Pylance Documentation Index

This is the complete index of Pylance documentation. Use it to find guides, settings references, and diagnostic rule explanations.

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How-To Guides

Step-by-step guides for common Pylance workflows and troubleshooting.

Guide	Description
Auto-Import Guide	Control auto-import suggestions: settings, indexing, and common issues
Bundled Third-Party Stubs	Override bundled package stubs with workspace-local custom stubs
CI Type Checking	Run Pyright in CI to enforce type checking
Copilot + Pylance Workflow	Use Pylance MCP tools with Copilot to diagnose and fix Python issues
Dependency Management	Reconcile requirements.txt, pyproject.toml, lockfiles, and PEP 723 with what Pylance sees
Docstring Resolution Order	How a language server picks which docstring to show among modules, classes, functions, __init__/__new__, overloads, overrides, and multiple inheritance
Editable Installs	Make pip install -e work with Pylance
Extra Paths Glob Resolution	Use glob patterns in extraPaths, with deterministic ordering and performance notes
Generated Code	Handle generated or dynamic code that Pylance cannot analyze statically
Gradual Strict Adoption	Move from off to strict type checking incrementally
Monorepo Setup	Configure Pylance for monorepos, multi-root workspaces, and execution environments
Notebook Troubleshooting	Fix common Pylance issues in Jupyter notebooks
Performance Tuning	Reduce memory use and improve responsiveness
Python Environments	Pick the right interpreter, switch venvs, and handle multiple environments (venv, conda, uv, poetry)
Reading Pylance Logs	Use trace logging to diagnose import resolution and settings
Remote Development	Use Pylance with SSH, WSL, containers, and Codespaces
Settings Troubleshooting	Diagnose settings precedence, config file overrides, and common conflicts
Type Narrowing	Use isinstance, is None, and type guards to fix type errors
Unresolved Imports	Fix reportMissingImports and related import errors
Workspace vs Open-Files Diagnostics	Get errors across the whole workspace instead of only open files

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Settings Reference

Each page explains one python.analysis.* setting: what it does, accepted values, and when to use it.

Core Settings

Setting	Description
typeCheckingMode	Baseline strictness level (off, basic, standard, strict)
diagnosticMode	Check open files only or the whole workspace
diagnosticSeverityOverrides	Override severity of individual diagnostic rules
languageServerMode	Trade features for performance (light, default, full)

Import and Path Settings

Setting	Description
autoImportCompletions	Enable or disable auto-import suggestions in completions
autoSearchPaths	Auto-detect src/ directories
extraPaths	Additional directories for import resolution
importFormat	Prefer absolute or relative imports in auto-imports
stubPath	Directory for custom .pyi stub files
typeshedPaths	Custom typeshed location
enableEditableInstalls	Resolve PEP 660 editable installs on Python 3.13+

File Scope Settings

Setting	Description
include	Files and directories to analyze
exclude	Files and directories to skip
ignore	Files to analyze but suppress diagnostics for

Indexing and Completions

Setting	Description
indexing	Enable background indexing for auto-imports and workspace symbols
packageIndexDepths	Control indexing depth for specific packages
showOnlyDirectDependenciesInAutoImport	Limit auto-import completions to direct dependencies
persistAllIndices	Cache all indices to disk
regenerateStdLibIndices	Force re-index of standard library
userFileIndexingLimit	Maximum number of user files to index
includeAliasesFromUserFiles	Include re-exported aliases in completions
includeExtraPathSymbolsInSymbolSearch	Include extraPaths symbols in workspace search
includeVenvInWorkspaceSymbols	Include virtual environment symbols in workspace search
completeFunctionParens	Add parentheses to function completions
gotoDefinitionInStringLiteral	Go to Definition on module-like string literals
userFileIndexFollowSymlinkedFolders	Follow symlinked folders when indexing user files

Code Actions and Hints

Setting	Description
fixAll	Code actions applied on save or fix-all
inlayHints.callArgumentNames	Show parameter names at call sites
inlayHints.functionReturnTypes	Show inferred return types
inlayHints.pytestParameters	Show pytest fixture parameter types
inlayHints.variableTypes	Show inferred variable types
enablePytestSupport	Enable pytest-aware analysis
enableColorPicker	Show a color picker for hex color strings
enableTroubleshootMissingImports	Quick Fix to troubleshoot unresolved imports

Editor and Typing

Setting	Description
autoIndent	Adjust indentation automatically based on Python semantics
autoSplitStrings	Add quotes and continuation characters when splitting strings
autoFormatStrings	Add an f prefix when inserting a placeholder in a string

AI Features

Setting	Description
aiCodeActions	Enable AI-assisted Quick Fixes (requires GitHub Copilot Chat)
generateWithTypeAnnotation	Include type annotations in generated code
autoTranslateDocstrings	Translate hover docstrings via GitHub Copilot
supportRestructuredText	Render reStructuredText formatting in docstrings

Diagnostics Display

Setting	Description
excludeLibraryDiagnostics	Suppress diagnostics for library files, keep them for user files
disableTaggedHints	Turn off grayed-out / strike-through hint diagnostics
displayEnglishDiagnostics	Always show diagnostics in English

Type Evaluation Settings

Setting	Description
typeEvaluation.analyzeUnannotatedFunctions	Analyze functions without type annotations
typeEvaluation.deprecateTypingAliases	Flag deprecated typing aliases (e.g., typing.List)
typeEvaluation.disableBytesTypePromotions	Disable implicit bytes promotions
typeEvaluation.enableExperimentalFeatures	Enable experimental type-checking features
typeEvaluation.enableReachabilityAnalysis	Detect unreachable code
typeEvaluation.enableTypeIgnoreComments	Control # type: ignore comments
typeEvaluation.strictDictionaryInference	Infer literal dict key/value types
typeEvaluation.strictListInference	Infer literal list element types
typeEvaluation.strictParameterNoneValue	Require explicit None type for None default parameters
typeEvaluation.strictSetInference	Infer literal set element types

Advanced Settings

Setting	Description
useLibraryCodeForTypes	Infer types from library source when stubs are missing
useNearestConfiguration	Use nearest pyrightconfig.json for each file
nodeArguments	Extra Node.js arguments for the language server
nodeExecutable	Custom Node.js executable path
logLevel	Verbosity of the Pylance Output panel log
pyrightVersion	Pin the Pyright version used for diagnostics
supportAllPythonDocuments	Extend IntelliSense to non-file Python documents

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Diagnostic Rules

Each page explains one Pyright diagnostic rule: what triggers it, code examples, and how to fix or suppress it.

All rules can be configured via diagnosticSeverityOverrides or in pyrightconfig.json.

Rule	Description
reportAbstractUsage	Instantiating abstract classes or using abstract methods directly
reportArgumentType	Argument type incompatible with parameter type
reportAssertAlwaysTrue	Assert statement condition is always true
reportAssertTypeFailure	assert_type() type mismatch
reportAssignmentType	Assignment type incompatible with target
reportAttributeAccessIssue	Accessing undefined attributes
reportCallInDefaultInitializer	Function calls in default parameter values
reportCallIssue	Problems with function or method calls
reportConstantRedefinition	Redefining a Final constant
reportDeprecated	Using deprecated functions, classes, or parameters
reportDuplicateImport	Same module imported more than once
reportFunctionMemberAccess	Accessing non-standard attributes on functions
reportGeneralTypeIssues	General type incompatibility issues
reportImplicitOverride	Method overrides without @override decorator
reportImplicitStringConcatenation	Implicit string literal concatenation
reportImportCycles	Circular import chains
reportIncompatibleMethodOverride	Method override incompatible with base class
reportIncompatibleVariableOverride	Variable override incompatible with base class
reportIncompleteStub	Stub file has __getattr__ fallback
reportInconsistentOverload	Overloaded function inconsistencies
reportIndexIssue	Invalid subscript or index operations
reportInvalidStringEscapeSequence	Unrecognized escape sequence in string
reportInvalidStubStatement	Invalid statements in .pyi stub files
reportInvalidTypeArguments	Invalid generic type arguments
reportInvalidTypeForm	Invalid type expression syntax
reportInvalidTypeVarUse	Incorrect TypeVar usage
reportMatchNotExhaustive	match statement missing cases
reportMissingImports	Import could not be resolved
reportMissingModuleSource	Module found as stub only, no source
reportMissingParameterType	Function parameter missing type annotation
reportMissingSuperCall	__init__ missing super().__init__() call
reportMissingTypeArgument	Generic type used without type arguments
reportMissingTypeStubs	No type stubs found for a library
reportOperatorIssue	Invalid operator usage for given types
reportOptionalCall	Calling a possibly None value
reportOptionalContextManager	Using possibly None as context manager
reportOptionalIterable	Iterating over possibly None value
reportOptionalMemberAccess	Accessing attribute on possibly None value
reportOptionalOperand	Using possibly None in an operation
reportOptionalSubscript	Indexing a possibly None value
reportOverlappingOverload	Overloads with ambiguous overlap
reportPossiblyUnboundVariable	Variable may not be bound in all code paths
reportPrivateImportUsage	Importing a private symbol from a typed library
reportPrivateUsage	Accessing private members (underscore-prefixed)
reportPropertyTypeMismatch	Property getter/setter type mismatch
reportRedeclaration	Variable declared with incompatible types
reportReturnType	Return value incompatible with declared return type
reportTypeCommentUsage	Using # type: comments instead of annotations
reportTypedDictNotRequiredAccess	Accessing optional TypedDict keys without check
reportUnboundVariable	Using an unbound variable
reportUndefinedVariable	Using an undefined variable
reportUnhashable	Using unhashable type as dict key or set member
reportUninitializedInstanceVariable	Instance variable not initialized in __init__
reportUnknownArgumentType	Argument has unknown type (strict mode)
reportUnknownLambdaType	Lambda has unknown parameter or return type
reportUnknownMemberType	Attribute access returns unknown type
reportUnknownParameterType	Function parameter has unknown type
reportUnknownVariableType	Variable has unknown type (strict mode)
reportUnnecessaryCast	cast() call that has no effect
reportUnnecessaryComparison	Comparison that always has the same result
reportUnnecessaryContains	in check that always has the same result
reportUnnecessaryIsInstance	isinstance() check that is always true or false
reportUnnecessaryTypeIgnoreComment	# type: ignore on a line with no error
reportUnsupportedDunderAll	Unsupported operations on __all__
reportUntypedBaseClass	Inheriting from a class with no type information
reportUntypedClassDecorator	Class decorator with no type information
reportUntypedFunctionDecorator	Function decorator with no type information
reportUntypedNamedTuple	Using untyped namedtuple() instead of NamedTuple
reportUnusedCallResult	Ignoring return value of a function call
reportUnusedClass	Class defined but never used
reportUnusedCoroutine	Coroutine created but never awaited
reportUnusedExpression	Expression result is unused
reportUnusedFunction	Function defined but never called
reportUnusedImport	Import not used in the file
reportUnusedVariable	Variable assigned but never used
reportWildcardImportFromLibrary	Using from lib import * with a library

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Type Server Protocol (TSP)

Document	Description
Type Server Protocol	Protocol overview and compatibility contract for type servers