Type hinting in IntelliJ IDEA

IntelliJ IDEA provides various means to assist inspecting and checking the types of the objects in your script. IntelliJ IDEA supports type hinting in function annotations and type comments using the typing module and the format defined by PEP 484.

Adding type hints

Although IntelliJ IDEA supports all methods for adding types supported in PEP 484, using type hints through intention actions is the most convenient way. Depending on the interpreter you use, the type is added as an annotation (Python 3) or as a comment (Python 2).

To add a type hint, follow these steps:

Select a code element.
Press Alt+Enter.
Select Add type hint for ....
Press Enter to complete the action or edit the type if appropriate.

Example	Intention Action	Resulting Code for comments (Python 2)	Resulting Code for annotations (Python 3)
Variables
Functions
Class attributes

You can also use Python stubs or comments to specify the types of variables, functions, and class fields.

Specifying types by using comments

Use a # type: comment to specify the types of local variables and attributes:

Converting comments

For comment-based type hints, IntelliJ IDEA suggests an intention action that allows you to convert comment-based type hint to a variable annotation. This intention has the name Convert to variable annotation, and works as follows:

Before	After
from typing import List, Optional xs = [] # type: List[Optional[str]]	from typing import List, Optional xs: List[Optional[str]] = []

Type hints validation

Any time you're applying type hints, IntelliJ IDEA checks if the type is used correctly according to the supported PEPs. If there is a usage error, the corresponding warning is shown and the recommended action is suggested. Below are the validation examples.

Validation error	Suggested action
Duplication of type declaration.	Remove either of the type declarations.
Number of arguments in the type declaration differs from the number of function arguments.	Adjust the number of the arguments.
Type comments with unpacking do not match the corresponding targets.	Check the target format and modify the type comment accordingly.
Incorrect syntax of `Callable` parameters.	Use the suggested format and add the required brackets to wrap `Callable` parameters.
Unexpected type in assignment expressions.	Align the types to match the expected pattern.
Assigning a value to a `Final` variable.	You cannot alter a `Final` variable. Consider changing the type of the variable.
Inheriting a `Final` class.	You cannot inherit a `Final` class. Consider changing its type.
Incorrect type of the function argument.	Use the `Color` type instead of `int`.
Incorrect usage of the `TypedDict` class.	Refer to the `TypedDict` object as follows: `record_movie(Movie(title='Blade Runner', year=1982))`
Incorrect type of decorated methods. IntelliJ IDEA can validate the type of decorated methods based on the types of their decorators as well as the type hints of their decorators:	Use the suggested type, in this example, `str` instead of `int`.

You can add a # type: ignore comment to suppress a type validate warning or a missing import statement.

Python stubs

As IntelliJ IDEA supports Python stub files, you can specify the type hints using Python 3 syntax for both Python 2 and 3.

If any type hints recorded in the stub files, they become available in your code that use these stubs. For example, the following type hint for some_func_2 becomes available in the Python code:

If you're using a package for which a stub analog is detected, the following message will be shown:

You can install the stub package, ignore this message and continue working with the currently installed package, or even disable the corresponding inspection in the project Settings/Preferences.

Using Typeshed

Typeshed is a set of files with type annotations for the standard Python library and various packages. Typeshed stubs provide definitions for Python classes, functions, and modules defined with type hints. IntelliJ IDEA uses this information for better code completion, inspections, and other code insight features.

IntelliJ IDEA is switching to Typeshed, the common repository for Python stubs. The Typeshed stubs bundled with IntelliJ IDEA are shown in the project view under the node External Libraries | <Python interpreter> | Typeshed Stubs. Note that IntelliJ IDEA currently uses only a few of the bundled stubs (that is builtins.pyi, typing.pyi, and several others).

To override the bundled Typeshed repository with your own version, follow these steps:

Copy some or all the stubs into a directory in your project.
Mark a directory as a source root by choosing Mark Directory as | Sources Root from the context menu of the directory.

The Python skeletons repository https://github.com/JetBrains/python-skeletons is now deprecated.

Last modified: 01 August 2022