[Good First Issue]: Add missing return type annotation to _is_payment_required() in CryptoGetAccountBalanceQuery

[rwalworth]

🆕🐥 Newcomer Friendly

This Good First Issue is a guided, well-scoped task intended for new human contributors to the Hiero Python SDK.

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Note

⏱️ Typical time to complete: 30–90 minutes (once setup is done)
🧩 Difficulty: Small, well-contained change
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• ✅ Solved a real issue
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Important

📋 Good First Issue (GFI) Guidelines

A Good First Issue Guidelines is a small, well-scoped task that helps new contributors get familiar with the codebase and contribution workflow.

Often a good fit for Good First Issues:

• Spelling or grammar fixes
• Small documentation formatting improvements
• Purely structural refactors of examples
• Minor, clearly described edits to docstrings or comments
• Adding missing return type hints when the expected type is explicitly stated

More involved tasks may be a better fit for Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced issues.

If you're unsure, the Good First Issue Candidate Template can be used.

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👾 Issue description

The file src/hiero_sdk_python/query/account_balance_query.py contains the CryptoGetAccountBalanceQuery class. Every public and private method in this class has a complete return type annotation — except one.

The _is_payment_required() method at line 180 is missing its -> bool return type annotation:

# Current (missing annotation):
def _is_payment_required(self):
    """
    Account balance query does not require payment.

    Returns:
        bool: False
    """
    return False

All other methods in the same file already have return type annotations. For example:

def set_account_id(self, account_id: AccountId) -> "CryptoGetAccountBalanceQuery":
def _make_request(self) -> query_pb2.Query:
def _get_method(self, channel: _Channel) -> _Method:
def execute(self, client: Client, timeout: Optional[Union[int, float]] = None) -> AccountBalance:

The return type of _is_payment_required() is unambiguous — it always returns False, which is a bool. The docstring already documents this. The fix is to add -> bool to the method signature.

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💡 Proposed Solution

Add the -> bool return type annotation to the _is_payment_required() method signature in src/hiero_sdk_python/query/account_balance_query.py. The exact change is specified in the Implementation Steps below — no interpretation is required.

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🛠️ Implementation Steps

File to change: src/hiero_sdk_python/query/account_balance_query.py

Location: Line 180 — the _is_payment_required() method definition

Change: Add -> bool to the method signature. The before and after are:

# Before (line 180):
def _is_payment_required(self):

# After:
def _is_payment_required(self) -> bool:

The full updated method will look like this:

def _is_payment_required(self) -> bool:
    """
    Account balance query does not require payment.

    Returns:
        bool: False
    """
    return False

Steps:

• Open src/hiero_sdk_python/query/account_balance_query.py
• Find _is_payment_required at line 180
• Change def _is_payment_required(self): to def _is_payment_required(self) -> bool:
• Do not change the docstring, the body, or anything else in the file
• Run the existing unit tests to confirm nothing is broken: uv run pytest tests/unit/test_account_balance_query.py (if the test file exists), or uv run pytest for the full suite

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📋 Step-by-Step Setup Guide

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📋 Step-by-step contribution guide

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🛠️ Solve the Issue

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• Implement the solution: follow the implementation steps in the issue description.

• Commit with DCO and GPG signing: commit changes using: git commit -S -s -m "chore: add return type annotation to _is_payment_required in CryptoGetAccountBalanceQuery", Guide

• Add a .CHANGELOG.md entry: under the appropriate [UNRELEASED] section and commit as git commit -S -s -m "chore: changelog entry" Guide

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✅ Acceptance criteria

To be able to close this issue, the following criteria must be met:

• The issue is solved: _is_payment_required() in src/hiero_sdk_python/query/account_balance_query.py has the -> bool return type annotation on its def line

• I did not add extra changes: No other methods, files, or lines were modified

• Behavior: The SDK behavior is unchanged — only the type annotation was added

• Tests pass: All existing tests continue to pass

• Checks and feedback: All CI checks pass and any requested changes have been made

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[cym3118288-afk]

/assign

[github-actions]

👋 Hi @cym3118288-afk, welcome to the Hiero Python SDK community!

You've been assigned this Good First Issue. Your on-call mentor today from @hiero-ledger/hiero-sdk-python-triage is @Mounil2005, and the Good First Issue Support Team is @hiero-ledger/hiero-sdk-good-first-issue-support.
We’re here to help you get your first PR merged successfully 🚀

---

Step 1: Read the task

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---

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Reply here with:

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---

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Mentor: @Mounil2005
Mentee: @cym3118288-afk
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Happy building!
— Python SDK Team

[github-actions]

@coderabbitai plan

[coderabbitai]

Coding Plan

Summary

• Add -> bool return type annotation to a single method signature to match the established SDK pattern
• No behavioral changes—purely a type annotation addition for consistency and static analysis support
• Minimal change scope: one line modification in one file

Implementation Steps

Add Return Type Annotation

Add the missing -> bool return type annotation to maintain consistency with the SDK's type annotation patterns.

Task 1: Update Method Signature

Add the -> bool return type annotation to the _is_payment_required() method in CryptoGetAccountBalanceQuery.

• Modify src/hiero_sdk_python/query/account_balance_query.py at line 180
• Change the method signature from def _is_payment_required(self): to def _is_payment_required(self) -> bool:
• Leave the docstring and method body unchanged
• No imports needed as bool is a built-in type

Task 2: Verify Tests Pass

Confirm the change does not break existing functionality.

• Run unit tests via uv run pytest tests/unit/account_balance_query_test.py to verify the test_account_balance_query_does_not_require_payment test continues to pass
• Optionally run the full test suite to ensure no regressions

🤖 Prompt for AI agents

Add the missing `-> bool` return type annotation to the `_is_payment_required()`
method in `CryptoGetAccountBalanceQuery` to align with the established SDK
pattern.

- In `src/hiero_sdk_python/query/account_balance_query.py`, locate the
`_is_payment_required` method at line 180
- Change the method signature from `def _is_payment_required(self):` to `def
_is_payment_required(self) -> bool:`
- Leave the docstring and method body entirely unchanged
- No imports are needed since `bool` is a built-in type
- After making the change, run `uv run pytest
tests/unit/account_balance_query_test.py` to confirm the
`test_account_balance_query_does_not_require_payment` test still passes

Research

The Hiero Python SDK follows a consistent pattern for type annotations across query classes. The base Query class in src/hiero_sdk_python/query/query.py defines _is_payment_required(self) -> bool, and overrides in TransactionGetReceiptQuery follow this pattern. The CryptoGetAccountBalanceQuery class in account_balance_query.py is the only query class missing this annotation. All other methods in CryptoGetAccountBalanceQuery have complete return type annotations. Unit tests exist at tests/unit/account_balance_query_test.py and directly test the _is_payment_required() method.

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🚀 Next Steps

🤖 All AI agent prompts combined

Add the missing `-> bool` return type annotation to the `_is_payment_required()`
method in `CryptoGetAccountBalanceQuery` to align with the established SDK
pattern.

- In `src/hiero_sdk_python/query/account_balance_query.py`, locate the
`_is_payment_required` method at line 180
- Change the method signature from `def _is_payment_required(self):` to `def
_is_payment_required(self) -> bool:`
- Leave the docstring and method body entirely unchanged
- No imports are needed since `bool` is a built-in type
- After making the change, run `uv run pytest
tests/unit/account_balance_query_test.py` to confirm the
`test_account_balance_query_does_not_require_payment` test still passes

💡 Iterate on the plan with: @coderabbitai <feedback>

Example Feedback
- `@coderabbitai` You can skip phase 3. Add a simple unit test case for phase 2.
- `@coderabbitai` For design choice 1 go ahead with option 3 and replan.

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