Only skip __init__.py files if you want to create namespace packages. Only create namespace packages if you have different libraries that reside in different locations and you want them each to contribute a subpackage to the parent package, i.e. the namespace package. Keep on adding empty __init__py to your directories because 99% of the time you just want to create regular packages. Also, Python tools out there such as mypy and pytest require empty __init__.py files to interpret the code structure accordingly. This can lead to weird errors if not done with care