diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 30c8cd41..243bdd00 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -4,7 +4,10 @@ Ruby wrapper for Rust's [comrak](https://github.com/kivikakk/comrak) crate.
 
 It passes all of the CommonMark test suite, and is therefore spec-complete. It also includes extensions to the CommonMark spec as documented in the [GitHub Flavored Markdown spec](http://github.github.com/gfm/), such as support for tables, strikethroughs, and autolinking.
 
-For more information on available extensions, see [the documentation below](#extension-options).
+> [!NOTE]
+> By default, several extensions not in any spec have been enabled, for the sake of end user convenience when generating HTML.
+>
+> For more information on the available options and extensions, see [the documentation below](#options-and-plugins).
 
 ## Installation
 
@@ -147,16 +150,16 @@ Commonmarker.to_html('"Hi *there*"', options:{
 })
 ```
 
-Note that there is a distinction in comrak for "parse" options and "render" options, which are represented in the tables below.
+Note that there is a distinction in comrak for "parse" options and "render" options, which are represented in the tables below. As well, if you wish to disable any-non boolean option, pass in `nil`.
 
 ### Parse options
 
-| Name                          | Description                                                                                                                                 | Default |
-| ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------- |
-| `smart`                       | Punctuation (quotes, full-stops and hyphens) are converted into 'smart' punctuation.                                                        | `false` |
-| `default_info_string`         | The default info string for fenced code blocks.                                                                                             | `""`    |
-| `relaxed_tasklist_matching`   | Enables relaxing of the tasklist extension matching, allowing any non-space to be used for the "checked" state instead of only `x` and `X`. | `false` |
-| `relaxed_autolinks`           | Enable relaxing of the autolink extension parsing, allowing links to be recognized when in brackets, as well as permitting any url scheme.  | `false` |
+| Name                        | Description                                                                                                                                 | Default |
+| --------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------- |
+| `smart`                     | Punctuation (quotes, full-stops and hyphens) are converted into 'smart' punctuation.                                                        | `false` |
+| `default_info_string`       | The default info string for fenced code blocks.                                                                                             | `""`    |
+| `relaxed_tasklist_matching` | Enables relaxing of the tasklist extension matching, allowing any non-space to be used for the "checked" state instead of only `x` and `X`. | `false` |
+| `relaxed_autolinks`         | Enable relaxing of the autolink extension parsing, allowing links to be recognized when in brackets, as well as permitting any url scheme.  | `false` |
 
 ### Render options
 
@@ -187,7 +190,7 @@ Commonmarker.to_html('"Hi *there*"', options: {
 ### Extension options
 
 | Name                          | Description                                                                                                         | Default |
-| ---------------------------   | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------- |
+| ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------- |
 | `strikethrough`               | Enables the [strikethrough extension](https://github.github.com/gfm/#strikethrough-extension-) from the GFM spec.   | `true`  |
 | `tagfilter`                   | Enables the [tagfilter extension](https://github.github.com/gfm/#disallowed-raw-html-extension-) from the GFM spec. | `true`  |
 | `table`                       | Enables the [table extension](https://github.github.com/gfm/#tables-extension-) from the GFM spec.                  | `true`  |
diff --git a/lib/commonmarker/config.rb b/lib/commonmarker/config.rb
index 0cc7841b..f419bb45 100644
--- a/lib/commonmarker/config.rb
+++ b/lib/commonmarker/config.rb
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ module Config
         underline: false,
         spoiler: false,
         greentext: false,
-      },
+      }.freeze,
       format: [:html].freeze,
     }.freeze
 
@@ -59,10 +59,6 @@ module Config
     class << self
       include Commonmarker::Utils
 
-      def merged_with_defaults(options)
-        Commonmarker::Config::OPTIONS.merge(process_options(options))
-      end
-
       def process_options(options)
         {
           parse: process_parse_options(options[:parse]),
@@ -79,37 +75,30 @@ def process_plugins(plugins)
     end
 
     [:parse, :render, :extension].each do |type|
-      define_singleton_method :"process_#{type}_options" do |option|
+      define_singleton_method :"process_#{type}_options" do |options|
         Commonmarker::Config::OPTIONS[type].each_with_object({}) do |(key, value), hash|
-          if option.nil? # option not provided, go for the default
+          if options.nil? || !options.key?(key) # option not provided, use the default
             hash[key] = value
             next
           end
 
-          # option explicitly not included, remove it
-          next if option[key].nil?
+          if options[key].nil? # # option explicitly not included, remove it
+            options.delete(key)
+            next
+          end
 
-          hash[key] = fetch_kv(option, key, value, type)
+          hash[key] = fetch_kv(options, key, value, type)
         end
       end
     end
 
-    [:syntax_highlighter].each do |type|
-      define_singleton_method :"process_#{type}_plugin" do |plugin|
-        return if plugin.nil? # plugin explicitly nil, remove it
+    define_singleton_method :process_syntax_highlighter_plugin do |options|
+      return if options.nil? # plugin explicitly nil, remove it
 
-        Commonmarker::Config::PLUGINS[type].each_with_object({}) do |(key, value), hash|
-          if plugin.nil? # option not provided, go for the default
-            hash[key] = value
-            next
-          end
+      raise TypeError, "Expected a Hash for syntax_highlighter plugin, got #{options.class}" unless options.is_a?(Hash)
+      raise TypeError, "Expected a Hash for syntax_highlighter plugin, got nothing" if options.empty?
 
-          # option explicitly not included, remove it
-          next if plugin[key].nil?
-
-          hash[key] = fetch_kv(plugin, key, value, type)
-        end
-      end
+      Commonmarker::Config::PLUGINS[:syntax_highlighter].merge(options)
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/commonmarker/utils.rb b/lib/commonmarker/utils.rb
index 974de948..56ad3270 100644
--- a/lib/commonmarker/utils.rb
+++ b/lib/commonmarker/utils.rb
@@ -6,16 +6,16 @@ module Commonmarker
   module Utils
     include Commonmarker::Constants
 
-    def fetch_kv(option, key, value, type)
+    def fetch_kv(options, key, value, type)
       value_klass = value.class
 
-      if Constants::BOOLS.include?(value) && BOOLS.include?(option[key])
-        option[key]
-      elsif option[key].is_a?(value_klass)
-        option[key]
+      if Constants::BOOLS.include?(value) && BOOLS.include?(options[key])
+        options[key]
+      elsif options[key].is_a?(value_klass)
+        options[key]
       else
         expected_type = Constants::BOOLS.include?(value) ? "Boolean" : value_klass.to_s
-        raise TypeError, "#{type} option `:#{key}` must be #{expected_type}; got #{option[key].class}"
+        raise TypeError, "#{type} option `:#{key}` must be #{expected_type}; got #{options[key].class}"
       end
     end
   end
diff --git a/test/config_test.rb b/test/config_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4771838e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/config_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+require "test_helper"
+
+class ConfigTest < Minitest::Test
+  def test_process_options
+    user_config = {
+      parse: {
+        smart: true,
+      },
+      render: {
+        unsafe: false,
+      },
+      extension: {
+        autolink: false,
+      },
+    }
+    processed_config = Commonmarker::Config.process_options(user_config)
+
+    expected_config = [:parse, :render, :extension].each_with_object({}) do |type, hash|
+      hash[type] = Commonmarker::Config::OPTIONS[type].merge(user_config[type] || {})
+    end
+
+    assert_equal(expected_config, processed_config)
+  end
+
+  def test_process_plugins
+    user_config = {
+      syntax_highlighter: {
+        path: "./themes",
+      },
+    }
+    processed_config = Commonmarker::Config.process_plugins(user_config)
+    expected_config = [:syntax_highlighter].each_with_object({}) do |type, hash|
+      hash[type] = Commonmarker::Config::PLUGINS[type].merge(user_config[type])
+    end
+
+    assert_equal(expected_config, processed_config)
+  end
+
+  def test_config_merges_directly
+    # hardbreaks work, the `\n` in between is rendered
+    assert_equal("<p>aaaa<br />\nbbbb</p>\n", Commonmarker.to_html("aaaa\nbbbb"))
+
+    # hardbreaks still work
+    assert_equal("<p>aaaa<br />\nbbbb</p>\n", Commonmarker.to_html("aaaa\nbbbb", options: { render: { unsafe: false } }))
+  end
+end
diff --git a/test/extensions_test.rb b/test/extensions_test.rb
index 59bf32ad..8eab60ba 100644
--- a/test/extensions_test.rb
+++ b/test/extensions_test.rb
@@ -8,20 +8,20 @@ def setup
   end
 
   def test_uses_specified_extensions
-    Commonmarker.to_html(@markdown, options: { extension: {} }).tap do |out|
+    Commonmarker.to_html(@markdown, options: { extension: { table: false, strikethrough: false } }).tap do |out|
       assert_includes(out, "| a")
       assert_includes(out, "| <strong>x</strong>")
       assert_includes(out, "~~hi~~")
     end
 
-    Commonmarker.to_html(@markdown, options: { extension: { table: true } }).tap do |out|
+    Commonmarker.to_html(@markdown, options: { extension: { table: true, strikethrough: false } }).tap do |out|
       refute_includes(out, "| a")
       ["<table>", "<tr>", "<th>", "a", "</th>", "<td>", "c", "</td>", "<strong>x</strong>"].each { |html| assert_includes(out, html) }
 
       assert_includes(out, "~~hi~~")
     end
 
-    Commonmarker.to_html(@markdown, options: { extension: { strikethrough: true } }).tap do |out|
+    Commonmarker.to_html(@markdown, options: { extension: { table: false, strikethrough: true } }).tap do |out|
       assert_includes(out, "| a")
       refute_includes(out, "~~hi~~")
       assert_includes(out, "<del>hi</del>")
diff --git a/test/footnotes_test.rb b/test/footnotes_test.rb
index 92d38719..4a0f3f28 100644
--- a/test/footnotes_test.rb
+++ b/test/footnotes_test.rb
@@ -5,13 +5,11 @@
 class FootnotesTest < Minitest::Test
   def test_to_html
     md = <<~MARKDOWN
-      # footnotes
       Let's render some footnotes[^1]
 
       [^1]: This is a footnote
     MARKDOWN
     expected = <<~HTML
-      <h1>footnotes</h1>
       <p>Let's render some footnotes<sup class="footnote-ref"><a href="#fn-1" id="fnref-1" data-footnote-ref>1</a></sup></p>
       <section class="footnotes" data-footnotes>
       <ol>
diff --git a/test/frontmatter_test.rb b/test/frontmatter_test.rb
index 6a13ca1d..19adf723 100644
--- a/test/frontmatter_test.rb
+++ b/test/frontmatter_test.rb
@@ -16,9 +16,9 @@ def test_frontmatter_does_not_interfere_with_codeblock
   end
 
   def test_frontmatter_custom_delimiter
-    md = "---\nyaml: true\nage: 42\n---\n# Title 1"
+    md = "---\nyaml: true\nage: 42\n---\nThis is some text"
     expected = <<~HTML
-      <h1>Title 1</h1>
+      <p>This is some text</p>
     HTML
 
     assert_equal(expected, Commonmarker.to_html(md, options: { extension: { front_matter_delimiter: "---" } }))
diff --git a/test/smartpunct_test.rb b/test/smartpunct_test.rb
index aa29fe1d..87432b22 100644
--- a/test/smartpunct_test.rb
+++ b/test/smartpunct_test.rb
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ class SmartPunctTest < Minitest::Test
       },
       render: {
         hardbreaks: false,
+        escaped_char_spans: false,
       },
     }
 
diff --git a/test/spec_test.rb b/test/spec_test.rb
index c8797bcd..0b863865 100644
--- a/test/spec_test.rb
+++ b/test/spec_test.rb
@@ -8,18 +8,30 @@ class SpecTest < Minitest::Test
 
   spec.each do |testcase|
     define_method(:"test_to_html_example_#{testcase[:example]}") do
-      opts = {
-        render: {
-          unsafe: true,
-          gfm_quirks: true,
-        },
-        extension: testcase[:extensions].each_with_object({}) do |ext, hash|
-          hash[ext] = true
-        end,
+      render_options = Commonmarker::Config::OPTIONS[:render].each_with_object({}) do |(key, _value), hsh|
+        hsh[key] = nil
+      end
+      render_options[:unsafe] = true
+      render_options[:gfm_quirks] = true
+
+      string_extensions = [:front_matter_delimiter, :header_ids]
+      extensions_options = Commonmarker::Config::OPTIONS[:extension].each_with_object({}) do |(key, _value), hsh|
+        hsh[key] = if string_extensions.include?(key)
+          nil
+        else
+          false
+        end
+      end
+
+      testcase[:extensions].each do |ext, _value|
+        extensions_options[ext] = true
+      end
+
+      options = {
+        render: render_options,
+        extension: extensions_options,
       }
 
-      options = Commonmarker::Config.merged_with_defaults(opts)
-      options[:extension].delete(:header_ids) # this interefers with the spec.txt extension-less capability
       options[:extension][:tasklist] = true
       actual = Commonmarker.to_html(testcase[:markdown], options: options, plugins: nil).rstrip