diff --git a/.jules/bolt.md b/.jules/bolt.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dfba806
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.jules/bolt.md
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+## 2024-08-02 - Canvas Optimization
+
+**Learning:** Re-assigning canvas dimensions (`canvas.width = canvas.width`) forces the browser to re-allocate the underlying graphics buffer and clear the canvas, which is an expensive operation that can cause layout thrashing. This is a common performance bottleneck in canvas-heavy React components like `PreviewCanvas.tsx` when re-rendering based on user interaction (like mouse moves or drawing annotations).
+**Action:** When updating canvas dimensions within a `useCallback` or `useEffect` render pipeline, conditionally set them only if they have actually changed (`if (canvas.width !== targetW) canvas.width = targetW`). Since avoiding dimension re-assignment stops the implicit clear, explicitly call `clearRect` when the dimensions remain the same to prevent visual ghosting/artifacts.
diff --git a/src/components/PreviewCanvas.tsx b/src/components/PreviewCanvas.tsx
index 1aff08e..b454ba8 100644
--- a/src/components/PreviewCanvas.tsx
+++ b/src/components/PreviewCanvas.tsx
@@ -324,12 +324,14 @@ export const PreviewCanvas: React.FC<PreviewCanvasProps> = ({
       }
     }
 
-    if (direction === 'vertical') {
-      baseCanvas.width = totalW;
-      baseCanvas.height = totalH;
-    } else {
-      baseCanvas.width = totalH;
-      baseCanvas.height = baseW;
+    const targetW = direction === 'vertical' ? totalW : totalH;
+    const targetH = direction === 'vertical' ? totalH : baseW;
+
+    if (baseCanvas.width !== targetW) {
+      baseCanvas.width = targetW;
+    }
+    if (baseCanvas.height !== targetH) {
+      baseCanvas.height = targetH;
     }
 
     // Clean canvas
@@ -512,10 +514,20 @@ export const PreviewCanvas: React.FC<PreviewCanvasProps> = ({
     if (shouldShowMockup) {
       drawMockup(canvasRef.current, baseStitchedCanvas, mockup);
     } else {
-      canvasRef.current.width = baseStitchedCanvas.width;
-      canvasRef.current.height = baseStitchedCanvas.height;
+      let resized = false;
+      if (canvasRef.current.width !== baseStitchedCanvas.width) {
+        canvasRef.current.width = baseStitchedCanvas.width;
+        resized = true;
+      }
+      if (canvasRef.current.height !== baseStitchedCanvas.height) {
+        canvasRef.current.height = baseStitchedCanvas.height;
+        resized = true;
+      }
       const ctx = canvasRef.current.getContext('2d');
       if (ctx) {
+        if (!resized) {
+          ctx.clearRect(0, 0, canvasRef.current.width, canvasRef.current.height);
+        }
         ctx.drawImage(baseStitchedCanvas, 0, 0);
       }
     }