wtf is pep8?

pycodestyle (originally called pep8) is a tool that checks your Python code against PEP 8, the widely accepted style guide for writing Python. Think of it as a proofreader for your code: it scans your files and points out places where your formatting doesn't follow the community's agreed-upon conventions, like having too many blank lines or putting spaces in odd spots. The tool runs from your command line. You point it at a Python file or folder, and it produces a list of issues it found, complete with the filename, line number, and a short description of each problem. You can ask it to show the exact offending line of code, display the relevant style rule being violated, or generate a summary count of each error type across a whole project. Many code editors can use this output to let you jump straight to each problem spot. This is useful for anyone writing Python, from a solo developer cleaning up a personal script to a team trying to keep their codebase consistent. If you've ever wondered whether your import statements should be on separate lines or how many blank lines belong between functions, this tool answers those questions automatically. Teams often run it before committing code so that everyone's work looks uniform, making the shared codebase easier to read and review. A few design choices stand out. The entire tool is a single Python file with no external dependencies, so you can drop it into a project and run it almost anywhere. It also uses a plugin architecture, meaning developers can write and add their own custom checks without modifying the core program. It comes with a built-in test suite to verify that checks behave as expected.