pyspelling
Spell checker.
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes, if you need automated spell checking in CI and are willing to install Aspell or Hunspell separately. The package is stable, permissively licensed, and has low install friction. The aging maintenance status (261 days since last release) is not a blocker for a mature tool, but verify that Aspell/Hunspell setup fits your deployment model before committing.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Aspell or Hunspell to be installed on your system as external command-line tools; PySpelling is a wrapper around them, not a standalone spell checker.
- Low install friction with a pure Python wheel and seven runtime dependencies (beautifulsoup4, html5lib, lxml, markdown, pyyaml, soupsieve, wcmatch).
- Maintenance status is aging—last release was 261 days ago—but the repository remains active with recent commits and no archived status.
License · maintenance · safety
MIT (permissive) — MIT license (permissive) means you can use, modify, and distribute PySpelling with minimal restrictions, making it safe for both open-source and commercial projects.
last release 2025-11-26 (261 days) · last repo commit 2025-11-26 · 94 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 166,947 downloads/mo, #10,480 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install pyspelling
Create a .spellcheckignore or config file, then run:
pyspelling check- Whether Aspell or Hunspell installation is automatic or requires manual setup on each platform.
- Specific filter types and extensibility mechanisms beyond the description's mention of custom Python filters.
- Performance characteristics when scanning large projects or many file types.
What it is and what it does
PySpelling is a Python wrapper around the Aspell and Hunspell command-line spell checkers, designed to automate spell checking across different file types in a project. It lets you define multiple spelling tasks, each with its own filters and options, so you can apply different rules to Python docstrings, HTML, Markdown, and other formats. The package works around limitations in Aspell and Hunspell's built-in filters by providing more granular control—for example, you can exclude specific HTML elements by ID or class name, or skip particular content within docstrings.
PySpelling integrates with CI/CD pipelines to fail builds when misspellings are detected, making it useful for maintaining code quality in automated workflows. It depends on parsing libraries like BeautifulSoup4, lxml, and Markdown to handle different file formats, and uses wcmatch for pattern matching. The package is production-stable, supports Python 3.9 through 3.14, and carries no known security vulnerabilities.
Use it for
- Enforce consistent spelling in documentation and docstrings across a Python project as part of CI/CD.
- Filter out code identifiers and technical terms from spell checking while validating natural-language comments.
- Scan HTML or Markdown files while ignoring specific tags or sections that shouldn't be spell-checked.
- Automate spell checking for multiple file types (Python, Markdown, HTML, YAML) with different rules per type.
- Catch misspellings in generated or templated content before deployment.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes, if you need automated spell checking in CI and are willing to install Aspell or Hunspell separately.
The package is stable, permissively licensed, and has low install friction. The aging maintenance status (261 days since last release) is not a blocker for a mature tool, but verify that Aspell/Hunspell setup fits your deployment model before committing.
Install
pyspelling on PyPI
Before you install
Low install friction with a pure Python wheel and seven runtime dependencies (beautifulsoup4, html5lib, lxml, markdown, pyyaml, soupsieve, wcmatch). Maintenance status is aging—last release was 261 days ago—but the repository remains active with recent commits and no archived status.
Requires Aspell or Hunspell to be installed on your system as external command-line tools; PySpelling is a wrapper around them, not a standalone spell checker.
License in practice
MIT license (permissive) means you can use, modify, and distribute PySpelling with minimal restrictions, making it safe for both open-source and commercial projects.
Quickstart
pip install pyspelling
Create a .spellcheckignore or config file, then run:
pyspelling checkVerify before relying
- Whether Aspell or Hunspell installation is automatic or requires manual setup on each platform.
- Specific filter types and extensibility mechanisms beyond the description's mention of custom Python filters.
- Performance characteristics when scanning large projects or many file types.
Package facts
| License | MIT permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.9 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 7 packagesbeautifulsoup4html5liblxmlmarkdownpyyamlsoupsievewcmatch |
| Maintenance | Aging 261 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 166,947 / month, #10,480 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Development Status :: 5 - Production/StableEnvironment :: ConsoleIntended Audience :: DevelopersLicense :: OSI Approved :: MIT LicenseOperating System :: OS IndependentProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9Topic :: Internet :: WWW/HTTP :: Dynamic ContentTopic :: Software Development :: Libraries :: Python Modules |
Evidence: pyspelling-2.12.1-py3-none-any.whl
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See also pyphen · pyspellchecker · codespell · typos · sphinxcontrib-spelling · pyenchant · mkdocs-spellcheck · symspellpy · language_tool_python · backrefs