From 14323803294e820d93f2c9dc06e484f69e443aa3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Yang Jun <harttleharttle@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:05:03 +0800
Subject: [PATCH] feat!: require positional template; drop bare stdin and
 --template (#942)

* feat!: remove CLI support for template via STDIN

Fixes #940

Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>

* feat!: take CLI template as positional argument

Make template a required positional arg (drop --template) for v11 per #586; stdin template remains unsupported without a special error.

Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>

* fix: restore --template CLI option

Revert the positional-only template change. Keep --template as the primary API; stdin template remains unsupported without a special error.

Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>

* fix: restore explicit @- stdin for template and context

Keep @- for --template and --context; only the legacy bare-stdin-as-template fallback stays removed.

Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>

* feat: accept CLI template as positional or --template

Support positional <template> alongside --template/-t for compatibility; error if both are set and differ. Bare stdin template remains removed; @- still works.

Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>

* feat!: remove --template CLI option

Template is positional-only; bare stdin template and --template/-t are both removed. Keep @- for template and --context.

Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>

---------

Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>
---
 README.md                      |  2 +-
 bin/liquid.js                  | 52 ++++------------------------------
 docs/source/tutorials/setup.md | 29 ++++++++-----------
 3 files changed, 19 insertions(+), 64 deletions(-)

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d3f638c5f..bdda8ace2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ npm install liquidjs
 **CLI**
 
 ```bash
-npx liquidjs --template 'Hello, {{ name }}!' --context '{"name": "Liquid"}'
+npx liquidjs 'Hello, {{ name }}!' --context '{"name": "Liquid"}'
 ```
 
 See the [setup guide][setup] for partials, layouts, caching, and other options.
diff --git a/bin/liquid.js b/bin/liquid.js
index 9d54b865d..03e534a39 100755
--- a/bin/liquid.js
+++ b/bin/liquid.js
@@ -3,19 +3,7 @@
 const fs = require('fs/promises')
 const Liquid = require('..').Liquid
 
-// Preserve compatibility by falling back to legacy CLI behavior if:
-// - stdin is redirected (i.e. not connected to a terminal) AND
-// - there are either no arguments, or only a single argument which does not start with a dash
-// TODO: Remove this fallback for 11.0
-
-let renderPromise = null
-if (!process.stdin.isTTY && (process.argv.length === 2 || (process.argv.length === 3 && !process.argv[2].startsWith('-')))) {
-  renderPromise = renderLegacy()
-} else {
-  renderPromise = render()
-}
-
-renderPromise.catch(err => {
+render().catch(err => {
   process.stderr.write(`${err.message}\n`)
   process.exitCode = 1
 })
@@ -26,8 +14,8 @@ async function render () {
   program
     .name('liquidjs')
     .description('Render a Liquid template')
-    .requiredOption('-t, --template <liquid | @path>', 'liquid template to render (@- to read from stdin)') // TODO: Change to argument in 11.0
-    .option('-c, --context <json | @path>', 'input context in JSON format (@- to read from stdin)')
+    .argument('<template>', 'liquid template to render (inline, @path, or @- for stdin)')
+    .option('-c, --context <json | @path>', 'input context in JSON format (inline, @path, or @- for stdin)')
     .option('-o, --output <path>', 'write rendered output to file (omit to write to stdout)')
     .option('--cache [size]', 'cache previously parsed template structures (default cache size: 1024)')
     .option('--extname <string>', 'use a default filename extension when resolving partials and layouts')
@@ -57,12 +45,13 @@ async function render () {
     .parse()
 
   const options = program.opts()
+  const templateOption = program.args[0]
 
-  if (Object.values(options).filter((value) => value === '@-').length > 1) {
+  if (Object.values({ template: templateOption, context: options.context }).filter((value) => value === '@-').length > 1) {
     throw new Error(`The stdin input specifier '@-' must only be used once.`)
   }
 
-  const template = await resolveInputOption(options.template)
+  const template = await resolveInputOption(templateOption)
   const context = await resolveContext(options.context)
   const liquid = new Liquid(options)
   const output = liquid.parseAndRenderSync(template, context)
@@ -108,32 +97,3 @@ async function readStream (stream) {
   }
   return Buffer.concat(chunks).toString('utf8')
 }
-
-// TODO: Remove for 11.0
-async function renderLegacy () {
-  process.stderr.write('Reading template from stdin. This mode will be removed in next major version, use --template option instead.\n')
-  const contextArg = process.argv.slice(2)[0]
-  let context = {}
-  if (contextArg) {
-    const contextJson = await resolveInputOptionLegacy(contextArg)
-    context = JSON.parse(contextJson)
-  }
-  const template = await readStream(process.stdin)
-  const liquid = new Liquid()
-  const output = liquid.parseAndRenderSync(template, context)
-  process.stdout.write(output)
-}
-
-// TODO: Remove for 11.0
-async function resolveInputOptionLegacy (option) {
-  let content = null
-  if (option) {
-    const stat = await fs.stat(option).catch(e => null)
-    if (stat && stat.isFile) {
-      content = await fs.readFile(option, 'utf8')
-    } else {
-      content = option
-    }
-  }
-  return content
-}
diff --git a/docs/source/tutorials/setup.md b/docs/source/tutorials/setup.md
index 894c938f3..20889f0a6 100644
--- a/docs/source/tutorials/setup.md
+++ b/docs/source/tutorials/setup.md
@@ -53,44 +53,39 @@ Pre-built UMD bundles are also available:
 
 ## LiquidJS in CLI
 
-LiquidJS can also be used to render a template directly from CLI using `npx`:
+LiquidJS can also be used to render a template directly from CLI using `npx`. Pass the template as a positional argument:
 
 ```bash
-npx liquidjs --template '{{"hello" | capitalize}}'
+npx liquidjs '{{"hello" | capitalize}}'
 ```
 
-You can either pass the template inline (as shown above) or you can read it from a file by using the `@` character followed by a path, like so:
+You can either pass the template inline (as shown above), read it from a file with `@` followed by a path, or from `stdin` with `@-`:
 
 ```bash
-npx liquidjs --template @./some-template.liquid
+npx liquidjs @./some-template.liquid
+echo '{{"hello" | capitalize}}' | npx liquidjs @-
 ```
 
-You can also use the `@-` syntax to read the template from `stdin`:
+A context can be passed the same ways (inline, from a path, or via `@-` for `stdin`). The following three are equivalent:
 
 ```bash
-echo '{{"hello" | capitalize}}' | npx liquidjs --template @-
+npx liquidjs 'Hello, {{ name }}!' --context '{"name": "Snake"}'
+npx liquidjs 'Hello, {{ name }}!' --context @./some-context.json
+echo '{"name": "Snake"}' | npx liquidjs 'Hello, {{ name }}!' --context @-
 ```
 
-A context can be passed in the same ways (i.e. inline, from a path or piped through `stdin`). The following three are equivalent:
-
-```bash
-npx liquidjs --template 'Hello, {{ name }}!' --context '{"name": "Snake"}'
-npx liquidjs --template 'Hello, {{ name }}!' --context @./some-context.json
-echo '{"name": "Snake"}' | npx liquidjs --template 'Hello, {{ name }}!' --context @-
-```
-
-Note that you can only use the `stdin` specifier `@-` for a single argument. If you try to use it for both `--template` and `--context` you will get an error.
+Note that you can only use the `stdin` specifier `@-` for a single argument. If you try to use it for both the template and `--context` you will get an error.
 
 The rendered output is written to `stdout` by default, but you can also specify an output file (if the file exists, it will be overwritten):
 
 ```bash
-npx liquidjs --template '{{"hello" | capitalize}}' --output ./hello.txt
+npx liquidjs '{{"hello" | capitalize}}' --output ./hello.txt
 ```
 
 You can also pass a number of options to customize template rendering behavior. For example, the `--js-truthy` option can be used to enable JavaScript truthiness:
 
 ```bash
-npx liquidjs --template @./some-template.liquid --js-truthy
+npx liquidjs @./some-template.liquid --js-truthy
 ```
 
 Most of the [options available through the JavaScript API][options] are also available from the CLI. For help on available options, use `npx liquidjs --help`.