diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 82f0815..e2e287e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
 /src/tui
 /dist
 /bin
+# atlas
+src/nim.cfg 
diff --git a/src/project.nim b/src/project.nim
index 379d2f4..90ef0c8 100644
--- a/src/project.nim
+++ b/src/project.nim
@@ -1,10 +1,6 @@
-import std/[algorithm, os, osproc, strutils, tables, times]
-
-
-proc listTmuxSessions*(): seq[string] =
-  let (output, _) = execCmdEx("tmux list-sessions -F '#S'")
-  return output.splitLines()
+import std/[algorithm, os, strutils, tables, times]
 
+import utils
 
 type
   Project* = object
@@ -20,14 +16,12 @@ proc newProject(path: string, sessions: seq[string]): Project =
 
 proc name*(p: Project): string = splitPath(p.location)[1].replace(".", "_")
 
-
 proc findProjects*(open: bool = false): tuple[header: string,
     projects: OrderedTable[string, Project]] =
   ## get a table of possible project paths
 
   let
     tsmDirs = getEnv("TSM_DIRS")
-    sessions = listTmuxSessions()
 
   if tsmDirs == "":
     echo "Please set $TSM_DIRS to a colon-delimited list of paths"
@@ -36,7 +30,7 @@ proc findProjects*(open: bool = false): tuple[header: string,
   var projects: seq[Project]
   for devDir in tsmDirs.split(":"):
     for d in walkDir(devDir):
-      let p = newProject(d.path, sessions)
+      let p = newProject(d.path, tmux.sessions)
       if open and p.open: projects.add p
       else:
         projects.add p
@@ -59,4 +53,3 @@ proc findProjects*(open: bool = false): tuple[header: string,
   if len(result.projects) != len(projects):
     echo "there may be nonunique entries in the project names"
 
-
diff --git a/src/tsm.nim b/src/tsm.nim
index df2d5c1..999ef29 100644
--- a/src/tsm.nim
+++ b/src/tsm.nim
@@ -1,36 +1,20 @@
-import std/[os, osproc, strformat, tables]
+import std/[tables]
 
-import tui, project
-
-proc checkExe(names: varargs[string]) =
-  for name in names:
-    if findExe(name) == "":
-      echo "tsm requires " & name
-
-template tmux(cmd: string) =
-  discard execCmd("tmux " & cmd)
+import tui, project, utils
 
 proc tsm() =
-  checkExe "tmux"
-
   let
     project = selectProject()
     selected = project.name
 
-  if existsEnv("TMUX"):
-    if selected notin listTmuxSessions():
-      tmux &"new-session -d -s {selected} -c {project.location}"
-    else:
-      tmux &"switch-client -t {selected}"
+  if selected notin tmux.sessions:
+    tmux.new project.name, project.location
   else:
-    if selected notin listTmuxSessions():
-      tmux &"new-session -s {selected} -c {project.location}"
-    else:
-      tmux &"attach -t {selected}"
+    tmux.attach project.name
 
 when isMainModule:
   import cligen
-  const vsn = staticExec "git describe --tags --always HEAD"
+  const vsn = staticExec "git describe --tags --always HEAD --match 'v*'"
   clCfg.version = vsn
 
   if clCfg.helpAttr.len == 0:
diff --git a/src/tui.nim b/src/tui.nim
index ad5044e..5c2f781 100644
--- a/src/tui.nim
+++ b/src/tui.nim
@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@ proc exitProc() {.noconv.} =
   illwillDeinit()
   showCursor()
 
-template withfgColor(ForegroundColor, body: untyped) =
+template withfgColor(fgColor, body: untyped) =
   var tb = state.buffer
-  tb.setForegroundColor(ForegroundColor, bright = true)
+  tb.setForegroundColor(fgColor, bright = true)
   body
   tb.setForegroundColor(fgWhite, bright = true)
 
@@ -100,8 +100,9 @@ proc getProject(): Project =
 
 proc clip(s: string): string =
   let maxWidth = state.window.width - 2
-  result = if s.len > maxWidth:
-    s[0..^state.window.width]
+  result =
+    if s.len > maxWidth:
+      s[0..^state.window.width]
     else: s
 
 proc displayProject(tb: var TerminalBuffer, x, y: int, project: Project) =
@@ -155,7 +156,6 @@ when defined(debug):
     for i, line in lines:
       tb.write(x, y+i, line)
 
-
 proc draw() =
   var
     tb = state.buffer
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ proc draw() =
   tb.setForegroundColor(fgWhite, bright = true)
 
   let
-    (x1, x2, y1, _) = state.window.coord.values()
+    (x1, x2, y1, y2) = state.window.coord.values()
     maxWidth = x2 - x1 - 4
 
   when defined(debug):
diff --git a/src/utils.nim b/src/utils.nim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dd77448
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utils.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+import std/[os, osproc, strformat, strutils]
+
+type
+  Tmux = object
+    active: bool
+    sessions*: seq[string]
+
+proc checkExe(names: varargs[string]) =
+  for name in names:
+    if findExe(name) == "":
+      echo "tsm requires " & name
+
+checkExe "tmux"
+
+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
+
+template cmd(tmux: Tmux, args: string) =
+  discard execCmd("tmux " & args)
+
+proc newTmux(): Tmux =
+  result.active = existsEnv("TMUX")
+  result.sessions = (
+    result.cmdGet "list-sessions -F '#S'"
+  ).strip().split("\n")
+
+proc attach*(t: Tmux, session: string) =
+  let args =
+    if t.active:"switch-client -t"
+    else: "attach -t"
+  t.cmd fmt"{args} {session}"
+
+proc new*(t: Tmux, session: string, loc: string) =
+  let args =
+    if t.active: "new-session -d"
+    else: "new-session"
+  t.cmd fmt"{args} -s {session} -c {loc}"
+
+let tmux* = newTmux()