intent-based-dedup

During code refactoring, you decide whether to extract a common function by evaluating if the duplicated code blocks share the same intent and business logic, rather than just matching appearance. This prevents brittle shared implementations by documenting the rationale to guide team decisions.

Intent-based code deduplication assesses whether code snippets sharing a surface truly serve the same purpose. Unlike standard DRY principles that focus on appearance, it aligns purpose and domain concepts to prevent inappropriate deduplication.

To review a DRY proposal during code reviews, compare the stated goals and domain concepts of the code snippets. Provide rationale and guardrails for commonization decisions to avoid creating brittle shared implementations.

Yes, intent-based code deduplication is language-agnostic. It evaluates purpose alignment and names and domain concepts across multiple programming languages and domains when assessing duplication requests during new feature implementations.

You should not unify code blocks that look the same when they lack the same intent or purpose alignment. If their underlying business logic or domain concepts differ, maintaining separate implementations prevents inappropriate deduplication.