diff --git a/spec/CLI.spec.js b/spec/CLI.spec.js
index 39061b8083..a7017dde18 100644
--- a/spec/CLI.spec.js
+++ b/spec/CLI.spec.js
@@ -191,6 +191,55 @@ describe('definitions', () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe('CLI help formatting (#8434)', () => {
+  const loadInto = defs => {
+    const command = require('../lib/cli/utils/commander').default;
+    const program = new command.constructor();
+    program.storeOptionsAsProperties();
+    program.allowExcessArguments();
+    program.loadDefinitions(defs);
+    return program;
+  };
+  const htmlTag = /<br\s*\/?>|<\/?(?:b|ul|li)>|<a\b|<\/a>/i;
+
+  it('strips HTML formatting tags from every option description', () => {
+    for (const defs of [definitions, liveQueryDefinitions]) {
+      loadInto(defs).options.forEach(option => {
+        expect(option.description).not.toMatch(htmlTag);
+      });
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('converts <br> paragraph breaks to newlines', () => {
+    const description = loadInto(definitions).options.find(o => o.attributeName() === 'directAccess')
+      .description;
+    expect(description).toContain('\n');
+    expect(description).not.toContain('<br>');
+  });
+
+  it('converts <a href> links to "text (url)"', () => {
+    const description = loadInto(definitions).options.find(o => o.attributeName() === 'trustProxy')
+      .description;
+    expect(description).toContain(
+      'express trust proxy settings (https://expressjs.com/en/guide/behind-proxies.html)'
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('preserves angle-bracket literals that are not HTML tags', () => {
+    // `_auth_data_<provider>` and `<= \`20\`` are literal content, not markup - a blanket strip would eat them.
+    const program = loadInto({
+      myOption: {
+        env: 'PARSE_MY_OPTION',
+        help: 'Field `_auth_data_<provider>`.<br>Valid values are >= `0` and <= `20`.',
+      },
+    });
+    const description = program.options.find(o => o.attributeName() === 'myOption').description;
+    expect(description).toContain('_auth_data_<provider>');
+    expect(description).toContain('<= `20`');
+    expect(description).not.toContain('<br>');
+  });
+});
+
 describe('LiveQuery definitions', () => {
   it('should have valid types', () => {
     for (const key in liveQueryDefinitions) {
diff --git a/src/cli/utils/commander.js b/src/cli/utils/commander.js
index e2e06e0550..85f4983f10 100644
--- a/src/cli/utils/commander.js
+++ b/src/cli/utils/commander.js
@@ -7,6 +7,23 @@ let _definitions;
 let _reverseDefinitions;
 let _defaults;
 
+// Option help is authored as HTML in the JSDoc comments of `src/Options/index.js` so it renders on the
+// docs site. Commander only word-wraps the text, so convert the HTML to plain text for the terminal here.
+function cleanHelpText(help) {
+  if (!help) {
+    return help;
+  }
+  return help
+    .replace(/<a\b[^>]*\bhref="([^"]*)"[^>]*>(.*?)<\/a>/gi, '$2 ($1)')
+    .replace(/<\/li>/gi, '')
+    .replace(/<li>/gi, '\n- ')
+    .replace(/<br\s*\/?>/gi, '\n')
+    .replace(/<\/?(?:ul|b)>/gi, '')
+    .replace(/[ \t]+\n/g, '\n')
+    .replace(/\n{3,}/g, '\n\n')
+    .trim();
+}
+
 Command.prototype.loadDefinitions = function (definitions) {
   _definitions = definitions;
 
@@ -16,13 +33,13 @@ Command.prototype.loadDefinitions = function (definitions) {
       if (additionalOptions.required === true) {
         return program.option(
           `--${opt} <${opt}>`,
-          additionalOptions.help,
+          cleanHelpText(additionalOptions.help),
           additionalOptions.action
         );
       } else {
         return program.option(
           `--${opt} [${opt}]`,
-          additionalOptions.help,
+          cleanHelpText(additionalOptions.help),
           additionalOptions.action
         );
       }