---
id: pep8
version: "1.7.1"
license: Expat license
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: abandoned
---

# pep8 — Python style guide checker

License: permissive · Maintenance: abandoned · Downloads: 1.8M/mo

## What it is and what it does

pep8 is a command-line tool that scans Python source files and reports style violations against PEP 8 conventions. It identifies issues like incorrect whitespace, import formatting, line length, and indentation, outputting results with file location, line number, and error codes that can be parsed by editors and build tools.

The tool is designed to be lightweight—it requires only the Python standard library and can run as a single file—and includes a plugin architecture for adding custom checks. However, as of version 1.7.1 (2017-10-24), the project is no longer maintained under the pep8 name; the maintainers have redirected users to pycodestyle for ongoing fixes and support.

Use it for:

- Automated style checking in CI/CD pipelines to enforce PEP 8 compliance before code merge
- Editor integration to highlight style violations in real-time as you write Python code
- Batch auditing of large codebases to identify and report all style violations with statistics
- Custom linting workflows where you extend pep8 with project-specific style checks via its plugin system

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Checks Python code against PEP 8 style conventions and reports violations with line numbers and error codes.

No. While pep8 is stable and has no known vulnerabilities, it has been abandoned and explicitly marked as superseded. The package itself warns users that it will no longer be released under this name. Install pycodestyle instead, which is the maintained successor.

## Install

pip install pep8
uv add pep8
poetry add pep8

## Installing pep8

Before you install: Low install friction with no runtime dependencies. However, the package is abandoned—last released 2017-10-24—and includes a warning that pep8 is no longer released under this name and will only be fixed in pycodestyle.

License in practice: Licensed under Expat license (MIT), a permissive open-source license with minimal restrictions on use, modification, and distribution.

Quickstart:

pip install pep8

pep8 myfile.py
# Output: myfile.py:69:11: E401 multiple imports on one line

Verify before relying:

- Whether pycodestyle is a direct replacement or requires code changes for existing pep8 integrations
- Current compatibility with Python versions beyond 3.5 (last mentioned in changelog)

## Package facts

- License: Expat license (permissive)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: abandoned
- Downloads: 1.8M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

pep 8 style checker, python code style linter, pep8 compliance checker, python style guide validator, code style violations detector, deprecated, style-checker

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