When you put a heredoc directly in a method call as an argument, it is only the opening identifier that goes in the argument list.
That looks like this:
execute_in_transaction(<<~SQL)
update reading_statuses
set status = 'abandoned'
where started_at < (now() - '2 years'::interval)
and finished_at is null;
SQL
You might imagine then that we can put multiple heredocs in a method call. That leads to stacked heredocs.
execute_in_transaction(<<~SQL1, <<~SQL2, <<~SQL3)
update reading_statuses
set status = 'abandoned'
where started_at < (now() - '2 years'::interval)
and finished_at is null;
SQL1
insert into activity_log (name, description)
values ('abandon_books', 'Mark unread books as abandoned');
SQL2
delete from background_jobs
where id = #{job_id}; -- better to sanitize values like this
SQL3
Notice we terminate the body of each heredoc with its closing identifier and immediately begin the body of the next one.