MT003: HasProjectDescription

Overview

Property Value
ID MT003
Name HasProjectDescription
Group metadata
Severity ERROR

Description

Checks that the [project].description field is defined in pyproject.toml.

The description provides a brief summary of your package that appears:

  • On PyPI package pages
  • In pip search results
  • In IDE tooltips and documentation

What it checks

The check verifies that pyproject.toml contains:

[project]
description = "A brief description of what your package does"

How to fix

Add the description field to your pyproject.toml:

[project]
description = "A comprehensive Python package checker inspired by R CMD check"

Writing good descriptions

  • Keep it short (one line, under 200 characters)
  • Describe what the package does, not how
  • Avoid marketing language
  • Include key functionality

Good examples:

  • “Fast, async HTTP client for Python”
  • “Command-line tool for managing Python environments”
  • “Type stubs for the requests library”

Avoid:

  • “The best HTTP library ever!” (marketing)
  • “A library” (too vague)
  • Very long descriptions (use README for details)

Configuration

Skip this check

[tool.pycmdcheck]
skip = ["MT003"]

CLI

pycmdcheck --skip MT003