Python Type Hints Guide

A guide to adding type safety and improved IDE support to Python code with comprehensive type annotations.

Usage

Ask about type hints, generics, Protocol, type checker configuration, or advanced typing patterns.

Examples

• "Add type hints to a function with complex return types"
• "How do I create a generic class in Python?"
• "Set up mypy for strict type checking"

Guidelines

• Use built-in generics (list, dict) instead of typing module equivalents in Python 3.9+
• Use Protocol for structural subtyping over ABC
• Use TypeVar for generic function signatures
• Run a type checker in CI for catching type errors early
• Use from __future__ import annotations for forward references