minport 0.1.3

A Python linter that finds unnecessarily long import paths and suggests shorter alternatives

minport

A Python linter that finds unnecessarily long import paths and suggests shorter alternatives by tracing re-export chains.

The Problem

Python packages expose public APIs through re-exports, but developers often import from deep internal paths instead of the canonical public interface:

# Unnecessarily long — these reach into internal modules
from pydantic.fields import FieldInfo
from sqlalchemy.orm.session import Session
from myproject.domain.user.models import User

# Shorter — these use the public re-export path
from pydantic import FieldInfo
from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
from myproject.domain import User

Long import paths are:

1. Harder to read: Internal paths obscure the public interface
2. Fragile: Internal paths break when package maintainers refactor internals (re-exports are the stable API)
3. Inconsistent: Same name imported from different paths across the codebase

Installation

pip install minport

# or with uv
uv add --dev minport

# or with pipx (for global CLI usage)
pipx install minport

Requirements: Python 3.11+ / No runtime dependencies.

Quick Start

minport check src/
# src/models.py:3:1: MP001 `from pydantic.fields import FieldInfo` can be shortened to `from pydantic import FieldInfo`
# Found 1 error (checked 12 files, 1 fixable with `minport check --fix`).

minport check src/ --fix
# Found 1 error (checked 12 files, fixed 1 in 1 file).

Usage

minport check src/                       # Check a directory
minport check src/models.py              # Check a single file
minport check src/ --src src/            # Set import resolution root
minport check src/ --exclude "tests/*"   # Exclude patterns (overrides defaults)
minport check src/ --extend-exclude "generated/*"  # Add to default excludes
minport check src/ --config path/to/pyproject.toml  # Custom config path
minport check src/ --fix                 # Auto-fix in place
minport check src/ --quiet               # Suppress the summary line

Exit codes: 0 = no violations, 1 = violations found, 2 = error (e.g. path not found).

Configuration

Configure minport in pyproject.toml:

[tool.minport]
src = ["src"]                        # Import resolution root(s)
exclude = ["tests/*", "migrations/*"]  # Exclude patterns (overrides defaults)
extend-exclude = ["generated/*"]     # Add patterns without overriding defaults

CLI arguments override pyproject.toml settings.

Default Excludes

minport automatically skips common non-source directories (.venv, __pycache__, .git, node_modules, dist, site-packages, etc.). Use --exclude to override these defaults entirely, or --extend-exclude to add patterns on top of them.

Rules

Code	Name	Description	Fixable
MP001	shorter-import-available	A shorter import path is available via re-exports	Yes

Inline Suppression

Add # minport: ignore to suppress violations on specific imports.

Single-line import:

from pydantic.fields import FieldInfo  # minport: ignore

Multi-line import — suppress all names:

from pydantic.fields import (  # minport: ignore
    FieldInfo,
    Field,
)

Multi-line import — suppress a specific name:

from pydantic.fields import (
    FieldInfo,  # minport: ignore  ← only FieldInfo is suppressed
    Field,      # ← this can still be flagged
)

How It Works

For each from X.Y.Z import Name:

1. Decompose the module path: [X, X.Y, X.Y.Z]
2. For each candidate path (shortest first), check if Name is re-exported there
3. Re-export detection via AST analysis of __init__.py:
   • from .submodule import Name — explicit re-export
   • from .submodule import Name as Name — PEP 484 explicit form
   • from .submodule import * — wildcard (recursively resolved, respects __all__)
   • __all__ = ["Name", ...] — public API declaration
4. Return the shortest match (if shorter than the original)

Works with both project packages (analyzes __init__.py files) and third-party packages (uses importlib.util.find_spec + AST analysis, no runtime imports).

Safety

• No modifications without --fix: Read-only by default
• Collision detection: If a name exists in multiple candidate paths, the import is not flagged
• Syntax error tolerance: Malformed Python files are skipped with a warning
• --fix writes in place: Always verify changes with git diff before committing

Integrations

pre-commit

# .pre-commit-config.yaml
repos:
  - repo: local
    hooks:
      - id: minport
        name: minport
        entry: minport check
        language: python
        types: [python]
        additional_dependencies: ["minport"]

GitHub Actions

# .github/workflows/lint.yml
jobs:
  minport:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: "3.13"
      - run: pip install minport
      - run: minport check src/

Limitations

• Only rewrites from X.Y.Z import Name (not import X.Y.Z)
• Does not analyze dynamic or runtime imports
• No IDE integration yet

Contributing

git clone https://github.com/KinjiKawaguchi/minport.git
cd minport
uv sync
uv run pytest --cov=minport
uv run ruff check src/ tests/

• DeepWiki — AI-generated codebase documentation

License

MIT