diff --git a/packages/ember-template-compiler/index.ts b/packages/ember-template-compiler/index.ts
index 3cdea8978d9..74e49f20ce9 100644
--- a/packages/ember-template-compiler/index.ts
+++ b/packages/ember-template-compiler/index.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { context, ENV } from '@ember/-internals/environment';
 import { FEATURES } from '@ember/canary-features';
+import * as _GlimmerSyntax from '@glimmer/syntax';
 import VERSION from 'ember/version';
 
 export const _Ember =
@@ -24,12 +25,19 @@ export { default as precompile } from './lib/system/precompile';
 export { default as compile } from './lib/system/compile';
 export {
   default as compileOptions,
+  buildCompileOptions as _buildCompileOptions,
+  transformsFor as _transformsFor,
   registerPlugin,
   unregisterPlugin,
 } from './lib/system/compile-options';
 export { RESOLUTION_MODE_TRANSFORMS, STRICT_MODE_TRANSFORMS } from './lib/plugins/index';
 export { EmberPrecompileOptions } from './lib/types';
 
+export { preprocess as _preprocess, print as _print } from '@glimmer/syntax';
+export { precompile as _precompile } from '@glimmer/compiler';
+
+export { _GlimmerSyntax, VERSION };
+
 // used to bootstrap templates
 import './lib/system/bootstrap';
 
diff --git a/packages/ember-template-compiler/lib/system/compile-options.ts b/packages/ember-template-compiler/lib/system/compile-options.ts
index 36059842997..fa43784ccf2 100644
--- a/packages/ember-template-compiler/lib/system/compile-options.ts
+++ b/packages/ember-template-compiler/lib/system/compile-options.ts
@@ -13,9 +13,9 @@ function malformedComponentLookup(string: string) {
   return string.indexOf('::') === -1 && string.indexOf(':') > -1;
 }
 
-export default function compileOptions(
-  _options: Partial<EmberPrecompileOptions> = {}
-): PrecompileOptions {
+export function buildCompileOptions(
+  _options: Partial<EmberPrecompileOptions>
+): EmberPrecompileOptions {
   let options: EmberPrecompileOptions = assign(
     { meta: {}, isProduction: false, plugins: { ast: [] } },
     _options,
@@ -42,7 +42,20 @@ export default function compileOptions(
     meta.moduleName = options.moduleName;
   }
 
-  let builtInPlugins = options.strictMode ? STRICT_MODE_TRANSFORMS : RESOLUTION_MODE_TRANSFORMS;
+  return options;
+}
+
+export function transformsFor(options: EmberPrecompileOptions): readonly PluginFunc[] {
+  return EMBER_STRICT_MODE && options.strictMode
+    ? STRICT_MODE_TRANSFORMS
+    : RESOLUTION_MODE_TRANSFORMS;
+}
+
+export default function compileOptions(
+  _options: Partial<EmberPrecompileOptions> = {}
+): PrecompileOptions {
+  let options = buildCompileOptions(_options);
+  let builtInPlugins = transformsFor(options);
 
   if (!_options.plugins) {
     options.plugins = { ast: [...USER_PLUGINS, ...builtInPlugins] };
diff --git a/packages/ember-template-compiler/tests/basic-usage-test.js b/packages/ember-template-compiler/tests/basic-usage-test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4626b599048
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/ember-template-compiler/tests/basic-usage-test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+import {
+  _buildCompileOptions,
+  _preprocess,
+  _print,
+  registerPlugin,
+  unregisterPlugin,
+} from '../index';
+import { moduleFor, RenderingTestCase } from 'internal-test-helpers';
+
+function reverseElementNodeTag() {
+  return {
+    name: 'reverse-element-node-tag',
+    visitor: {
+      ElementNode(node) {
+        node.tag = node.tag.split('').reverse().join('');
+      },
+    },
+  };
+}
+
+function removeDataTest() {
+  return {
+    name: 'remove-data-test',
+
+    visitor: {
+      ElementNode(node) {
+        for (let i = 0; i < node.attributes.length; i++) {
+          let attribute = node.attributes[i];
+
+          if (attribute.name === 'data-test') {
+            node.attributes.splice(i, 1);
+          }
+        }
+      },
+    },
+  };
+}
+
+moduleFor(
+  'ember-template-compiler: Embroider-like compilation',
+  class extends RenderingTestCase {
+    afterEach() {
+      expectDeprecation(() => {
+        unregisterPlugin('ast', removeDataTest);
+      }, /unregisterPlugin is deprecated, please pass plugins directly via `compile` and\/or `precompile`/);
+      return super.afterEach();
+    }
+
+    '@test can process a subset of AST plugins and print'(assert) {
+      let template = '<div data-test="foo" data-blah="derp" class="hahaha">&nbsp;</div>';
+
+      // build up options including strictMode default values, customizeComponentName, meta.moduleName, etc
+      let options = _buildCompileOptions({
+        mode: 'codemod',
+        moduleName: 'components/foo',
+        plugins: { ast: [removeDataTest] },
+      });
+
+      let transformedTemplateAST = _preprocess(template, options);
+
+      // print back to a handlebars string
+      let result = _print(transformedTemplateAST, { entityEncoding: 'raw' });
+
+      assert.equal(result, '<div data-blah="derp" class="hahaha">&nbsp;</div>');
+    }
+
+    '@test registerPlugin based transforms can be avoided'(assert) {
+      expectDeprecation(() => {
+        registerPlugin('ast', removeDataTest);
+      }, /registerPlugin is deprecated, please pass plugins directly via `compile` and\/or `precompile`/);
+
+      let template = '<div data-test="foo" data-blah="derp" class="hahaha">&nbsp;</div>';
+
+      // build up options including strictMode default values, customizeComponentName, meta.moduleName, etc
+      let options = _buildCompileOptions({
+        mode: 'codemod',
+        moduleName: 'components/foo',
+        plugins: {
+          ast: [reverseElementNodeTag],
+        },
+      });
+
+      let transformedTemplateAST = _preprocess(template, options);
+
+      // print back to a handlebars string
+      let result = _print(transformedTemplateAST, { entityEncoding: 'raw' });
+
+      // only reverseElementNodeTag has ran, **not** removeDataTest
+      assert.equal(result, '<vid data-test="foo" data-blah="derp" class="hahaha">&nbsp;</vid>');
+    }
+  }
+);