diff --git a/src/project.nim b/src/project.nim
index a2933f8..1c7a475 100644
--- a/src/project.nim
+++ b/src/project.nim
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
-import std/[algorithm, os, sequtils, sets, strutils, tables, times]
-
-import bbansi
-import utils
+import std/[algorithm, os, sequtils, sets, strutils, sugar, tables, times]
+import tmuxutils, term
 
 type
   Project* = object
@@ -13,22 +11,45 @@ type
 
 proc pathToName(path: string): string = splitPath(path)[1].replace(".", "_")
 
-proc newProject(path: string, open: bool): Project =
+proc newProject(path: string, open: bool, name = ""): Project =
   result.location = path
-  result.name = path.pathToName()
+  result.name =
+    if name != "": name
+   else: path.pathToName()
   result.updated = getLastModificationTime(path)
   result.open = open
 
 proc newUnknownProject(name: string): Project =
   result.name = name
+  result.open = true
 
 proc getTsmDirs(): seq[string] =
   let tsmDirs = getEnv("TSM_DIRS")
   if tsmDirs == "":
-    bbEcho "[red]Please set [cyan]$TSM_DIRS[/] to a colon-delimited list of paths"
-    quit QuitFailure
+    termQuit "Please set [yellow]$TSM_DIRS[/] to a colon-delimited list of paths"
   result = tsmDirs.split(":")
 
+proc findDuplicateProjects(paths: seq[string],
+    sessions: var HashSet[string]): seq[Project] =
+  var candidates: Table[string, seq[string]]
+  for p in paths:
+    candidates[p] = p.split(DirSep)
+
+  let maxExtra = min(candidates.values.toSeq.mapIt(it.len))
+  for i in 2..maxExtra:
+    let deduplicated = collect:
+      for path, pathSplit in candidates.pairs:
+        (name: pathSplit[^i..^1].joinPath, path: path)
+    if deduplicated.mapIt(it[0]).toHashSet.len == candidates.len:
+      for (name, path) in deduplicated:
+        let open = name in sessions
+        result.add newProject(path, open, name)
+        if open: sessions.excl name
+      break
+
+  if result.len == 0:
+    termQuit "failed to deduplicate these paths:" & paths.join(", ")
+
 proc findProjects*(open: bool = false): seq[Project] =
   var candidates: Table[string, seq[string]]
   var sessions = tmux.sessions.toHashSet()
@@ -36,20 +57,19 @@ proc findProjects*(open: bool = false): seq[Project] =
   for devDir in getTsmDirs():
     for path in walkDir(devDir):
       if ({path.kind} * {pcFile, pcLinkToFile}).len > 0: continue
-      let name = path.path.tailDir()
-      if name in candidates:
+      let name = path.path.splitPath.tail
+      if candidates.hasKeyOrPut(name, @[path.path]):
         candidates[name].add path.path
-      else:
-        candidates[name] = @[path.path]
 
-  # TODO: improve this to handle duplicate entries by appending parent?
-  for name, paths in candidates:
+  for name, paths in candidates.pairs:
     if len(paths) == 1:
-      let path = paths[0]
-      let open = path.pathToName in sessions
+      let
+        path = paths[0]
+        open = path.pathToName in sessions
       result.add newProject(path, open)
-      if open:
-        sessions.excl toHashSet([path.pathToName])
+      if open: sessions.excl path.pathToName
+    else:
+      result &= findDuplicateProjects(paths, sessions)
 
   if open:
     result = result.filterIt(it.open)
@@ -64,7 +84,8 @@ proc findProjects*(open: bool = false): seq[Project] =
     result = sessions.toSeq().mapIt(newUnknownProject(it)) & result
 
   if len(result) == 0:
-    echo "nothing to select"
-    quit 1
-
+    termError "nothing to select, check your [yellow]$TSM_DIRS"
+    termEcho "searched these directories: "
+    echo getTsmDirs().mapIt("  " & it).join("\n")
+    quit QuitFailure
 
diff --git a/src/term.nim b/src/term.nim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6fb7788
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/term.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+import std/strutils
+import bbansi
+
+const
+  sep = " [magenta]|[/] "
+  prefix = "[cyan]tsm[/]" & sep
+  errPrefix = prefix & "[red]error[/]" & sep
+
+proc termEcho*(x: varargs[string, `$`]) =
+  bbEcho prefix, x.join(" ")
+
+proc termError*(x: varargs[string, `$`]) =
+  bbEcho errPrefix, x.join(" ")
+
+proc termQuit*(x: varargs[string, `$`]) =
+  termError x
+  quit QuitFailure
diff --git a/src/utils.nim b/src/tmuxutils.nim
similarity index 69%
rename from src/utils.nim
rename to src/tmuxutils.nim
index 665429b..62bd807 100644
--- a/src/utils.nim
+++ b/src/tmuxutils.nim
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 import std/[os, osproc, strformat, strutils]
 
+import term
+
 type
   Tmux = object
     active: bool
@@ -8,24 +10,31 @@ type
 proc checkExe(names: varargs[string]) =
   for name in names:
     if findExe(name) == "":
-      echo "tsm requires " & name
+      termError "tsm requires " & name
 
 checkExe "tmux"
 
+proc tmuxError(args: string, output: string = "") =
+  termError "failed to run: [bold]tmux", args
+  if output != "":
+    termError "see below for error"
+    echo output
+  quit QuitFailure
+
+
 proc cmdGet(tmux: Tmux, args: string): string =
   let (output, code) = execCmdEx("tmux " & args)
-  if code != 0:
-    echo "ERROR: failed to run: tmux ", args, "see below for error"
-    echo output
-    quit QuitFailure
-  return output
+  if code == 0: return output
+  tmuxError args, output
 
 template cmd(tmux: Tmux, args: string) =
-  discard execCmd("tmux " & args)
+  let code = execCmd "tmux " & args
+  if code != 0: tmuxError(args)
+  # discard tmux.cmdGet args
 
 proc newTmux(): Tmux =
   result.active = existsEnv("TMUX")
-  # check if server is active?
+  # check if server is active
   if execCmdEx("tmux run").exitCode == 0:
     result.sessions = (
       result.cmdGet "list-sessions -F '#S'"
@@ -44,5 +53,4 @@ proc new*(t: Tmux, session: string, loc: string) =
   else:
     t.cmd fmt"new-session -s {session} -c {loc}"
 
-
 let tmux* = newTmux()
diff --git a/src/tsm.nim b/src/tsm.nim
index 8a8f58e..abc6d35 100644
--- a/src/tsm.nim
+++ b/src/tsm.nim
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import std/[tables]
 
-import selector, project, utils
+import selector, project, tmuxutils
 
 proc tsm(open: bool = false) =
   let