diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 6deab98..b1d31b7 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -19,4 +19,5 @@ requires-python = ">=3.9"
 # Dependencies that your package needs at install‑time
 dependencies = [
     "termcolor>=3.1.0",
+    "pygments>=2.12",
 ]
diff --git a/term_color_md/__init__.py b/term_color_md/__init__.py
index 2a8ac9f..87740f8 100644
--- a/term_color_md/__init__.py
+++ b/term_color_md/__init__.py
@@ -6,19 +6,48 @@
 
 import re
 from termcolor import colored
+from pygments import highlight
+from pygments.lexers import get_lexer_by_name, TextLexer
+from pygments.formatters import Terminal256Formatter
 
 def render(text):
     lines = text.splitlines()
     formatted_text = ""
     in_code_block = False
 
+    # Track code block state
+    code_block_lang = None
+    code_block_lines: list[str] = []
     for line in lines:
-        # Check for code blocks
-        if line.startswith("```"):
-            in_code_block = not in_code_block
-            continue  # Skip the line with ```
-        elif in_code_block:
-            formatted_text += colored(line + "\n", "green")
+        # Check for code blocks (opening/closing)
+        if line.lstrip().startswith("```"):
+            # Opening or closing
+            if not in_code_block:  # opening
+                formatted_text += colored(line.strip(), "light_grey") + "\n"
+                # Extract optional language
+                match = re.match(r"^\s*```\s*(\w+)?", line)
+                if match:
+                    code_block_lang = match.group(1)
+                else:
+                    code_block_lang = None
+                in_code_block = True
+                code_block_lines = []
+                continue  # Skip fence line
+            else:  # closing
+                # Highlight accumulated code
+                code_source = "\n".join(code_block_lines)
+                if code_source:
+                    lexer = get_lexer_by_name(code_block_lang, stripall=True) if code_block_lang else TextLexer()
+                    highlighted = highlight(code_source, lexer, Terminal256Formatter())
+                    formatted_text += highlighted
+                    formatted_text += colored(line.strip(), "light_grey") + "\n"
+                in_code_block = False
+                code_block_lang = None
+                code_block_lines = []
+                continue
+        # Inside code block: accumulate lines
+        if in_code_block:
+            code_block_lines.append(line)
             continue
 
         # Check for headers
@@ -70,3 +99,4 @@ def render(text):
         formatted_text += line + "\n"
 
     return formatted_text
+
diff --git a/term_color_md/__pycache__/__init__.cpython-311.pyc b/term_color_md/__pycache__/__init__.cpython-311.pyc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..670c634
Binary files /dev/null and b/term_color_md/__pycache__/__init__.cpython-311.pyc differ