Duplicate code: spinner+gh command execution logic duplicated in github_cli helpers

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Overview

Recent-commit duplicate analysis found one significant structural duplication pattern in pkg/workflow/github_cli.go introduced/expanded during context-propagation work.

The two internal helpers runGHWithSpinnerContext and runGHWithSpinner are nearly identical across ~24 lines each, differing mainly in command construction (ExecGHContext vs ExecGH). This exceeds the duplication threshold (>10 lines).

Critical Information

• Pattern: Near-identical helper functions with only command-constructor variance
• Severity: Medium
• Occurrences: 2
• Primary locations:
  • pkg/workflow/github_cli.go:101
  • pkg/workflow/github_cli.go:129
• Risk: Behavior drift between context/non-context execution paths (spinner behavior, stderr handling, combined output path)

Duplication Details

Pattern Details

Both functions execute the same control flow:

1. Build command
2. If TTY, run spinner start/stop around command execution
3. Branch on combined to use CombinedOutput vs Output
4. Apply enrichGHError to non-combined path
5. Return output

Only the command creation line changes:

• cmd := ExecGHContext(ctx, args...)
• cmd := ExecGH(args...)

Code Example

func runGHWithSpinnerContext(ctx context.Context, spinnerMessage string, combined bool, args ...string) ([]byte, error) {
	cmd := ExecGHContext(ctx, args...)
	// ... spinner + combined/output handling ...
}

func runGHWithSpinner(spinnerMessage string, combined bool, args ...string) ([]byte, error) {
	cmd := ExecGH(args...)
	// ... same spinner + combined/output handling ...
}

Impact Analysis

• Maintainability: Future fixes to one path can be missed in the other.
• Bug Risk: Error-enrichment/spinner behavior can diverge subtly across context and non-context invocations.
• Code Bloat: Duplicate logic in a central command-execution utility.

Refactoring Recommendations

1. Extract a single executor that accepts a command factory

• Suggested target: pkg/workflow/github_cli.go
• Approach: one private helper like runGHWithSpinnerCmd(cmd *exec.Cmd, spinnerMessage string, combined bool) and keep thin wrappers for context/non-context command construction.
• Estimated effort: 1-2 hours
• Benefit: single execution path for spinner and output handling

2. Add focused regression tests for both wrappers

• Ensure both wrappers share identical behavior for:
  • TTY/non-TTY branches
  • combined=true/false
  • error enrichment
• Estimated effort: 1 hour

Implementation Checklist

• Consolidate duplicated execution logic into one private helper
• Keep API compatibility for RunGH* functions
• Add/adjust tests for context and non-context parity
• Validate no behavior change in existing callers

Analysis Metadata

• Analyzed files: 15 non-test .go/.cjs files from latest commits
• Detection method: Serena symbol analysis + patch inspection
• Commits analyzed: e44f4e7fec20d266caec65919fa1a8ac57948e50, 920a4e8bdf57936b61774d9a82be8eb1e20c109c, f3831d82a6662de794d85a418d368c6dede6b115
• Analysis date: 2026-04-15 UTC

References:

• §24453260394

Warning

⚠️ Firewall blocked 4 domains

The following domains were blocked by the firewall during workflow execution:

• ab.chatgpt.com
• api.github.com
• chatgpt.com
• github.com

To allow these domains, add them to the network.allowed list in your workflow frontmatter:

network:
  allowed:
    - defaults
    - "ab.chatgpt.com"
    - "api.github.com"
    - "chatgpt.com"
    - "github.com"

See Network Configuration for more information.

Generated by Duplicate Code Detector · ◷