Create documentation comments

Creating documentation comments for Python functions

Place the caret after the declaration of a function you want to document.
Type opening triple quotes, and press Enter, or Space.
Mind the following:
- Generation of docstrings on pressing Space after typing opening triple quotes only works when the checkbox Insert pair quote is cleared in the page Smart Keys of the editor settings .
- If you rename a parameter of a function, PyCharm will correspondingly update the tag in documentation comment.
Add meaningful description of parameters and return values.

Place the caret at the name of a function that does not have a docstring yet.
Press Alt+Enter to show the available intention actions.
Choose Insert a documentation string stub:
PyCharm generates documentation comment stub according to docstring format, selected in the Python Integrated Tools page.
If the function already has a docstring that does not describe all its parameters, the intention action is called Add parameters to docstring. If the docstring already describes all parameters and the function has no return statement, the intention action is not available.

Consider the following function:

def handle(self, myParam1, myParam2):

Open settings Ctrl+Alt+S and navigate to Python | Tools | Integrated Tools.

In the Docstring format dropdown, select reStructuredText.

Then type the opening triple double-quotes and press Enter or Space. PyCharm generates a documentation comment stub in reStructuredText format:

"""

:param self:
:param myParam1:
:param myParam2:
:return:
"""
            

You can use markup for text formatting, as well as substitutions, bulleted lists, links, code blocks, and tables.

14 October 2026