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Finding and Merging Duplicate Features

Use AI to detect similar requests and merge them to consolidate votes

Users often submit the same feature request in different words. Merging duplicates consolidates votes and prevents your board from cluttering up.

Why Merge Duplicates

Multiple requests for the same feature split attention and votes. When you merge them:

  • All votes combine into one feature
  • All comments stay accessible
  • Users see the true demand for a feature
  • Your roadmap stays clean and focused

How AI Detection Works

Starting a Scan

  1. Select any feature from your list
  2. Click the duplicate detection button
  3. AI scans all active features looking for similar requests

The scan compares the selected feature against everything else on your board. It takes a few seconds depending on how many features you have.

What AI Looks For

AI ignores marketing fluff like "enhance user experience" or "streamline workflow." It focuses on what's actually being requested:

  • The specific action — export, integrate, display
  • The technology mentioned — YouTube, CSV, Stripe
  • The constraints — "without leaving the app", "in real-time"
  • The context — when, where, or how it should work

Two requests mentioning the same technology with the same constraint score very high, even if one says "would be great" and the other says "critical for workflow."

Understanding the Results

AI groups similar features and shows a similarity score:

  • 90-100% — Essentially the same request, just worded differently
  • 70-89% — Very similar, should likely be merged
  • 50-69% — Related but might be distinct features
  • Below 50% — Different requests (AI won't show these)

Each match includes an explanation of why it's considered similar.

Merging Features

Using AI Results

After scanning:

  1. Review the grouped features
  2. Check the similarity scores and explanations
  3. Select which features to merge using checkboxes
  4. Click "Merge Selected"

You need at least two features selected to merge.

Manual Merging

You can also merge without AI detection:

  1. Select multiple features from your main board using checkboxes
  2. Click the merge action
  3. Choose which feature should be primary

This works when you spot duplicates yourself or want to combine related requests.

What Happens During Merge

When you merge features:

  1. Choose a primary feature (keeps its ID and URL)
  2. All votes from other features transfer to the primary
  3. All comments remain accessible
  4. Other features get archived (not deleted)
  5. An audit trail records what was merged

Generating Merged Content — Click "Generate with AI" to create a combined title and description. AI considers all selected features and their vote counts, producing text that covers all use cases. You can edit this before confirming.

Best Practices

Scan regularly — Run detection after you get 10-20 new requests to catch duplicates early.

Review AI suggestions — The similarity score helps, but you decide what to merge. Two features at 75% similarity might serve different use cases.

Keep the best title — Choose the primary feature with the clearest title. AI can generate a new one if needed.

Notify merged users — After merging, voters from archived features automatically follow the primary feature. Their votes have moved, but they might not realize it until they check back.

When Not to Merge

Don't merge if:

  • Features target different user groups
  • One is clearly a subset of the other (might ship separately)
  • Timing differs significantly (one is urgent, one is long-term)
  • Implementation approaches conflict

Similarity doesn't always mean they should merge. Context matters.