diff --git a/examples/cpp/external_data_loader/main.cpp b/examples/cpp/external_data_loader/main.cpp
index adddc44269c2f..052edab156f20 100644
--- a/examples/cpp/external_data_loader/main.cpp
+++ b/examples/cpp/external_data_loader/main.cpp
@@ -4,30 +4,7 @@
 #include <string>
 
 #include <rerun.hpp>
-
-static const char* USAGE = R"(
-This is an example executable data-loader plugin for the Rerun Viewer.
-Any executable on your `$PATH` with a name that starts with `rerun-loader-` will be treated as an
-external data-loader.
-
-This particular one will log C++ source code files as markdown documents, and return a
-special exit code to indicate that it doesn't support anything else.
-
-To try it out, compile it and place it in your $PATH as `rerun-loader-cpp-file`, then open a C++ source
-file with Rerun (`rerun file.cpp`).
-
-USAGE:
-  rerun-loader-cpp-file [OPTIONS] FILEPATH
-
-FLAGS:
-  -h, --help                    Prints help information
-
-OPTIONS:
-  --recording-id RECORDING_ID   ID of the shared recording
-
-ARGS:
-  <FILEPATH>
-)";
+#include <rerun/third_party/cxxopts.hpp>
 
 int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
     // The Rerun Viewer will always pass these two pieces of information:
@@ -56,11 +33,45 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
         }
     }
 
-    if (filepath.empty()) {
-        std::cerr << USAGE << std::endl;
-        return 1;
+    // if (filepath.empty()) {
+    //     std::cerr << USAGE << std::endl;
+    //     return 1;
+    // }
+
+    cxxopts::Options options(
+        "rerun-loader-cpp-file",
+        R"(
+This is an example executable data-loader plugin for the Rerun Viewer.
+Any executable on your `$PATH` with a name that starts with `rerun-loader-` will be treated as an
+external data-loader.
+
+This particular one will log C++ source code files as markdown documents, and return a
+special exit code to indicate that it doesn't support anything else.
+
+To try it out, compile it and place it in your $PATH as `rerun-loader-cpp-file`, then open a C++ source
+file with Rerun (`rerun file.cpp`).
+)"
+    );
+
+    // clang-format off
+    options.add_options()
+      ("h,help", "Print usage")
+      ("from-contents", "Log the contents of the file directly (files only -- not supported by external loaders)", cxxopts::value<bool>()->default_value("false"))
+      ("filepath", "The filepath to be loaded and logged", cxxopts::value<std::string>())
+    ;
+    // clang-format on
+
+    options.parse_positional({"filepath"});
+
+    auto args = options.parse(argc, argv);
+
+    if (args.count("help")) {
+        std::cout << options.help() << std::endl;
+        exit(0);
     }
 
+    std::cout << args << std::endl;
+
     bool is_file = std::filesystem::is_regular_file(filepath);
     bool is_cpp_file = std::filesystem::path(filepath).extension().string() == ".cpp";