diff --git a/tests/test-chat-jinja.cpp b/tests/test-chat-jinja.cpp
index 7f588a8878..50401b56bb 100644
--- a/tests/test-chat-jinja.cpp
+++ b/tests/test-chat-jinja.cpp
@@ -14,74 +14,134 @@
 #include "jinja/jinja-parser.h"
 #include "jinja/jinja-lexer.h"
 
-void run_multiple();
-void run_single(std::string contents);
+using json = nlohmann::json;
 
-int main(void) {
-    //std::string contents = "{% if messages[0]['role'] == 'system' %}{{ raise_exception('System role not supported') }}{% endif %}{% for message in messages %}{% if (message['role'] == 'user') != (loop.index0 % 2 == 0) %}{{ raise_exception('Conversation roles must alternate user/assistant/user/assistant/...') }}{% endif %}{% if (message['role'] == 'assistant') %}{% set role = 'model' %}{% else %}{% set role = message['role'] %}{% endif %}{{ '<start_of_turn>' + role + '\\n' + message['content'] | trim + '<end_of_turn>\\n' }}{% endfor %}{% if add_generation_prompt %}{{'<start_of_turn>model\\n'}}{% endif %}";
+void run_multiple(std::string dir_path, bool stop_on_first_failure, json input);
+void run_single(std::string contents, json input);
 
-    //std::string contents = "{% if messages[0]['role'] != 'system' %}nice {{ messages[0]['content'] }}{% endif %}";
+std::string HELP = R"(
+Usage: test-chat-jinja [OPTIONS] PATH_TO_TEMPLATE
+Options:
+  --json <path>            Path to the JSON input file.
+  --stop-on-first-fail     Stop testing on the first failure (default: false).
+If PATH_TO_TEMPLATE is a file, runs that single template.
+If PATH_TO_TEMPLATE is a directory, runs all .jinja files in that directory.
+)";
 
-    //std::string contents = "<some_tokens> {{ messages[a]['content'] }} <another_token>";
-    //std::string contents = "{% if a is not defined %}hello{% endif %}";
+std::string DEFAULT_JSON = R"({
+    "messages": [
+        {
+            "role": "user",
+            "content": {"__input__": "Hello, how are you?"}
+        },
+        {
+            "role": "assistant",
+            "content": {"__input__": "I am fine, thank you!"}
+        },
+        {
+            "role": "assistant",
+            "content": "Calling weather tool.",
+            "tool_calls": [
+                {
+                    "function": {
+                        "name": "get_weather",
+                        "arguments": {
+                            "location": "New York",
+                            "unit": "celsius"
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            ]
+        }
+    ],
+    "bos_token": "<s>",
+    "eos_token": "</s>",
+    "tools": []
+})";
 
-    std::ifstream infile("models/templates/Qwen-Qwen3-0.6B.jinja");
-    //std::ifstream infile("models/templates/Kimi-K2-Thinking.jinja");
-    std::string contents((std::istreambuf_iterator<char>(infile)), std::istreambuf_iterator<char>());
+int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
+    std::vector<std::string> args(argv, argv + argc);
 
-    run_single(contents);
+    std::string tmpl_path;
+    std::string json_path;
+    bool stop_on_first_fail = false;
 
-    //run_multiple();
+    for (size_t i = 1; i < args.size(); i++) {
+        if (args[i] == "--help" || args[i] == "-h") {
+            std::cout << HELP << "\n";
+            return 0;
+        } else if (args[i] == "--json" && i + 1 < args.size()) {
+            json_path = args[i + 1];
+            i++;
+        } else if (args[i] == "--stop-on-first-fail") {
+            stop_on_first_fail = true;
+        } else if (tmpl_path.empty()) {
+            tmpl_path = args[i];
+        } else {
+            std::cerr << "Unknown argument: " << args[i] << "\n";
+            std::cout << HELP << "\n";
+            return 1;
+        }
+    }
+
+    if (tmpl_path.empty()) {
+        std::cerr << "Error: PATH_TO_TEMPLATE is required.\n";
+        std::cout << HELP << "\n";
+        return 1;
+    }
+
+    json input_json;
+    if (!json_path.empty()) {
+        std::ifstream json_file(json_path);
+        if (!json_file) {
+            std::cerr << "Error: Could not open JSON file: " << json_path << "\n";
+            return 1;
+        }
+        std::string content = std::string(
+            std::istreambuf_iterator<char>(json_file),
+            std::istreambuf_iterator<char>());
+        input_json = json::parse(content);
+    } else {
+        input_json = json::parse(DEFAULT_JSON);
+    }
+
+    std::filesystem::path p(tmpl_path);
+    if (std::filesystem::is_directory(p)) {
+        run_multiple(tmpl_path, stop_on_first_fail, input_json);
+    } else if (std::filesystem::is_regular_file(p)) {
+        std::ifstream infile(tmpl_path);
+        std::string contents = std::string(
+            std::istreambuf_iterator<char>(infile),
+            std::istreambuf_iterator<char>());
+        run_single(contents, input_json);
+    } else {
+        std::cerr << "Error: PATH_TO_TEMPLATE is not a valid file or directory: " << tmpl_path << "\n";
+        return 1;
+    }
 
     return 0;
 }
 
-void run_multiple(void) {
+void run_multiple(std::string dir_path, bool stop_on_first_fail, json input) {
     std::vector<std::string> failed_tests;
 
-    bool stop_on_first_failure = false;
-
-    auto is_ignored_file = [](const std::string & filename) -> bool {
-        std::vector<std::string> ignored_files = {
-            "Apriel-",
-            "Olmo-3-7B-Instruct-Heretic-GGUF",
-            "sheldonrobinson-Llama-Guard",
-            "deepseek-community-Janus-Pro-1B",
-            "bitshrine-gemma-2-2B-function-calling",
-            "PaddlePaddle-PaddleOCR-VL",
-        };
-        for (const auto & ignored : ignored_files) {
-            if (filename.find(ignored) != std::string::npos) {
-                return true;
-            }
-        }
-        return false;
-    };
-
     // list all files in models/templates/ and run each
     size_t test_count = 0;
-    size_t skip_count = 0;
-    //std::string dir_path = "models/templates/";
-    std::string dir_path = "../test-jinja/templates/";
-    for (const auto & entry : std::filesystem::directory_iterator(dir_path)) {
-        if (entry.is_regular_file()) {
-            if (is_ignored_file(entry.path().filename().string())) {
-                std::cout << "=== SKIPPING TEMPLATE FILE: " << entry.path().string() << " ===\n";
-                skip_count++;
-                continue;
-            }
 
+    for (const auto & entry : std::filesystem::directory_iterator(dir_path)) {
+        // only process .jinja files
+        if (entry.path().extension() == ".jinja" && entry.is_regular_file()) {
             test_count++;
             std::cout << "\n\n=== RUNNING TEMPLATE FILE: " << entry.path().string() << " ===\n";
             std::ifstream infile(entry.path());
             std::string contents((std::istreambuf_iterator<char>(infile)), std::istreambuf_iterator<char>());
             try {
-                run_single(contents);
+                run_single(contents, input);
             } catch (const std::exception & e) {
                 std::cout << "Exception: " << e.what() << "\n";
                 std::cout << "=== ERROR WITH TEMPLATE FILE: " << entry.path().string() << " ===\n";
                 failed_tests.push_back(entry.path().string());
-                if (stop_on_first_failure) {
+                if (stop_on_first_fail) {
                     break;
                 }
             }
@@ -91,14 +151,13 @@ void run_multiple(void) {
     std::cout << "\n\n=== TEST SUMMARY ===\n";
     std::cout << "Total tests run: " << test_count << "\n";
     std::cout << "Total failed tests: " << failed_tests.size() << "\n";
-    std::cout << "Total skipped tests: " << skip_count << "\n";
     for (const auto & test : failed_tests) {
         std::cout << "FAILED TEST: " << test << "\n";
     }
 }
 
 
-void run_single(std::string contents) {
+void run_single(std::string contents, json input) {
     jinja::enable_debug(true);
 
     // lexing
@@ -115,46 +174,7 @@ void run_single(std::string contents) {
     jinja::context ctx;
     ctx.source = lexer_res.preprocessed_source;
 
-    std::string json_inp = R"({
-        "messages": [
-            {
-                "role": "user",
-                "content": {"__input__": "Hello, how are you?"}
-            },
-            {
-                "role": "assistant",
-                "content": {"__input__": "I am fine, thank you!"}
-            },
-            {
-                "role": "assistant",
-                "content": "Calling weather tool.",
-                "tool_calls": [
-                    {
-                        "function": {
-                            "name": "get_weather",
-                            "arguments": {
-                                "location": "New York",
-                                "unit": "celsius"
-                            }
-                        }
-                    }
-                ]
-            }
-        ],
-        "bos_token": "<s>",
-        "eos_token": "</s>",
-        "tools": []
-    })";
-    auto input_json = nlohmann::json::parse(json_inp);
-
-    // workaround for functionary models
-    input_json["functions"] = "";
-    input_json["datetime"] = "";
-
-    // workaround for Llama Guard models
-    input_json["excluded_category_keys"] = nlohmann::json::array();
-
-    jinja::global_from_json(ctx, input_json);
+    jinja::global_from_json(ctx, input);
 
     jinja::vm vm(ctx);
     const jinja::value results = vm.execute(ast);