python / python/mypy

tuple element types wrongly mixed as union

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bug topic-join-v-union
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Python
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Description

Bug Report

When a variable conditionally gets one or the other of a set of fixed-length tuples, instead of being inferred as a union of said tuple types, mypy sees an arbibrary-length tuple whose elements are typed with a union of all element types involved. This results false-positive errors being reported.

To Reproduce

https://mypy-play.net/?mypy=latest&python=3.12&gist=4780da0a891d33c46ee7ac0b55a05f24

Expected Behavior

Similar to what pyright reveals, a union of two tuple types with defined length and element types, and no error when assigning :

  /home/user/omaha/omaha/uitest/mypy-test.py:9:17 - information: Type of "item" is "tuple[Literal[1], Literal['a'], list[bool]] | tuple[Literal[1], Literal['a']]"

Actual Behavior

The type is instead inferred to be a tuple of arbitrary length, with all elements allowed to have any of the types seen inside the tuple:

main.py:9: note: Revealed type is "builtins.tuple[builtins.int | builtins.str | builtins.list[builtins.bool], ...]"
main.py:10: error: List item 0 has incompatible type "tuple[int | str | list[bool], ...]"; expected "tuple[int, str] | tuple[int, str, Sequence[bool]]"  [list-item]

Note that when using just item = (1, "a"), removing the conditional part, the tuple is properly identified with fixed types, and the assignment is validated by mypy:

main.py:9: note: Revealed type is "tuple[builtins.int, builtins.str]"

Your Environment

  • Mypy version used: 1.18.2
  • Mypy command-line flags: none
  • Mypy configuration options from mypy.ini (and other config files): none
  • Python version used: 3.12, 3.14.0rc2

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by running the linked mypy-play reproduction with mypy 1.18.2 and compare the revealed type and assignment diagnostic with the expected pyright result. Trace the tuple inference behavior involved in the conditional assignment; done means fixed-length tuple alternatives remain a union and the shown assignment no longer produces a false positive.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
compilers
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
42/100

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