diff --git a/pdoc/__init__.py b/pdoc/__init__.py
index 4d5b4112..852f8821 100644
--- a/pdoc/__init__.py
+++ b/pdoc/__init__.py
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ def _render_template(template_name, **kwargs):
         raise
 
 
-def html(module_name, docfilter=None, **kwargs) -> str:
+def html(module_name, docfilter=None, reload=False, **kwargs) -> str:
     """
     Returns the documentation for the module `module_name` in HTML
     format. The module must be a module or an importable string.
@@ -133,12 +133,12 @@ def html(module_name, docfilter=None, **kwargs) -> str:
     that takes a single argument (a documentation object) and returns
     `True` or `False`. If `False`, that object will not be documented.
     """
-    mod = Module(import_module(module_name), docfilter=docfilter)
+    mod = Module(import_module(module_name, reload=reload), docfilter=docfilter)
     link_inheritance()
     return mod.html(**kwargs)
 
 
-def text(module_name, docfilter=None, **kwargs) -> str:
+def text(module_name, docfilter=None, reload=False, **kwargs) -> str:
     """
     Returns the documentation for the module `module_name` in plain
     text format suitable for viewing on a terminal.
@@ -149,12 +149,12 @@ def text(module_name, docfilter=None, **kwargs) -> str:
     that takes a single argument (a documentation object) and returns
     `True` or `False`. If `False`, that object will not be documented.
     """
-    mod = Module(import_module(module_name), docfilter=docfilter)
+    mod = Module(import_module(module_name, reload=reload), docfilter=docfilter)
     link_inheritance()
     return mod.text(**kwargs)
 
 
-def import_module(module) -> ModuleType:
+def import_module(module, *, reload: bool = False) -> ModuleType:
     """
     Return module object matching `module` specification (either a python
     module path or a filesystem path to file/directory).
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ def _module_path(module):
     assert inspect.ismodule(module)
     # If this is pdoc itself, return without reloading. Otherwise later
     # `isinstance(..., pdoc.Doc)` calls won't work correctly.
-    if not module.__name__.startswith(__name__):
+    if reload and not module.__name__.startswith(__name__):
         module = importlib.reload(module)
     return module
 
diff --git a/pdoc/cli.py b/pdoc/cli.py
index faa165d2..2c0a5f75 100755
--- a/pdoc/cli.py
+++ b/pdoc/cli.py
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ def do_GET(self):
         importlib.invalidate_caches()
         code = 200
         if self.path == "/":
-            modules = [pdoc.import_module(module)
+            modules = [pdoc.import_module(module, reload=True)
                        for module in self.args.modules]
             modules = sorted((module.__name__, inspect.getdoc(module))
                              for module in modules)
@@ -236,7 +236,8 @@ def html(self):
         """
         # TODO: pass extra pdoc.html() params
         return pdoc.html(self.import_path_from_req_url,
-                         http_server=True, external_links=True, **self.template_config)
+                         reload=True, http_server=True, external_links=True,
+                         **self.template_config)
 
     def resolve_ext(self, import_path):
         def exists(p):