Duplicate Code: close_issue and close_pull_request handlers reimplement the same close-flow logic

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Overview

A significant near-duplicate implementation exists between the safe-output handlers for closing issues and closing pull requests.

The duplicated flow includes configuration parsing, max-count gating, comment-body resolution, staged-mode preview handling, label/title filtering, close execution, and verbose error/log handling.

Critical Findings

• Pattern: Near-identical close-flow pipeline implemented in separate modules
• Severity: Medium
• Occurrences: 2 primary handlers, plus overlapping utility logic duplicated against an existing helper module
• Threshold Check: Exceeds >10 duplicated lines by a wide margin (roughly 100+ structurally similar lines)

Duplication Details

• close_issue.cjs:84
• close_pull_request.cjs:85
• close_entity_helpers.cjs:214

The two handlers implement highly similar end-to-end logic in their main() returned handler functions:

• Parse/validate target number
• Resolve comment text fallback and sanitize
• Apply required labels/title-prefix filters
• Handle staged mode preview
• Post comment
• Close target entity
• Return structured success/failure payload

Additionally, helper logic like buildCommentBody, label filtering, and title-prefix filtering is duplicated in close_pull_request.cjs:318 and already exists in close_entity_helpers.cjs:47.

Code Evidence (high-level)

• close_issue.cjs main processing pipeline: lines 84-301
• close_pull_request.cjs main processing pipeline: lines 85-310
• Existing generalized helper pipeline (processCloseEntityItems): lines 214-383 in close_entity_helpers.cjs

Impact Analysis

• Maintainability: Bug fixes and behavior changes must be repeated across handlers, increasing drift risk.
• Bug Risk: Inconsistent behavior can emerge over time (e.g., error handling and comment/footer behavior).
• Code Bloat: Existing abstraction (close_entity_helpers.cjs) is underused while duplicate handler logic continues to grow.

Recommendations

1. Migrate close_issue.cjs and close_pull_request.cjs to a shared entity-close runner in close_entity_helpers.cjs.
2. Keep only entity-specific callbacks in each handler (getDetails, addComment, closeEntity) and centralize common flow.
3. Reuse shared helper functions for comment-body construction and filters; remove duplicated local implementations.

Implementation Checklist

• Define a unified close-flow contract in close_entity_helpers.cjs
• Refactor close_pull_request.cjs to consume shared flow
• Refactor close_issue.cjs to consume shared flow (including cross-repo handling where needed)
• Align staged preview behavior and result payload format
• Update/add handler tests for parity and regression protection

Analysis Metadata

• Commit: 68515c18ed1602fb1eb44e24e35718e93c6c8eb8
• Detection Method: Serena symbol analysis + structural diff inspection
• Eligible changed files: 931 (.go/.cjs, excluding test/workflow patterns)
• Workflow Run: §24241739247

Generated by Duplicate Code Detector · ◷