diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index 9df8beb..fd9689a 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 PATH
   remote: .
   specs:
-    classifier (2.3.0)
+    classifier (2.3.1)
       fast-stemmer (~> 1.0)
       matrix
       mutex_m (~> 0.2)
diff --git a/exe/classifier b/exe/classifier
index cf73b86..49ecd10 100755
--- a/exe/classifier
+++ b/exe/classifier
@@ -1,4 +1,10 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env ruby
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+# Force UTF-8 encoding for proper handling of model data and user input
+Encoding.default_external = Encoding::UTF_8
+Encoding.default_internal = Encoding::UTF_8
+
 require 'classifier/cli'
 
 result = Classifier::CLI.new(ARGV).run
diff --git a/lib/classifier/version.rb b/lib/classifier/version.rb
index 97c6235..f52573d 100644
--- a/lib/classifier/version.rb
+++ b/lib/classifier/version.rb
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 module Classifier
-  VERSION = '2.3.0'.freeze
+  VERSION = '2.3.1'.freeze
 end