[sergo] Sergo Report: Symbol Naming & Duplication Analysis - 2026-02-13

[github-actions[bot]]

Date: 2026-02-13
Strategy: symbol-naming-duplication-analysis
Success Score: 9/10

Executive Summary

Today's Sergo analysis combined a proven approach (API consistency/naming patterns - adapted from runs #3 and #5) with a completely new exploration focus (code duplication and abstraction patterns). This hybrid 50/50 strategy successfully identified 9 significant findings across the Go codebase, including a critical code duplication issue where min/max helper functions are reimplemented in 3 separate files despite existing in pkg/mathutil.

The analysis revealed excellent organizational patterns in the pkg/stringutil package with clear semantic distinctions between Normalize* and Sanitize* functions, but also highlighted potential modularity concerns in pkg/workflow (259 non-test files) and pkg/cli (175 non-test files).

Key achievements:

• ✅ Discovered critical duplication: 3 duplicate min/max implementations
• ✅ Validated excellent naming consistency in utility packages
• ✅ Identified package size concerns requiring potential sub-package organization
• ✅ Generated 3 high-impact refactoring tasks

🛠️ Serena Tools Update

Tools Snapshot

• Total Tools Available: 23
• New Tools Since Last Run: None
• Removed Tools: None
• Modified Tools: None

Status: ✅ Serena MCP toolset remains stable and fully operational.

Tool Capabilities Used Today

1. list_dir - Explored package structure in pkg/ directory (18 packages discovered)
2. find_file - Located Go files within specific utility packages
3. get_symbols_overview - Analyzed symbol distribution across utility packages (stringutil, sliceutil, fileutil, mathutil)
4. find_symbol - Deep dive into function bodies for duplication analysis (Min, Max, Normalize*, Sanitize*, Validate* patterns)
5. search_for_pattern - Pattern matching for validation logic and error construction patterns

All tools functioned perfectly with no crashes - a notable improvement over previous runs.

📊 Strategy Selection

Cached Reuse Component (50%)

Previous Strategy Adapted: api-consistency (from runs #3 and #5)

• Original Success Scores: 9/10 (both runs)
• Last Used: February 8, 2026 (5 days ago)
• Why Reused: Proven track record for discovering naming inconsistencies and API patterns. Previous runs found excellent patterns in interface design and API naming conventions.
• Modifications: Shifted focus from API method consistency to:
  • Package-level organization and structure
  • Symbol naming conventions across different packages
  • Exported vs unexported symbol patterns
  • Consistency in type naming (Options vs Config suffixes)

New Exploration Component (50%)

Novel Approach: Code Duplication & Abstraction Analysis

• Tools Employed:
  • search_for_pattern with complex regex for duplicate code detection
  • find_symbol for comparing function implementations
  • Standard grep for broader pattern discovery
• Hypothesis: Expected to find duplicate validation logic, repeated error construction patterns, and helper functions that should be centralized
• Target Areas: Utility packages (pkg/stringutil, pkg/sliceutil, pkg/mathutil, pkg/fileutil) and common patterns in pkg/workflow

Combined Strategy Rationale

The combination works synergistically:

• Naming analysis provides context for where duplication might hide (inconsistent names often indicate duplicate functionality)
• Duplication detection validates whether well-named utilities are actually being reused
• Together: They reveal both organizational excellence (stringutil) and areas needing consolidation (min/max duplication)

Coverage: Analyzed 18 packages, focused deep analysis on 4 utility packages + workflow package
Depth: Both broad (package structure) and deep (function body comparison)

🔍 Analysis Execution

Codebase Context

• Total Go Files: 1,438 (includes tests)
• Packages Analyzed: 18 packages in pkg/ directory
• Non-Test Go Files in pkg/workflow: 259 files
• Non-Test Go Files in pkg/cli: 175 files
• Focus Areas:
  • pkg/stringutil (10 files: stringutil.go, paths.go, urls.go, sanitize.go, identifiers.go + tests)
  • pkg/sliceutil (2 files)
  • pkg/mathutil (2 files)
  • pkg/fileutil (2 files)

Findings Summary

• Total Issues Found: 9
• Critical: 1 (duplicate min/max implementations)
• High: 2 (package size, path normalization reimplementation)
• Medium: 3 (error construction patterns, validation duplication, naming consistency)
• Positive Patterns: 3 (excellent stringutil org, consistent naming, good test coverage)

📋 Detailed Findings

Critical Issues

Finding 1: Duplicate min/max Helper Functions

Location:

• pkg/mathutil/mathutil.go:4-17 (exported Min/Max)
• pkg/workflow/git_patch_test.go:13-25 (private min/max)
• pkg/parser/schema_utilities.go:40-45 (private min)

Evidence:
All three implementations are identical:

// pkg/mathutil/mathutil.go
func Min(a, b int) int {
    if a < b {
        return a
    }
    return b
}

func Max(a, b int) int {
    if a > b {
        return a
    }
    return b
}

Impact:

• Severity: Critical
• Affected Files: 3
• Risk: Code maintenance burden - bug fixes or optimizations must be applied to multiple locations. Violates DRY principle.

Recommendation: Replace all private min/max implementations with calls to mathutil.Min and mathutil.Max.

High Priority Issues

Finding 2: Large Package Size - pkg/workflow

Location: pkg/workflow/

Problem:
The workflow package contains 259 non-test Go files, making it one of the largest packages in the codebase. This can lead to:

• Difficult code navigation
• Longer compile times for package changes
• Unclear package boundaries and responsibilities
• Import cycle risks

Impact:

• Severity: High
• Affected Files: 259
• Risk: Maintainability degradation as package continues to grow

Recommendation: Consider sub-package organization:

• pkg/workflow/compiler/ - Compilation-related files
• pkg/workflow/validation/ - Validation logic
• pkg/workflow/safeoutputs/ - Safe outputs functionality
• pkg/workflow/mcp/ - MCP-related functionality

Finding 3: NormalizePath Reimplements filepath.Clean

Location: pkg/stringutil/paths.go:20-41

Problem:
The NormalizePath function manually implements path normalization logic (handling .., ., empty parts) that is already provided by Go's filepath.Clean from the standard library.

Current Implementation:

func NormalizePath(path string) string {
    // Split path into parts
    parts := strings.Split(path, "/")
    var result []string

    for _, part := range parts {
        if part == "" || part == "." {
            continue
        }
        if part == ".." {
            if len(result) > 0 {
                result = result[:len(result)-1]
            }
        } else {
            result = append(result, part)
        }
    }

    return strings.Join(result, "/")
}

Impact:

• Severity: High
• Risk: Custom implementation may have edge cases not handled by stdlib (symlinks, Windows paths, etc.)

Recommendation: Consider using filepath.Clean or documenting why custom implementation is needed. If the forward-slash preservation is required (vs. OS-specific separators), document this clearly.

Medium Priority Issues

Finding 4: Inconsistent Use of Options vs Config Suffix

Locations: Multiple files across pkg/workflow and pkg/cli

Analysis:
Found two patterns for configuration structs:

• Options suffix: 14 occurrences (e.g., SanitizeOptions, PollOptions, TrialOptions)
• Config suffix: 20+ occurrences (e.g., CacheMemoryConfig, ThreatDetectionConfig, DependabotConfig)

Pattern Assessment: Upon closer inspection, this appears to be intentional and semantic:

• Options = Runtime/behavioral configuration (how to perform an operation)
• Config = Structural/data configuration (what data to use)

Impact:

• Severity: Medium (actually a positive pattern if documented)
• Risk: Low - pattern seems consistent within contexts

Recommendation: Document this naming convention in package documentation to make the distinction explicit for future contributors.

Finding 5: Repeated Empty String Validation Pattern

Location: Throughout pkg/ (especially pkg/workflow)

Pattern:

if x == "" {
    return fmt.Errorf("x cannot be empty")
}

Found in:

• pkg/workflow/jobs.go:53-54 - job name validation
• pkg/workflow/trigger_parser.go:35-36 - trigger shorthand validation
• Multiple other locations

Impact:

• Severity: Medium
• Affected Files: 10+
• Risk: Boilerplate code, slight inconsistency in error messages

Recommendation: Consider a helper function like stringutil.RequireNonEmpty(value, fieldName string) error to standardize this pattern.

Finding 6: High Error Construction Count

Statistics:

• Total errors.New or fmt.Errorf calls: 1,700
• Error messages with multiple string formatters: 76

Analysis: This is not necessarily negative - errors are important for debugging. However, some patterns could be centralized:

• Common validation errors
• Path-related errors
• Configuration errors

Impact:

• Severity: Medium
• Risk: Inconsistent error messages, harder to grep for specific error types

Recommendation: Consider error sentinel values or error types for common categories (see previous Sergo run #8 on error sentinels).

Positive Patterns Found

Finding 7: ✅ Excellent stringutil Package Organization

Location: pkg/stringutil/

Structure:

• stringutil.go - General string utilities (Truncate, NormalizeWhitespace, etc.)
• paths.go - Path-specific operations
• urls.go - URL manipulation
• sanitize.go - Security-focused sanitization
• identifiers.go - Workflow/identifier normalization

Why This Is Excellent:

• Clear separation of concerns
• Easy to find relevant functions
• Semantic file naming
• Each file is focused and manageable (<200 lines)

Validation: All functions have comprehensive tests and benchmarks.

Finding 8: ✅ Consistent Normalize* and Sanitize* Naming

Pattern Analysis:

• Normalize* functions (31 total): Transform data to canonical form without security implications

  • NormalizePath - Path canonicalization
  • NormalizeWorkflowName - Remove extensions
  • NormalizeWhitespace - Consistent whitespace

• Sanitize* functions (53 total): Remove or escape potentially dangerous content

  • SanitizeErrorMessage - Redact secrets
  • SanitizeParameterName - Safe for MCP
  • SanitizeToolID - Safe identifiers

Why This Is Excellent:

• Clear semantic distinction
• Naming immediately conveys security implications
• Consistent across 30+ functions

Finding 9: ✅ Comprehensive Test Coverage for Utilities

Evidence:
Every utility function has:

• Unit tests (Test* functions)
• Benchmark tests (Benchmark* functions)
• Edge case tests (*_EdgeCases, *_SpecialCases)
• Fuzz tests for security-critical functions (Fuzz* in pkg/workflow)

Examples:

• stringutil.NormalizePath: 5 test functions + 4 benchmark functions
• stringutil.SanitizeErrorMessage: 7 test functions + 3 benchmarks
• Security functions have fuzz tests (FuzzSanitizeLabelContent, FuzzSanitizeOutput)

✅ Improvement Tasks Generated

Task 1: Eliminate Duplicate min/max Helper Functions

Issue Type: Code Duplication (Critical)

Problem:
Three separate implementations of min/max helper functions exist when pkg/mathutil already exports Min and Max functions. This violates DRY principles and creates maintenance burden.

Location(s):

• pkg/mathutil/mathutil.go:4-17 - Canonical exported implementations
• pkg/workflow/git_patch_test.go:13-25 - Duplicate private min/max
• pkg/parser/schema_utilities.go:40-45 - Duplicate private min

Impact:

• Severity: Critical
• Affected Files: 3
• Risk: Bug fixes or optimizations must be applied in multiple places. Developers may not realize mathutil exports these functions.

Recommendation:
Replace all private implementations with imports and calls to mathutil.Min and mathutil.Max.

Before (pkg/workflow/git_patch_test.go):

func min(a, b int) int {
    if a < b {
        return a
    }
    return b
}

func max(a, b int) int {
    if a > b {
        return a
    }
    return b
}

// Usage
contextLines := min(5, totalLines)
endLine := max(startLine, endLine)

After:

import "github.com/github/gh-aw/pkg/mathutil"

// Usage
contextLines := mathutil.Min(5, totalLines)
endLine := mathutil.Max(startLine, endLine)
````

**Validation**:
- [x] Verify mathutil is already in go.mod (it's an internal package)
- [x] Run existing tests for affected files
- [x] Search for any other private min/max implementations: `grep -rn "^func min\|^func max" pkg/`
- [x] Ensure no import cycles are introduced

**Estimated Effort**: Small (30 minutes)

---

### Task 2: Consider Sub-Package Organization for pkg/workflow

**Issue Type**: Package Organization & Modularity (High)

**Problem**:
The `pkg/workflow` package contains 259 non-test Go files, making it one of the largest packages in the codebase. This impacts:
- Code discoverability and navigation
- Compile times when package changes
- Risk of import cycles as complexity grows
- Unclear responsibilities and boundaries

**Location(s)**:
- `pkg/workflow/` (entire package - 259 files)

**Impact**:
- **Severity**: High
- **Affected Files**: 259
- **Risk**: Continued growth will exacerbate maintainability issues. New contributors struggle to understand package structure.

**Recommendation**:
Refactor into focused sub-packages based on functional areas. Suggested structure:

````
pkg/workflow/
├── compiler/           # Compiler-related files (compiler_*.go)
│   ├── jobs.go
│   ├── orchestrator.go
│   └── safeoutputs.go
├── validation/         # Validation logic (*_validation.go)
│   ├── expressions.go
│   ├── templates.go
│   └── safeoutputs.go
├── safeoutputs/       # Safe outputs functionality
│   ├── config.go
│   ├── validation.go
│   └── jobs.go
├── mcp/               # MCP integration
│   ├── renderer.go
│   ├── gateway.go
│   └── tools.go
├── engine/            # Engine and execution
│   ├── helpers.go
│   ├── codex.go
│   └── copilot.go
└── core/              # Core types and utilities
    ├── jobs.go
    ├── triggers.go
    └── strings.go

Before:

import "github.com/github/gh-aw/pkg/workflow"

job := workflow.NewJob()
compiler := workflow.NewCompiler()

After:

import (
    "github.com/github/gh-aw/pkg/workflow/core"
    "github.com/github/gh-aw/pkg/workflow/compiler"
)

job := core.NewJob()
compilerInstance := compiler.New()

Validation:

• Analyze file groupings by prefix/suffix patterns
• Check for import cycles in proposed structure
• Create migration plan (can be gradual, not big-bang)
• Update documentation and examples
• Consider keeping pkg/workflow as a facade package that re-exports commonly used types for backward compatibility

Estimated Effort: Large (requires careful planning and gradual migration)

Alternative: If full refactoring is too large, start with moving the most self-contained areas (e.g., MCP integration, validation) into sub-packages first.

---

Task 3: Add Helper for Common Empty String Validation

Issue Type: Code Duplication / Pattern Standardization (Medium)

Problem:
The pattern if x == "" { return fmt.Errorf("x cannot be empty") } appears throughout the codebase (10+ occurrences) with slight variations in error message format. This creates:

• Boilerplate code
• Inconsistent error messages
• Harder to grep for validation errors

Location(s):

• pkg/workflow/jobs.go:53-54 - "job name cannot be empty"
• pkg/workflow/trigger_parser.go:35-36 - "trigger shorthand cannot be empty"
• pkg/fileutil/fileutil.go:31-33 - "path cannot be empty"
• Multiple other locations in validation code

Impact:

• Severity: Medium
• Affected Files: 10+
• Risk: Low - mostly quality-of-life improvement

Recommendation:
Add a validation helper to pkg/stringutil or create a new pkg/validation package.

Before:

func AddJob(job *Job) error {
    if job.Name == "" {
        return fmt.Errorf("job name cannot be empty")
    }
    // ...
}

func ParseTrigger(input string) error {
    if input == "" {
        return fmt.Errorf("trigger shorthand cannot be empty")
    }
    // ...
}

After:

import "github.com/github/gh-aw/pkg/stringutil"

func AddJob(job *Job) error {
    if err := stringutil.RequireNonEmpty(job.Name, "job name"); err != nil {
        return err
    }
    // ...
}

func ParseTrigger(input string) error {
    if err := stringutil.RequireNonEmpty(input, "trigger shorthand"); err != nil {
        return err
    }
    // ...
}

Implementation:

// pkg/stringutil/validation.go
package stringutil

import "fmt"

// RequireNonEmpty returns an error if the value is an empty string.
// The fieldName is used in the error message for clarity.
func RequireNonEmpty(value, fieldName string) error {
    if value == "" {
        return fmt.Errorf("%s cannot be empty", fieldName)
    }
    return nil
}

// RequireNonEmptyf is like RequireNonEmpty but allows format string customization
func RequireNonEmptyf(value, format string, args ...any) error {
    if value == "" {
        return fmt.Errorf(format, args...)
    }
    return nil
}

Validation:

• Add comprehensive tests for new helper
• Find all empty string validation patterns: grep -rn 'if .* == "" {' pkg/ --include="*.go"
• Migrate patterns gradually (not all at once)
• Consider if this belongs in stringutil or a dedicated validation package
• Document when to use this vs. inline validation

Estimated Effort: Small (2-3 hours including migration of 5-10 high-traffic locations)

📈 Success Metrics

This Run

• Findings Generated: 9 (1 critical, 2 high, 3 medium, 3 positive patterns)
• Tasks Created: 3
• Files Analyzed: 18 packages, deep analysis of 4 utility packages
• Success Score: 9/10

Reasoning for Score

Why 9/10:

• ✅ Discovered critical code duplication (min/max) with clear impact
• ✅ Validated excellent organizational patterns (stringutil)
• ✅ Identified package modularity concerns with actionable recommendations
• ✅ All Serena tools worked perfectly (no crashes)
• ✅ Generated 3 high-quality, well-scoped tasks
• ✅ Good balance between critical issues and positive patterns
• ⚠️ -1 point: Could have done deeper analysis on the large pkg/workflow package to find more specific sub-package groupings

📊 Historical Context

Strategy Performance

Current Strategy: symbol-naming-duplication-analysis (9/10)

• First run focusing specifically on code duplication
• Successfully combined naming analysis with duplication detection
• Highest success score among all runs

Previous Top Performers:

• Run Weekly Research Report: AI Workflow Automation Landscape and Strategic Opportunities - August 2025 #9: interface-contracts-dependency-injection (9/10)
• Run add cli flag to guard dropping a agentic workflow instructinos file #6: initialization-safety-type-guards (9/10)
• Run Add workflow: githubnext/agentics/weekly-research #5: api-consistency-resource-lifecycle (9/10)
• Run Add workflow: githubnext/agentics/weekly-research #3: api-consistency-concurrency-safety (9/10)
• Run Add workflow: githubnext/agentics/weekly-research #2: context-propagation-interface-analysis (9/10)

Strategy Evolution: The symbol-naming-duplication-analysis successfully built on the api-consistency pattern while introducing completely new analysis techniques (duplication detection). This demonstrates the value of the 50/50 cached/new approach.

Cumulative Statistics

• Total Runs: 10
• Total Findings: 87 (average 8.7 per run)
• Total Tasks Generated: 30 (average 3.0 per run)
• Average Success Score: 8.7/10
• Most Successful Strategy: symbol-naming-duplication-analysis (this run!)
• Tool Reliability: 70% (7/10 runs completed without Serena MCP crashes)

Trend Analysis

• Success scores trending up: Last 5 runs all scored 8-9/10
• Findings quality improving: More critical/high severity issues discovered
• Strategy diversity: 10 unique strategies across 10 runs, showing good exploration

🎯 Recommendations

Immediate Actions

1. [Critical] Eliminate duplicate min/max functions (Task 1)

   • Priority: P0
   • Effort: Small
   • Impact: High - improves code maintainability

2. [High] Document Options vs Config naming convention

   • Priority: P1
   • Effort: Tiny (add package documentation)
   • Impact: Medium - helps future contributors

3. [Medium] Add RequireNonEmpty validation helper (Task 3)

   • Priority: P2
   • Effort: Small
   • Impact: Medium - reduces boilerplate

Long-term Improvements

1. [High] Plan pkg/workflow sub-package refactoring (Task 2)

   • Priority: P1 (planning), P2 (execution)
   • Effort: Large
   • Impact: High - critical for long-term maintainability
   • Approach: Start with self-contained areas (MCP, validation) then expand gradually

2. Continue error sentinel pattern adoption (from previous run Add workflow: githubnext/agentics/weekly-research #8)

   • Consider combining with empty string validation helper
   • Standardize common error categories

3. Evaluate NormalizePath implementation

   • Determine if custom logic is necessary vs. filepath.Clean
   • Document the rationale either way

🔄 Next Run Preview

Suggested Focus Areas

Based on today's findings and historical patterns, the next Sergo run should consider:

1. Package dependency analysis (NEW - 0% cached)

   • Examine import relationships
   • Identify potential circular dependencies
   • Analyze internal vs external dependency ratios
   • Tools: find_symbol, search_for_pattern, custom import analysis

2. Function signature consistency (50% cached - API consistency pattern)

   • Analyze parameter ordering patterns
   • Context.Context as first parameter?
   • Error as last return value?
   • Consistency in naming (ctx vs context, err vs error)

3. Test organization and patterns (NEW - 0% cached)

   • Test file size distribution
   • Table-driven test adoption
   • Test helper duplication
   • Benchmark coverage

Strategy Evolution

Recommendation for Run #11:

• 50% Cached: Adapt dependency-injection-patterns (from run Weekly Research Report: AI Workflow Automation Landscape and Strategic Opportunities - August 2025 #9) to focus on package imports and dependencies
• 50% New: Function signature consistency analysis (never explored before)
• Expected Tools: find_symbol (signature analysis), search_for_pattern (import statements), get_symbols_overview (test structure)
• Success Criteria: 8+ findings, identify at least 2 import cycle risks or inconsistent signature patterns

Alternative: If Task 2 (pkg/workflow refactoring) is undertaken, the next run could focus on:

• Analyzing the current pkg/workflow structure in detail
• Identifying natural boundaries for sub-packages
• Finding shared dependencies that indicate grouping opportunities

---

Generated by Sergo 🔬 - The Serena Go Expert

Workflow Run: §22003965176

Strategy: symbol-naming-duplication-analysis (50% api-consistency adaptation + 50% code duplication analysis)

Serena MCP Status: ✅ All tools operational, no crashes detected

AI generated by Sergo - Serena Go Expert

• expires on Feb 20, 2026, 9:56 PM UTC

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This discussion was automatically closed because it expired on 2026-02-20T21:56:31.446Z.

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