some apply tests passing

go.mod

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2 v2.9.2
 	github.com/onsi/gomega v1.27.4
 	github.com/patrickhuber/go-di v0.5.2
-	github.com/patrickhuber/go-xplat v0.2.15
+	github.com/patrickhuber/go-xplat v0.3.0
 	github.com/urfave/cli/v2 v2.23.4
 	gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.1
 )

go.sum

@@ -56,6 +56,10 @@ github.com/patrickhuber/go-xplat v0.2.14 h1:RR3C9YbJ02XeS6CXrqRiSUor+W2UxOENnHr+
 github.com/patrickhuber/go-xplat v0.2.14/go.mod h1:ZveaAmQiWcZO0nWACUrbylAF+BbGwEXdVqM3ZoEOxA4=
 github.com/patrickhuber/go-xplat v0.2.15 h1:qEqPqjmLp0yqHFCWqE+s41ni55JKs0DhHbK3Mt6xZFo=
 github.com/patrickhuber/go-xplat v0.2.15/go.mod h1:ZveaAmQiWcZO0nWACUrbylAF+BbGwEXdVqM3ZoEOxA4=
+github.com/patrickhuber/go-xplat v0.2.16 h1:Km8ErsoTq3lbC5Gm65JxYW/sl290jul1+4fLuPp8QeE=
+github.com/patrickhuber/go-xplat v0.2.16/go.mod h1:ZveaAmQiWcZO0nWACUrbylAF+BbGwEXdVqM3ZoEOxA4=
+github.com/patrickhuber/go-xplat v0.3.0 h1:Q7lFw5HqkljVX4+V4QdyI9T4MfoDcx0ZVF+qhKP4fpM=
+github.com/patrickhuber/go-xplat v0.3.0/go.mod h1:ZveaAmQiWcZO0nWACUrbylAF+BbGwEXdVqM3ZoEOxA4=
 github.com/pmezard/go-difflib v1.0.0 h1:4DBwDE0NGyQoBHbLQYPwSUPoCMWR5BEzIk/f1lZbAQM=
 github.com/pmezard/go-difflib v1.0.0/go.mod h1:iKH77koFhYxTK1pcRnkKkqfTogsbg7gZNVY4sRDYZ/4=
 github.com/rogpeppe/go-internal v1.6.1 h1:/FiVV8dS/e+YqF2JvO3yXRFbBLTIuSDkuC7aBOAvL+k=

internal/cast/service.go

@@ -1,15 +1,19 @@
 package cast
 
 import (
-	"fmt"
-	"strings"
-
 	"github.com/patrickhuber/caster/internal/interpolate"
 	"github.com/patrickhuber/caster/internal/models"
 	"github.com/patrickhuber/go-xplat/filepath"
 	afs "github.com/patrickhuber/go-xplat/fs"
 )
 
+// Request is the request object for casting a template
+type Request struct {
+	Template  string
+	Target    string
+	Variables []models.Variable
+}
+
 // Service handles casting of a template
 type Service interface {
 	Cast(req *Request) error
@@ -50,10 +54,15 @@ func (s *service) Cast(req *Request) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	targetIsSpecified := len(strings.TrimSpace(req.Target)) != 0
+	// if no target directory specified, use the local directory
+	if len(req.Target) == 0 {
+		req.Target = "."
+	}
 
-	if !targetIsSpecified {
-		return fmt.Errorf("target must be specified")
+	// resolve relative paths
+	req.Target, err = s.path.Abs(req.Target)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
 	}
 
 	source := s.path.Dir(resp.SourceFile)