code: def _get_inputs(self):
          
          # Convert file inputs to a dict, to make it easier to override
          # them with commandline inputs
          file_inputs = self._get_file_inputs()
          try:
              jsonschema.validate(file_inputs, file_input_schema)
          except jsonschema.ValidationError:
              raise SystemExit("ERROR! Input file was invalid")
          input_dict = {}
          for (channel, input_id) in file_inputs.iteritems():
              input_dict[channel] = input_id
  
          if self.args.inputs:
              for kv_pair in self.args.inputs:
                  (channel, input_id) = kv_pair.split('=')
                  input_dict[channel] = self._parse_string_to_nested_lists(
                      input_id)
  
          inputs = []
          for (channel, contents) in input_dict.iteritems():
              inputs.append({
                  'channel': channel,
                  'data': {
                      'contents': contents
                  }
              })
          return inputs
docs: Converts command line args into a list of template inputs