diff --git a/hbs2-cli/lib/Data/Config/Suckless/Script/Internal.hs b/hbs2-cli/lib/Data/Config/Suckless/Script/Internal.hs
index 59165f8f..2a682a79 100644
--- a/hbs2-cli/lib/Data/Config/Suckless/Script/Internal.hs
+++ b/hbs2-cli/lib/Data/Config/Suckless/Script/Internal.hs
@@ -537,11 +537,22 @@ bind name expr = do
   atomically do
     modifyTVar t (HM.insert name what)
 
+bindBuiltins ::  forall c m . ( IsContext c
+                              , MonadUnliftIO m
+                              , Exception (BadFormException c)
+                              )
+            => Dict c m
+            -> RunM c m ()
+
+bindBuiltins  dict = do
+  t <- ask
+  atomically do
+    modifyTVar t (<> dict)
 
 eval :: forall c m . ( IsContext c
-                        , MonadUnliftIO m
-                        , Exception (BadFormException c)
-                        ) => Syntax c -> RunM c m (Syntax c)
+                     , MonadUnliftIO m
+                     , Exception (BadFormException c)
+                     ) => Syntax c -> RunM c m (Syntax c)
 eval syn = handle (handleForm syn) $ do
 
     dict <- ask >>= readTVarIO
diff --git a/hbs2-sync/app/Main.hs b/hbs2-sync/app/Main.hs
index c4595829..33a20fff 100644
--- a/hbs2-sync/app/Main.hs
+++ b/hbs2-sync/app/Main.hs
@@ -56,6 +56,10 @@ main = do
 
   let dict = makeDict do
         helpEntries
+        syncEntries
+
+        entry $ bindMatch "debug:cli:show" $ nil_ \case
+          _ -> display cli
 
         entry $ bindMatch "init"  $ nil_ $ const do
           pure ()
diff --git a/hbs2-sync/src/HBS2/Sync/Prelude.hs b/hbs2-sync/src/HBS2/Sync/Prelude.hs
index 0241dfe5..7d95d099 100644
--- a/hbs2-sync/src/HBS2/Sync/Prelude.hs
+++ b/hbs2-sync/src/HBS2/Sync/Prelude.hs
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ module HBS2.Sync.Prelude
 
 
 import HBS2.Prelude.Plated as Exported
+import HBS2.Base58
 import HBS2.OrDie as Exported
 import HBS2.Data.Types.Refs as Exported
 import HBS2.Clock as Exported
@@ -19,16 +20,25 @@ import HBS2.Peer.RPC.API.Storage
 import HBS2.System.Logger.Simple.ANSI as Exported
 import HBS2.Misc.PrettyStuff as Exported
 
+import HBS2.CLI.Run hiding (PeerException(..))
+
 import Data.Config.Suckless as Exported
 import Data.Config.Suckless.Script as Exported
+import Data.Config.Suckless.Script.File
 
-import Prettyprinter as Exported
+import Codec.Serialise as Exported
+import Control.Concurrent.STM (flushTQueue)
 import Control.Monad.Reader as Exported
 import Control.Monad.Trans.Cont as Exported
-import Codec.Serialise as Exported
+import Data.Either
+import Data.HashMap.Strict qualified as HM
+import Data.HashSet qualified as HS
+import System.FilePath
 
 import UnliftIO
 
+{- HLINT ignore "Functor law" -}
+
 data SyncEnv =
   SyncEnv
   { rechanAPI  :: ServiceCaller RefChanAPI UNIX
@@ -53,7 +63,8 @@ withSyncApp env action = runReaderT (fromSyncApp action) env
 
 runSyncApp :: SyncAppPerks m => SyncApp m a -> m a
 runSyncApp m = do
-  withSyncApp Nothing m
+  setupLogger
+  withSyncApp Nothing m `finally` flushLoggers
 
 recover :: SyncApp IO a -> SyncApp IO a
 recover what = do
@@ -93,9 +104,113 @@ data PeerException =
 
 instance Exception PeerException
 
+data RunDirectoryException =
+  RefChanNotSetException
+  deriving stock (Show,Typeable)
 
-runDirectory :: SyncAppPerks m => FilePath -> m ()
+instance Exception RunDirectoryException
+
+runDirectory :: ( IsContext c
+                , SyncAppPerks m
+                , Exception (BadFormException c)
+                ) => FilePath -> RunM c m ()
 runDirectory path = do
+
+  t <- ask
+  d0 <- readTVarIO t
+
+  runDir
+    `catch` \case
+      RefChanNotSetException -> do
+        warn $ "no refchan set for" <+> pretty path
+    `finally` do
+      warn "exiting"
+      atomically (writeTVar t d0)
+
+  where
+
+    runDir = do
+
+      notice $ yellow "run directory" <+> pretty path
+
+      trc    <- newTVarIO Nothing
+      texcl  <- newTQueueIO
+      tincl  <- newTQueueIO
+
+      atomically $ writeTQueue tincl "**"
+
+      ins <- liftIO $ readFile (path </> ".hbs2-sync/config")
+               <&> parseTop
+               <&> either mempty (fmap fixContext)
+
+      bindBuiltins $ bindMatch "refchan" $ nil_ $ \case
+        [SignPubKeyLike puk] -> do
+          debug $ red "USE FUCKING REFCHAN!" <+> pretty (AsBase58 puk)
+          atomically $ writeTVar trc (Just puk)
+
+        _ -> pure ()
+
+      bindBuiltins $ bindMatch "exclude" $ nil_ $ \case
+        [StringLike excl] -> do
+          debug $ red "EXCLUDE!" <+> pretty excl
+          atomically $ writeTQueue texcl excl
+
+        _ -> pure ()
+
+      bindBuiltins $ bindMatch "include" $ nil_ $ \case
+        [StringLike s] -> do
+          debug $ red "INCLUDE!" <+> pretty s
+          atomically $ writeTQueue tincl s
+
+        _ -> pure ()
+
+      evalTop ins
+
+      i <- atomically (flushTQueue tincl) <&> HS.fromList <&> HS.toList
+      e <- atomically (flushTQueue texcl) <&> HS.fromList <&> HS.toList
+
+      rc <- readTVarIO trc
+             >>= orThrow RefChanNotSetException
+
+      debug $ "step 1"   <+> "load state from refchan"
+      debug $ "step 2"   <+> "create local state"
+      debug $ "step 3"   <+> "merge states"
+      debug $ "step 3.1" <+> "generate merge actions"
+      debug $ "step 3.2" <+> "apply actions"
+
+      glob i e path  $ \fn -> do
+        pure True
+
+      debug $ pretty ins
+
+syncEntries :: forall c m . (MonadUnliftIO m, IsContext c) => MakeDictM c m ()
+syncEntries = do
+
+  entry $ bindMatch "--debug" $ nil_ $ \case
+    [SymbolVal "off"] -> do
+      setLoggingOff @DEBUG
+
+    _ -> do
+      setLogging @DEBUG  debugPrefix
+
+debugPrefix = toStderr . logPrefix "[debug] "
+
+setupLogger :: MonadIO m => m ()
+setupLogger = do
+  -- setLogging @DEBUG  $ toStderr . logPrefix "[debug] "
+  setLogging @ERROR  $ toStderr . logPrefix "[error] "
+  setLogging @WARN   $ toStderr . logPrefix "[warn] "
+  setLogging @NOTICE $ toStdout . logPrefix ""
   pure ()
 
+flushLoggers :: MonadIO m => m ()
+flushLoggers = do
+  silence
+
+silence :: MonadIO m => m ()
+silence = do
+  setLoggingOff @DEBUG
+  setLoggingOff @ERROR
+  setLoggingOff @WARN
+  setLoggingOff @NOTICE