stale-import

Part of: Freshness Check

Check	freshness
Category	recommended
Applies to	functions, methods
Since	v1.0.0

Import or formatting changed but docstring not updated

What it detects

This rule flags functions where only imports or formatting changed in a git diff but the docstring was not updated. This is the lowest-severity freshness finding.

Why is this a problem?

While import changes are often cosmetic, they can indicate dependency changes that affect documented behavior — for example, switching from one library to another, or adding a new import for functionality that should be documented. This rule serves as a low-priority reminder to review the docstring when the surrounding code context changes.

How to Fix

Imports or formatting changed near this function but the docstring was not updated. Review whether the import change affects documented behavior (e.g., a dependency swap or new library) and update the docstring summary or description if needed.

Example

ViolationFix

# Import changed from json to orjson (faster JSON library),
# but docstring doesn't mention the change in behavior:
from orjson import loads

def parse_response(data: bytes) -> dict:
    """Parse a JSON response.

    Args:
        data: Raw response bytes.

    Returns:
        Parsed JSON as a dictionary.
    """
    return loads(data)

from orjson import loads

def parse_response(data: bytes) -> dict:
    """Parse a JSON response using orjson.

    Args:
        data: Raw response bytes.

    Returns:
        Parsed JSON as a dictionary.
    """
    return loads(data)