diff --git a/bin/update_sops.sh b/bin/update_sops.sh
index b234682..1beaf65 100755
--- a/bin/update_sops.sh
+++ b/bin/update_sops.sh
@@ -95,21 +95,21 @@ function fn_sops_locate_config_in_git_repo(){
   # starting dir, default: PWD. Note: 'realpath' to normalise the dir
   start_dir="$(realpath "${1:-"${PWD}"}")";
   stop_dir="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
+  >&2 echo "# ---"
+  >&2 echo "# start_dir: "${start_dir}""
+  >&2 echo "# stop_dir:  "${stop_dir}""
 
-  # sops_filepath=""
-  # being
+  # BEGIN
   search_dir="${start_dir}"
-  # stopping condition
-  # while [[ "${search_dir}" != "${stop_dir}" ]]; do
-    contender="${search_dir}/.sops.yaml"
-    if [[ -e "${contender}" ]]; then
-      >&2 echo "# BASE CASE"
-      echo "${contender}"
-    else
-      # walk up one dir
-      >&2 echo "# walk up one dir"
-      fn_sops_locate_config_in_git_repo "$(dirname "${search_dir}")"
-    fi
+  contender="${search_dir}/.sops.yaml"
+  # base case - located the file OR stopping condition - at top of repo
+  if [[ -e "${contender}" ]] || [[ "${search_dir}" == "${stop_dir}" ]]; then
+    >&2 echo "# BASE CASE"
+    echo "${contender}"
+  else
+    >&2 echo "# walk up one dir..."
+    fn_sops_locate_config_in_git_repo "$(dirname "${search_dir}")"
+  fi
 }
 
 function fn_sops_generate_config(){