AI suggests a nonexistent library function: how do you verify the API for your installed version?

Save the actual import path and installed version

This applies to missing attributes, rejected arguments and tutorial examples that fail in the project. Retain the complete error and dependency lock information and confirm the interpreter belongs to the current environment. Distribution names do not necessarily correspond directly to import names, and a local file can shadow the intended third-party module.

Separate package names, shadowed objects and older APIs

Inspect the imported object’s actual origin and installed distribution version. Compare version-specific documentation or source signatures to distinguish renamed functions, moved modules and invented APIs. Signature inspection helps identify parameter mistakes, but dynamic wrappers may not expose complete information; check supported calling instructions and behavior as well.

Use the version-specific signature for a minimal call

Use an interface explicitly available in the installed version and verify it on minimal non-destructive input. If an upgrade is necessary, assess compatibility and lockfile changes instead of pasting a latest-version example into an older project. Record the confirmed documentation and version so maintainers can verify the basis rather than rely on the model’s confidence.

Verify real imports and expected error branches

Run the minimal call in the actual project environment, checking the expected return type for valid input and one defined invalid-argument branch. Then verify return structures and boundaries in the original business path. Editor completion, search results for a similar name and a model explanation do not establish availability or compatibility.

This article installed no dependencies or ran your service and does not generalize one language’s introspection method to all libraries. Reflection and type hints do not replace behavioral checks. Use authorized tests for paid or side-effecting calls. Disabling type checks hides a nonexistent API error; it does not create a working function.