Implementing a Deduplication Guard in ClickUp Notifier

TL;DR: I added a deduplication guard to the ClickUp notifier to prevent duplicate daily-alert tasks. This change involved modifying the clickup_notifier.py file to include a _task_exists() function.

The Problem

The ClickUp notifier was creating duplicate daily-alert tasks due to the lack of a deduplication mechanism. This issue arose when the notifier was triggered multiple times for the same repository, resulting in multiple tasks being created in ClickUp.

What I Tried First

Initially, I attempted to resolve the issue by modifying the clickup_notifier.py file to include a check for existing tasks before creating a new one. However, my first approach was incomplete, and I had to revisit the implementation.

The Implementation

To implement the deduplication guard, I added a _task_exists() function to the clickup_notifier.py file. This function checks if a task with the same title and description already exists in ClickUp.

# src/clickup_notifier.py

def _task_exists(task_title, task_description):
    # Get tasks with the same title and description
    tasks = clickup.get_tasks(
        list_id=CLICKUP_LIST_ID_VS,
        params={"title": task_title, "description": task_description},
    )
    return len(tasks) > 0

I then modified the create_task() function to call _task_exists() before creating a new task:

# src/clickup_notifier.py

def create_task(task_title, task_description):
    if _task_exists(task_title, task_description):
        print(f"Task '{task_title}' already exists. Skipping...")
        return
    # Create the task if it doesn't exist
    clickup.create_task(list_id=CLICKUP_LIST_ID_VS, title=task_title, description=task_description)

Key Takeaway

The key takeaway from this experience is the importance of implementing deduplication mechanisms when creating tasks or records in external systems. This helps prevent data duplication and ensures data consistency.

What's Next

In the next iteration, I plan to explore more advanced deduplication strategies, such as using ClickUp's built-in deduplication features or implementing a more sophisticated caching mechanism.

vibecoding #buildinpublic #clickup #deduplication #python

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Part of my Build in Public series — sharing the real process of building SaaS projects from Playa del Carmen, México.

Repo: zaerohell/content-automation · 2026-07-02

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