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Show HN: CLI tool for detecting non-exact code duplication with embedding models

32 points by rkochanowski - 8 comments
SpyCoder77 [3 hidden]5 mins ago
I think that this is pretty cool, but is there any reason why we would want to remove similar/possible duplicate code?
rkochanowski [3 hidden]5 mins ago
I built Slopo to solve one specific problem: finding similar code that is hardest to detect by other tools, coding AI agents, and humans.

It finds similar-looking code with embeddings. This detects more than just copy-paste clones or even clones with minor changes. Similar code is often not a clone to refactor, and this is a trade-off. Initial results need to be verified, but coding agents can do this quickly. Example prompts are available on https://slopo.dev

Additionally, similar code distant in the codebase is ranked higher to focus on less obvious duplication.

The results differ a lot depending on the codebase. I noticed that sometimes most of the detected duplicates are false positives, but the remaining ones are strong candidates to refactor or even bugs. Sometimes it reveals much more real duplication.

realxrobau [3 hidden]5 mins ago
If it did PHP I would love to run it over WordPress. What would it take to add that?
rkochanowski [3 hidden]5 mins ago
PHP support can be easily added, I will release a new version soon.
raro11 [3 hidden]5 mins ago
Thank you
philajan [3 hidden]5 mins ago
This is neat. Have you noticed any difference in duplicate detection between strongly typed and loosely typed languages / code bases?
hdz [3 hidden]5 mins ago
Very nice. I can imagine putting this into a pre push hook to keep things clean after an initial sweep.
murats [3 hidden]5 mins ago
Nice idea. I can see this being useful before refactors, especially when the duplication is semantic rather than copy paste.