diff --git a/cedar-policy-cli/CHANGELOG.md b/cedar-policy-cli/CHANGELOG.md
index 82000bdf2..b0c2b1855 100644
--- a/cedar-policy-cli/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/cedar-policy-cli/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
   subcommands, while `-l` refers to `--principal`. Relatedly, the `--policies`
   long form of the flag is also now accepted across all subcommands.
 - The short form of `--template-linked` was changed from `-t` to `-k`.
+- The `format` subcommand no longer takes a positional file argument.
 
 ## 2.4.2
 
diff --git a/cedar-policy-cli/src/lib.rs b/cedar-policy-cli/src/lib.rs
index 346e9b93a..3f620e858 100644
--- a/cedar-policy-cli/src/lib.rs
+++ b/cedar-policy-cli/src/lib.rs
@@ -112,8 +112,8 @@ pub struct ValidateArgs {
 
 #[derive(Args, Debug)]
 pub struct CheckParseArgs {
-    /// File containing the policy set
-    #[clap(short, long = "policies", value_name = "FILE")]
+    /// Optional policy file name. If none is provided, read input from stdin.
+    #[arg(short, long = "policies", value_name = "FILE")]
     pub policies_file: Option<String>,
 }
 
@@ -310,8 +310,8 @@ pub struct LinkArgs {
 #[derive(Args, Debug)]
 pub struct FormatArgs {
     /// Optional policy file name. If none is provided, read input from stdin.
-    #[arg(value_name = "FILE")]
-    pub file_name: Option<String>,
+    #[arg(short, long = "policies", value_name = "FILE")]
+    pub policy_file: Option<String>,
 
     /// Custom line width (default: 80).
     #[arg(short, long, value_name = "UINT", default_value_t = 80)]
@@ -519,7 +519,7 @@ pub fn link(args: &LinkArgs) -> CedarExitCode {
 }
 
 fn format_policies_inner(args: &FormatArgs) -> Result<()> {
-    let policies_str = read_from_file_or_stdin(args.file_name.as_ref(), "policy set")?;
+    let policies_str = read_from_file_or_stdin(args.policy_file.as_ref(), "policy set")?;
     let config = Config {
         line_width: args.line_width,
         indent_width: args.indent_width,
diff --git a/cedar-policy-cli/tests/sample.rs b/cedar-policy-cli/tests/sample.rs
index eca58b7ef..540a0c99f 100644
--- a/cedar-policy-cli/tests/sample.rs
+++ b/cedar-policy-cli/tests/sample.rs
@@ -111,6 +111,7 @@ fn run_format_test(policies_file: &str) {
     let format_cmd = assert_cmd::Command::cargo_bin("cedar")
         .expect("bin exists")
         .arg("format")
+        .arg("-p")
         .arg(policies_file)
         .assert();
     assert_eq!(