diff --git a/.eslintrc.js b/.eslintrc.js
index 6b459fd61b..0b72d4b386 100644
--- a/.eslintrc.js
+++ b/.eslintrc.js
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ module.exports = {
         'import/no-unresolved': [
             'error',
             {
-                ignore: ['monaco-editor', 'vscode']
+                ignore: ['monaco-editor', 'vscode', 'react-error-boundary']
             }
         ],
         'import/prefer-default-export': 'off',
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index f78241cc48..15c748e392 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@
                 "react": "^16.5.2",
                 "react-data-grid": "^6.0.2-0",
                 "react-dom": "^16.5.2",
+                "react-error-boundary": "^6.0.0",
                 "react-redux": "^7.1.1",
                 "react-svg-pan-zoom": "3.9.0",
                 "react-svgmt": "1.1.11",
@@ -16525,6 +16526,18 @@
                 "react": "^16.14.0"
             }
         },
+        "node_modules/react-error-boundary": {
+            "version": "6.0.0",
+            "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/react-error-boundary/-/react-error-boundary-6.0.0.tgz",
+            "integrity": "sha512-gdlJjD7NWr0IfkPlaREN2d9uUZUlksrfOx7SX62VRerwXbMY6ftGCIZua1VG1aXFNOimhISsTq+Owp725b9SiA==",
+            "license": "MIT",
+            "dependencies": {
+                "@babel/runtime": "^7.12.5"
+            },
+            "peerDependencies": {
+                "react": ">=16.13.1"
+            }
+        },
         "node_modules/react-is": {
             "version": "18.3.1",
             "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/react-is/-/react-is-18.3.1.tgz",
@@ -32556,6 +32569,14 @@
                 "scheduler": "^0.19.1"
             }
         },
+        "react-error-boundary": {
+            "version": "6.0.0",
+            "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/react-error-boundary/-/react-error-boundary-6.0.0.tgz",
+            "integrity": "sha512-gdlJjD7NWr0IfkPlaREN2d9uUZUlksrfOx7SX62VRerwXbMY6ftGCIZua1VG1aXFNOimhISsTq+Owp725b9SiA==",
+            "requires": {
+                "@babel/runtime": "^7.12.5"
+            }
+        },
         "react-is": {
             "version": "18.3.1",
             "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/react-is/-/react-is-18.3.1.tgz",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 575cc95d56..d9bffeb461 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -2197,6 +2197,7 @@
         "react": "^16.5.2",
         "react-data-grid": "^6.0.2-0",
         "react-dom": "^16.5.2",
+        "react-error-boundary": "^6.0.0",
         "react-redux": "^7.1.1",
         "react-svg-pan-zoom": "3.9.0",
         "react-svgmt": "1.1.11",
diff --git a/src/webviews/webview-side/vega-renderer/ErrorBoundary.tsx b/src/webviews/webview-side/vega-renderer/ErrorBoundary.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8ea2169b1a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/webviews/webview-side/vega-renderer/ErrorBoundary.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+import React from 'react';
+import type { FallbackProps } from 'react-error-boundary';
+
+export function ErrorFallback({ error }: FallbackProps) {
+    return (
+        <div
+            style={{
+                padding: '16px',
+                color: 'var(--vscode-errorForeground)',
+                backgroundColor: 'var(--vscode-inputValidation-errorBackground)',
+                border: '1px solid var(--vscode-inputValidation-errorBorder)',
+                borderRadius: '4px',
+                fontFamily: 'var(--vscode-font-family)',
+                fontSize: '13px'
+            }}
+        >
+            <div style={{ fontWeight: 'bold', marginBottom: '8px' }}>Error rendering chart</div>
+            <div style={{ marginBottom: '8px' }}>{error.message}</div>
+            <details style={{ marginTop: '8px', cursor: 'pointer' }}>
+                <summary>Stack trace</summary>
+                <pre
+                    style={{
+                        marginTop: '8px',
+                        padding: '8px',
+                        backgroundColor: 'var(--vscode-editor-background)',
+                        overflow: 'auto',
+                        fontSize: '11px',
+                        whiteSpace: 'pre-wrap',
+                        wordBreak: 'break-word'
+                    }}
+                >
+                    {error.stack}
+                </pre>
+            </details>
+        </div>
+    );
+}
diff --git a/src/webviews/webview-side/vega-renderer/VegaRenderer.tsx b/src/webviews/webview-side/vega-renderer/VegaRenderer.tsx
index 8077285108..e52eac88fb 100644
--- a/src/webviews/webview-side/vega-renderer/VegaRenderer.tsx
+++ b/src/webviews/webview-side/vega-renderer/VegaRenderer.tsx
@@ -1,15 +1,53 @@
 import { chartColors10, chartColors20, deepnoteBlues } from './colors';
-import React, { memo, useLayoutEffect } from 'react';
+import React, { memo, useEffect, useLayoutEffect, useMemo, useState } from 'react';
 import { Vega } from 'react-vega';
 import { vega } from 'vega-embed';
+import { produce } from 'immer';
 
 import { numberFormats } from './number-formats';
+import { detectBaseTheme } from '../react-common/themeDetector';
+import type { Spec as VegaSpec } from 'vega';
 
 export interface VegaRendererProps {
-    spec: Record<string, unknown>;
+    spec: VegaSpec;
     renderer?: 'svg' | 'canvas';
 }
 
+interface ThemeColors {
+    backgroundColor: string;
+    foregroundColor: string;
+    isDark: boolean;
+}
+
+const getThemeColors = (): ThemeColors => {
+    const theme = detectBaseTheme();
+    const isDark = theme === 'vscode-dark' || theme === 'vscode-high-contrast';
+    const styles = getComputedStyle(document.body);
+    const backgroundColor = styles.getPropertyValue('--vscode-editor-background').trim() || 'transparent';
+    const foregroundColor = styles.getPropertyValue('--vscode-editor-foreground').trim() || '#000000';
+
+    return { backgroundColor, foregroundColor, isDark };
+};
+
+function useThemeColors(): ThemeColors {
+    const [themeColors, setThemeColors] = useState(getThemeColors);
+
+    useEffect(() => {
+        const observer = new MutationObserver(() => {
+            setThemeColors(getThemeColors());
+        });
+
+        observer.observe(document.body, {
+            attributes: true,
+            attributeFilter: ['class', 'data-vscode-theme-name']
+        });
+
+        return () => observer.disconnect();
+    }, []);
+
+    return themeColors;
+}
+
 export const VegaRenderer = memo(function VegaRenderer(props: VegaRendererProps) {
     const { renderer, spec } = props;
 
@@ -31,9 +69,58 @@ export const VegaRenderer = memo(function VegaRenderer(props: VegaRendererProps)
         vega.scheme('deepnote_blues', deepnoteBlues);
     }, []);
 
+    const { backgroundColor, foregroundColor, isDark } = useThemeColors();
+    const themedSpec = useMemo(() => {
+        const patchedSpec = produce(spec, (draft) => {
+            draft.background = backgroundColor;
+
+            if (!draft.config) {
+                draft.config = {};
+            }
+
+            draft.config.background = backgroundColor;
+
+            if (!draft.config.style) {
+                draft.config.style = {};
+            }
+            if (!draft.config.style.cell) {
+                draft.config.style.cell = {};
+            }
+            draft.config.style.cell = {
+                stroke: backgroundColor
+            };
+
+            if (!draft.config.axis) {
+                draft.config.axis = {};
+            }
+            draft.config.axis.domainColor = foregroundColor;
+            draft.config.axis.gridColor = isDark ? '#3e3e3e' : '#e0e0e0';
+            draft.config.axis.tickColor = foregroundColor;
+            draft.config.axis.labelColor = foregroundColor;
+            draft.config.axis.titleColor = foregroundColor;
+
+            if (!draft.config.legend) {
+                draft.config.legend = {};
+            }
+            draft.config.legend.labelColor = foregroundColor;
+            draft.config.legend.titleColor = foregroundColor;
+
+            if (!draft.config.title) {
+                draft.config.title = {};
+            }
+            draft.config.title.color = foregroundColor;
+
+            if (!draft.config.text) {
+                draft.config.text = {};
+            }
+            draft.config.text.fill = foregroundColor;
+        });
+        return structuredClone(patchedSpec); // Immer freezes the spec, which doesn't play well with Vega
+    }, [spec, backgroundColor, foregroundColor, isDark]);
+
     return (
         <Vega
-            spec={spec}
+            spec={themedSpec}
             renderer={renderer}
             actions={false}
             style={{
diff --git a/src/webviews/webview-side/vega-renderer/index.ts b/src/webviews/webview-side/vega-renderer/index.ts
index 7212aef95c..9c6d5bb39c 100644
--- a/src/webviews/webview-side/vega-renderer/index.ts
+++ b/src/webviews/webview-side/vega-renderer/index.ts
@@ -1,14 +1,9 @@
 import React from 'react';
 import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
 import type { ActivationFunction, OutputItem, RendererContext } from 'vscode-notebook-renderer';
+import { ErrorBoundary } from 'react-error-boundary';
 import { VegaRenderer } from './VegaRenderer';
-
-interface Metadata {
-    cellId?: string;
-    cellIndex?: number;
-    executionCount?: number;
-    outputType?: string;
-}
+import { ErrorFallback } from './ErrorBoundary';
 
 /**
  * Renderer for Vega charts (application/vnd.vega.v5+json).
@@ -17,25 +12,26 @@ export const activate: ActivationFunction = (_context: RendererContext<unknown>)
     const elementsCache: Record<string, HTMLElement | undefined> = {};
     return {
         renderOutputItem(outputItem: OutputItem, element: HTMLElement) {
-            console.log(`Vega renderer - rendering output item: ${outputItem.id}`);
             try {
                 const spec = outputItem.json();
-
-                console.log(`Vega renderer - received spec with ${Object.keys(spec).length} keys`);
-
-                const metadata = outputItem.metadata as Metadata | undefined;
-
-                console.log('[VegaRenderer] Full metadata', metadata);
-
                 const root = document.createElement('div');
                 root.style.height = '500px';
 
                 element.appendChild(root);
                 elementsCache[outputItem.id] = root;
                 ReactDOM.render(
-                    React.createElement(VegaRenderer, {
-                        spec: spec
-                    }),
+                    React.createElement(
+                        ErrorBoundary,
+                        {
+                            FallbackComponent: ErrorFallback,
+                            onError: (error, info) => {
+                                console.error('Vega renderer error:', error, info);
+                            }
+                        },
+                        React.createElement(VegaRenderer, {
+                            spec: spec
+                        })
+                    ),
                     root
                 );
             } catch (error) {