diff --git a/src/runner.zig b/src/runner.zig
index 6b9f478..234e59e 100644
--- a/src/runner.zig
+++ b/src/runner.zig
@@ -49,20 +49,22 @@ pub const Runner = struct {
             // parse the index from 1 to end
             var index = try std.fmt.parseInt(usize, load_path[1..], 10);
 
-            // don't care about the 'repl' being prepended when we're in repl
-            if (self.repl) index += 1;
+            // if it isn't in the repl, args look like this:
+            // 'scritcher ./script ./image'
+            // if it is, it looks like this
+            // 'scritcher repl ./script ./image'
 
-            var args_it = std.process.args();
-            _ = args_it.skip();
+            // ':0' should ALWAYS point to the image.
+            if (self.repl) index += 3 else index += 2;
 
-            var i: usize = 0;
-            while (i <= index) : (i += 1) {
-                _ = args_it.skip();
+            var args = try std.process.argsAlloc(self.allocator);
+            defer std.process.argsFree(self.allocator, args);
+            std.debug.warn("ARGS!! {} \n", .{args.len});
+            for (args) |arg, idx| {
+                std.debug.warn("arg{} = {}\n", .{ idx, arg });
             }
-
-            const arg = try (args_it.next(self.allocator) orelse @panic("expected argument"));
-
-            return arg;
+            std.debug.warn("fetch arg idx={}, val={}\n", .{ index, args[index] });
+            return args[index];
         } else {
             return load_path;
         }
@@ -90,7 +92,7 @@ pub const Runner = struct {
         // krita/gimp and make it export a bmp and while in the program you can
         // apply filters, etc.
         if (!std.mem.endsWith(u8, load_path, ".bmp") and !std.mem.endsWith(u8, load_path, ".ppm")) {
-            std.debug.warn("Only BMP files are allowed to be loaded.\n", .{});
+            std.debug.warn("Only BMP files are allowed to be loaded. Got path '{}'\n", .{load_path});
             return RunError.NoBMP;
         }