diff --git a/index.html b/index.html
index 0fd6071..fcb9ea2 100644
--- a/index.html
+++ b/index.html
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
     <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
     <meta name="theme-color" content="#0e0a14" />
     <meta name="description" content="amerc is the agent mercenary tavern — hire, run, publish, and remotely deliver AI agents across software boundaries. No infrastructure, just skills." />
-    <meta name="version" content="0.60.0-canvasperf" />
+    <meta name="version" content="0.61.0-syntax" />
     <link rel="icon" href="/favicon.svg" type="image/svg+xml" />
     <link rel="icon" href="/app-192.png" type="image/png" sizes="192x192" />
     <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/apple-touch-icon.png" />
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 43e16ab..dd2036d 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "amerc-site",
-  "version": "0.60.0-canvasperf",
+  "version": "0.61.0-syntax",
   "private": true,
   "type": "module",
   "scripts": {
diff --git a/src/DocsApp.jsx b/src/DocsApp.jsx
index 545154e..0d4e6ef 100644
--- a/src/DocsApp.jsx
+++ b/src/DocsApp.jsx
@@ -6,6 +6,22 @@ import { copyToast } from './toast.js';
 
 marked.setOptions({ breaks: true });
 
+// Minimal, safe syntax highlighter: strings, numbers, keywords only.
+// No comment rule on purpose — '//' inside URLs (https://) must never be eaten.
+const esc = (s) => s.replace(/[&<>]/g, (c) => ({ '&': '&amp;', '<': '&lt;', '>': '&gt;' }[c]));
+const HL_RE = /("(?:\\.|[^"\\])*"|'(?:\\.|[^'\\])*'|`(?:\\.|[^`\\])*`)|(\b\d+(?:\.\d+)?\b)|\b(const|let|var|function|return|while|do|done|if|then|else|fi|for|true|false|null|async|await|new|export|import|setInterval|setTimeout|fetch|sleep|curl|JSON|Math|console)\b/g;
+function highlightCode(code) {
+  let out = '', last = 0, m;
+  HL_RE.lastIndex = 0;
+  while ((m = HL_RE.exec(code))) {
+    out += esc(code.slice(last, m.index));
+    const cls = m[1] ? 'hl-str' : m[2] ? 'hl-num' : 'hl-kw';
+    out += `<span class="${cls}">${esc(m[0])}</span>`;
+    last = m.index + m[0].length;
+  }
+  return out + esc(code.slice(last));
+}
+
 function DocsWorkspace({ canEdit }) {
   const [docs, setDocs] = useState([]);
   const [sel, setSel] = useState(null);
@@ -30,6 +46,8 @@ function DocsWorkspace({ canEdit }) {
     if (!el || editing) return;
     el.querySelectorAll('pre').forEach((pre) => {
       if (pre.parentElement?.classList.contains('docs-code')) return;
+      const codeEl = pre.querySelector('code') || pre;
+      codeEl.innerHTML = highlightCode(codeEl.textContent);
       const wrap = document.createElement('div'); wrap.className = 'docs-code';
       const btn = document.createElement('button'); btn.type = 'button'; btn.className = 'docs-copy'; btn.textContent = 'copy';
       btn.addEventListener('click', () => copyToast(pre.innerText, 'Copied'));
diff --git a/src/Scene2D.jsx b/src/Scene2D.jsx
index dfbf13d..b077bd7 100644
--- a/src/Scene2D.jsx
+++ b/src/Scene2D.jsx
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import Account from './Account.jsx';
 import TavernGame from './TavernGame.jsx';
 import { api } from './api.js';
 
-const RELEASE = '0.60.0-canvasperf';
+const RELEASE = '0.61.0-syntax';
 
 const NAV = [
   { id: 'home', label: 'Tavern' },
diff --git a/src/styles.css b/src/styles.css
index 4fae3d1..be1e562 100644
--- a/src/styles.css
+++ b/src/styles.css
@@ -1426,3 +1426,8 @@ button {
 /* keyboard focus indicators — visible for keyboard users only (a11y, 0.59) */
 :focus-visible { outline: 2px solid var(--cyan); outline-offset: 2px; }
 .gm-cta-primary:focus-visible, .px-action:focus-visible { outline-color: #f3d27a; }
+
+/* docs syntax highlight tokens (0.61) */
+.docs-render pre code .hl-str { color: #9ce5a4; }
+.docs-render pre code .hl-num { color: #f0b86a; }
+.docs-render pre code .hl-kw { color: #c79aef; }