⚠️ __pycache__ is not your enemy, but it will lie to you

You delete a module. The import still works. You rename a class. Old bytecode still runs. You spend an hour asking “why is this line still executing?”

👉 Python caches compiled bytecode in __pycache__. That’s great for speed. But when you delete a .py file, the .pyc stays forever. Python finds it and imports it like nothing happened. No warning. No error.

✅ The idea: clear __pycache__ before you debug import issues. Or set PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1 in development. Or just accept that Python will gaslight you once a month and move on.