Mario Corchero <mariocj89@gmail.com> added the comment: I've always understood instance as a way to say "I am passing this class but I want to force the autospec on the instance" For example, given ``` class X: def __init__(self): raise ``` You can do `unittest.mock.create_autospec(X, instance=True)` to set a spec of the instance rather than the class. Also quite often you do autospec on a class but you want the interface of the instance. This parameter allows you to do so. Basically, `unittest.mock.create_autospec(X, instance=True)` will produce a non callable mock. I think the docs are correct, maybe misleading ---------- nosy: +mariocj89 _______________________________________ Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org> <https://bugs.python.org/issue30548> _______________________________________