Python Design Patterns Write maintainable Python code using fundamental design principles. These patterns help you build systems that are easy to understand, test, and modify. When to Use This Skill Designing new components or services Refactoring complex or tangled code Deciding whether to create an abstraction Choosing between inheritance and composition Evaluating code complexity and coupling Planning modular architectures Core Concepts 1. KISS (Keep It Simple) Choose the simplest solution that works. Complexity must be justified by concrete requirements. 2. Single Responsibility (SRP) Each unit should have one reason to change. Separate concerns into focused components. 3. Composition Over Inheritance Build behavior by combining objects, not extending classes. 4. Rule of Three Wait until you have three instances before abstracting. Duplication is often better than premature abstraction. Quick Start
Simple beats clever
Instead of a factory/registry pattern:
FORMATTERS
{ "json" : JsonFormatter , "csv" : CsvFormatter } def get_formatter ( name : str ) -
Formatter : return FORMATTERS [ name ] ( ) Fundamental Patterns Pattern 1: KISS - Keep It Simple Before adding complexity, ask: does a simpler solution work?
Over-engineered: Factory with registration
class OutputFormatterFactory : _formatters : dict [ str , type [ Formatter ] ] = { } @classmethod def register ( cls , name : str ) : def decorator ( formatter_cls ) : cls . _formatters [ name ] = formatter_cls return formatter_cls return decorator @classmethod def create ( cls , name : str ) -
Formatter : return cls . _formatters [ name ] ( ) @OutputFormatterFactory . register ( "json" ) class JsonFormatter ( Formatter ) : . . .
Simple: Just use a dictionary
FORMATTERS
{ "json" : JsonFormatter , "csv" : CsvFormatter , "xml" : XmlFormatter , } def get_formatter ( name : str ) -
Formatter : """Get formatter by name.""" if name not in FORMATTERS : raise ValueError ( f"Unknown format: { name } " ) return FORMATTERS [ name ] ( ) The factory pattern adds code without adding value here. Save patterns for when they solve real problems. Pattern 2: Single Responsibility Principle Each class or function should have one reason to change.
BAD: Handler does everything
class UserHandler : async def create_user ( self , request : Request ) -
Response :
HTTP parsing
data
await request . json ( )
Validation
if not data . get ( "email" ) : return Response ( { "error" : "email required" } , status = 400 )
Database access
user
await db . execute ( "INSERT INTO users (email, name) VALUES ($1, $2) RETURNING *" , data [ "email" ] , data [ "name" ] )
Response formatting
return Response ( { "id" : user . id , "email" : user . email } , status = 201 )
GOOD: Separated concerns
class UserService : """Business logic only.""" def init ( self , repo : UserRepository ) -
None : self . _repo = repo async def create_user ( self , data : CreateUserInput ) -
User :
Only business rules here
user
User ( email = data . email , name = data . name ) return await self . _repo . save ( user ) class UserHandler : """HTTP concerns only.""" def init ( self , service : UserService ) -
None : self . _service = service async def create_user ( self , request : Request ) -
Response : data = CreateUserInput ( ** ( await request . json ( ) ) ) user = await self . _service . create_user ( data ) return Response ( user . to_dict ( ) , status = 201 ) Now HTTP changes don't affect business logic, and vice versa. Pattern 3: Separation of Concerns Organize code into distinct layers with clear responsibilities. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ API Layer (handlers) │ │ - Parse requests │ │ - Call services │ │ - Format responses │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ ▼ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Service Layer (business logic) │ │ - Domain rules and validation │ │ - Orchestrate operations │ │ - Pure functions where possible │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ ▼ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Repository Layer (data access) │ │ - SQL queries │ │ - External API calls │ │ - Cache operations │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Each layer depends only on layers below it:
Repository: Data access
class UserRepository : async def get_by_id ( self , user_id : str ) -
User | None : row = await self . _db . fetchrow ( "SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = $1" , user_id ) return User ( ** row ) if row else None
Service: Business logic
class UserService : def init ( self , repo : UserRepository ) -
None : self . _repo = repo async def get_user ( self , user_id : str ) -
User : user = await self . _repo . get_by_id ( user_id ) if user is None : raise UserNotFoundError ( user_id ) return user
Handler: HTTP concerns
@app . get ( "/users/{user_id}" ) async def get_user ( user_id : str ) -
UserResponse : user = await user_service . get_user ( user_id ) return UserResponse . from_user ( user ) Pattern 4: Composition Over Inheritance Build behavior by combining objects rather than inheriting.
Inheritance: Rigid and hard to test
class EmailNotificationService ( NotificationService ) : def init ( self ) : super ( ) . init ( ) self . _smtp = SmtpClient ( )
Hard to mock
def notify ( self , user : User , message : str ) -
None : self . _smtp . send ( user . email , message )
Composition: Flexible and testable
class NotificationService : """Send notifications via multiple channels.""" def init ( self , email_sender : EmailSender , sms_sender : SmsSender | None = None , push_sender : PushSender | None = None , ) -
None : self . _email = email_sender self . _sms = sms_sender self . _push = push_sender async def notify ( self , user : User , message : str , channels : set [ str ] | None = None , ) -
None : channels = channels or { "email" } if "email" in channels : await self . _email . send ( user . email , message ) if "sms" in channels and self . _sms and user . phone : await self . _sms . send ( user . phone , message ) if "push" in channels and self . _push and user . device_token : await self . _push . send ( user . device_token , message )
Easy to test with fakes
service
NotificationService ( email_sender = FakeEmailSender ( ) , sms_sender = FakeSmsSender ( ) , ) Advanced Patterns Pattern 5: Rule of Three Wait until you have three instances before abstracting.
Two similar functions? Don't abstract yet
def process_orders ( orders : list [ Order ] ) -
list [ Result ] : results = [ ] for order in orders : validated = validate_order ( order ) result = process_validated_order ( validated ) results . append ( result ) return results def process_returns ( returns : list [ Return ] ) -
list [ Result ] : results = [ ] for ret in returns : validated = validate_return ( ret ) result = process_validated_return ( validated ) results . append ( result ) return results
These look similar, but wait! Are they actually the same?
Different validation, different processing, different errors...
Duplication is often better than the wrong abstraction
Only after a third case, consider if there's a real pattern
But even then, sometimes explicit is better than abstract
Pattern 6: Function Size Guidelines Keep functions focused. Extract when a function: Exceeds 20-50 lines (varies by complexity) Serves multiple distinct purposes Has deeply nested logic (3+ levels)
Too long, multiple concerns mixed
def process_order ( order : Order ) -
Result :
50 lines of validation...
30 lines of inventory check...
40 lines of payment processing...
20 lines of notification...
pass
Better: Composed from focused functions
def process_order ( order : Order ) -
Result : """Process a customer order through the complete workflow.""" validate_order ( order ) reserve_inventory ( order ) payment_result = charge_payment ( order ) send_confirmation ( order , payment_result ) return Result ( success = True , order_id = order . id ) Pattern 7: Dependency Injection Pass dependencies through constructors for testability. from typing import Protocol class Logger ( Protocol ) : def info ( self , msg : str , ** kwargs ) -
None : . . . def error ( self , msg : str , ** kwargs ) -
None : . . . class Cache ( Protocol ) : async def get ( self , key : str ) -
str | None : . . . async def set ( self , key : str , value : str , ttl : int ) -
None : . . . class UserService : """Service with injected dependencies.""" def init ( self , repository : UserRepository , cache : Cache , logger : Logger , ) -
None : self . _repo = repository self . _cache = cache self . _logger = logger async def get_user ( self , user_id : str ) -
User :
Check cache first
cached
await self . _cache . get ( f"user: { user_id } " ) if cached : self . _logger . info ( "Cache hit" , user_id = user_id ) return User . from_json ( cached )
Fetch from database
user
await self . _repo . get_by_id ( user_id ) if user : await self . _cache . set ( f"user: { user_id } " , user . to_json ( ) , ttl = 300 ) return user
Production
service
UserService ( repository = PostgresUserRepository ( db ) , cache = RedisCache ( redis ) , logger = StructlogLogger ( ) , )
Testing
service
UserService ( repository = InMemoryUserRepository ( ) , cache = FakeCache ( ) , logger = NullLogger ( ) , ) Pattern 8: Avoiding Common Anti-Patterns Don't expose internal types:
BAD: Leaking ORM model to API
@app . get ( "/users/{id}" ) def get_user ( id : str ) -
UserModel :
SQLAlchemy model
return db . query ( UserModel ) . get ( id )
GOOD: Use response schemas
@app . get ( "/users/{id}" ) def get_user ( id : str ) -
UserResponse : user = db . query ( UserModel ) . get ( id ) return UserResponse . from_orm ( user ) Don't mix I/O with business logic:
BAD: SQL embedded in business logic
def calculate_discount ( user_id : str ) -
float : user = db . query ( "SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = ?" , user_id ) orders = db . query ( "SELECT * FROM orders WHERE user_id = ?" , user_id )
Business logic mixed with data access
GOOD: Repository pattern
def calculate_discount ( user : User , order_history : list [ Order ] ) -
float :
Pure business logic, easily testable
if len ( order_history )
10 : return 0.15 return 0.0 Best Practices Summary Keep it simple - Choose the simplest solution that works Single responsibility - Each unit has one reason to change Separate concerns - Distinct layers with clear purposes Compose, don't inherit - Combine objects for flexibility Rule of three - Wait before abstracting Keep functions small - 20-50 lines (varies by complexity), one purpose Inject dependencies - Constructor injection for testability Delete before abstracting - Remove dead code, then consider patterns Test each layer - Isolated tests for each concern Explicit over clever - Readable code beats elegant code