diff --git a/e2e/nx-run/src/affected-graph.test.ts b/e2e/nx-run/src/affected-graph.test.ts
index e8db5114051354..260af42c12239d 100644
--- a/e2e/nx-run/src/affected-graph.test.ts
+++ b/e2e/nx-run/src/affected-graph.test.ts
@@ -503,6 +503,13 @@ describe('Nx Affected and Graph Tests', () => {
       expect(environmentJs).toContain('"affected":[]');
     });
 
+    it('graph should output valid json when stdout is specified', () => {
+      const result = runCLI(`graph --out stdout`);
+      let model;
+      expect(() => (model = JSON.parse(result))).not.toThrow();
+      expect(model).toHaveProperty('nodes');
+    });
+
     it('affected:graph should include affected projects in environment file', () => {
       runCLI(`affected:graph --file=project-graph.html`);
 
diff --git a/packages/nx/src/command-line/affected/affected.ts b/packages/nx/src/command-line/affected/affected.ts
index 4d949b5793d512..b4b0fbb2035d04 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/command-line/affected/affected.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/command-line/affected/affected.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,10 @@ import { output } from '../../utils/output';
 import { generateGraph } from '../graph/graph';
 import { printAffected } from './print-affected';
 import { connectToNxCloudIfExplicitlyAsked } from '../connect/connect-to-nx-cloud';
-import type { NxArgs } from '../../utils/command-line-utils';
+import {
+  NxArgs,
+  readGraphFileFromGraphArg,
+} from '../../utils/command-line-utils';
 import {
   parseFiles,
   splitArgsIntoNxArgsAndOverrides,
@@ -83,11 +86,8 @@ export async function affected(
         const projectsWithTarget = allProjectsWithTarget(projects, nxArgs);
         if (nxArgs.graph) {
           const projectNames = projectsWithTarget.map((t) => t.name);
-          const file =
-            typeof nxArgs.graph === 'string' &&
-            (nxArgs.graph.endsWith('.json') || nxArgs.graph.endsWith('html'))
-              ? nxArgs.graph
-              : undefined;
+          const file = readGraphFileFromGraphArg(nxArgs);
+
           return await generateGraph(
             {
               watch: false,
diff --git a/packages/nx/src/command-line/graph/graph.ts b/packages/nx/src/command-line/graph/graph.ts
index 4942f53f06f3d9..d8744626dae50f 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/command-line/graph/graph.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/command-line/graph/graph.ts
@@ -246,6 +246,12 @@ export async function generateGraph(
   graph = filterGraph(graph, args.focus || null, args.exclude || []);
 
   if (args.file) {
+    // stdout is a magical constant that doesn't actually write a file
+    if (args.file === 'stdout') {
+      console.log(JSON.stringify(graph, null, 2));
+      process.exit(0);
+    }
+
     const workspaceFolder = workspaceRoot;
     const ext = extname(args.file);
     const fullFilePath = isAbsolute(args.file)
diff --git a/packages/nx/src/command-line/run-many/run-many.ts b/packages/nx/src/command-line/run-many/run-many.ts
index 55e06f1c8aa407..968c2430434752 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/command-line/run-many/run-many.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/command-line/run-many/run-many.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 import { runCommand } from '../../tasks-runner/run-command';
-import type { NxArgs } from '../../utils/command-line-utils';
+import {
+  NxArgs,
+  readGraphFileFromGraphArg,
+} from '../../utils/command-line-utils';
 import { splitArgsIntoNxArgsAndOverrides } from '../../utils/command-line-utils';
 import { projectHasTarget } from '../../utils/project-graph-utils';
 import { connectToNxCloudIfExplicitlyAsked } from '../connect/connect-to-nx-cloud';
@@ -46,11 +49,7 @@ export async function runMany(
   const projects = projectsToRun(nxArgs, projectGraph);
 
   if (nxArgs.graph) {
-    const file =
-      typeof nxArgs.graph === 'string' &&
-      (nxArgs.graph.endsWith('.json') || nxArgs.graph.endsWith('html'))
-        ? nxArgs.graph
-        : undefined;
+    const file = readGraphFileFromGraphArg(nxArgs);
     const projectNames = projects.map((t) => t.name);
     return await generateGraph(
       {
diff --git a/packages/nx/src/command-line/run/run-one.ts b/packages/nx/src/command-line/run/run-one.ts
index cf13b8b233569b..6b4a6c6eb3fbb4 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/command-line/run/run-one.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/command-line/run/run-one.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 import { runCommand } from '../../tasks-runner/run-command';
-import { splitArgsIntoNxArgsAndOverrides } from '../../utils/command-line-utils';
+import {
+  readGraphFileFromGraphArg,
+  splitArgsIntoNxArgsAndOverrides,
+} from '../../utils/command-line-utils';
 import { connectToNxCloudIfExplicitlyAsked } from '../connect/connect-to-nx-cloud';
 import { performance } from 'perf_hooks';
 import {
@@ -66,11 +69,7 @@ export async function runOne(
 
   if (nxArgs.graph) {
     const projectNames = projects.map((t) => t.name);
-    const file =
-      typeof nxArgs.graph === 'string' &&
-      (nxArgs.graph.endsWith('.json') || nxArgs.graph.endsWith('html'))
-        ? nxArgs.graph
-        : undefined;
+    const file = readGraphFileFromGraphArg(nxArgs);
 
     return await generateGraph(
       {
diff --git a/packages/nx/src/command-line/yargs-utils/shared-options.ts b/packages/nx/src/command-line/yargs-utils/shared-options.ts
index 45a4046ed387a9..8256b658e992cb 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/command-line/yargs-utils/shared-options.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/command-line/yargs-utils/shared-options.ts
@@ -33,6 +33,12 @@ export function withRunOptions(yargs: Argv): Argv {
       describe:
         'Show the task graph of the command. Pass a file path to save the graph data instead of viewing it in the browser.',
       default: false,
+      coerce: (value) =>
+        value === 'true' || value === true
+          ? true
+          : value === 'false' || value === false
+          ? false
+          : value,
     })
     .option('verbose', {
       type: 'boolean',
diff --git a/packages/nx/src/utils/command-line-utils.ts b/packages/nx/src/utils/command-line-utils.ts
index 878ceb62539de7..f45c9f72648c9d 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/utils/command-line-utils.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/utils/command-line-utils.ts
@@ -81,15 +81,6 @@ export function splitArgsIntoNxArgsAndOverrides(
   delete (nxArgs as any).$0;
   delete (nxArgs as any).__overrides_unparsed__;
 
-  if (!(nxArgs.graph === null || nxArgs.graph === undefined)) {
-    nxArgs.graph =
-      nxArgs.graph === 'true' || nxArgs.graph === true
-        ? true
-        : nxArgs.graph === 'false' || nxArgs.graph === false
-        ? false
-        : nxArgs.graph;
-  }
-
   if (mode === 'run-many') {
     const args = nxArgs as any;
     if (!args.projects) {
@@ -297,8 +288,6 @@ function getUncommittedFiles(): string[] {
   return parseGitOutput(`git diff --name-only --no-renames --relative HEAD .`);
 }
 
-``;
-
 function getUntrackedFiles(): string[] {
   return parseGitOutput(`git ls-files --others --exclude-standard`);
 }
@@ -347,3 +336,9 @@ export function getProjectRoots(
 ): string[] {
   return projectNames.map((name) => nodes[name].data.root);
 }
+
+export function readGraphFileFromGraphArg({ graph }: NxArgs) {
+  return typeof graph === 'string' && graph !== 'true' && graph !== ''
+    ? graph
+    : undefined;
+}