A Fast Alternative to Pylint R0801

Description and use

Arid is a fast duplicate-code checker for Python that replaces Pylint R0801, improving CI performance and providing structured outputs.

Problem

Duplicate code detection (Pylint R0801) is slow and adds unnecessary overhead when only that check is needed.

Outcome

Arid is 191–250× faster than Pylint for duplicate-code detection, enabling fast local feedback and structured CI reporting without the overhead of a full linter.

Workflow

• 1. Install Ruff and Arid (e.g., via uv or pip).
• 2. Run Ruff for general linting: ruff check .
• 3. Run Arid for duplicate detection: arid . or use the GitHub Action sponge-b0b/[email protected].
• 4. Configure Arid to ignore comments, docstrings, imports, or function signatures if desired.
• 5. In CI, use Arid’s SARIF or JSON output for automated analysis and baseline management.
• 6. For mature codebases, record existing duplicates as baseline and enforce only new duplicates.

Evidence

Running serially, the results were: Requests — 191.19x faster, Pydantic — 219.06x faster, Polaris — 249.68x faster

Source

Arid is a Python duplicate-code checker written in Rust

Source