---
name: commandments-python-method-mood
description: "Naming a Python method or a `@property` — especially one that returns a `bool`, or one that changes the object and returns nothing. Read this BEFORE you name a method `hides`, `binds` or `spins`, and when a method-mood finding points here."
---

# Python method mood — an order, or a question

> 🔱 **Load `fix-at-the-source` first — the rule above all.** Every sin is a symptom; trace the value to where it is BORN and fix it there, never where it surfaces. This skill serves that one.

> You do not describe an object to itself. A method you CALL is an order — `hide()`, not `hides()` — and
> a method that answers about state is a question — `is_hidden()`, not `binds()`. Two moods, and the call site
> tells you which one you are writing.

## The principle

### Read the call out loud

`panel.hide()` is an instruction you give an object: do this. `panel.hides()` is a sentence ABOUT the
object, narrated by nobody — it reads as documentation that wandered into the code. The imperative is not a
style preference; it is what a call IS.

### A question for state

A method or property that answers rather than acts gets the other mood: a question. A `bool` about the
object's own state is `is_shown`, `has_parent`, `can_retry`, `awaits_answer` — so `if el.is_shown:` reads
as the question it is. A bare `if el.shows():` reads as a claim, and the reader has to stop and work out
whether the call changes anything.

### Where the line falls

A predicate about a RELATION — one thing against another — is already a sentence with a subject and an
object, and the third person is right for it: `basket.contains(item)`, `pattern.matches(name)`,
`period.covers(day)`. The tell is the argument. With none, there is no second party, so it can only be
describing the receiver — and describing the receiver is what a question is for.

### What is never renamed

A name you did not choose is not a sin: a method overriding its base keeps the contract's spelling, and a
dunder is the language's. Only a verb the rule knows is judged, so a plural noun (`names`, `fields`) is
never mistaken for narration.

## Rules

- [ ] Name a `bool` about the object itself as a question: `is_bound()`, `has_parent()`, `can_retry()`.
      _Make it a question: `is_…`, `has_…`, `can_…`, `awaits_…`._
- [ ] Name a command in the imperative: `hide()`, `lock_for_night()`, `open_for(user)` — never the third-person `hides()`.
      _Drop the -s: the call site is giving the order, not narrating it._

## Worked example

### python-bare-state-predicate

a `bool` about the object's own state named as a bare verb — `binds()`, `spins` — where a question belongs

```py
----------[ Bad ]----------

def locks(self) -> bool:
    return self.bolted

----------[ Good ]----------

class LockerHatch:
    def __init__(self, bay: str, bolted: bool) -> None:
        self.bay = bay
        self.bolted = bolted

    def is_locked(self) -> bool:
        return self.bolted
```

The other 1 — one per rule — are in [`reference/examples.md`](reference/examples.md).

## Commands

- `vendor/bin/commandments judge --skill=python/method-mood` — find every one of these in the codebase.
- `vendor/bin/commandments info <sin>` — what one rule flags, why it is a sin, and the fix. The sins here: `python-bare-state-predicate`, `python-narrated-command`.
- `vendor/bin/commandments report --detector=<Detector> --reason="…" --ref=path:line` — the flagged code is CORRECT under the architecture and the rule is wrong. That is the only thing a report claims: a finding you agree with is yours to fix, however far the fix cascades.

## Reference

- [Worked examples](reference/examples.md) — every rule's bad → good, 2 of them.
- [What fires, and why](reference/detectors.md) — the symptom each detector flags, for when you are holding a finding.

## Related skills

- [`backend/method-mood`](../../backend/method-mood/SKILL.md) — the same discipline over PHP methods.
- [`python/class-layout`](../class-layout/SKILL.md) — where a class keeps its state, beside what its methods are called.