send links to the LLM as markdown so drafts keep real hyperlinks

Transcripts flattened links to "text ( url )", so the model copied that shape and drafts came back with the URL in brackets instead of a link. HTML to text for the LLM now writes "[text](url)", which Markdown2HTML turns back into an anchor.

internal/aiagent/worker.go

@@ -661,7 +661,7 @@ func (m *Manager) messageText(msg cmodels.Message) string {
 	var trimmed string
 	if msg.ContentType == cmodels.ContentTypeHTML {
 		// Render full with the same link-keeping options as trimmed, else the prefix diffing below never matches.
-		if t := stringutil.HTML2TextWithLinks(msg.Content); t != "" {
+		if t := stringutil.HTML2TextMarkdownLinks(msg.Content); t != "" {
 			full = t
 		}
 		trimmed = stringutil.HTML2TextNoQuotes(msg.Content)

internal/conversation/models/models.go

@@ -568,7 +568,7 @@ func Transcript(msgs []Message, max int) string {
 		}
 		text := strings.TrimSpace(msg.TextContent)
 		if msg.ContentType == ContentTypeHTML {
-			if t := stringutil.HTML2TextWithLinks(msg.Content); t != "" {
+			if t := stringutil.HTML2TextMarkdownLinks(msg.Content); t != "" {
 				text = t
 			}
 		}

internal/conversation/models/models_test.go

@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ func TestTranscript(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 	got := Transcript(msgs, 50)
-	want := "Customer: My payment on this page ( https://example.com/pay ) failed.\n" +
+	want := "Customer: My payment on [this page](https://example.com/pay) failed.\n" +
 		"Agent: Looking into it.\n" +
 		"Customer: Any update?\n"
 	if got != want {

internal/stringutil/emailquote.go

@@ -25,14 +25,14 @@ var (
 func HTML2TextNoQuotes(htmlContent string) string {
 	doc, err := html.Parse(strings.NewReader(htmlContent))
 	if err != nil {
-		return TrimPlainTextQuotes(HTML2TextWithLinks(htmlContent))
+		return TrimPlainTextQuotes(HTML2TextMarkdownLinks(htmlContent))
 	}
 	pruneQuotedNodes(doc)
 	var b strings.Builder
 	if err := html.Render(&b, doc); err != nil {
-		return TrimPlainTextQuotes(HTML2TextWithLinks(htmlContent))
+		return TrimPlainTextQuotes(HTML2TextMarkdownLinks(htmlContent))
 	}
-	return TrimPlainTextQuotes(HTML2TextWithLinks(b.String()))
+	return TrimPlainTextQuotes(HTML2TextMarkdownLinks(b.String()))
 }
 
 // TrimPlainTextQuotes strips a trailing quoted-reply block (">" lines, "On ... wrote:" and "Original Message" markers) from plain text.

internal/stringutil/emailquote_test.go

@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ func TestHTML2TextNoQuotes(t *testing.T) {
 		{
 			name: "protonmail",
 			html: `<div><div>Hello with quoted.</div><div class="protonmail_signature_block"><div class="protonmail_signature_block-proton">Sent with <a href="https://proton.me/mail/home">Proton Mail</a> secure email.</div></div><div class="protonmail_quote">On Wednesday, July 22nd, 2026 at 9:06 PM, Abhinav &lt;user@example.com&gt; wrote:<br><blockquote class="protonmail_quote" type="cite"><p>Hello!</p></blockquote><br></div></div>`,
-			want: "Hello with quoted.\nSent with Proton Mail ( https://proton.me/mail/home ) secure email.",
+			want: "Hello with quoted.\nSent with [Proton Mail](https://proton.me/mail/home) secure email.",
 		},
 		{
 			name: "quote only returns empty",

internal/stringutil/htmllinks.go

@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+package stringutil
+
+import (
+	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/jaytaylor/html2text"
+	"golang.org/x/net/html"
+)
+
+// HTML2TextMarkdownLinks converts HTML to text keeping links as markdown "[text](url)", the form a
+// model copies back into its reply and that Markdown2HTML turns into an anchor again.
+func HTML2TextMarkdownLinks(htmlContent string) string {
+	if doc, err := html.Parse(strings.NewReader(htmlContent)); err == nil {
+		inlineAnchorMarkdown(doc)
+		var b strings.Builder
+		if err := html.Render(&b, doc); err == nil {
+			htmlContent = b.String()
+		}
+	}
+	return htmlToText(htmlContent, html2text.Options{})
+}
+
+func inlineAnchorMarkdown(n *html.Node) {
+	var next *html.Node
+	for child := n.FirstChild; child != nil; child = next {
+		next = child.NextSibling
+		if child.Type == html.ElementNode && child.Data == "a" {
+			link := markdownLink(nodeText(child), strings.TrimSpace(attrValue(child, "href")))
+			if link != "" {
+				n.InsertBefore(&html.Node{Type: html.TextNode, Data: link}, child)
+				n.RemoveChild(child)
+				continue
+			}
+		}
+		inlineAnchorMarkdown(child)
+	}
+}
+
+// markdownLink returns "" when the anchor is not worth rewriting, leaving it to the text conversion.
+func markdownLink(text, href string) string {
+	if href == "" || strings.HasPrefix(href, "#") || strings.HasPrefix(href, "cid:") {
+		return ""
+	}
+	text = strings.Join(strings.Fields(text), " ")
+	if text == "" || text == href {
+		return href
+	}
+	if strings.ContainsAny(href, " ()") {
+		href = "<" + href + ">"
+	}
+	return "[" + strings.NewReplacer("[", `\[`, "]", `\]`).Replace(text) + "](" + href + ")"
+}
+
+func nodeText(n *html.Node) string {
+	var b strings.Builder
+	var walk func(*html.Node)
+	walk = func(node *html.Node) {
+		if node.Type == html.TextNode {
+			b.WriteString(node.Data)
+		}
+		for c := node.FirstChild; c != nil; c = c.NextSibling {
+			walk(c)
+		}
+	}
+	walk(n)
+	return b.String()
+}

internal/stringutil/stringutil.go

@@ -48,11 +48,6 @@ func HTML2Text(html string) string {
 	return htmlToText(html, html2text.Options{TextOnly: true})
 }
 
-// HTML2TextWithLinks converts HTML to text keeping link URLs as "text ( url )".
-func HTML2TextWithLinks(html string) string {
-	return htmlToText(html, html2text.Options{})
-}
-
 // Markdown2HTML converts markdown to HTML, falling back to the input on error.
 func Markdown2HTML(md string) string {
 	var b strings.Builder

internal/stringutil/stringutil_test.go

@@ -297,16 +297,16 @@ func TestSplitName(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestHTML2TextWithLinks(t *testing.T) {
+func TestHTML2TextMarkdownLinks(t *testing.T) {
 	tests := []struct {
 		name string
 		html string
 		want string
 	}{
 		{
-			name: "link with distinct text keeps url",
+			name: "link with distinct text becomes a markdown link",
 			html: `<p>See <a href="https://example.com/guide">the guide</a> for steps.</p>`,
-			want: "See the guide ( https://example.com/guide ) for steps.",
+			want: "See [the guide](https://example.com/guide) for steps.",
 		},
 		{
 			name: "link text equal to url not duplicated",
@@ -318,10 +318,30 @@ func TestHTML2TextWithLinks(t *testing.T) {
 			html: `<p>No links here.</p>`,
 			want: "No links here.",
 		},
+		{
+			name: "nested markup inside the anchor flattens to link text",
+			html: `<p><a href="https://example.com/x"><strong>Pay</strong> now</a></p>`,
+			want: "[Pay now](https://example.com/x)",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "brackets in link text are escaped",
+			html: `<p><a href="https://example.com">Docs [beta]</a></p>`,
+			want: `[Docs \[beta\]](https://example.com)`,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "url with parentheses is wrapped in angle brackets",
+			html: `<p><a href="https://example.com/a(b)">See</a></p>`,
+			want: "[See](<https://example.com/a(b)>)",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "anchor without href keeps its text",
+			html: `<p><a name="top">Top</a> of page.</p>`,
+			want: "Top of page.",
+		},
 	}
 	for _, tt := range tests {
 		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
-			if got := HTML2TextWithLinks(tt.html); got != tt.want {
+			if got := HTML2TextMarkdownLinks(tt.html); got != tt.want {
 				t.Errorf("got %q, want %q", got, tt.want)
 			}
 		})