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QuickDup
Huddinge, Sweden
What it is
QuickDup is a free, open-source repository tool for finding candidate code clones through indentation-based fingerprints. It records indentation changes and the first word on each line, skips comments and blank lines, tokenizes source lines, and filters patterns with Jaccard similarity below a default 75% threshold. It does not parse abstract syntax trees. Detection strategies include normalized-indent, word-indent, word-only, and inlineable. Listed language support covers Go, C and C++, Java, JavaScript and TypeScript, C#, Python, Ruby, SQL, Lua, MATLAB, and others. Results are saved as machine-readable JSON in a .quickdup directory. QuickDup can emit GitHub Actions annotations for inline pull request comments and restrict annotations to files changed against a Git reference. Incremental parsed-file caching is available only for word-indent; other strategies re-parse files each run. The README reports about 100,000 lines processed in about 500 ms on 8 cores. Installers are listed for Linux, macOS, and Windows, with source installation through Go. The latest listed release is v0.6.0.
For and against
For
- Supports multiple indentation-based strategies
- Produces machine-readable JSON results
- GitHub Actions annotations for pull requests
- Runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows
- MIT-licensed open-source project
Against
- Heuristics can produce false positives
- May miss semantically duplicate code with different structure
- Only word-indent supports incremental caching
- No IDE integration listed
The verdict
QuickDup is designed to surface code-clone candidates quickly for later judgment by an AI agent and human reviewer. Its heuristic method, caching limitation, and lack of IDE integration define the main trade-offs.
Who it suits
QuickDup suits development teams and individuals who want heuristic duplicate-code candidates for AI-assisted or human review. It fits repositories using GitHub Actions and supported languages.
On the record
- Caching
- Incremental caching is available only for the word-indent strategy; the other listed strategies re-parse files on each run.github.com · read 4 Oct 2026
- Caching limit
- Incremental parsed-file caching is supported only by the word-indent strategy; the other listed strategies re-parse files on each run.github.com · read 5 Oct 2026
- Detection approach
- QuickDup fingerprints indentation changes and the first word on each line, and does not use AST parsing.github.com · read 4 Oct 2026
- Detection strategies
- It offers normalized-indent, word-indent, word-only, and inlineable detection strategies.github.com · read 5 Oct 2026
- GitHub Actions integration
- It can emit GitHub Actions annotations for inline pull request comments and can limit annotations to files changed against a Git reference.github.com · read 5 Oct 2026
- GitHub integration
- QuickDup can emit GitHub Actions annotations for inline pull request comments and limit annotations to files changed against a Git reference.github.com · read 4 Oct 2026
- How it works
- It fingerprints indentation changes and the first word on each line, skips comments and blank lines, and detects patterns without AST parsing.github.com · read 5 Oct 2026
- Installation
- The README provides installer commands for Linux and macOS, a PowerShell installer for Windows, and installation from source with Go.github.com · read 4 Oct 2026
- Intended use
- It is designed to generate candidate duplicates for AI-assisted code review, with an AI agent and human decision maker verifying candidates.github.com · read 4 Oct 2026
- Languages
- The README lists comment-prefix support for languages including Go, C/C++, Java, JavaScript/TypeScript, C#, Python, Ruby, SQL, Lua, and others.github.com · read 5 Oct 2026
- Language support
- The README lists comment-prefix detection for languages including Go, C#, JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Ruby, SQL, Lua, and MATLAB, among others.github.com · read 4 Oct 2026
- License
- QuickDup is released under the MIT License.github.com · read 5 Oct 2026
- Limitations
- The project describes QuickDup as a heuristic candidate generator that can produce false positives and miss semantically duplicate code with different structure.github.com · read 5 Oct 2026
- Maker location
- The maker's GitHub organization profile lists Stockholm, Sweden.github.com · read 5 Oct 2026
- Output
- Results are written as machine-readable JSON files in a .quickdup directory.github.com · read 5 Oct 2026
- Performance
- The README reports scanning about 100,000 lines of code in about 500 ms on 8 cores.github.com · read 5 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- QuickDup is a structural code clone detector that finds duplicate code patterns using indent-delta fingerprinting and is designed to generate candidates for AI-assisted code review.github.com · read 5 Oct 2026
- Release
- The GitHub releases page lists v0.6.0 as the latest release.github.com · read 5 Oct 2026