Repeat guard: do not post the same material twice

Before a post can be approved, ReachWeaver checks whether this platform has already received the same material from you. It looks for the same video file, the same image file, the same wording, and the same link. The check is local and read-only, and it never sends anything. The blocking part runs again when the post is about to be sent (see when a send is refused).

What counts as “the same”

Material	How it is compared	Result
Video	SHA-256 of the exact file bytes	Same bytes on the same platform and account: blocks approval
Image	SHA-256 of each image file	Same bytes: blocks approval
Wording	Word 3-gram overlap, ignoring case, accents and links	Identical wording: blocks approval. 60% or more overlap: a warning
Link	Lower-case host, tracking parameters and #fragment removed	A reminder only; reusing a link is normal

The same video on a different platform is never a repeat, because cross-posting is the point. The same material from a different account on the same platform is a warning, not a block (a company page and a personal profile often share a video on purpose).

Where the history comes from

1. Posts in ReachWeaver’s database. Published, in flight (sending), unresolved (needs_review) and still-queued posts (draft, approved, scheduled) all count. Cancelled posts do not. Published, sending and needs_review posts count as already shared, because the platform has the post or may have it. Queued posts are also queued, which is a warning.
2. Things you posted by hand. ReachWeaver cannot see what you paste into a platform’s own app or site. Record it once and later drafts are checked against it:

reachweaver mark-shared --platform youtube --account my-channel \
  --video launch.mp4 --text "Version 3 is out" --url https://youtu.be/EXAMPLE --note "launch video"

mark-shared stores the text, the file hashes and the canonical links in the local database. It does not copy your video or image files, contacts nobody and posts nothing. Without --account the record counts for every account on that platform. Add --url LINK to also make the post measurable (results, report, insights); the repeat check treats it exactly the same (measure posts you shared by hand).

The commands

reachweaver check POST_ID                 # also reports repeats; a blocking repeat shows as BLOCKED
reachweaver show POST_ID                  # the JSON includes "repeat_check"
reachweaver repeat-check --post-id POST_ID
reachweaver repeat-check --platform youtube --account my-channel --video launch.mp4   # before you even draft
reachweaver mark-shared --platform tiktok --video clip.mp4

repeat-check is read-only: it opens the database read-only, creates nothing, and exits 1 only when something would block approval. Add --json for a machine-readable result and --days N to change how far back similar wording is looked for (default 365). Identical files and identical wording are always found.

When approval is refused

Refusing to approve POST_ID: the same video file is already shared on this platform by this account
(post 1a2b3c, published, 2026-09-30). Check `repeat-check --post-id` for the full list; pass --allow-repeat
only if sharing it again is intended. Nothing changed

Your options, in order of preference: choose different material; or, if sharing again is intended (an evergreen reminder, a re-upload after a fix), approve with --allow-repeat. The override is deliberate: it is bound into that approval (approved_allow_repeat, tag approval/repeat-1, so unapprove withdraws it and editing it in the database is a hash mismatch). An audit event (repeat_override) lists what matched; it is written only when the approval itself succeeds, in the same transaction, and carries the same approval_sha256= prefix as that approve event, so a refused approve leaves no override behind. Only you can pass it: approval stays a human action, and the Claude Code skill is not allowed to run approve.

When a send is refused

The same check runs again when a post is about to be sent: in publish --live before the identity preflight, and inside the claim itself, under the same database lock that marks a post as sending. A post is refused when its video, an image or its exact wording matches material the same account has already published, is sending, has in needs_review, or recorded with mark-shared. So two copies approved before either was sent can no longer both go out: the first is sent, the second is refused.

SKIPPED POST_ID: repeat_of_shared_material: post POST_ID is an exact repeat: the same wording is already shared
on this platform by this account (post 1a2b3c, published, 2026-10-21); it stays approved/scheduled and is
re-refused on every run until a human acts: ...; not claimed, no request sent

Nothing is written for the refused post (no claim, no budget, no last_error), and the worker log reason is repeat_of_shared_material. It is refused again on every run until you act: cancel it, or, if both copies should go out, unapprove, show and approve --allow-repeat. Only an approval made with --allow-repeat passes; the repeat_override event is never read as permission. approve prints a note when an exact copy is also queued on the same account, and the dry run (publish without --live) shows the refusal. Another account with the same material is not a repeat.

Honest limits

• Exact files only. A video that was re-encoded, trimmed or re-exported has different bytes and is not recognised. There is no look-alike (perceptual) matching.
• Only what ReachWeaver knows. It does not read the platform. Posts made elsewhere count only if you recorded them with mark-shared, or with posted LINK --text "..." (wording only). A posted record without --text holds no material, so it never matches anything.
• Wording is a heuristic. The 60% threshold is an editorial choice, not a platform spam rule. A platform may treat repeats differently; this is your own guard against posting the same thing twice.
• Exact repeats only at send time. The send-time check refuses identical files and identical wording on the same account; similar wording and the same link stay warnings at check, show and approve.
• It does not judge quality or permission. Passing the check does not mean a post is allowed on a platform.

See also: start here, manual export (use mark-shared after you post a package by hand) and troubleshooting.