---
id: shibuya
version: "2026.7.12"
license: BSD-3-Clause
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# shibuya — A clean, responsive, and customizable Sphinx documentation theme with light/dark mode.

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 212.1K/mo

## What it is and what it does

Shibuya is a Sphinx theme that replaces the default HTML output with a modern, responsive design. It's installed as a Python package and activated by setting html_theme = "shibuya" in your Sphinx conf.py. The theme includes light and dark mode toggles out of the box and is designed to work well with Jupyter extensions, making it suitable for projects that mix traditional documentation with interactive notebooks.

The package depends on Sphinx itself (the documentation generator) and pygments-styles (for syntax highlighting). It supports Python 3.10 through 3.14 and is classified as production-stable. Installation is straightforward via pip, and the theme requires no additional configuration beyond the single line in conf.py to activate it.

Use it for:

- Render Sphinx documentation with a modern, responsive layout instead of the default theme.
- Add light and dark mode switching to existing Sphinx documentation projects.
- Build documentation for projects that use Jupyter notebooks alongside traditional docs.
- Customize the visual appearance of API documentation while keeping Sphinx's structure.
- Deploy documentation on the web with a mobile-friendly, contemporary design.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Shibuya is a Sphinx documentation theme that renders HTML documentation with a modern, responsive design and built-in light/dark mode support.

Yes. Shibuya is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, installs with minimal friction, and is permissively licensed. If you use Sphinx for documentation and want a modern, responsive theme with built-in dark mode, it's a straightforward drop-in replacement that requires only a single line in conf.py.

## Install

pip install shibuya
uv add shibuya
poetry add shibuya

## Installing shibuya

Before you install: Low install friction with a pure Python wheel distribution. The package is actively maintained with a recent release and no archived status; it depends only on Sphinx and pygments-styles, both standard documentation tooling.

License in practice: BSD-3-Clause is a permissive open-source license; you can use, modify, and distribute Shibuya freely in commercial and private projects provided you include the license notice.

Quickstart:

pip install shibuya

Then in your Sphinx conf.py:
html_theme = "shibuya"

Requires Python 3.10 or later and an existing Sphinx documentation project.

Verify before relying:

- Extent of Jupyter extension support beyond what the description claims.
- Customization depth and theming API compared to other Sphinx themes.
- Performance characteristics with large documentation sets.

## Package facts

- License: BSD-3-Clause (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 212.1K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

sphinx documentation theme, responsive sphinx theme, sphinx dark mode theme, modern sphinx html theme, sphinx theme with light dark mode, jupyter sphinx theme, beautiful sphinx documentation, sphinx theme customizable, sphinx-theme, documentation-rendering, dark-mode

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/shibuya) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/shibuya/)