deduplicate process names

[supervoidcoder]

in the original witr, it tells you if you typed a process name that has two or more pids under the same name. the function i stole from some random tutorial stops as soon as it finds one process so i need to spit out all the pids.

this is how witr does it:

witr ng
Multiple matching processes found:

[1] nginx (pid 2311)
    nginx -g daemon off;
[2] nginx (pid 24891)
    nginx -g daemon off;
[3] ngrok (pid 14233)
    ngrok http 5000

Re-run with:
  witr --pid <pid>

i think it's a little unhelpful to do exaxtly like witr, because yeah it's just annoying lol but if we want to maintain the same capabalities then sure i guess? it makes sense but we could do other things, like list the other processes in the same tree

[supervoidcoder]

@coderabbitai this seems a bit inconvenient so how should I do it?

[coderabbitai]

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@supervoidcoder, I see you're dealing with the duplicate process name issue! Here are some approaches you could take that would be more convenient than the original witr:

Option 1: Interactive Selection (Most User-Friendly)

When multiple processes match, display them with numbers and let the user pick interactively:

Multiple processes named "nginx" found:

[1] PID 2311  - nginx -g daemon off;
[2] PID 24891 - nginx -g daemon off;

Select process [1-2] or 'q' to quit: _

This saves the user from having to re-run the command with --pid.

Option 2: Show Parent Process Context

Help users disambiguate by showing the parent process:

Multiple processes named "nginx" found:

[1] PID 2311  (parent: systemd, PID 1)
    nginx -g daemon off;
[2] PID 24891 (parent: docker, PID 1234)
    nginx -g daemon off;

Select process [1-2]: _

Option 3: Smart Filtering with Extra Info

Show additional context like working directory, start time, or resource usage:

Multiple processes named "nginx" found:

[1] PID 2311  - Started 2h ago
    C:\nginx\sbin
    nginx -g daemon off;
[2] PID 24891 - Started 5m ago
    C:\docker\nginx
    nginx -g daemon off;

My Recommendation

Go with Option 1 (interactive selection) as the default behavior, but still support --pid <pid> for scripting/automation. This way:

• Interactive users get a better UX
• Scripts can still use the explicit --pid flag
• You maintain backward compatibility

For implementation, you could use Windows console input functions like ReadConsoleInput or just std::cin to read the user's selection after displaying the list.

What do you think? Would the interactive approach work for your use case?

---

🧠 Learnings used

Learnt from: supervoidcoder
Repo: supervoidcoder/win-witr PR: 48
File: README.md:38-38
Timestamp: 2026-01-21T01:52:33.870Z
Learning: For supervoidcoder's README files in the win-witr repository: The user prefers an intentionally informal, humorous tone with casual language. Grammar formality suggestions (like "anyways" vs "anyway") should be skipped as they don't align with the intentional style of the documentation.

---

Learnt from: supervoidcoder
Repo: supervoidcoder/win-witr PR: 58
File: main.cpp:380-400
Timestamp: 2026-01-29T22:00:45.201Z
Learning: In the supervoidcoder/win-witr repository, the user intentionally uses meme/humorous spellings in code comments (e.g., "vroken" instead of "broken") as part of an informal coding style. These should not be flagged as typos.

[supervoidcoder]

@coderabbitai what if I keep it as is but show the fact there's more pids as a warning at the bottom with the pid numbers

[coderabbitai]

@supervoidcoder, that's actually a solid pragmatic approach! It's way simpler to implement and doesn't disrupt the existing workflow. Here's what it could look like:

Your Proposed Approach

Process: nginx (PID 2311)
Command: nginx -g daemon off;
Working Dir: C:\nginx\sbin
...
[rest of the normal output]
...

⚠️  WARNING: Found 2 other processes with the same name:
    PID 24891, PID 31204
    Use --pid <pid> to select a specific process.

Trade-offs

Pros:

• Simple to implement - just enumerate matching processes and show a warning
• Doesn't change existing behavior for single-process cases
• Still informs users about the ambiguity
• Works well for scripting (predictable output format)

Cons:

• User still needs to re-run the command with --pid flag
• Have to decide which process to show by default (first match? highest PID? lowest?)

Default Selection Strategy

You'll need to pick which process to show when there are duplicates. Some options:

• Lowest PID (oldest process) - predictable, usually the "main" one
• Highest PID (newest process) - might be the one you just started
• First found (whatever the enumeration gives you) - simplest

I'd go with lowest PID as it's most predictable and usually what people expect.

This approach keeps your tool "easy to read under stress" without adding interactive prompts that might confuse users. Ship it! 🚀

---

🧠 Learnings used

Learnt from: supervoidcoder
Repo: supervoidcoder/win-witr PR: 0
File: :0-0
Timestamp: 2026-01-31T01:17:35.120Z
Learning: The "restart count" heuristic in the original witr tool is more accurately a "spawn loop detector." It counts consecutive identical commands in the ancestry chain (e.g., cmd → cmd → cmd shows as "2 restarts"), but this terminology is misleading because these are separate processes, not the same process restarting. The user noted this is unintuitive for a debugging tool meant to be "easy to read under stress."

---

Learnt from: supervoidcoder
Repo: supervoidcoder/win-witr PR: 0
File: :0-0
Timestamp: 2026-01-31T01:14:54.812Z
Learning: The original witr tool's "restart count" is not derived from supervisor APIs (systemd/pm2/etc.). Instead, it's a heuristic that counts consecutive identical commands in the process ancestry chain. The implementation iterates through the ancestry and increments a counter whenever the current process command matches the previous one.

---

Learnt from: supervoidcoder
Repo: supervoidcoder/win-witr PR: 48
File: README.md:38-38
Timestamp: 2026-01-21T01:52:33.870Z
Learning: For supervoidcoder's README files in the win-witr repository: The user prefers an intentionally informal, humorous tone with casual language. Grammar formality suggestions (like "anyways" vs "anyway") should be skipped as they don't align with the intentional style of the documentation.

---

Learnt from: supervoidcoder
Repo: supervoidcoder/win-witr PR: 58
File: main.cpp:380-400
Timestamp: 2026-01-29T22:00:51.099Z
Learning: In the supervoidcoder/win-witr repository, the user intentionally uses meme/humorous spellings in code comments (e.g., "vroken" instead of "broken") as part of an informal coding style. These should not be flagged as typos.