diff --git a/docs/cli.md b/docs/cli.md
index bd436c94..4afc96aa 100644
--- a/docs/cli.md
+++ b/docs/cli.md
@@ -40,8 +40,9 @@ haiku-rag add-src https://example.com/article.html
 # Optionally set a human‑readable title stored in the DB schema
 haiku-rag add-src /mnt/data/doc1.pdf --title "Q3 Financial Report"
 
-# Optionally attach metadata (repeat --meta)
-haiku-rag add-src /mnt/data/doc1.pdf --meta source=manual --meta lang=en
+# Optionally attach metadata (repeat --meta). Values use JSON parsing if possible:
+# numbers, booleans, null, arrays/objects; otherwise kept as strings.
+haiku-rag add-src /mnt/data/doc1.pdf --meta source=manual --meta page_count=12 --meta published=true
 ```
 
 !!! note
diff --git a/src/haiku/rag/cli.py b/src/haiku/rag/cli.py
index f2cae05d..ca8349fe 100644
--- a/src/haiku/rag/cli.py
+++ b/src/haiku/rag/cli.py
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 import asyncio
+import json
 import warnings
 from importlib.metadata import version
 from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Any
 
 import typer
 
@@ -137,12 +139,12 @@ def list_documents(
     asyncio.run(app.list_documents())
 
 
-def _parse_meta_options(meta: list[str] | None) -> dict[str, str]:
+def _parse_meta_options(meta: list[str] | None) -> dict[str, Any]:
     """Parse repeated --meta KEY=VALUE options into a dictionary.
 
     Raises a Typer error if any entry is malformed.
     """
-    result: dict[str, str] = {}
+    result: dict[str, Any] = {}
     if not meta:
         return result
     for item in meta:
@@ -151,7 +153,13 @@ def _parse_meta_options(meta: list[str] | None) -> dict[str, str]:
         key, value = item.split("=", 1)
         if not key:
             raise typer.BadParameter("--meta key cannot be empty")
-        result[key] = value
+        # Best-effort JSON coercion: numbers, booleans, null, arrays/objects
+        try:
+            parsed = json.loads(value)
+            result[key] = parsed
+        except Exception:
+            # Leave as string if not valid JSON literal
+            result[key] = value
     return result
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
index 5e719066..19ea95a1 100644
--- a/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -112,6 +112,31 @@ def test_add_document_src_with_meta():
         assert kwargs.get("metadata") == {"source": "manual", "lang": "en"}
 
 
+def test_add_document_text_with_numeric_meta():
+    with patch("haiku.rag.app.HaikuRAGApp") as mock_app:
+        mock_app_instance = MagicMock()
+        mock_app_instance.add_document_from_text = AsyncMock()
+        mock_app.return_value = mock_app_instance
+
+        result = runner.invoke(
+            cli,
+            [
+                "add",
+                "some text",
+                "--meta",
+                "version=3",
+                "--meta",
+                "published=true",
+            ],
+        )
+
+        assert result.exit_code == 0
+        mock_app_instance.add_document_from_text.assert_called_once()
+        _, kwargs = mock_app_instance.add_document_from_text.call_args
+        assert kwargs.get("text") == "some text"
+        assert kwargs.get("metadata") == {"version": 3, "published": True}
+
+
 def test_get_document():
     with patch("haiku.rag.app.HaikuRAGApp") as mock_app:
         mock_app_instance = MagicMock()