diff --git a/arguments.go b/arguments.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..661a2226
--- /dev/null
+++ b/arguments.go
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+package cmds
+
+import (
+	"bufio"
+	"io"
+)
+
+// StdinArguments is used to iterate through arguments piped through stdin.
+//
+// It closely mimics the bufio.Scanner interface but also implements the
+// ReadCloser interface.
+type StdinArguments interface {
+	io.ReadCloser
+
+	// Scan reads in the next argument and returns true if there is an
+	// argument to read.
+	Scan() bool
+
+	// Argument returns the next argument.
+	Argument() string
+
+	// Err returns any errors encountered when reading in arguments.
+	Err() error
+}
+
+type arguments struct {
+	argument string
+	err      error
+	reader   *bufio.Reader
+	closer   io.Closer
+}
+
+func newArguments(r io.ReadCloser) *arguments {
+	return &arguments{
+		reader: bufio.NewReader(r),
+		closer: r,
+	}
+}
+
+// Read implements the io.Reader interface.
+func (a *arguments) Read(b []byte) (int, error) {
+	return a.reader.Read(b)
+}
+
+// Close implements the io.Closer interface.
+func (a *arguments) Close() error {
+	return a.closer.Close()
+}
+
+// WriteTo implements the io.WriterTo interface.
+func (a *arguments) WriteTo(w io.Writer) (int64, error) {
+	return a.reader.WriteTo(w)
+}
+
+// Err returns any errors encountered when reading in arguments.
+func (a *arguments) Err() error {
+	if a.err == io.EOF {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return a.err
+}
+
+// Argument returns the last argument read in.
+func (a *arguments) Argument() string {
+	return a.argument
+}
+
+// Scan reads in the next argument and returns true if there is an
+// argument to read.
+func (a *arguments) Scan() bool {
+	if a.err != nil {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	s, err := a.reader.ReadString('\n')
+	if err != nil {
+		a.err = err
+		if err == io.EOF && len(s) > 0 {
+			a.argument = s
+			return true
+		}
+		return false
+	}
+
+	l := len(s)
+	if l >= 2 && s[l-2] == '\r' {
+		a.argument = s[:l-2]
+	} else {
+		a.argument = s[:l-1]
+	}
+	return true
+}
diff --git a/arguments_test.go b/arguments_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e9ed47ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/arguments_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+package cmds
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestArguments(t *testing.T) {
+	var testCases = []struct {
+		input     string
+		arguments []string
+	}{
+		{
+			input:     "",
+			arguments: []string{},
+		},
+		{
+			input:     "\n",
+			arguments: []string{""},
+		},
+		{
+			input:     "\r\n",
+			arguments: []string{""},
+		},
+		{
+			input:     "\r",
+			arguments: []string{"\r"},
+		},
+		{
+			input:     "one",
+			arguments: []string{"one"},
+		},
+		{
+			input:     "one\n",
+			arguments: []string{"one"},
+		},
+		{
+			input:     "one\r\n",
+			arguments: []string{"one"},
+		},
+		{
+			input:     "one\r",
+			arguments: []string{"one\r"},
+		},
+		{
+			input:     "one\n\ntwo",
+			arguments: []string{"one", "", "two"},
+		},
+		{
+			input:     "first\nsecond\nthird",
+			arguments: []string{"first", "second", "third"},
+		},
+		{
+			input:     "first\r\nsecond\nthird",
+			arguments: []string{"first", "second", "third"},
+		},
+		{
+			input:     "first\nsecond\nthird\n",
+			arguments: []string{"first", "second", "third"},
+		},
+		{
+			input:     "first\r\nsecond\r\nthird\r\n",
+			arguments: []string{"first", "second", "third"},
+		},
+		{
+			input:     "first\nsecond\nthird\n\n",
+			arguments: []string{"first", "second", "third", ""},
+		},
+		{
+			input:     "\nfirst\nsecond\nthird\n",
+			arguments: []string{"", "first", "second", "third"},
+		},
+	}
+
+	for i, tc := range testCases {
+		for cut := 0; cut <= len(tc.arguments); cut++ {
+			args := newArguments(ioutil.NopCloser(bytes.NewBufferString(tc.input)))
+			for j, arg := range tc.arguments[:cut] {
+				if !args.Scan() {
+					t.Errorf("in test case %d, missing argument %d", i, j)
+					continue
+				}
+				got := args.Argument()
+				if got != arg {
+					t.Errorf("in test case %d, expected argument %d to be %s, got %s", i, j, arg, got)
+				}
+				if args.Err() != nil {
+					t.Error(args.Err())
+				}
+			}
+			args = newArguments(args)
+			// Tests stopping in the middle.
+			for j, arg := range tc.arguments[cut:] {
+				if !args.Scan() {
+					t.Errorf("in test case %d, missing argument %d", i, j+cut)
+					continue
+				}
+				got := args.Argument()
+				if got != arg {
+					t.Errorf("in test case %d, expected argument %d to be %s, got %s", i, j+cut, arg, got)
+				}
+				if args.Err() != nil {
+					t.Error(args.Err())
+				}
+			}
+			if args.Scan() {
+				t.Errorf("in test case %d, got too many arguments", i)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/cli/parse_test.go b/cli/parse_test.go
index d811a37b..3da47985 100644
--- a/cli/parse_test.go
+++ b/cli/parse_test.go
@@ -504,7 +504,10 @@ func TestBodyArgs(t *testing.T) {
 
 		var bodyArgs words
 		for s.Scan() {
-			bodyArgs = append(bodyArgs, s.Text())
+			bodyArgs = append(bodyArgs, s.Argument())
+		}
+		if err := s.Err(); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
 		}
 
 		if !sameWords(bodyArgs, tc.varArgs) {
diff --git a/command.go b/command.go
index 0fd4a7dc..a2a26c5c 100644
--- a/command.go
+++ b/command.go
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ output to the user, including text, JSON, and XML marshallers.
 package cmds
 
 import (
-	"bufio"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
@@ -234,7 +233,7 @@ func (c *Command) CheckArguments(req *Request) error {
 		switch err {
 		case io.EOF:
 		case nil:
-			req.bodyArgs = bufio.NewScanner(fi)
+			req.bodyArgs = newArguments(fi)
 			// Can't pass files and stdin arguments.
 			req.Files = nil
 		default:
@@ -269,10 +268,9 @@ func (c *Command) CheckArguments(req *Request) error {
 		if argDef.SupportsStdin && req.bodyArgs != nil {
 			if req.bodyArgs.Scan() {
 				// Found it!
-				req.Arguments = append(req.Arguments, req.bodyArgs.Text())
+				req.Arguments = append(req.Arguments, req.bodyArgs.Argument())
 				continue
 			}
-			// Nope! Maybe we had a read error?
 			if err := req.bodyArgs.Err(); err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
diff --git a/command_test.go b/command_test.go
index 98a147ab..a976a6c6 100644
--- a/command_test.go
+++ b/command_test.go
@@ -383,9 +383,10 @@ func TestCancel(t *testing.T) {
 	go func() {
 		err := re.Emit("abc")
 		if err != context.Canceled {
-			t.Fatalf("re:  expected context.Canceled but got %v", err)
+			t.Errorf("re:  expected context.Canceled but got %v", err)
+		} else {
+			t.Log("re.Emit err:", err)
 		}
-		t.Log("re.Emit err:", err)
 		re.Close()
 		close(wait)
 	}()
@@ -394,8 +395,9 @@ func TestCancel(t *testing.T) {
 
 	_, err = res.Next()
 	if err != context.Canceled {
-		t.Fatalf("res: expected context.Canceled but got %v", err)
+		t.Errorf("res: expected context.Canceled but got %v", err)
+	} else {
+		t.Log("res.Emit err:", err)
 	}
-	t.Log("res.Emit err:", err)
 	<-wait
 }
diff --git a/http/client.go b/http/client.go
index 690c1405..e8a5b7da 100644
--- a/http/client.go
+++ b/http/client.go
@@ -138,8 +138,14 @@ func (c *client) Send(req *cmds.Request) (cmds.Response, error) {
 
 	var fileReader *files.MultiFileReader
 	var reader io.Reader
-
-	if req.Files != nil {
+	if bodyArgs := req.BodyArgs(); bodyArgs != nil {
+		// In the end, this wraps a file reader in a file reader.
+		// However, such is life.
+		fileReader = files.NewMultiFileReader(files.NewSliceFile("", "", []files.File{
+			files.NewReaderFile("stdin", "", bodyArgs, nil),
+		}), true)
+		reader = fileReader
+	} else if req.Files != nil {
 		fileReader = files.NewMultiFileReader(req.Files, true)
 		reader = fileReader
 	}
diff --git a/request.go b/request.go
index 96f1b48f..2784ffa0 100644
--- a/request.go
+++ b/request.go
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package cmds
 
 import (
-	"bufio"
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"reflect"
@@ -21,7 +20,7 @@ type Request struct {
 
 	Files files.File
 
-	bodyArgs *bufio.Scanner
+	bodyArgs *arguments
 }
 
 // NewRequest returns a request initialized with given arguments
@@ -50,8 +49,17 @@ func NewRequest(ctx context.Context, path []string, opts cmdkit.OptMap, args []s
 }
 
 // BodyArgs returns a scanner that returns arguments passed in the body as tokens.
-func (req *Request) BodyArgs() *bufio.Scanner {
-	return req.bodyArgs
+//
+// Returns nil if there are no arguments to be consumed via stdin.
+func (req *Request) BodyArgs() StdinArguments {
+	// dance to make sure we return an *untyped* nil.
+	// DO NOT just return `req.bodyArgs`.
+	// If you'd like to complain, go to
+	// https://github.com/golang/go/issues/.
+	if req.bodyArgs != nil {
+		return req.bodyArgs
+	}
+	return nil
 }
 
 func (req *Request) ParseBodyArgs() error {
@@ -61,9 +69,8 @@ func (req *Request) ParseBodyArgs() error {
 	}
 
 	for s.Scan() {
-		req.Arguments = append(req.Arguments, s.Text())
+		req.Arguments = append(req.Arguments, s.Argument())
 	}
-
 	return s.Err()
 }