diff --git a/TODO.md b/TODO.md
index 48df20e..ca18442 100644
--- a/TODO.md
+++ b/TODO.md
@@ -3,6 +3,13 @@
 - [ ] docs: point to new architecture docs from python repo
 
 
+# 9/22/24
+todo: 
+failure we saw was from a task from a few weeks ago
+the failure we see is:
+problem of how do we kknow if a .approved file was used in a run 
+so we can remove the STALE (abandonded) approved files
+
 # Roles
 From https://github.com/willemlarsen/mobprogrammingrpg/blob/master/rpg_roles_plain_text.md
 
diff --git a/approvaltests/commandline_interface.py b/approvaltests/commandline_interface.py
index 5e0aa40..3727c73 100644
--- a/approvaltests/commandline_interface.py
+++ b/approvaltests/commandline_interface.py
@@ -1,24 +1,22 @@
-from pathlib import Path
-
+import argparse
+from sys import stdin
 from approvaltests import verify
-from build.lib.approvaltests.commandline_interface import parse_arguments
-from namer.cli_namer import CliNamer
-
-
-# simplify the following lines of code from commandline_interface.py
 
-# 1.  Modify so our future-selves would recognize it
-# >>> 2.  Make a test
-# 3.  Refactor parse_arguments to be part of a class (suggested by Jay)
+# pylint: disable = no-name-in-module
+from approvaltests.namer.cli_namer import CliNamer
 
-# NEw code...
-# received = args.received or stdin.read()
-# Old code...
-# received = args.received
-# if args.received is None:
-#    received = stdin.read()
-# return (args.id, received)
 
+def parse_arguments():
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="verify")
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--test-id", "-t", dest="id", required=True, type=str, help="test id"
+    )
+    parser.add_argument("--received", "-r", type=str, required=False, help="received")
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+    received = args.received
+    if args.received is None:
+        received = stdin.read()
+    return (args.id, received)
 
 
 def verify_using_commandline_arguments():
@@ -32,8 +30,4 @@ def verify_with_id(received, test_id):
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-    verify_using_commandline_arguments()
-
-
-def list_approved_files_in_test_directory(test_dir: Path):
-    return [file.name for file in test_dir.iterdir() if file.name.endswith(".approved.txt")]
+    verify_using_commandline_arguments()
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/test_build.py b/tests/test_build.py
index 6ec3052..25748ad 100644
--- a/tests/test_build.py
+++ b/tests/test_build.py
@@ -5,23 +5,27 @@ def test_no_imports_from_build_directory():
     # Make sure no file imports from build
     root_dir = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '..'))
     for dirpath, dirnames, filenames in os.walk(root_dir):
-        # Skip the 'build' directory and its subdirectories
-        if 'build' in dirnames:
-            dirnames.remove('build')
+        # Exclude directories that start with '.'
+        dirnames[:] = [d for d in dirnames if not d.startswith('.') and d != 'build']
+        # also exclude venv
+        dirnames[:] = [d for d in dirnames if not d.startswith('venv'
+                                                               )]
         for filename in filenames:
-            if filename.endswith('.py'):
-                file_path = os.path.join(dirpath, filename)
-                with open(file_path, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as file:
-                    source = file.read()
-                try:
-                    tree = ast.parse(source, filename=file_path)
-                except SyntaxError:
-                    continue  # Skip files with syntax errors
-                for node in ast.walk(tree):
-                    if isinstance(node, ast.Import):
-                        for alias in node.names:
-                            if alias.name == 'build' or alias.name.startswith('build.'):
-                                assert False, f"{file_path} imports 'build'"
-                    elif isinstance(node, ast.ImportFrom):
-                        if node.module == 'build' or (node.module and node.module.startswith('build.')):
-                            assert False, f"{file_path} imports from 'build'"
+            # Skip files that start with '.' and non-Python files
+            if filename.startswith('.') or not filename.endswith('.py'):
+                continue
+            file_path = os.path.join(dirpath, filename)
+            with open(file_path, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as file:
+                source = file.read()
+            try:
+                tree = ast.parse(source, filename=file_path)
+            except SyntaxError:
+                continue  # Skip files with syntax errors
+            for node in ast.walk(tree):
+                if isinstance(node, ast.Import):
+                    for alias in node.names:
+                        if alias.name == 'build' or alias.name.startswith('build.'):
+                            assert False, f"{file_path} imports 'build'"
+                elif isinstance(node, ast.ImportFrom):
+                    if node.module == 'build' or (node.module and node.module.startswith('build.')):
+                        assert False, f"{file_path} imports from 'build'"