Answer prose round 3: --format text names the default, the record sentence in --help reads on one pass, and the padded-JSON decision points at the stdin ruling

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ replacement, and each removed path, column or flag.
   under [Names](README.md#names).
 - First release: the CLI, the library and the shipped data set.
 - The CLI renders exactly the template on its stdin, `echo '{/sv_SE.person} hihi' |
-  fejkdata`, and adds nothing to text: `echo`'s newline ends the render, and `--separator`
+  fejkdata`, and adds nothing under `--format text`: `echo`'s newline ends the render, and `--separator`
   defaults to empty. Whitespace around a JSON template is dropped. A lone reference,
   `{/users}`, is the record `users` under `--format`. An argument other than a flag, an
   empty or blank stdin, or nothing piped in, exits 2.

README.md

@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ inside one: each dot segment descends one level — folders, then the category (
 file), then fields — and `[SE]` after a [table](#table) selects its row. `--list` prints
 these paths; a template reads one as `{/path}`.
 
-In text, what you send is what renders, and fejkdata adds nothing. A format string keeps every
+Under `--format text`, the default, what you send is what renders, and fejkdata adds nothing. A format string keeps every
 byte, so `echo`, a file or a heredoc ends each render with its newline, and `printf '%s'`
 sends none; `-n` joins renders with `--separator`, empty by default. A JSON template is
 an object, array or string, and the whitespace around it is dropped; `42`, `true` or

cmd/fejkdata/main.go

@@ -42,16 +42,18 @@ path into one ({/sv_SE.person.last}), a table's row by key or name
 ({/misc.territory[SE]}), and .. steps up from a row to the row it links to
 ({/geo.SE.locality..municipality.name}).
 
-In text, what you send is what renders, and fejkdata adds nothing: a format string keeps
-every byte, so echo's newline ends each render, and printf '%s' sends none. -n
-joins renders with --separator, empty by default. A JSON template is an object, array
-or string, and the whitespace around it is dropped; 42, true or null alone is refused. A quoted
-heredoc, <<'EOF', passes $, a backslash or a quote as written.
+Under --format text, the default, what you send is what renders, and fejkdata adds
+nothing: a format string keeps every byte, so echo's newline ends each render, and
+printf '%s' sends none. -n joins renders with --separator, empty by default. A JSON
+template is an object, array or string, and the whitespace around it is dropped; 42,
+true or null alone is refused. A quoted heredoc, <<'EOF', passes $, a backslash or a
+quote as written.
 
 With --format json, ndjson, csv or sql the template must be a record — a JSON
-template whose fields are its columns, or a lone reference, one reference and nothing
-else such as {/sv_SE.person}, one newline after it allowed — and the rows are written as one JSON array, one JSON
-object per line, one CSV row (after a header), or one INSERT.
+template whose fields are its columns, or a lone reference such as {/sv_SE.person}:
+one reference and nothing else, with one newline after it allowed — and the rows are
+written as one JSON array, one JSON object per line, one CSV row (after a header), or
+one INSERT.
 
   -d, --data-path D      a data directory to layer over the shipped data (repeatable; last wins on a clash)
       --format F         output form: text (default), json, ndjson, csv or sql

docs/decisions.md

@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ folder. `IsTemplate` exports the rule, so struct tags and any other caller read
 
 The template comes from stdin, from `echo`, a file or a heredoc, so one command line gets
 a value and a quoted heredoc needs no escape. A format string is stdin's every byte, and
-fejkdata adds no newline of its own to text: `echo` ends each render with its newline,
+fejkdata adds no newline of its own under `--format text`: `echo` ends each render with its newline,
 `printf '%s'` sends none, and `-n` joins renders with `--separator`, empty by default. A
 bench of the README's personas picked this on 2026-10-07 over dropping a newline or
 adding one: a rule a user states in one sentence, at the cost of `printf` or a
@@ -114,9 +114,8 @@ until item 129: it reads a path, and only the data is absent.
 
 Padding is the one place the two readings disagree — a format string renders it, JSON
 drops it — so `NewTemplate` names the spelling that renders rather than silently
-choosing. On stdin the maintainer ruled the whitespace around JSON no part of the
-template, as the decision "The CLI renders exactly the template on its stdin, and adds
-nothing" records.
+choosing. On stdin the CLI drops it, per the decision "The CLI renders exactly the
+template on its stdin, and adds nothing".
 
 ## `FakeTemplate` and `NewTemplate` both stay