diff --git a/qi-lib/flow/core/compiler.rkt b/qi-lib/flow/core/compiler.rkt
index 2cdf49e2..65ca89b7 100644
--- a/qi-lib/flow/core/compiler.rkt
+++ b/qi-lib/flow/core/compiler.rkt
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@
                      racket/match
                      (only-in racket/list make-list)
                      "syntax.rkt"
-                     "../aux-syntax.rkt")
+                     "../aux-syntax.rkt"
+                     macro-debugger/emit)
          "impl.rkt"
          (only-in racket/list make-list)
          racket/function
@@ -169,11 +170,18 @@
        #'(thread _0 ... fused _1 ...)]
       [_ this-syntax]))
 
+  ;; Applies f repeatedly to the init-val terminating the loop if the
+  ;; result of f is #f or the new syntax object is eq? to the previous
+  ;; (possibly initial) one.
+  ;;
+  ;; Caveats:
+  ;;   * the syntax object is not inspected, only eq? is used
+  ;;   * comparison is performed only between consecutive steps (does not handle cyclic occurences)
   (define ((fix f) init-val)
-    ;; may need to be modified to handle #f as a special terminator
     (let ([new-val (f init-val)])
-      (if (eq? new-val init-val)
-          new-val
+      (if (or (not new-val)
+              (eq? new-val init-val))
+          init-val
           ((fix f) new-val))))
 
   (define (deforest-pass stx)
@@ -270,8 +278,12 @@
     ;; TODO: use syntax-parse and match ~> specifically.
     ;; Since macros are expanded "outside in," presumably
     ;; it will naturally wrap the outermost ~>
-    (wrap-with-scopes #`(qi0->racket #,(rewrite-all-bindings stx))
-                      (bound-identifiers stx))))
+    (let ([stx1 (wrap-with-scopes #`(qi0->racket #,(rewrite-all-bindings stx))
+                                  (bound-identifiers stx))])
+      (emit-local-step stx stx1 #:id #'process-bindings)
+      stx1))
+
+  )
 
 (define-syntax (qi0->racket stx)
   ;; this is a macro so it receives the entire expression