From 456d7dc6a4ccb6207d8cfedfff33c2720675191a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Yang Jun <harttleharttle@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2026 02:08:59 +0800
Subject: [PATCH] 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>
---
 README.md                      |  2 +-
 bin/liquid.js                  | 16 +++++++++-------
 docs/source/tutorials/setup.md | 14 +++++++-------
 3 files changed, 17 insertions(+), 15 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 b09b984eb..41d932037 100755
--- a/bin/liquid.js
+++ b/bin/liquid.js
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ async function render () {
   program
     .name('liquidjs')
     .description('Render a Liquid template')
-    .requiredOption('-t, --template <liquid | @path>', 'liquid template to render (inline or @path to a file)') // TODO: Change to argument in 11.0
+    .argument('<template>', 'liquid template to render (inline or @path to a file)')
     .option('-c, --context <json | @path>', 'input context in JSON format (@- to read from 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)')
@@ -45,12 +45,7 @@ async function render () {
     .parse()
 
   const options = program.opts()
-
-  if (options.template === '@-') {
-    throw new Error(`Reading template from stdin is not supported. Pass an inline template or @path.`)
-  }
-
-  const template = await resolveInputOption(options.template)
+  const template = await resolveTemplate(program.args[0])
   const context = await resolveContext(options.context)
   const liquid = new Liquid(options)
   const output = liquid.parseAndRenderSync(template, context)
@@ -70,6 +65,13 @@ async function resolveContext (contextOption) {
   return context
 }
 
+async function resolveTemplate (templateOption) {
+  if (templateOption && templateOption.startsWith('@') && templateOption !== '@-') {
+    return resolveInputOption(templateOption)
+  }
+  return templateOption
+}
+
 async function resolveInputOption (option) {
   let content = null
   if (option) {
diff --git a/docs/source/tutorials/setup.md b/docs/source/tutorials/setup.md
index 8db5f8f40..477bd1ba0 100644
--- a/docs/source/tutorials/setup.md
+++ b/docs/source/tutorials/setup.md
@@ -56,33 +56,33 @@ Pre-built UMD bundles are also available:
 LiquidJS can also be used to render a template directly from CLI using `npx`:
 
 ```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:
 
 ```bash
-npx liquidjs --template @./some-template.liquid
+npx liquidjs @./some-template.liquid
 ```
 
 A context can be passed 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 @-
+npx liquidjs 'Hello, {{ name }}!' --context '{"name": "Snake"}'
+npx liquidjs 'Hello, {{ name }}!' --context @./some-context.json
+echo '{"name": "Snake"}' | npx liquidjs 'Hello, {{ name }}!' --context @-
 ```
 
 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`.