diff --git a/.byline/commits/4a477a05f.json b/.byline/commits/4a477a05f.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d354376
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.byline/commits/4a477a05f.json
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+{
+  "sha": "4a477a05f2f16b649211e2c77ad9e1c8c7f6e777",
+  "shortSha": "4a477a05f",
+  "parentSha": "0d0d95a00c41d5f05ecadf22f44788bd5163b2fc",
+  "timestamp": "2026-04-21T21:42:31-04:00",
+  "message": "Add byline commit classification cache files",
+  "files": {
+    ".byline/commits/0d0d95a00.json": {
+      "path": ".byline/commits/0d0d95a00.json",
+      "summary": {
+        "mine": 2214,
+        "machine": 0,
+        "ours": 0
+      },
+      "segments": []
+    },
+    ".byline/commits/c9f2e83f2.json": {
+      "path": ".byline/commits/c9f2e83f2.json",
+      "summary": {
+        "mine": 1379,
+        "machine": 0,
+        "ours": 0
+      },
+      "segments": []
+    }
+  },
+  "totals": {
+    "mine": 3593,
+    "machine": 0,
+    "ours": 0,
+    "percent": {
+      "mine": 100,
+      "machine": 0,
+      "ours": 0
+    }
+  },
+  "sessions": [],
+  "meta": {
+    "analyzedAt": "2026-04-22T01:42:31.526Z",
+    "version": "0.2.0",
+    "retroactive": false,
+    "confidence": 1
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/internal/cmd/gmail_messages.go b/internal/cmd/gmail_messages.go
index 3097f46..50588f5 100644
--- a/internal/cmd/gmail_messages.go
+++ b/internal/cmd/gmail_messages.go
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ type GmailMessagesSearchCmd struct {
 	Timezone    string   `name:"timezone" short:"z" help:"Output timezone (IANA name, e.g. America/New_York, UTC). Default: local"`
 	Local       bool     `name:"local" help:"Use local timezone (default behavior, useful to override --timezone)"`
 	IncludeBody bool     `name:"include-body" help:"Include decoded message body (JSON is full; text output is truncated)"`
+	BodyFormat  string   `name:"body-format" help:"Body format preference: text (default) or html" default:"text" enum:"text,html"`
 	Full        bool     `name:"full" help:"Show full message bodies without truncation (implies --include-body)"`
 }
 
@@ -88,7 +89,7 @@ func (c *GmailMessagesSearchCmd) Run(ctx context.Context, flags *RootFlags) erro
 		return err
 	}
 
-	items, err := fetchMessageDetails(ctx, svc, messages, idToName, loc, c.IncludeBody)
+	items, err := fetchMessageDetails(ctx, svc, messages, idToName, loc, c.IncludeBody, c.BodyFormat)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -200,7 +201,8 @@ type messageItem struct {
 	Body     string   `json:"body,omitempty"`
 }
 
-func fetchMessageDetails(ctx context.Context, svc *gmail.Service, messages []*gmail.Message, idToName map[string]string, loc *time.Location, includeBody bool) ([]messageItem, error) {
+func fetchMessageDetails(ctx context.Context, svc *gmail.Service, messages []*gmail.Message, idToName map[string]string, loc *time.Location, includeBody bool, bodyFormat ...string) ([]messageItem, error) {
+	preferHTML := len(bodyFormat) > 0 && bodyFormat[0] == "html"
 	if len(messages) == 0 {
 		return nil, nil
 	}
@@ -257,7 +259,11 @@ func fetchMessageDetails(ctx context.Context, svc *gmail.Service, messages []*gm
 			item.Subject = sanitizeTab(headerValue(msg.Payload, "Subject"))
 			item.Date = formatGmailDateInLocation(headerValue(msg.Payload, "Date"), loc)
 			if includeBody {
-				item.Body = bestBodyText(msg.Payload)
+				if preferHTML {
+					item.Body = bestBodyHTML(msg.Payload)
+				} else {
+					item.Body = bestBodyText(msg.Payload)
+				}
 			}
 
 			if len(msg.LabelIds) > 0 {
diff --git a/internal/cmd/gmail_thread.go b/internal/cmd/gmail_thread.go
index a72fadd..02e534d 100644
--- a/internal/cmd/gmail_thread.go
+++ b/internal/cmd/gmail_thread.go
@@ -377,6 +377,18 @@ func bestBodyText(p *gmail.MessagePart) string {
 	return html
 }
 
+func bestBodyHTML(p *gmail.MessagePart) string {
+	if p == nil {
+		return ""
+	}
+	html := findPartBody(p, "text/html")
+	if html != "" {
+		return html
+	}
+	plain := findPartBody(p, "text/plain")
+	return plain
+}
+
 func bestBodyForDisplay(p *gmail.MessagePart) (string, bool) {
 	if p == nil {
 		return "", false