diff --git a/dedupe.go b/dedupe.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3803732
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dedupe.go
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+package util
+
+// DedupeStrings returns a new slice holding each value of input once, in the
+// order in which each value first appears. The input slice is not modified.
+// A nil input returns nil.
+func DedupeStrings(input []string) []string {
+	if input == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	seen := make(map[string]struct{}, len(input))
+	out := make([]string, 0, len(input))
+
+	for _, value := range input {
+		if _, ok := seen[value]; ok {
+			continue
+		}
+		seen[value] = struct{}{}
+		out = append(out, value)
+	}
+
+	return out
+}
diff --git a/dedupe_test.go b/dedupe_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..56e9963
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dedupe_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+package util
+
+import (
+	"reflect"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestDedupeStrings(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name     string
+		input    []string
+		expected []string
+	}{
+		{"nil stays nil", nil, nil},
+		{"empty slice", []string{}, []string{}},
+		{"nothing repeated", []string{"a", "b", "c"}, []string{"a", "b", "c"}},
+		{"all one value", []string{"a", "a", "a"}, []string{"a"}},
+		{"repeats next to each other", []string{"a", "a", "b", "b"}, []string{"a", "b"}},
+		{"repeats far apart", []string{"a", "b", "a", "c", "b"}, []string{"a", "b", "c"}},
+		{"empty string is a value", []string{"", "a", ""}, []string{"", "a"}},
+	}
+
+	for _, test := range tests {
+		t.Run(test.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			got := DedupeStrings(test.input)
+			if !reflect.DeepEqual(got, test.expected) {
+				t.Errorf("expected %#v got %#v", test.expected, got)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestDedupeStringsLeavesInputAlone(t *testing.T) {
+	input := []string{"b", "a", "b"}
+	DedupeStrings(input)
+
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(input, []string{"b", "a", "b"}) {
+		t.Errorf("expected the input to be unchanged, got %#v", input)
+	}
+}