [x, y] so an undefined/empty axes array still hides uPlot's implicit axes
+    // (uPlot draws default axes when given []).
+    base.axes = (opts.axes?.length ? opts.axes : [{}, {}]).map(a => ({
       ...a,
       show: false,
       grid: { ...a?.grid, show: false },
@@ -34,23 +37,61 @@ function sanitizeOpts(
       if (i === 0) return s;
       return { ...s, width: Math.max((s as any).width ?? 1, 3) };
     });
-  } else {
-    // Pixel-perfect mode (kitty/sixels/iterm2): keep uPlot's canvas axes.
-    base.axes = (opts.axes ?? []).map(a => ({
+
+    return base;
+  }
+
+  // Pixel-perfect mode (kitty/sixels/iterm2): uPlot draws the axes on the canvas.
+  if (!showAxes) {
+    // Borderless chart — hide axes, grid, and ticks entirely.
+    // Default to [x, y] so an undefined/empty axes array still hides uPlot's implicit axes
+    // (uPlot draws default axes when given []).
+    base.axes = (opts.axes?.length ? opts.axes : [{}, {}]).map(a => ({
       ...a,
-      stroke: a?.stroke ?? '#888',
-      grid: { show: true, stroke: '#333', ...a?.grid },
-      ticks: { show: true, stroke: '#555', ...a?.ticks },
-      font: `${Math.max(10, Math.round(height / 40))}px sans-serif`,
+      show: false,
+      grid: { ...a?.grid, show: false },
+      ticks: { ...a?.ticks, show: false },
     }));
+  } else {
+    const fontPx = Math.max(10, Math.round(height / 40));
+    const fontStr = `${fontPx}px sans-serif`;
+
+    // Auto-size vertical (y) axes to their widest label. uPlot's default ~50px width
+    // clips large labels (e.g. "13,000") at the canvas edge, especially at bigger fonts.
+    const autoSizeY = (self: any, values: string[] | null, axisIdx: number, cycleNum: number): number => {
+      const axis = self.axes[axisIdx];
+      if (cycleNum > 1 && axis._size != null) return axis._size;
+      self.ctx.font = fontStr;
+      let maxW = 0;
+      for (const v of values ?? []) {
+        const w = self.ctx.measureText(String(v)).width;
+        if (w > maxW) maxW = w;
+      }
+      return Math.ceil(maxW) + 20; // label + tick + gap
+    };
 
-    base.series = (opts.series ?? []).map((s, i) => {
-      if (i === 0) return s;
-      const w = (s as any).width ?? 2;
-      return { ...s, width: w * 3 };
+    // Default to [x, y] so implicit axes (undefined/empty array — uPlot draws them anyway)
+    // still get styling and auto-sizing, not uPlot's tiny unstyled defaults.
+    base.axes = (opts.axes?.length ? opts.axes : [{}, {}]).map((a, i) => {
+      // side 1/3 are vertical; an undefined-side axis after index 0 defaults to a left y-axis.
+      const isY = a?.side === 1 || a?.side === 3 || (i > 0 && a?.side == null);
+      return {
+        ...a,
+        stroke: a?.stroke ?? '#aaa',
+        grid: { show: true, stroke: '#333', ...a?.grid },
+        ticks: { show: true, stroke: '#666', ...a?.ticks },
+        font: fontStr,
+        ...(isY && (a as any)?.size == null ? { size: autoSizeY } : {}),
+      };
     });
   }
 
+  base.series = (opts.series ?? []).map((s, i) => {
+    if (i === 0) return s;
+    const w = (s as any).width ?? 2;
+    return { ...s, width: w * 3 };
+  });
+
   return base;
 }
 
@@ -69,6 +110,7 @@ async function renderChart(
   canvasWidth: number,
   canvasHeight: number,
   format: RenderFormat,
+  showAxes: boolean,
 ) {
   const shim = installDOMShim(canvasWidth, canvasHeight);
 
@@ -85,7 +127,7 @@ async function renderChart(
       ctx.fillRect(0, 0, canvasWidth, canvasHeight);
     }
 
-    const sanitized = sanitizeOpts(opts, canvasWidth, canvasHeight, format);
+    const sanitized = sanitizeOpts(opts, canvasWidth, canvasHeight, format, showAxes);
 
     const chart = new uPlotCtor(sanitized, data, (self, init) => {
       init();
@@ -106,8 +148,9 @@ export async function renderToImageData(
   canvasWidth: number,
   canvasHeight: number,
   format: RenderFormat = 'symbols',
+  showAxes = true,
 ): Promise<{ data: Uint8ClampedArray; width: number; height: number }> {
-  const { canvas, chart } = await renderChart(opts, data, canvasWidth, canvasHeight, format);
+  const { canvas, chart } = await renderChart(opts, data, canvasWidth, canvasHeight, format, showAxes);
 
   try {
     const ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');
@@ -134,8 +177,9 @@ export async function renderToPNG(
   canvasWidth: number,
   canvasHeight: number,
   format: RenderFormat = 'iterm2',
+  showAxes = true,
 ): Promise<Buffer> {
-  const { canvas, chart } = await renderChart(opts, data, canvasWidth, canvasHeight, format);
+  const { canvas, chart } = await renderChart(opts, data, canvasWidth, canvasHeight, format, showAxes);
 
   try {
     const png = canvas.toBuffer('image/png');