diff --git a/test/unit/test_helpers.py b/test/unit/test_helpers.py
index 282f69694d..3ff0fc6370 100644
--- a/test/unit/test_helpers.py
+++ b/test/unit/test_helpers.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import ctypes, gzip, unittest
 from tinygrad import Variable
-from tinygrad.helpers import Context, ContextVar, argfix
+from tinygrad.helpers import Context, ContextVar, argfix, colored, word_wrap
 from tinygrad.helpers import merge_dicts, strip_parens, prod, round_up, fetch, fully_flatten, from_mv, to_mv, polyN, time_to_str, cdiv, cmod, getbits
 from tinygrad.tensor import get_shape
 from tinygrad.shape.view import get_contraction, get_contraction_with_reduce
@@ -363,5 +363,18 @@ class TestArgFix(unittest.TestCase):
   def test_list(self):
     self.assertEqual(argfix([True, False]), (True, False))
 
+class TestWordWrap(unittest.TestCase):
+  def test_wrap_simple(self):
+    wrap = 10
+    st = "x"*wrap*2
+    st2 = word_wrap(st, wrap)
+    self.assertEqual(len(st2.splitlines()), 2)
+
+  def test_wrap_colored(self):
+    wrap = 10
+    st = colored("x"*wrap*2, "red")
+    st2 = word_wrap(st, wrap=wrap)
+    self.assertEqual(len(st2.splitlines()), 2)
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
   unittest.main()
diff --git a/test/unit/test_viz.py b/test/unit/test_viz.py
index 44be8604eb..a6d97e2f6a 100644
--- a/test/unit/test_viz.py
+++ b/test/unit/test_viz.py
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 import unittest, decimal, json
+from dataclasses import dataclass
 
 from tinygrad.uop.ops import UOp, UPat, Ops, PatternMatcher, TrackedPatternMatcher
 from tinygrad.uop.ops import graph_rewrite, track_rewrites, TRACK_MATCH_STATS
 from tinygrad.uop.symbolic import sym
 from tinygrad.dtype import dtypes
-from tinygrad.helpers import PROFILE
+from tinygrad.helpers import PROFILE, colored, ansistrip
 from tinygrad.device import Buffer
 
 @track_rewrites(name=True)
@@ -14,7 +15,7 @@ def exec_rewrite(sink:UOp, pm_lst:list[PatternMatcher], names:None|list[str]=Non
   return sink
 
 # real VIZ=1 pickles these tracked values
-from tinygrad.viz.serve import get_metadata
+from tinygrad.viz.serve import get_metadata, uop_to_json
 from tinygrad.uop.ops import tracked_keys, tracked_ctxs, active_rewrites, _name_cnt
 def get_viz_list(): return get_metadata(tracked_keys, tracked_ctxs)
 
@@ -107,6 +108,15 @@ class TestViz(unittest.TestCase):
     lst = get_viz_list()
     self.assertEqual(lst[0]["name"], "(a+1) n1")
 
+  def test_colored_label(self):
+    # NOTE: dataclass repr prints literal escape codes instead of unicode chars
+    @dataclass(frozen=True)
+    class TestStruct:
+      colored_field: str
+    a = UOp(Ops.CUSTOM, arg=TestStruct(colored("xyz", "magenta")+colored("12345", "blue")))
+    a2 = uop_to_json(a)[id(a)]
+    self.assertEqual(ansistrip(a2["label"]), f"CUSTOM\n{TestStruct.__qualname__}(colored_field='xyz12345')")
+
 # VIZ displays nested graph_rewrites in a tree view
 
 def leaf_rewrite(x:UOp): return x.rtag(1) if x.tag is None else None
diff --git a/tinygrad/helpers.py b/tinygrad/helpers.py
index 1faf0e6253..6cfd14a72a 100644
--- a/tinygrad/helpers.py
+++ b/tinygrad/helpers.py
@@ -73,7 +73,11 @@ def get_child(obj, key):
     elif isinstance(obj, dict): obj = obj[k]
     else: obj = getattr(obj, k)
   return obj
-def word_wrap(x, wrap=80): return x if len(x) <= wrap or '\n' in x[0:wrap] else (x[0:wrap] + "\n" + word_wrap(x[wrap:], wrap))
+def word_wrap(x, wrap=80):
+  if len(ansistrip(x)) <= wrap: return x
+  i = 0
+  while len(ansistrip(x[:i])) < wrap and i < len(x): i += 1
+  return x[:i] + "\n" + word_wrap(x[i:], wrap)
 def pluralize(st:str, cnt:int): return f"{cnt} {st}"+('' if cnt == 1 else 's')
 
 class LazySeq(Generic[T]): # NOTE: Mapping requires __iter__ and __len__, Sequence requires supporting __len__ and slicing in __getitem__
diff --git a/tinygrad/viz/js/worker.js b/tinygrad/viz/js/worker.js
index a600ee7446..92e1b50239 100644
--- a/tinygrad/viz/js/worker.js
+++ b/tinygrad/viz/js/worker.js
@@ -11,8 +11,6 @@ onmessage = (e) => {
   if (additions.length !== 0) g.setNode("addition", {label:"", style:"fill: rgba(26, 27, 38, 0.5);", padding:0});
   for (let [k, {label, src, ref, ...rest }] of Object.entries(graph)) {
     const idx = ref ? ctxs.findIndex(k => k.ref === ref) : -1;
-    // replace JSON.parse string literal with real ESC
-    label = label.replace(/\\x1b\r?\n*\[/g, "\u001B[");
     if (idx != -1) label += `\ncodegen@${ctxs[idx].function_name}`;
     // adjust node dims by label size (excluding escape codes) + add padding
     let [width, height] = [0, 0];
diff --git a/tinygrad/viz/serve.py b/tinygrad/viz/serve.py
index 57a2fefd99..a8d8c28aed 100755
--- a/tinygrad/viz/serve.py
+++ b/tinygrad/viz/serve.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
-import multiprocessing, pickle, difflib, os, threading, json, time, sys, webbrowser, socket, argparse, socketserver, functools, decimal
+import multiprocessing, pickle, difflib, os, threading, json, time, sys, webbrowser, socket, argparse, socketserver, functools, decimal, codecs
 from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler
 from urllib.parse import parse_qs, urlparse
 from typing import Any, TypedDict, Generator
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ def uop_to_json(x:UOp) -> dict[int, dict]:
       excluded.update(u.src)
   for u in toposort:
     if u in excluded: continue
-    argst = str(u.arg)
+    argst = codecs.decode(str(u.arg), "unicode_escape")
     if u.op is Ops.VIEW:
       argst = ("\n".join([f"{shape_to_str(v.shape)} / {shape_to_str(v.strides)}"+("" if v.offset == 0 else f" / {srender(v.offset)}")+
                           (f"\nMASK {mask_to_str(v.mask)}" if v.mask is not None else "") for v in unwrap(u.st).views]))