diff --git a/src/agents/subagent-announce-queue.ts b/src/agents/subagent-announce-queue.ts
index 29e6770db..d7510b3f5 100644
--- a/src/agents/subagent-announce-queue.ts
+++ b/src/agents/subagent-announce-queue.ts
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ import {
   normalizeDeliveryContext,
 } from "../utils/delivery-context.js";
 import {
+  applyQueueDropPolicy,
   buildCollectPrompt,
-  buildQueueSummaryLine,
   buildQueueSummaryPrompt,
   hasCrossChannelItems,
   waitForQueueDebounce,
@@ -156,22 +156,15 @@ export function enqueueAnnounce(params: {
   const queue = getAnnounceQueue(params.key, params.settings, params.send);
   queue.lastEnqueuedAt = Date.now();
 
-  const cap = queue.cap;
-  if (cap > 0 && queue.items.length >= cap) {
+  const shouldEnqueue = applyQueueDropPolicy({
+    queue,
+    summarize: (item) => item.summaryLine?.trim() || item.prompt.trim(),
+  });
+  if (!shouldEnqueue) {
     if (queue.dropPolicy === "new") {
       scheduleAnnounceDrain(params.key);
-      return false;
-    }
-    const dropCount = queue.items.length - cap + 1;
-    const dropped = queue.items.splice(0, dropCount);
-    if (queue.dropPolicy === "summarize") {
-      for (const droppedItem of dropped) {
-        queue.droppedCount += 1;
-        const base = droppedItem.summaryLine?.trim() || droppedItem.prompt.trim();
-        queue.summaryLines.push(buildQueueSummaryLine(base));
-      }
-      while (queue.summaryLines.length > cap) queue.summaryLines.shift();
     }
+    return false;
   }
 
   const origin = normalizeDeliveryContext(params.item.origin);
diff --git a/src/auto-reply/reply/queue/enqueue.ts b/src/auto-reply/reply/queue/enqueue.ts
index f9c57044a..040aeb54e 100644
--- a/src/auto-reply/reply/queue/enqueue.ts
+++ b/src/auto-reply/reply/queue/enqueue.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
-import { buildQueueSummaryLine } from "../../../utils/queue-helpers.js";
+import {
+  applyQueueDropPolicy,
+  shouldSkipQueueItem,
+} from "../../../utils/queue-helpers.js";
 import { FOLLOWUP_QUEUES, getFollowupQueue } from "./state.js";
 import type { FollowupRun, QueueDedupeMode, QueueSettings } from "./types.js";
 
@@ -28,36 +31,23 @@ export function enqueueFollowupRun(
   dedupeMode: QueueDedupeMode = "message-id",
 ): boolean {
   const queue = getFollowupQueue(key, settings);
+  const dedupe =
+    dedupeMode === "none"
+      ? undefined
+      : (item: FollowupRun, items: FollowupRun[]) =>
+          isRunAlreadyQueued(item, items, dedupeMode === "prompt");
 
   // Deduplicate: skip if the same message is already queued.
-  if (dedupeMode !== "none") {
-    if (dedupeMode === "message-id" && isRunAlreadyQueued(run, queue.items)) {
-      return false;
-    }
-    if (dedupeMode === "prompt" && isRunAlreadyQueued(run, queue.items, true)) {
-      return false;
-    }
-  }
+  if (shouldSkipQueueItem({ item: run, items: queue.items, dedupe })) return false;
 
   queue.lastEnqueuedAt = Date.now();
   queue.lastRun = run.run;
 
-  const cap = queue.cap;
-  if (cap > 0 && queue.items.length >= cap) {
-    if (queue.dropPolicy === "new") {
-      return false;
-    }
-    const dropCount = queue.items.length - cap + 1;
-    const dropped = queue.items.splice(0, dropCount);
-    if (queue.dropPolicy === "summarize") {
-      for (const item of dropped) {
-        queue.droppedCount += 1;
-        const base = item.summaryLine?.trim() || item.prompt.trim();
-        queue.summaryLines.push(buildQueueSummaryLine(base));
-      }
-      while (queue.summaryLines.length > cap) queue.summaryLines.shift();
-    }
-  }
+  const shouldEnqueue = applyQueueDropPolicy({
+    queue,
+    summarize: (item) => item.summaryLine?.trim() || item.prompt.trim(),
+  });
+  if (!shouldEnqueue) return false;
 
   queue.items.push(run);
   return true;
diff --git a/src/utils/queue-helpers.ts b/src/utils/queue-helpers.ts
index f5f369c62..e4bac1fe0 100644
--- a/src/utils/queue-helpers.ts
+++ b/src/utils/queue-helpers.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,13 @@ export type QueueSummaryState = {
   summaryLines: string[];
 };
 
+export type QueueDropPolicy = QueueSummaryState["dropPolicy"];
+
+export type QueueState<T> = QueueSummaryState & {
+  items: T[];
+  cap: number;
+};
+
 export function elideQueueText(text: string, limit = 140): string {
   if (text.length <= limit) return text;
   return `${text.slice(0, Math.max(0, limit - 1)).trimEnd()}…`;
@@ -14,6 +21,36 @@ export function buildQueueSummaryLine(text: string, limit = 160): string {
   return elideQueueText(cleaned, limit);
 }
 
+export function shouldSkipQueueItem<T>(params: {
+  item: T;
+  items: T[];
+  dedupe?: (item: T, items: T[]) => boolean;
+}): boolean {
+  if (!params.dedupe) return false;
+  return params.dedupe(params.item, params.items);
+}
+
+export function applyQueueDropPolicy<T>(params: {
+  queue: QueueState<T>;
+  summarize: (item: T) => string;
+  summaryLimit?: number;
+}): boolean {
+  const cap = params.queue.cap;
+  if (cap <= 0 || params.queue.items.length < cap) return true;
+  if (params.queue.dropPolicy === "new") return false;
+  const dropCount = params.queue.items.length - cap + 1;
+  const dropped = params.queue.items.splice(0, dropCount);
+  if (params.queue.dropPolicy === "summarize") {
+    for (const item of dropped) {
+      params.queue.droppedCount += 1;
+      params.queue.summaryLines.push(buildQueueSummaryLine(params.summarize(item)));
+    }
+    const limit = Math.max(0, params.summaryLimit ?? cap);
+    while (params.queue.summaryLines.length > limit) params.queue.summaryLines.shift();
+  }
+  return true;
+}
+
 export function waitForQueueDebounce(queue: {
   debounceMs: number;
   lastEnqueuedAt: number;