diff --git a/include/plot/render/renderer.hpp b/include/plot/render/renderer.hpp
index fc8557a..313e623 100644
--- a/include/plot/render/renderer.hpp
+++ b/include/plot/render/renderer.hpp
@@ -487,6 +487,18 @@ class Renderer {
   /// them again, so the panel a test asserts and the panel this draws are the same
   /// numbers.
   void draw_legend(const Plot& plot, const PlotLayout& layout);
+  /// The backplate the legend and the crosshair's readout share: the frame's background at
+  /// `kLegendPanelAlpha` over `panel`, with a one-device-pixel border in `border` around the
+  /// outermost pixels the fill covers (the crisp-hairline rule -- a border drawn on the measured
+  /// rect's fractional edges is lit half-heartedly, and a frame bright on three sides and dim on the
+  /// fourth reads as a mistake). One helper, two callers: the border's colour is the only thing a
+  /// legend panel and a readout panel do not share.
+  void draw_readout_panel(const Rect& panel, Color border);
+  /// One trace's colour swatch in `box`, opaque whatever the trace's own alpha is: a swatch drawn at
+  /// a trace's 15% would be the least legible thing in the frame, and the swatch is the one element
+  /// that says which colour an entry or a readout row *is*. The legend's entries and the crosshair's
+  /// rows both read it from here.
+  void draw_swatch(const Plot& plot, u32 trace, const Rect& box);
   /// The crosshair's **lines and markers**: the vertical and horizontal strokes and a small
   /// cross at each trace's intersection.
   ///
diff --git a/src/render/renderer.cpp b/src/render/renderer.cpp
index 4bb0fb4..c76edb7 100644
--- a/src/render/renderer.cpp
+++ b/src/render/renderer.cpp
@@ -1138,29 +1138,10 @@ void Renderer::draw_legend(const Plot& plot, const PlotLayout& layout) {
   const LegendLayout& legend = layout.legend;
   if (legend.rows.empty()) return;
 
-  const Rect& panel = legend.panel;
-  if (plot.legend().frame) {
-    // The panel first, so every entry is on top of it: the frame's own background
-    // at a partial alpha, which dims whatever it covers instead of erasing it.
-    Color background = style_.background;
-    background.a *= kLegendPanelAlpha;
-    fill_pixels(panel, background);
-    // The border frames the pixels the fill covers, not the measured rect's own
-    // fractional edges: those are wherever the names happened to measure to, and a
-    // hairline drawn on one is lit half-heartedly -- a frame bright on three sides and
-    // dim on the fourth reads as a mistake. These are the outermost lit columns and
-    // rows the fill's span rounds out to (the same rounding the fill itself does), so
-    // every side of the frame is one crisp hairline.
-    const f32 left = std::ceil(panel.x - 0.5f) + 0.5f;
-    const f32 right = std::ceil(panel.right() - 0.5f) - 0.5f;
-    const f32 top = std::ceil(panel.y - 0.5f) + 0.5f;
-    const f32 bottom = std::ceil(panel.bottom() - 0.5f) - 0.5f;
-    lines_.add_segment({left, top}, {right, top});
-    lines_.add_segment({left, bottom}, {right, bottom});
-    lines_.add_segment({left, top}, {left, bottom});
-    lines_.add_segment({right, top}, {right, bottom});
-    flush_lines(pixel_mapping(), style_.axis_line, style_.device(1.0f));
-  }
+  // The panel first, so every entry is on top of it. A legend's border is the frame's axis colour;
+  // the readout's is the crosshair's own (see draw_crosshair_readout), which is the only thing that
+  // differs between the two panels -- so it is the one parameter the shared helper takes.
+  if (plot.legend().frame) draw_readout_panel(legend.panel, style_.axis_line);
 
   for (const LegendRow& row : legend.rows) {
     // The truncation row names no trace: it has no swatch to colour and its text is
@@ -1170,16 +1151,43 @@ void Renderer::draw_legend(const Plot& plot, const PlotLayout& layout) {
       stage_text({row.name.x, row.name.y}, kLegendEllipsis);
       continue;
     }
-    // Opaque whatever the trace's own alpha is: a swatch drawn at a trace's 15% would
-    // be the least legible thing in the frame, and the swatch is the one element that
-    // says which colour a legend entry *is*.
-    Color swatch = plot.trace(row.trace).color;
-    swatch.a = 1.0f;
-    fill_pixels(row.swatch, swatch);
+    draw_swatch(plot, row.trace, row.swatch);
     stage_text({row.name.x, row.name.y}, plot.trace(row.trace).name.c_str());
   }
 }
 
+void Renderer::draw_readout_panel(const Rect& panel, Color border) {
+  if (!(panel.w > 0.0f) || !(panel.h > 0.0f)) return;
+  // The frame's own background at a partial alpha, which dims whatever it covers instead of erasing
+  // it -- the one backplate both readout panels use.
+  Color background = style_.background;
+  background.a *= kLegendPanelAlpha;
+  fill_pixels(panel, background);
+  // The border frames the pixels the fill covers, not the measured rect's own fractional edges:
+  // those are wherever the content happened to measure to, and a hairline drawn on one is lit
+  // half-heartedly -- a frame bright on three sides and dim on the fourth reads as a mistake. These
+  // are the outermost lit columns and rows the fill's span rounds out to (the same rounding the fill
+  // itself does), so every side of the frame is one crisp hairline.
+  const f32 left = std::ceil(panel.x - 0.5f) + 0.5f;
+  const f32 right = std::ceil(panel.right() - 0.5f) - 0.5f;
+  const f32 top = std::ceil(panel.y - 0.5f) + 0.5f;
+  const f32 bottom = std::ceil(panel.bottom() - 0.5f) - 0.5f;
+  lines_.add_segment({left, top}, {right, top});
+  lines_.add_segment({left, bottom}, {right, bottom});
+  lines_.add_segment({left, top}, {left, bottom});
+  lines_.add_segment({right, top}, {right, bottom});
+  flush_lines(pixel_mapping(), border, style_.device(1.0f));
+}
+
+void Renderer::draw_swatch(const Plot& plot, u32 trace, const Rect& box) {
+  // Opaque whatever the trace's own alpha is: a swatch drawn at a trace's 15% would be the least
+  // legible thing in the frame, and the swatch is the one element that says which colour an entry or
+  // a readout row *is*. One rule, used by the legend and by the crosshair's readout alike.
+  Color swatch = plot.trace(trace).color;
+  swatch.a = 1.0f;
+  fill_pixels(box, swatch);
+}
+
 void Renderer::draw_crosshair_lines(const Plot& plot, const PlotLayout& layout) {
   const CrosshairLayout& crosshair = layout.crosshair;
   if (!crosshair.active) return;
@@ -1225,36 +1233,14 @@ void Renderer::draw_crosshair_readout(const Plot& plot, const PlotLayout& layout
   const CrosshairLayout& crosshair = layout.crosshair;
   if (!crosshair.active) return;
 
-  // The readout: the same backplate a legend has -- the frame's background at a partial
-  // alpha, so the data stays legible through it -- with its border in the crosshair's own
-  // colour, which is what makes the panel read as part of the instrument that placed it
-  // rather than as a second legend.
-  if (crosshair.panel.w > 0.0f && crosshair.panel.h > 0.0f) {
-    const Rect& panel = crosshair.panel;
-    Color background = style_.background;
-    background.a *= kLegendPanelAlpha;
-    fill_pixels(panel, background);
-    // The crisp-hairline rule of the legend's border: the outermost *lit* columns and rows of
-    // the fill's span, not the measured rect's fractional edges, so all four sides are one
-    // hairline rather than three bright ones and a dim one.
-    const f32 left = std::ceil(panel.x - 0.5f) + 0.5f;
-    const f32 right = std::ceil(panel.right() - 0.5f) - 0.5f;
-    const f32 top = std::ceil(panel.y - 0.5f) + 0.5f;
-    const f32 bottom = std::ceil(panel.bottom() - 0.5f) - 0.5f;
-    lines_.add_segment({left, top}, {right, top});
-    lines_.add_segment({left, bottom}, {right, bottom});
-    lines_.add_segment({left, top}, {left, bottom});
-    lines_.add_segment({right, top}, {right, bottom});
-    flush_lines(pixel_mapping(), style_.crosshair, style_.device(1.0f));
-  }
+  // The readout: the same backplate a legend has (the shared `draw_readout_panel()`), with its
+  // border in the crosshair's own colour -- which is what makes the panel read as part of the
+  // instrument that placed it rather than as a second legend.
+  draw_readout_panel(crosshair.panel, style_.crosshair);
 
   for (const CrosshairRow& row : crosshair.rows) {
     if (!row.listed) continue;
-    // The swatch is the trace's colour opaque, as a legend's is: it is the one element that
-    // says which signal the row is about.
-    Color swatch = plot.trace(row.trace).color;
-    swatch.a = 1.0f;
-    fill_pixels(row.swatch, swatch);
+    draw_swatch(plot, row.trace, row.swatch);
     stage_text({row.label_box.x, row.label_box.y}, row.label.c_str());
     // A row with no sample at this x has no value to write -- and it is *not* written as a
     // zero or a dash: the box is empty and the number is simply absent (see CrosshairRow).