diff --git a/pkg/cmd/api/api.go b/pkg/cmd/api/api.go
index ac49d715b..7d7f23a92 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/api/api.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/api/api.go
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"io/ioutil"
-	"math"
 	"net/http"
 	"os"
 	"regexp"
@@ -25,7 +24,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/cli/cli/pkg/cmdutil"
 	"github.com/cli/cli/pkg/iostreams"
 	"github.com/cli/cli/pkg/jsoncolor"
-	"github.com/mgutz/ansi"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 )
 
@@ -98,6 +96,17 @@ func NewCmdApi(f *cmdutil.Factory, runF func(*ApiOptions) error) *cobra.Command
 			there are no more pages of results. For GraphQL requests, this requires that the
 			original query accepts an %[1]s$endCursor: String%[1]s variable and that it fetches the
 			%[1]spageInfo{ hasNextPage, endCursor }%[1]s set of fields from a collection.
+
+			With %[1]s--template%[1]s, the provided Go template is rendered using the JSON data as input.
+			For the syntax of Go templates, see: https://golang.org/pkg/text/template/
+
+			The following functions are available in templates:
+			- %[1]scolor <style>, <input>%[1]s: colorize input using https://github.com/mgutz/ansi
+			- %[1]sautocolor%[1]s: like %[1]scolor%[1]s, but only emits color to terminals
+			- %[1]stimefmt <format> <time>%[1]s: formats a timestamp using Go's Time.Format function
+			- %[1]stimeago <time>%[1]s: renders a timestamp as relative to now
+			- %[1]spluck <field> <list>%[1]s: collects values of a field from all items in the input
+			- %[1]sjoin <sep> <list>%[1]s: joins values in the list using a separator
 		`, "`"),
 		Example: heredoc.Doc(`
 			# list releases in the current repository
@@ -112,6 +121,10 @@ func NewCmdApi(f *cmdutil.Factory, runF func(*ApiOptions) error) *cobra.Command
 			# set a custom HTTP header
 			$ gh api -H 'Accept: application/vnd.github.XYZ-preview+json' ...
 
+			# use a template for the output
+			$ gh api repos/:owner/:repo/issues --template \
+			  '{{range .}}{{.title}} ({{.labels | pluck "name" | join ", " | color "yellow"}}){{"\n"}}{{end}}'
+
 			# list releases with GraphQL
 			$ gh api graphql -F owner=':owner' -F name=':repo' -f query='
 			  query($name: String!, $owner: String!) {
@@ -183,7 +196,7 @@ func NewCmdApi(f *cmdutil.Factory, runF func(*ApiOptions) error) *cobra.Command
 	cmd.Flags().BoolVar(&opts.Paginate, "paginate", false, "Make additional HTTP requests to fetch all pages of results")
 	cmd.Flags().StringVar(&opts.RequestInputFile, "input", "", "The `file` to use as body for the HTTP request")
 	cmd.Flags().BoolVar(&opts.Silent, "silent", false, "Do not print the response body")
-	cmd.Flags().StringVarP(&opts.Template, "format", "t", "", "Format the response using a Go template")
+	cmd.Flags().StringVarP(&opts.Template, "template", "t", "", "Format the response using a Go template")
 	cmd.Flags().DurationVar(&opts.CacheTTL, "cache", 0, "Cache the response, e.g. \"3600s\", \"60m\", \"1h\"")
 	return cmd
 }
@@ -312,31 +325,12 @@ func processResponse(resp *http.Response, opts *ApiOptions, headersOutputStream
 	}
 
 	if opts.Template != "" {
-		templateFuncs := map[string]interface{}{
-			"color": func(colorName string, input interface{}) (string, error) {
-				var text string
-				switch tt := input.(type) {
-				case string:
-					text = tt
-				case float64:
-					if math.Trunc(tt) == tt {
-						text = strconv.FormatFloat(tt, 'f', 0, 64)
-					} else {
-						text = strconv.FormatFloat(tt, 'f', 2, 64)
-					}
-				case nil:
-					text = ""
-				case bool:
-					text = fmt.Sprintf("%v", tt)
-				default:
-					return "", fmt.Errorf("cannot convert type to string: %v", tt)
-				}
-				return ansi.Color(text, colorName), nil
-			},
-		}
-
 		// TODO: reuse parsed template across pagination invocations
-		t := template.Must(template.New("").Funcs(templateFuncs).Parse(opts.Template))
+		var t *template.Template
+		t, err = parseTemplate(opts.Template, opts.IO.ColorEnabled())
+		if err != nil {
+			return
+		}
 
 		var jsonData []byte
 		jsonData, err = ioutil.ReadAll(responseBody)
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/api/api_test.go b/pkg/cmd/api/api_test.go
index 69ffa100d..7dc508e64 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/api/api_test.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/api/api_test.go
@@ -8,9 +8,11 @@ import (
 	"net/http"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/MakeNowJust/heredoc"
 	"github.com/cli/cli/git"
 	"github.com/cli/cli/internal/ghrepo"
 	"github.com/cli/cli/pkg/cmdutil"
@@ -910,3 +912,40 @@ func Test_fillPlaceholders(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func Test_processResponse_template(t *testing.T) {
+	io, _, stdout, stderr := iostreams.Test()
+
+	resp := http.Response{
+		StatusCode: 200,
+		Header: map[string][]string{
+			"Content-Type": {"application/json"},
+		},
+		Body: ioutil.NopCloser(strings.NewReader(`[
+			{
+				"title": "First title",
+				"labels": [{"name":"bug"}, {"name":"help wanted"}]
+			},
+			{
+				"title": "Second but not last"
+			},
+			{
+				"title": "Alas, tis' the end",
+				"labels": [{}, {"name":"feature"}]
+			}
+		]`)),
+	}
+
+	_, err := processResponse(&resp, &ApiOptions{
+		IO:       io,
+		Template: `{{range .}}{{.title}} ({{.labels | pluck "name" | join ", " }}){{"\n"}}{{end}}`,
+	}, ioutil.Discard)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	assert.Equal(t, heredoc.Doc(`
+		First title (bug, help wanted)
+		Second but not last ()
+		Alas, tis' the end (, feature)
+	`), stdout.String())
+	assert.Equal(t, "", stderr.String())
+}
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/api/template.go b/pkg/cmd/api/template.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..823852e51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/cmd/api/template.go
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+package api
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"math"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
+	"text/template"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/cli/cli/utils"
+	"github.com/mgutz/ansi"
+)
+
+func parseTemplate(tpl string, colorEnabled bool) (*template.Template, error) {
+	now := time.Now()
+
+	templateFuncs := map[string]interface{}{
+		"color":     templateColor,
+		"autocolor": templateColor,
+
+		"timefmt": func(format, input string) (string, error) {
+			t, err := time.Parse(time.RFC3339, input)
+			if err != nil {
+				return "", err
+			}
+			return t.Format(format), nil
+		},
+		"timeago": func(input string) (string, error) {
+			t, err := time.Parse(time.RFC3339, input)
+			if err != nil {
+				return "", err
+			}
+			return utils.FuzzyAgoAbbr(now, t), nil
+		},
+
+		"pluck": templatePluck,
+		"join":  templateJoin,
+	}
+
+	if !colorEnabled {
+		templateFuncs["autocolor"] = func(colorName string, input interface{}) (string, error) {
+			return jsonScalarToString(input)
+		}
+	}
+
+	return template.New("").Funcs(templateFuncs).Parse(tpl)
+}
+
+func jsonScalarToString(input interface{}) (string, error) {
+	switch tt := input.(type) {
+	case string:
+		return tt, nil
+	case float64:
+		if math.Trunc(tt) == tt {
+			return strconv.FormatFloat(tt, 'f', 0, 64), nil
+		} else {
+			return strconv.FormatFloat(tt, 'f', 2, 64), nil
+		}
+	case nil:
+		return "", nil
+	case bool:
+		return fmt.Sprintf("%v", tt), nil
+	default:
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("cannot convert type to string: %v", tt)
+	}
+}
+
+func templateColor(colorName string, input interface{}) (string, error) {
+	text, err := jsonScalarToString(input)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	return ansi.Color(text, colorName), nil
+}
+
+func templatePluck(field string, input []interface{}) []interface{} {
+	var results []interface{}
+	for _, item := range input {
+		obj := item.(map[string]interface{})
+		results = append(results, obj[field])
+	}
+	return results
+}
+
+func templateJoin(sep string, input []interface{}) (string, error) {
+	var results []string
+	for _, item := range input {
+		text, err := jsonScalarToString(item)
+		if err != nil {
+			return "", err
+		}
+		results = append(results, text)
+	}
+	return strings.Join(results, sep), nil
+}
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/api/template_test.go b/pkg/cmd/api/template_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ff03d9a98
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/cmd/api/template_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+package api
+
+import "testing"
+
+func Test_jsonScalarToString(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name    string
+		input   interface{}
+		want    string
+		wantErr bool
+	}{
+		{
+			name:  "string",
+			input: "hello",
+			want:  "hello",
+		},
+		{
+			name:  "int",
+			input: float64(1234),
+			want:  "1234",
+		},
+		{
+			name:  "float",
+			input: float64(12.34),
+			want:  "12.34",
+		},
+		{
+			name:  "null",
+			input: nil,
+			want:  "",
+		},
+		{
+			name:  "true",
+			input: true,
+			want:  "true",
+		},
+		{
+			name:  "false",
+			input: false,
+			want:  "false",
+		},
+		{
+			name:    "object",
+			input:   map[string]interface{}{},
+			wantErr: true,
+		},
+	}
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			got, err := jsonScalarToString(tt.input)
+			if (err != nil) != tt.wantErr {
+				t.Errorf("jsonScalarToString() error = %v, wantErr %v", err, tt.wantErr)
+				return
+			}
+			if got != tt.want {
+				t.Errorf("jsonScalarToString() = %v, want %v", got, tt.want)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}