This section documents mypy's command line interface. You can view
a quick summary of the available flags by running mypy --help
.
Note
Command line flags are liable to change between releases.
By default, you can specify what code you want mypy to type check by passing in the paths to what you want to have type checked:
$ mypy foo.py bar.py some_directory
Note that directories are checked recursively.
Mypy also lets you specify what code to type check in several other ways. A short summary of the relevant flags is included below: for full details, see :ref:`running-mypy`.
-m MODULE
,--module MODULE
Asks mypy to type check the provided module. This flag may be repeated multiple times.
Mypy will not recursively type check any submodules of the provided module.
-p PACKAGE
,--package PACKAGE
Asks mypy to type check the provided package. This flag may be repeated multiple times.
Mypy will recursively type check any submodules of the provided package. This flag is identical to
-module
apart from this behavior.-c PROGRAM_TEXT
,--command PROGRAM_TEXT
- Asks mypy to type check the provided string as a program.
--config-file CONFIG_FILE
This flag makes mypy read configuration settings from the given file.
By default settings are read from
mypy.ini
orsetup.cfg
in the current directory, or.mypy.ini
in the user's home directory. Settings override mypy's built-in defaults and command line flags can override settings.See :ref:`config-file` for the syntax of configuration files.
--warn-unused-configs
- This flag makes mypy warn about unused
[mypy-<pattern>]
config file sections.
The following flags customize how exactly mypy discovers and follows imports.
--namespace-packages
This flag enables import discovery to use namespace packages (see PEP 420). In particular, this allows discovery of imported packages that don't have an
__init__.py
(or__init__.pyi
) file.Namespace packages are found (using the PEP 420 rules, which prefers "classic" packages over namespace packages) along the module search path -- this is primarily set from the source files passed on the command line, the
MYPYPATH
environment variable, and the :ref:`mypy_path config option <config-file-import-discovery-global>`.Note that this only affects import discovery -- for modules and packages explicitly passed on the command line, mypy still searches for
__init__.py[i]
files in order to determine the fully-qualified module/package name.--ignore-missing-imports
This flag makes mypy ignore all missing imports. It is equivalent to adding
# type: ignore
comments to all unresolved imports within your codebase.Note that this flag does not suppress errors about missing names in successfully resolved modules. For example, if one has the following files:
package/__init__.py package/mod.py
Then mypy will generate the following errors with
--ignore-missing-imports
:import package.unknown # No error, ignored x = package.unknown.func() # OK. 'func' is assumed to be of type 'Any' from package import unknown # No error, ignored from package.mod import NonExisting # Error: Module has no attribute 'NonExisting'
For more details, see :ref:`ignore-missing-imports`.
--follow-imports {normal,silent,skip,error}
This flag adjusts how mypy follows imported modules that were not explicitly passed in via the command line.
The default option is
normal
: mypy will follow and type check all modules. For more information on what the other options do, see :ref:`Following imports <follow-imports>`.--python-executable EXECUTABLE
This flag will have mypy collect type information from PEP 561 compliant packages installed for the Python executable
EXECUTABLE
. If not provided, mypy will use PEP 561 compliant packages installed for the Python executable running mypy.See :ref:`installed-packages` for more on making PEP 561 compliant packages. This flag will attempt to set
--python-version
if not already set.--no-site-packages
This flag will disable searching for PEP 561 compliant packages. This will also disable searching for a usable Python executable.
Use this flag if mypy cannot find a Python executable for the version of Python being checked, and you don't need to use PEP 561 typed packages. Otherwise, use
--python-executable
.--no-silence-site-packages
- By default, mypy will suppress any error messages generated within PEP 561 compliant packages. Adding this flag will disable this behavior.
By default, mypy will assume that you intend to run your code using the same operating system and Python version you are using to run mypy itself. The following flags let you modify this behavior.
For more information on how to use these flags, see :ref:`version_and_platform_checks`.
--python-version X.Y
This flag will make mypy type check your code as if it were run under Python version X.Y. Without this option, mypy will default to using whatever version of Python is running mypy. Note that the
-2
and--py2
flags are aliases for--python-version 2.7
.This flag will attempt to find a Python executable of the corresponding version to search for PEP 561 compliant packages. If you'd like to disable this, use the
--no-site-packages
flag (see :ref:`import-discovery` for more details).-2
,--py2
- Equivalent to running
--python-version 2.7
. --platform PLATFORM
This flag will make mypy type check your code as if it were run under the given operating system. Without this option, mypy will default to using whatever operating system you are currently using.
The
PLATFORM
parameter may be any string supported by sys.platform.
--always-true NAME
- This flag will treat all variables named
NAME
as compile-time constants that are always true. This flag may be repeated. --always-false NAME
- This flag will treat all variables named
NAME
as compile-time constants that are always false. This flag may be repeated.
The Any
type is used represent a value that has a :ref:`dynamic type <dynamic-typing>`.
The --disallow-any
family of flags will disallow various uses of the Any
type in
a module -- this lets us strategically disallow the use of dynamic typing in a controlled way.
The following options are available:
--disallow-any-unimported
- This flag disallows usage of types that come from unfollowed imports
(such types become aliases for
Any
). Unfollowed imports occur either when the imported module does not exist or when--follow-imports=skip
is set. --disallow-any-expr
This flag disallows all expressions in the module that have type
Any
. If an expression of typeAny
appears anywhere in the module mypy will output an error unless the expression is immediately used as an argument tocast
or assigned to a variable with an explicit type annotation.In addition, declaring a variable of type
Any
or casting to typeAny
is not allowed. Note that calling functions that take parameters of typeAny
is still allowed.--disallow-any-decorated
- This flag disallows functions that have
Any
in their signature after decorator transformation. --disallow-any-explicit
- This flag disallows explicit
Any
in type positions such as type annotations and generic type parameters. --disallow-any-generics
- This flag disallows usage of generic types that do not specify explicit
type parameters. Moreover, built-in collections (such as
list
anddict
) become disallowed as you should use their aliases from the typing module (such asList[int]
andDict[str, str]
). --disallow-subclassing-any
This flag reports an error whenever a class subclasses a value of type
Any
. This may occur when the base class is imported from a module that doesn't exist (when using :ref:`--ignore-missing-imports <ignore-missing-imports>`) or is ignored due to :ref:`--follow-imports=skip <follow-imports>` or a# type: ignore
comment on theimport
statement.Since the module is silenced, the imported class is given a type of
Any
. By default mypy will assume that the subclass correctly inherited the base class even though that may not actually be the case. This flag makes mypy raise an error instead.
The following flags configure how mypy handles untyped function definitions or calls.
--disallow-untyped-calls
- This flag reports an error whenever a function with type annotations calls a function defined without annotations.
--disallow-untyped-defs
- This flag reports an error whenever it encounters a function definition without type annotations.
--disallow-incomplete-defs
- This flag reports an error whenever it encounters a partly annotated function definition.
--check-untyped-defs
This flag is less severe than the previous two options -- it type checks the body of every function, regardless of whether it has type annotations. (By default the bodies of functions without annotations are not type checked.)
It will assume all arguments have type
Any
and always inferAny
as the return type.--disallow-untyped-decorators
- This flag reports an error whenever a function with type annotations is decorated with a decorator without annotations.
The following flags adjust how mypy handles values of type None. For more details, see :ref:`no_strict_optional`.
--no-implicit-optional
This flag causes mypy to stop treating arguments with a
None
default value as having an implicitOptional[...]
type.For example, by default mypy will assume that the
x
parameter is of typeOptional[int]
in the code snippet below since the default parameter isNone
:def foo(x: int = None) -> None: print(x)
If this flag is set, the above snippet will no longer type check: we must now explicitly indicate that the type is
Optional[int]
:def foo(x: Optional[int] = None) -> None: print(x)
--no-strict-optional
- This flag disables strict checking of
Optional[...]
types andNone
values. With this option, mypy doesn't generally check the use ofNone
values -- they are valid everywhere. See :ref:`no_strict_optional` for more about this feature.
Note
Strict optional checking was enabled by default starting in
mypy 0.600, and in previous versions it had to be explicitly enabled
using --strict-optional
(which is still accepted).
The follow flags enable warnings for code that is sound but is potentially problematic or redundant in some way.
--warn-redundant-casts
- This flag will make mypy report an error whenever your code uses an unnecessary cast that can safely be removed.
--warn-unused-ignores
This flag will make mypy report an error whenever your code uses a
# type: ignore
comment on a line that is not actually generating an error message.This flag, along with the
--warn-unsued-casts
flag, are both particularly useful when you are upgrading mypy. Previously, you may have needed to add casts or# type: ignore
annotations to work around bugs in mypy or missing stubs for 3rd party libraries.These two flags let you discover cases where either workarounds are no longer necessary.
--no-warn-no-return
By default, mypy will generate errors when a function is missing return statements in some execution paths. The only exceptions are when:
- The function has a
None
orAny
return type - The function has an empty body or a body that is just
ellipsis (
...
). Empty functions are often used for abstract methods.
Passing in
--no-warn-no-return
will disable these error messages in all cases.- The function has a
--warn-return-any
- This flag causes mypy to generate a warning when returning a value
with type
Any
from a function declared with a non-Any
return type.
This section documents any other flags that do not neatly fall under any of the above sections.
--allow-untyped-globals
- This flag causes mypy to suppress errors caused by not being able to fully infer the types of global and class variables.
--strict
This flag mode enables all optional error checking flags. You can see the list of flags enabled by strict mode in the full
mypy --help
output.Note: the exact list of flags enabled by running
--strict
may change over time.
The following flags let you adjust how much detail mypy displays in error messages.
--show-error-context
This flag will precede all errors with "note" messages explaining the context of the error. For example, consider the following program:
class Test: def foo(self, x: int) -> int: return x + "bar"
Mypy normally displays an error message that looks like this:
main.py:3: error: Unsupported operand types for + ("int" and "str")
If we enable this flag, the error message now looks like this:
main.py: note: In member "foo" of class "Test": main.py:3: error: Unsupported operand types for + ("int" and "str")
--show-column-numbers
This flag will add column offsets to error messages, for example, the following indicates an error in line 12, column 9 (note that column offsets are 0-based):
main.py:12:9: error: Unsupported operand types for / ("int" and "str")
By default, mypy will store type information into a cache. Mypy will use this information to avoid unnecessary recomputation when it type checks your code again. This can help speed up the type checking process, especially when most parts of your program have not changed since the previous mypy run.
If you want to speed up how long it takes to recheck your code beyond what incremental mode can offer, try running mypy in :ref:`daemon mode <mypy_daemon>`.
--no-incremental
This flag disables incremental mode: mypy will no longer reference the cache when re-run.
Note that mypy will still write out to the cache even when incremental mode is disabled: see the
--cache-dir
flag below for more details.--cache-dir DIR
By default, mypy stores all cache data inside of a folder named
.mypy_cache
in the current directory. This flag lets you change this folder. This flag can also be useful for controlling cache use when using :ref:`remote caching <remote-cache>`.Mypy will also always write to the cache even when incremental mode is disabled so it can "warm up" the cache. To disable writing to the cache, use
--cache-dir=/dev/null
(UNIX) or--cache-dir=nul
(Windows).--skip-version-check
- By default, mypy will ignore cache data generated by a different version of mypy. This flag disables that behavior.
--quick-and-dirty
This flag enables a deprecated, unsafe variant of incremental mode. Quick mode is faster than regular incremental mode because it only re-checks modules that were modified since their cache file was last written: regular incremental mode also re-checks all modules that depend on one or more modules that were re-checked.
Quick mode is unsafe because it may miss problems caused by a change in a dependency. Quick mode updates the cache, but regular incremental mode ignores cache files written by quick mode.
We recommend that you try using the :ref:`mypy_daemon` before attempting to use this feature. Quick mode is deprecated and will soon be removed.
The following flags are useful mostly for people who are interested in developing or debugging mypy internals.
--pdb
- This flag will invoke the Python debugger when mypy encounters a fatal error.
--show-traceback
,--tb
- If set, this flag will display a full traceback when mypy encounters a fatal error.
--custom-typing MODULE
- This flag lets you use a custom module as a substitute for the
typing
module. --custom-typeshed-dir DIR
- This flag specifies the directory where mypy looks for typeshed stubs, instead of the typeshed that ships with mypy. This is primarily intended to make it easier to test typeshed changes before submitting them upstream, but also allows you to use a forked version of typeshed.
--warn-incomplete-stub
This flag modifies both the
--disallow-untyped-defs
and--disallow-incomplete-defs
flags so they also report errors if stubs in typeshed are missing type annotations or has incomplete annotations. If both flags are missing,--warn-incomplete-stub
also does nothing.This flag is mainly intended to be used by people who want contribute to typeshed and would like a convenient way to find gaps and omissions.
If you want mypy to report an error when your codebase uses an untyped function, whether that function is defined in typeshed or not, use the
--disallow-untyped-call
flag. See :ref:`untyped-definitions-and-calls` for more details.
--shadow-file SOURCE_FILE SHADOW_FILE
When mypy is asked to type check
SOURCE_FILE
, this flag makes mypy read from and type check the contents ofSHADOW_FILE
instead. However, diagnostics will continue to refer toSOURCE_FILE
.Specifying this argument multiple times (
--shadow-file X1 Y1 --shadow-file X2 Y2
) will allow mypy to perform multiple substitutions.This allows tooling to create temporary files with helpful modifications without having to change the source file in place. For example, suppose we have a pipeline that adds
reveal_type
for certain variables. This pipeline is run onoriginal.py
to producetemp.py
. Runningmypy --shadow-file original.py temp.py original.py
will then cause mypy to type check the contents oftemp.py
instead oforiginal.py
, but error messages will still referenceoriginal.py
.
If these flags are set, mypy will generate a report in the specified format into the specified directory.
--any-exprs-report DIR
- Causes mypy to generate a text file report documenting how many
expressions of type
Any
are present within your codebase. --linecount-report DIR
- Causes mypy to generate a text file report documenting the functions and lines that are typed and untyped within your codebase.
--linecoverage-report DIR
- Causes mypy to generate a JSON file that maps each source file's absolute filename to a list of line numbers that belong to typed functions in that file.
--cobertura-xml-report DIR
Causes mypy to generate a Cobertura XML type checking coverage report.
You must install the lxml library to generate this report.
--html-report DIR
,--xslt-html-report DIR
Causes mypy to generate an HTML type checking coverage report.
You must install the lxml library to generate this report.
--txt-report DIR
,--xslt-txt-report DIR
Causes mypy to generate a text file type checking coverage report.
You must install the lxml library to generate this report.
--junit-xml JUNIT_XML
- Causes mypy to generate a JUnit XML test result document with type checking results. This can make it easier to integrate mypy with continuous integration (CI) tools.
--find-occurrences CLASS.MEMBER
- This flag will make mypy print out all usages of a class member based on static type information. This feature is experimental.
--scripts-are-modules
This flag will give command line arguments that appear to be scripts (i.e. files whose name does not end in
.py
) a module name derived from the script name rather than the fixed name__main__
.This lets you check more than one script in a single mypy invocation. (The default
__main__
is technically more correct, but if you have many scripts that import a large package, the behavior enabled by this flag is often more convenient.)