diff --git a/events/events.go b/events/events.go
index 915beaf19..83438ee44 100644
--- a/events/events.go
+++ b/events/events.go
@@ -290,7 +290,7 @@ func (em *EventManager) Subscribe(ctx context.Context, ident string, filter func
 			case <-done:
 				return ErrPlaybackShutdown
 			case out <- e:
-				seq := sequenceForEvent(e)
+				seq := SequenceForEvent(e)
 				if seq > 0 {
 					lastSeq = seq
 				}
@@ -315,8 +315,8 @@ func (em *EventManager) Subscribe(ctx context.Context, ident string, filter func
 
 		// run playback again to get us to the events that have started buffering
 		if err := em.persister.Playback(ctx, lastSeq, func(e *XRPCStreamEvent) error {
-			seq := sequenceForEvent(e)
-			if seq > sequenceForEvent(first) {
+			seq := SequenceForEvent(e)
+			if seq > SequenceForEvent(first) {
 				return ErrCaughtUp
 			}
 
@@ -351,7 +351,7 @@ func (em *EventManager) Subscribe(ctx context.Context, ident string, filter func
 	return out, sub.cleanup, nil
 }
 
-func sequenceForEvent(evt *XRPCStreamEvent) int64 {
+func SequenceForEvent(evt *XRPCStreamEvent) int64 {
 	switch {
 	case evt == nil:
 		return -1
diff --git a/splitter/ringbuf.go b/splitter/ringbuf.go
index 9168cdf04..2417f4eb0 100644
--- a/splitter/ringbuf.go
+++ b/splitter/ringbuf.go
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ func (er *EventRingBuffer) playbackRound(ctx context.Context, since int64, cb fu
 	for ; i >= 0; i-- {
 		c := chunks[i]
 		evts := c.events()
-		if since > sequenceForEvent(evts[len(evts)-1]) {
+		if since > events.SequenceForEvent(evts[len(evts)-1]) {
 			i++
 			break
 		}
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ func (er *EventRingBuffer) playbackRound(ctx context.Context, since int64, cb fu
 		for nread < len(evts) {
 			for _, e := range evts[nread:] {
 				nread++
-				seq := sequenceForEvent(e)
+				seq := events.SequenceForEvent(e)
 				if seq <= since {
 					continue
 				}
diff --git a/splitter/splitter.go b/splitter/splitter.go
index 0f4a6cf8c..c39fbb5e3 100644
--- a/splitter/splitter.go
+++ b/splitter/splitter.go
@@ -383,7 +383,7 @@ func (s *Splitter) handleConnection(ctx context.Context, host string, con *webso
 	defer cancel()
 
 	sched := sequential.NewScheduler("splitter", func(ctx context.Context, evt *events.XRPCStreamEvent) error {
-		seq := sequenceForEvent(evt)
+		seq := events.SequenceForEvent(evt)
 		if seq < 0 {
 			// ignore info events and other unsupported types
 			return nil
@@ -402,24 +402,8 @@ func (s *Splitter) handleConnection(ctx context.Context, host string, con *webso
 		*lastCursor = seq
 		return nil
 	})
-	return events.HandleRepoStream(ctx, con, sched)
-}
 
-func sequenceForEvent(evt *events.XRPCStreamEvent) int64 {
-	switch {
-	case evt.RepoCommit != nil:
-		return evt.RepoCommit.Seq
-	case evt.RepoHandle != nil:
-		return evt.RepoHandle.Seq
-	case evt.RepoMigrate != nil:
-		return evt.RepoMigrate.Seq
-	case evt.RepoTombstone != nil:
-		return evt.RepoTombstone.Seq
-	case evt.RepoInfo != nil:
-		return -1
-	default:
-		return -1
-	}
+	return events.HandleRepoStream(ctx, con, sched)
 }
 
 func (s *Splitter) getLastCursor() (int64, error) {