Update project configuration and dependencies

- Added `.vscode` to `.gitignore` to exclude Visual Studio Code settings.
- Updated `pyproject.toml` to include `ruff` for linting and configured its settings.
- Modified `uv.lock` to include `ruff` in both optional and development dependencies.
- Refactored type hints in several files to use `str | None` for optional parameters.
- Cleaned up unused imports and whitespace in various modules for improved code clarity.

pyproject.toml

@@ -47,4 +47,12 @@ include-package-data = true
 dev = [
     "pytest>=9.0.3",
     "responses>=0.26.1",
+    "ruff>=0.15.17",
 ]
+
+[tool.ruff]
+target-version = "py310"
+line-length = 88
+
+[tool.ruff.lint]
+select = ["E", "F", "I", "UP", "B"]