diff --git a/lib/pins.js b/lib/pins.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4e0791d05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/pins.js
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+/*jshint esversion: 6 */
+
+var Pins = module.exports;
+
+/*
+    takes contents of a pinFile (UTF8 string)
+    and the pin file's name
+    returns an array of of channel ids which are pinned
+
+    throw errors on pin logs with invalid pin data
+*/
+Pins.calculateFromLog = function (pinFile, fileName) {
+    var pins = {};
+    pinFile.split('\n').filter((x)=>(x)).map((l) => JSON.parse(l)).forEach((l) => {
+        switch (l[0]) {
+            case 'RESET': {
+                pins = {};
+                if (l[1] && l[1].length) { l[1].forEach((x) => { pins[x] = 1; }); }
+                //jshint -W086
+                // fallthrough
+            }
+            case 'PIN': {
+                l[1].forEach((x) => { pins[x] = 1; });
+                break;
+            }
+            case 'UNPIN': {
+                l[1].forEach((x) => { delete pins[x]; });
+                break;
+            }
+            default:
+                // FIXME logging
+                // TODO write to the error log
+                /* Log.error('CORRUPTED_PIN_LOG', {
+                    line: JSON.stringify(l),
+                    fileName: fileName,
+                }); */
+                console.error(new Error (JSON.stringify(l) + '  ' + fileName));
+        }
+    });
+    return Object.keys(pins);
+};
+
+// TODO refactor to include a streaming version for use in rpc.js as well
diff --git a/scripts/check-account-deletion.js b/scripts/check-account-deletion.js
index 69d720cb5..020e3c254 100644
--- a/scripts/check-account-deletion.js
+++ b/scripts/check-account-deletion.js
@@ -4,32 +4,9 @@ const nThen = require('nthen');
 const Pinned = require('./pinned');
 const Nacl = require('tweetnacl');
 const Path = require('path');
+const Pins = require('../lib/pins');
 const Config = require('../lib/load-config');
 
-const hashesFromPinFile = (pinFile, fileName) => {
-    var pins = {};
-    pinFile.split('\n').filter((x)=>(x)).map((l) => JSON.parse(l)).forEach((l) => {
-        switch (l[0]) {
-            case 'RESET': {
-                pins = {};
-                if (l[1] && l[1].length) { l[1].forEach((x) => { pins[x] = 1; }); }
-                //jshint -W086
-                // fallthrough
-            }
-            case 'PIN': {
-                l[1].forEach((x) => { pins[x] = 1; });
-                break;
-            }
-            case 'UNPIN': {
-                l[1].forEach((x) => { delete pins[x]; });
-                break;
-            }
-            default: throw new Error(JSON.stringify(l) + '  ' + fileName);
-        }
-    });
-    return Object.keys(pins);
-};
-
 var escapeKeyCharacters = function (key) {
     return key && key.replace && key.replace(/\//g, '-');
 };
@@ -61,7 +38,7 @@ nThen((waitFor) => {
     let f = Path.join(pinPath, edPublic.slice(0, 2), edPublic + '.ndjson');
     Fs.readFile(f, waitFor((err, content) => {
         if (err) { throw err; }
-        pinned = hashesFromPinFile(content.toString('utf8'), f);
+        pinned = Pins.calculateFromLog(content.toString('utf8'), f);
     }));
 }).nThen((waitFor) => {
     Pinned.load(waitFor((d) => {
diff --git a/scripts/pinned.js b/scripts/pinned.js
index ba1054d77..f42b4bf8c 100644
--- a/scripts/pinned.js
+++ b/scripts/pinned.js
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ const Path = require("path");
 const Semaphore = require('saferphore');
 const Once = require("../lib/once");
 const nThen = require('nthen');
+const Pins = require("../lib/pins");
 
 const sema = Semaphore.create(20);
 
@@ -11,38 +12,6 @@ let dirList;
 const fileList = [];
 const pinned = {};
 
-// FIXME this seems to be duplicated in a few places.
-// make it a library and put it in ./lib/
-const checkPinStatus = (pinFile, fileName) => {
-    var pins = {};
-    pinFile.split('\n').filter((x)=>(x)).map((l) => JSON.parse(l)).forEach((l) => {
-        switch (l[0]) {
-            case 'RESET': {
-                pins = {};
-                if (l[1] && l[1].length) { l[1].forEach((x) => { pins[x] = 1; }); }
-                //jshint -W086
-                // fallthrough
-            }
-            case 'PIN': {
-                l[1].forEach((x) => { pins[x] = 1; });
-                break;
-            }
-            case 'UNPIN': {
-                l[1].forEach((x) => { delete pins[x]; });
-                break;
-            }
-            default:
-                // TODO write to the error log
-                /* Log.error('CORRUPTED_PIN_LOG', {
-                    line: JSON.stringify(l),
-                    fileName: fileName,
-                }); */
-                console.error(new Error (JSON.stringify(l) + '  ' + fileName));
-        }
-    });
-    return Object.keys(pins);
-};
-
 module.exports.load = function (cb, config) {
     var pinPath = config.pinPath || './pins';
     var done = Once(cb);
@@ -84,7 +53,7 @@ module.exports.load = function (cb, config) {
                         waitFor.abort();
                         return void done(err);
                     }
-                    const hashes = checkPinStatus(content.toString('utf8'), f);
+                    const hashes = Pins.calculateFromLog(content.toString('utf8'), f);
                     hashes.forEach((x) => {
                         (pinned[x] = pinned[x] || {})[f.replace(/.*\/([^/]*).ndjson$/, (x, y)=>y)] = 1;
                     });
diff --git a/scripts/pinneddata.js b/scripts/pinneddata.js
index 5f3d4e1ec..e87aaf971 100644
--- a/scripts/pinneddata.js
+++ b/scripts/pinneddata.js
@@ -3,36 +3,7 @@ const Fs = require('fs');
 const Semaphore = require('saferphore');
 const nThen = require('nthen');
 const Path = require('path');
-
-/*
-    takes contents of a pinFile (UTF8 string)
-    and the pin file's name
-    returns an array of of channel ids which are pinned
-
-    throw errors on pin logs with invalid pin data
-*/
-const hashesFromPinFile = (pinFile, fileName) => {
-    var pins = {};
-    pinFile.split('\n').filter((x)=>(x)).map((l) => JSON.parse(l)).forEach((l) => {
-        switch (l[0]) {
-            case 'RESET': {
-                pins = {};
-                if (l[1] && l[1].length) { l[1].forEach((x) => { pins[x] = 1; }); }
-                break;
-            }
-            case 'PIN': {
-                l[1].forEach((x) => { pins[x] = 1; });
-                break;
-            }
-            case 'UNPIN': {
-                l[1].forEach((x) => { delete pins[x]; });
-                break;
-            }
-            default: throw new Error(JSON.stringify(l) + '  ' + fileName);
-        }
-    });
-    return Object.keys(pins);
-};
+const Pins = require('../lib/pins');
 
 /*
     takes an array of pinned file names
@@ -152,7 +123,7 @@ module.exports.load = function (config, cb) {
                 Fs.readFile(f, waitFor(returnAfter((err, content) => {
                     if (err) { throw err; }
                     // get the list of channels pinned by this log
-                    const hashes = hashesFromPinFile(content.toString('utf8'), f);
+                    const hashes = Pins.calculateFromLog(content.toString('utf8'), f);
                     if (config.unpinned) {
                         hashes.forEach((x) => { pinned[x] = 1; });
                     } else {