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export imports

from x export y is the re-exporting form of from x import y

from collections.abc import Sequence
from .models export Widget

transpiles to:

from collections.abc import Sequence
from .models import Widget as Widget

name as name is python's explicit re-export convention: it marks the binding as deliberately part of the importing module's public api rather than an implementation detail it happens to need. export says the same thing without writing the name twice

why it matters

in a stub file a plain import is private. importing through it is an error, while an exported name is visible to the outside:

# lib.byi
from typing import Any        # private to the stub
from .impl export Widget      # part of lib's api

# main.by
from lib import Widget        # ok
from lib import Any           # error: module `lib` has no member `Any`

the same distinction drives ruff's unused-import rule (F401): an exported name is never reported as unused, because nothing local is meant to reference it

restrictions

export binds each name under itself, so two forms have no meaning and are parse errors:

form why
from x export a as b a rename binds a different name — use import … as …
from x export * a star binds no single name

a relative import may omit its module, so from . export y is a module-less relative export. write from . export import y (or from .export import y) to import from a module actually named export

reverse transform

by reverse rewrites the python spelling back:

from x import a as a, b as b

becomes

from x export a, b

it only fires when every alias in the statement is a redundant alias. a mixed statement (from x import a as a, b) has no single-keyword form, so it is left as written