restructuredtext-lint
reStructuredText linter
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes, if you work with reStructuredText documentation or publish to PyPI. The tool solves a real problem—catching formatting errors before upload—with low install friction and no security vulnerabilities. The aging maintenance status (264 days since release) is a minor concern for a stable linter, but the unarchived repository and active last commit suggest it is not abandoned. Install if you need local validation; skip if you only use Markdown or have no reStructuredText workflow.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Low friction installation with a single runtime dependency (docutils).
- Package is aging (264 days since last release) but repository remains active and unarchived with a modest user base.
License · maintenance · safety
UNLICENSE (permissive) — Released to public domain under UNLICENSE, permitting unrestricted use, modification, and distribution with no attribution or warranty obligations.
last release 2025-11-23 (264 days) · last repo commit 2025-11-23 · 183 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 17,086,205 downloads/mo, #1,133 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install restructuredtext-lint
import restructuredtext_lint
errors = restructuredtext_lint.lint("Hello World\n=======\n")
print(errors[0].message if errors else "No errors")- Whether Python version support is truly unspecified or simply undocumented in the fact sheet
- Current state of Sphinx directive/role compatibility beyond the known limitations mentioned in docs
What it is and what it does
restructuredtext-lint checks reStructuredText files for structural violations before they are uploaded to PyPI or deployed. It wraps docutils parsing and exposes both a Python API (lint() and lint_file() functions) and a command-line tool (rst-lint) that report errors with line numbers, severity levels, and descriptive messages. Each error includes metadata like source file, error type (INFO/WARNING/ERROR/SEVERE), and the full context where the problem occurred.
The package was created to catch reST formatting issues locally rather than discovering them after publishing. It supports prepending content via rst_prolog for testing with substitutions, filtering by error severity, and output in text or JSON format. Custom directives and roles can be registered via docutils' extension mechanism, though Sphinx-specific customizations require manual registration due to parser differences.
Use it for
- Validate README.rst and other documentation files before pushing to PyPI or a repository
- Integrate linting into CI/CD pipelines to catch reStructuredText errors early
- Check documentation consistency in projects using Sphinx or docutils
- Programmatically lint reST content in build scripts or documentation generators
- Detect title underlines, hyperlink issues, and lexer problems that would fail on PyPI
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes, if you work with reStructuredText documentation or publish to PyPI.
The tool solves a real problem—catching formatting errors before upload—with low install friction and no security vulnerabilities. The aging maintenance status (264 days since release) is a minor concern for a stable linter, but the unarchived repository and active last commit suggest it is not abandoned. Install if you need local validation; skip if you only use Markdown or have no reStructuredText workflow.
Install
restructuredtext-lint on PyPI
Before you install
Low friction installation with a single runtime dependency (docutils). Package is aging (264 days since last release) but repository remains active and unarchived with a modest user base.
License in practice
Released to public domain under UNLICENSE, permitting unrestricted use, modification, and distribution with no attribution or warranty obligations.
Quickstart
pip install restructuredtext-lint
import restructuredtext_lint
errors = restructuredtext_lint.lint("Hello World\n=======\n")
print(errors[0].message if errors else "No errors")Verify before relying
- Whether Python version support is truly unspecified or simply undocumented in the fact sheet
- Current state of Sphinx directive/role compatibility beyond the known limitations mentioned in docs
Package facts
| License | UNLICENSE permissive |
| Python support | Not specified |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 1 packagedocutils |
| Maintenance | Aging 264 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 17,086,205 / month, #1,133 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Development Status :: 3 - AlphaIntended Audience :: DevelopersLicense :: Public DomainOperating System :: OS IndependentTopic :: Text Processing :: Markup |
Evidence: restructuredtext_lint-2.0.2-py3-none-any.whl
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See also collective.checkdocs · flake8-rst-docstrings · sphinx-lint · rstcheck · docstrfmt · rstcheck-core · doc8 · rich-rst · sphinx_mdinclude · m2r2