diff --git a/src/main.zig b/src/main.zig
index 07eac25..ac07ea6 100644
--- a/src/main.zig
+++ b/src/main.zig
@@ -17,6 +17,35 @@ const inspect_mode = @import("modes/inspect.zig");
 const repl_mode = @import("modes/repl.zig");
 const completions_mod = @import("completions.zig");
 
+// Windows console UTF-8 setup (Issue #201)
+const DWORD = std.os.windows.DWORD;
+const HANDLE = std.os.windows.HANDLE;
+const BOOL = std.os.windows.BOOL;
+const UINT = std.os.windows.UINT;
+const LPDWORD = *DWORD;
+
+const STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE: DWORD = @bitCast(@as(i32, -11)); // 0xFFFFFFF5
+const ENABLE_VIRTUAL_TERMINAL_PROCESSING: DWORD = 0x0004;
+const INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE: HANDLE = @ptrFromInt(std.math.maxInt(usize));
+
+extern "kernel32" fn SetConsoleOutputCP(wCodePageID: UINT) callconv(.winapi) BOOL;
+extern "kernel32" fn GetStdHandle(nStdHandle: DWORD) callconv(.winapi) HANDLE;
+extern "kernel32" fn GetConsoleMode(hConsoleHandle: HANDLE, lpMode: LPDWORD) callconv(.winapi) BOOL;
+extern "kernel32" fn SetConsoleMode(hConsoleHandle: HANDLE, dwMode: DWORD) callconv(.winapi) BOOL;
+
+/// Best-effort UTF-8 + VT support for the Windows console (Issue #201).
+/// No-op on non-Windows: body eliminated at compile time.
+fn setupConsoleOutput() void {
+    if (@import("builtin").os.tag == .windows) {
+        _ = SetConsoleOutputCP(65001);
+        const handle = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
+        if (handle == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) return;
+        var mode: DWORD = 0;
+        _ = GetConsoleMode(handle, &mode);
+        _ = SetConsoleMode(handle, mode | ENABLE_VIRTUAL_TERMINAL_PROCESSING);
+    }
+}
+
 const VERSION: []const u8 = build_options.version;
 
 const SqlPipeError = args_mod.SqlPipeError;
@@ -374,6 +403,9 @@ pub fn main(init: std.process.Init.Minimal) void {
     // ponytail: c_allocator; DebugAllocator deinit was _ = discarded, leak detection was off
     const allocator = std.heap.c_allocator;
 
+    // Windows: enable UTF-8 output + VT processing for box-drawing chars (Issue #201)
+    setupConsoleOutput();
+
     var io = std.Io.Threaded.init_single_threaded;
 
     var stderr_buf: [1024]u8 = undefined;