diff --git a/.vscode/settings.json b/.vscode/settings.json
index e5a0d06..8c2f53f 100644
--- a/.vscode/settings.json
+++ b/.vscode/settings.json
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
     "bodyclose",
     "cubiest",
     "deadcode",
+    "deepcopy",
     "depguard",
     "dogsled",
     "dupl",
@@ -29,7 +30,9 @@
     "linters",
     "lintv",
     "Magick",
+    "mohae",
     "nakedret",
+    "nolint",
     "nolintlint",
     "Pixa",
     "prealloc",
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 9c28f63..a4baf3f 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2 v2.11.0
 	github.com/onsi/gomega v1.27.10
 	github.com/samber/lo v1.38.1
-	github.com/snivilised/extendio v0.1.16
+	github.com/snivilised/extendio v0.1.20
 	github.com/spf13/cobra v1.7.0
 	github.com/spf13/viper v1.16.0
 	go.uber.org/zap v1.25.0
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/go-task/slim-sprig v0.0.0-20230315185526-52ccab3ef572 // indirect
 	github.com/google/go-cmp v0.5.9 // indirect
 	github.com/google/pprof v0.0.0-20230406165453-00490a63f317 // indirect
+	github.com/mohae/deepcopy v0.0.0-20170929034955-c48cc78d4826 // indirect
 	github.com/onsi/ginkgo v1.16.5 // indirect
 	github.com/pkg/errors v0.9.1 // indirect
 	go.uber.org/multierr v1.11.0 // indirect
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 22405c8..77b97af 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -157,6 +157,7 @@ github.com/magiconair/properties v1.8.7/go.mod h1:Dhd985XPs7jluiymwWYZ0G4Z61jb3v
 github.com/mitchellh/mapstructure v1.5.0 h1:jeMsZIYE/09sWLaz43PL7Gy6RuMjD2eJVyuac5Z2hdY=
 github.com/mitchellh/mapstructure v1.5.0/go.mod h1:bFUtVrKA4DC2yAKiSyO/QUcy7e+RRV2QTWOzhPopBRo=
 github.com/mohae/deepcopy v0.0.0-20170929034955-c48cc78d4826 h1:RWengNIwukTxcDr9M+97sNutRR1RKhG96O6jWumTTnw=
+github.com/mohae/deepcopy v0.0.0-20170929034955-c48cc78d4826/go.mod h1:TaXosZuwdSHYgviHp1DAtfrULt5eUgsSMsZf+YrPgl8=
 github.com/natefinch/lumberjack v2.0.0+incompatible h1:4QJd3OLAMgj7ph+yZTuX13Ld4UpgHp07nNdFX7mqFfM=
 github.com/natefinch/lumberjack v2.0.0+incompatible/go.mod h1:Wi9p2TTF5DG5oU+6YfsmYQpsTIOm0B1VNzQg9Mw6nPk=
 github.com/nicksnyder/go-i18n/v2 v2.2.1 h1:aOzRCdwsJuoExfZhoiXHy4bjruwCMdt5otbYojM/PaA=
@@ -191,6 +192,8 @@ github.com/snivilised/cobrass v0.3.0 h1:ByvHGg59ctNl+OD+qCINC6vl0QtUNtZjR1ChX3V9
 github.com/snivilised/cobrass v0.3.0/go.mod h1:5pf0tiAz1mWb7h+QDm/CJtukO3HXPQoKjQKhUnyX980=
 github.com/snivilised/extendio v0.1.16 h1:pMu1ZFKDZwRl/DB2QHL9jH02JaZMm0ax+ZZ3AZxLUUU=
 github.com/snivilised/extendio v0.1.16/go.mod h1:SO4udqtdfNl/KTLG9GF8kHxoMiIhnvN/9xlqkCCC6VY=
+github.com/snivilised/extendio v0.1.20 h1:pEnWUHFBVf62EaDWyG2dYsJdwiyWCs/GN8pQBlBd4G4=
+github.com/snivilised/extendio v0.1.20/go.mod h1:60Q6KRprh4qD7+aDXdlnKkXSgcmwsEV91OPO7j2CaEI=
 github.com/spf13/afero v1.9.5 h1:stMpOSZFs//0Lv29HduCmli3GUfpFoF3Y1Q/aXj/wVM=
 github.com/spf13/afero v1.9.5/go.mod h1:UBogFpq8E9Hx+xc5CNTTEpTnuHVmXDwZcZcE1eb/UhQ=
 github.com/spf13/cast v1.5.1 h1:R+kOtfhWQE6TVQzY+4D7wJLBgkdVasCEFxSUBYBYIlA=
diff --git a/src/app/command/shrink-cmd.go b/src/app/command/shrink-cmd.go
index a872f57..a4a14de 100644
--- a/src/app/command/shrink-cmd.go
+++ b/src/app/command/shrink-cmd.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package command
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/snivilised/cobrass/src/assistant"
@@ -95,15 +96,18 @@ func buildShrinkCommand(container *assistant.CobraContainer) *cobra.Command {
 						fmt.Printf("💠 Blur defined with value: '%v'\n", cmd.Flag("sampling-factor").Value)
 					}
 
+					ps.Native.Directory = args[0]
+					if absolute, absErr := filepath.Abs(args[0]); absErr == nil {
+						ps.Native.Directory = absolute
+					}
+
 					// Get inherited parameters
 					//
 					rps := container.MustGetParamSet(RootPsName).(magick.RootParameterSetPtr) //nolint:errcheck // is Must call
-					_ = rps
 
 					// ---> execute application core with the parameter set (native)
 					//
-					// appErr = runApplication(native)
-					//
+					appErr = magick.EnterShrink(rps, ps)
 				} else {
 					return xvErr
 				}
@@ -241,8 +245,38 @@ func buildShrinkCommand(container *assistant.CobraContainer) *cobra.Command {
 		},
 	)
 
+	// 📌A note about cobra args validation: cmd.ValidArgs lets you define
+	// a list of all allowable tokens for positional args. Just define
+	// ValidArgs, eg:
+	// shrinkCommand.ValidArgs = []string{"foo", "bar", "baz"}
+	// and then set the args validation function cmd.Args to cobra.OnlyValidArgs
+	// ie:
+	// shrinkCommand.Args = cobra.OnlyValidArgs
+	// With this in place, the user can only type positional args which are in
+	// the set defined, ie {"foo", "bar", "baz"}.
+	//
+	// Since the shrink command only needs a single 'directory' positional arg,
+	// all we need is to set the exact no of args to 1. We don;t need to define
+	// ValidArgs since there is no closed set directories we can define. ValidArgs
+	// is suitable when all positional args can behave like an enum, where there
+	// is a finite set of valid values.
+	//
 	container.MustRegisterRootedCommand(shrinkCommand)
 	container.MustRegisterParamSet(shrinkPsName, paramSet)
 
+	shrinkCommand.Args = func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
+		if err := cobra.ExactArgs(1)(cmd, args); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		directory := args[0]
+
+		if !utils.Exists(directory) {
+			return xi18n.NewPathNotFoundError("shrink directory", directory)
+		}
+
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	return shrinkCommand
 }
diff --git a/src/app/command/shrink-cmd_test.go b/src/app/command/shrink-cmd_test.go
index 4f5df88..b489632 100644
--- a/src/app/command/shrink-cmd_test.go
+++ b/src/app/command/shrink-cmd_test.go
@@ -22,9 +22,10 @@ type commandTE struct {
 
 type shrinkTE struct {
 	commandTE
+	directory string
 }
 
-func coreShrinkCmdTest(entry *shrinkTE) {
+func expectValidShrinkCmdInvocation(entry *shrinkTE) {
 	bootstrap := command.Bootstrap{
 		Detector: &DetectorStub{},
 	}
@@ -33,7 +34,9 @@ func coreShrinkCmdTest(entry *shrinkTE) {
 		prog = "shrink"
 	)
 
-	options := append([]string{prog}, []string{
+	// we also prepend the directory name to the command line
+	//
+	options := append([]string{prog, entry.directory}, []string{
 		"--preview", "--mode", "tidy",
 	}...)
 
@@ -85,7 +88,11 @@ var _ = Describe("ShrinkCmd", Ordered, func() {
 
 	DescribeTable("ShrinkCmd",
 		func(entry *shrinkTE) {
-			coreShrinkCmdTest(entry)
+			// set directory here, because during discovery phase of unit test ,
+			// l10nPath is not set, so we can't set it inside the Entry
+			//
+			entry.directory = l10nPath
+			expectValidShrinkCmdInvocation(entry)
 		},
 		func(entry *shrinkTE) string {
 			return fmt.Sprintf("🧪 ===> given: '%v'", entry.message)
@@ -95,7 +102,7 @@ var _ = Describe("ShrinkCmd", Ordered, func() {
 			commandTE: commandTE{
 				message: "vanilla with long form options",
 				args: []string{
-					"source.jpg", "--strip", "--interlace", "plane", "--quality", "85", "result.jpg",
+					"--strip", "--interlace", "plane", "--quality", "85",
 				},
 			},
 		}),
@@ -104,7 +111,7 @@ var _ = Describe("ShrinkCmd", Ordered, func() {
 			commandTE: commandTE{
 				message: "vanilla with short form options",
 				args: []string{
-					"source.jpg", "-s", "-i", "plane", "-q", "85", "result.jpg",
+					"-s", "-i", "plane", "-q", "85",
 				},
 			},
 		}),
@@ -113,7 +120,7 @@ var _ = Describe("ShrinkCmd", Ordered, func() {
 			commandTE: commandTE{
 				message: "blur with long form options",
 				args: []string{
-					"source.jpg", "result.jpg", "--strip", "--interlace", "plane", "--quality", "85",
+					"--strip", "--interlace", "plane", "--quality", "85",
 					"--gaussian-blur", "0.85",
 				},
 			},
@@ -123,7 +130,7 @@ var _ = Describe("ShrinkCmd", Ordered, func() {
 			commandTE: commandTE{
 				message: "blur with short form options",
 				args: []string{
-					"source.jpg", "result.jpg", "-s", "-i", "plane", "-q", "85",
+					"-s", "-i", "plane", "-q", "85",
 					"-b", "0.85",
 				},
 			},
@@ -133,7 +140,7 @@ var _ = Describe("ShrinkCmd", Ordered, func() {
 			commandTE: commandTE{
 				message: "sampling factor with long form options",
 				args: []string{
-					"source.jpg", "result.jpg", "--strip", "--interlace", "plane", "--quality", "85",
+					"--strip", "--interlace", "plane", "--quality", "85",
 					"--sampling-factor", "4:2:0",
 				},
 			},
@@ -143,7 +150,7 @@ var _ = Describe("ShrinkCmd", Ordered, func() {
 			commandTE: commandTE{
 				message: "sampling factor with short form options",
 				args: []string{
-					"source.jpg", "result.jpg", "-s", "-i", "Plane", "-q", "85",
+					"-s", "-i", "Plane", "-q", "85",
 					"-f", "4:2:0",
 				},
 			},
@@ -153,7 +160,6 @@ var _ = Describe("ShrinkCmd", Ordered, func() {
 			commandTE: commandTE{
 				message: "with long form glob filtering options options",
 				args: []string{
-					"source.jpg", "result.jpg",
 					"--folder-gb", "A*",
 					"--files-gb", "*.jpg",
 				},
@@ -164,7 +170,6 @@ var _ = Describe("ShrinkCmd", Ordered, func() {
 			commandTE: commandTE{
 				message: "with short form regex filtering options options",
 				args: []string{
-					"source.jpg", "result.jpg",
 					"--folder-rx", "^A",
 					"--files-rx", "\\.jpg$",
 				},
@@ -178,16 +183,16 @@ var _ = Describe("ShrinkCmd", Ordered, func() {
 	When("with general long form parameters", func() {
 		It("🧪 should: execute successfully", func() {
 			entry := &shrinkTE{
+				directory: l10nPath,
 				commandTE: commandTE{
 					message: "with general long form parameters",
 					args: []string{
-						"source.jpg", "result.jpg",
 						"--mirror-path", l10nPath,
 					},
 				},
 			}
 
-			coreShrinkCmdTest(entry)
+			expectValidShrinkCmdInvocation(entry)
 		})
 	})
 })
diff --git a/src/app/magick/enter-shrink.go b/src/app/magick/enter-shrink.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1761114
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/app/magick/enter-shrink.go
@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+package magick
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"io/fs"
+	"path/filepath"
+
+	"github.com/samber/lo"
+	"github.com/snivilised/cobrass/src/assistant"
+	"github.com/snivilised/extendio/xfs/nav"
+)
+
+type EntryBase struct {
+	session nav.TraverseSession
+}
+
+func (e *EntryBase) ConfigureOptions(o *nav.TraverseOptions) {
+	o.Store.FilterDefs = &nav.FilterDefinitions{
+		Children: nav.CompoundFilterDef{
+			Type:        nav.FilterTypeRegexEn,
+			Description: "Image types supported by pixa",
+			Pattern:     "\\.(jpe?g|png|gif)$",
+		},
+	}
+}
+
+type ShrinkEntry struct {
+	EntryBase
+
+	rps  *assistant.ParamSet[RootParameterSet]
+	ps   *assistant.ParamSet[ShrinkParameterSet]
+	jobs []string
+}
+
+func (e *ShrinkEntry) ConfigureOptions(o *nav.TraverseOptions) {
+	o.Notify.OnBegin = func(_ *nav.NavigationState) {
+		fmt.Printf("===> 🛡️ beginning traversal ...\n")
+	}
+	o.Notify.OnEnd = func(result *nav.TraverseResult) {
+		fmt.Printf("===> 🚩 finished traversal - folders '%v'\n",
+			result.Metrics.Count(nav.MetricNoFoldersInvokedEn),
+		)
+	}
+	o.Callback = nav.LabelledTraverseCallback{
+		Label: "Shrink Entry Callback",
+		Fn: func(item *nav.TraverseItem) error {
+			depth := item.Extension.Depth
+			indicator := lo.Ternary(len(item.Children) > 0, "☀️", "🌊")
+
+			lo.ForEach(item.Children, func(de fs.DirEntry, index int) {
+				fullPath := filepath.Join(item.Path, de.Name())
+				e.jobs = append(e.jobs, fullPath)
+			})
+
+			fmt.Printf(
+				"---> %v SHRINK-CALLBACK: (depth:%v, files:%v) '%v'\n",
+				indicator,
+				depth, len(item.Children),
+				item.Path,
+			)
+
+			return nil
+		},
+	}
+	o.Store.Subscription = nav.SubscribeFoldersWithFiles
+	o.Store.DoExtend = true
+	e.EntryBase.ConfigureOptions(o)
+}
+
+func Configure(entry *ShrinkEntry, o *nav.TraverseOptions) {
+	entry.ConfigureOptions(o)
+}
+
+func GetTraverseOptionsFunc(entry *ShrinkEntry) func(o *nav.TraverseOptions) {
+	// make this a generic?
+	//
+	return func(o *nav.TraverseOptions) {
+		Configure(entry, o)
+	}
+}
+
+func EnterShrink(
+	rps *assistant.ParamSet[RootParameterSet],
+	ps *assistant.ParamSet[ShrinkParameterSet],
+) error {
+	fmt.Printf("---> 🦠🦠🦠 Directory: '%v'\n", ps.Native.Directory)
+
+	entry := &ShrinkEntry{
+		rps: rps,
+		ps:  ps,
+	}
+	session := &nav.PrimarySession{
+		Path:     ps.Native.Directory,
+		OptionFn: GetTraverseOptionsFunc(entry),
+	}
+	_, err := session.Init().Run()
+
+	lo.ForEach(entry.jobs, func(i string, index int) {
+		fmt.Printf("		===> ✨ job: '%v'\n", i)
+	})
+
+	summary := fmt.Sprintf("files: %v", len(entry.jobs))
+	message := lo.Ternary(err == nil,
+		fmt.Sprintf("navigation completed (%v) ✔️", summary),
+		fmt.Sprintf("error occurred during navigation (%v)❌\n", err),
+	)
+	fmt.Println(message)
+
+	return err
+}
diff --git a/src/app/magick/image-defs.go b/src/app/magick/image-defs.go
index fbfdc3b..1c0a6d3 100644
--- a/src/app/magick/image-defs.go
+++ b/src/app/magick/image-defs.go
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@ type CoreParameters struct {
 type ShrinkParameterSet struct {
 	CoreParameters
 	//
+	Directory  string
 	MirrorPath string
 	ModeEn     assistant.EnumValue[ModeEnum]
 }
diff --git a/src/i18n/messages.go b/src/i18n/messages-errors.go
similarity index 97%
rename from src/i18n/messages.go
rename to src/i18n/messages-errors.go
index 87867ff..581bdc5 100644
--- a/src/i18n/messages.go
+++ b/src/i18n/messages-errors.go
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ type FooBarTemplData struct {
 // name of the library implementing this template project.
 func (td FooBarTemplData) Message() *i18n.Message {
 	return &i18n.Message{
-		ID:          "foo-bar.arcadia.nav",
+		ID:          "foo-bar.pixa.nav",
 		Description: "Foo Bar description",
 		Other:       "foo bar failure '{{.Path}}' (reason: {{.Reason}})",
 	}