Python Best Practices

Python Best Practices

Domain-Specific References

Load the relevant reference when the task involves these domains:

• FastAPI applications: Defer to the fastapi skill for project setup, endpoints, error handling, and Pydantic integration
• Dataframe / data engineering: Read references/dataframe.md — columnar thinking, vectorization over row loops, method chaining, Pandas → Polars → DuckDB → Spark
• Python data model: Read references/datamodel.md — __iter__/__next__, __enter__/__exit__, descriptors, @property, native-feeling APIs
• Dependency & supply chain security: Read references/security.md — CVE checking, supply chain attack prevention, dependency auditing, emergency response

Code Style

• Python 3.12+ with pyproject.toml configuration
• Follow PEP 8; use Ruff for linting and formatting
• After writing or modifying Python files, run Ruff to lint, auto-fix, and format: ruff check --fix . && ruff format .
• 4 spaces indentation, 120-char line limit
• Type hints required for all public APIs using built-in generics (list[str], dict[str, int]), not typing.List/typing.Dict
• Provide PEP 257 docstrings for all public functions and classes
• Break complex functions into smaller, well-named functions

Naming Conventions

# Files: snake_case
mcp_server.py

# Classes: PascalCase
class CustomerQueryTool:

# Functions/variables: snake_case
async def analyze_customer_query():
server_config = get_config()

# Constants: SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE
MAX_RETRY_ATTEMPTS = 3

Project Structure

Use this layout for new Python projects:

project-name/
├── pyproject.toml          # Project metadata, dependencies, tool config
├── src/
│   └── package_name/
│       ├── __init__.py
│       ├── main.py
│       └── models.py
├── tests/
│   ├── conftest.py         # Shared fixtures
│   └── test_main.py
└── README.md

• Use src/ layout to prevent accidental imports of uninstalled code
• Configure all tools (ruff, pytest, mypy) in pyproject.toml
• Prefer uv for dependency management; fall back to pip

Configuration & Environment Variables

Always use python-dotenv for environment variable management. Include it in project dependencies and call load_dotenv() at the application entry point before any os.environ access.

• Add python-dotenv to [project.dependencies] in pyproject.toml
• Call load_dotenv() once at the top of the entry point (main.py), never inside library code
• Add .env to .gitignore; commit a .env.example with placeholder values for documentation
• Use os.environ["KEY"] (not os.getenv) to fail fast on missing required values
• For typed configuration, prefer pydantic-settings (BaseSettings with env_file)

# main.py — entry point
from dotenv import load_dotenv

load_dotenv()  # must precede any os.environ access

import os

DATABASE_URL = os.environ["DATABASE_URL"]
API_KEY = os.environ["API_KEY"]

Testing

• Use pytest with conftest.py for shared fixtures
• Use @pytest.mark.parametrize for input variation
• Use Faker() for generating realistic test data
• Use hypothesis for property-based testing of pure functions
• Use schemathesis for property-based testing of API endpoints
• Use pytest-snapshot for snapshot testing API responses
• Measure coverage with pytest-cov; write tests for uncovered paths
• Handle edge cases: empty inputs, invalid types, boundary values, large datasets

# Example: parametrized test with fixture
@pytest.fixture
def sample_user(faker):
    return {"name": faker.name(), "email": faker.email()}

@pytest.mark.parametrize("quantity,expected", [(0, 0), (5, 50), (-1, ValueError)])
def test_calculate_total(quantity, expected):
    if isinstance(expected, type) and issubclass(expected, Exception):
        with pytest.raises(expected):
            calculate_total(price=10, quantity=quantity)
    else:
        assert calculate_total(price=10, quantity=quantity) == expected

Dependency & Supply Chain Security

Run pip-audit before adding or upgrading any dependency. Pin exact versions in production. Treat every third-party package as an attack surface — see references/security.md for CVE checking workflow, supply chain attack patterns, CI automation, and emergency response.

Error Handling

• Prefer specific exceptions over generic Exception
• Use custom exception classes for domain errors
• Document raised exceptions in docstrings
• Handle cleanup with context managers (with), not bare try/finally