Sphinx

Python documentation generator

sphinx Permissive license BSD-2-Clause Active ★ 7,974 v9.1.0 released 2025-12-31

Install

sphinx on PyPI

pip

pip install sphinx

uv

uv add sphinx

poetry

poetry add sphinx

Package facts

License	BSD-2-Clause (permissive)
Python support	supports the current Python release (>=3.12)
Install friction	low — pure-Python wheel
Runtime dependencies	17 — sphinxcontrib-applehelp, sphinxcontrib-devhelp, sphinxcontrib-htmlhelp, sphinxcontrib-jsmath, sphinxcontrib-qthelp, sphinxcontrib-serializinghtml, Jinja2, Pygments, docutils, snowballstemmer, babel, alabaster, imagesize, requests, roman-numerals, packaging, colorama
Maintenance	actively maintained — 225 days since the last release
Last repo commit	2026-08-09
First released	2008-03-21
Popularity	one of the top 1,000 most-downloaded packages on PyPI (30-day window, as of 2026-08-13)
Known vulnerabilities	none known (OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-13)

Evidence: sphinx-9.1.0-py3-none-any.whl

Development Status :: 5 - Production/StableEnvironment :: ConsoleEnvironment :: Web EnvironmentFramework :: SphinxFramework :: Sphinx :: DomainFramework :: Sphinx :: ExtensionFramework :: Sphinx :: ThemeIntended Audience :: DevelopersIntended Audience :: EducationIntended Audience :: End Users/DesktopIntended Audience :: Information TechnologyIntended Audience :: Other AudienceIntended Audience :: Science/ResearchIntended Audience :: System AdministratorsOperating System :: OS IndependentProgramming Language :: PythonProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: 3 :: OnlyProgramming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14Programming Language :: Python :: 3.15Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: CPythonProgramming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: PyPyTopic :: DocumentationTopic :: Documentation :: SphinxTopic :: EducationTopic :: Internet :: WWW/HTTP :: Site ManagementTopic :: Internet :: WWW/HTTP :: Site Management :: Link CheckingTopic :: PrintingTopic :: Software DevelopmentTopic :: Software Development :: DocumentationTopic :: Text Editors :: DocumentationTopic :: Text ProcessingTopic :: Text Processing :: GeneralTopic :: Text Processing :: IndexingTopic :: Text Processing :: MarkupTopic :: Text Processing :: Markup :: HTMLTopic :: Text Processing :: Markup :: LaTeXTopic :: Text Processing :: Markup :: MarkdownTopic :: Text Processing :: Markup :: XMLTopic :: Text Processing :: Markup :: reStructuredTextTopic :: UtilitiesTyping :: Typed

About Sphinx

from the package's own PyPI description — quoted content, verbatim

======== Sphinx ========

.. image:: https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/sphinx.svg :target: https://pypi.org/project/Sphinx/ :alt: Package on PyPI

.. image:: https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/actions/workflows/main.yml/badge.svg :target: https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/actions/workflows/main.yml :alt: Build Status

.. image:: https://readthedocs.org/projects/sphinx/badge/?version=master :target: https://www.sphinx-doc.org/ :alt: Documentation Status

.. image:: https://img.shields.io/badge/License-BSD%202--Clause-blue.svg :target: https://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-2-Clause :alt: BSD 2 Clause

Sphinx makes it easy to create intelligent and beautiful documentation.

Sphinx uses reStructuredText as its markup language, and many of its strengths come from the power and straightforwardness of reStructuredText and its parsing and translating suite, the Docutils.

Features

Output formats: HTML, PDF, plain text, EPUB, TeX, manual pages, and more
Extensive cross-references: semantic markup and automatic links for functions, classes, glossary terms and similar pieces of information
Hierarchical structure: easy definition of...

Read as markdown · JSON record · Source repository · Homepage · Docs

AI interpretation — verify before relying

AI-generated interpretation of the package facts above; every digit, version, license, or vulnerability id it cites is grounded in the facts already shown on this page

Sphinx is a documentation generator that converts reStructuredText markup into multiple output formats (HTML, PDF, EPUB, and more) with automatic cross-references, code highlighting via Pygments, and extensible support for multiple programming languages.

Low install friction with a pure-wheel distribution and 17 well-established runtime dependencies. Active maintenance with recent commits indicates a mature, widely-trusted project.

BSD-2-Clause is a permissive open-source license allowing commercial use, modification, and redistribution with minimal restrictions—suitable for both proprietary and open-source projects.

Usage

pip install sphinx

from sphinx.application import Sphinx
app = Sphinx(srcdir='docs', confdir='docs', outdir='_build/html', doctreedir='_build/doctrees', buildername='html')

Requires Python 3.12 or later; reStructuredText source files must be prepared in the source directory before building.

Verdict: Sphinx 9.1.0 is a production-stable documentation framework with no known vulnerabilities, permissive BSD-2-Clause licensing, and low installation friction. It is suitable for projects of any scale requiring professional technical documentation.

Needs verification

Community adoption scale and ecosystem maturity relative to competing documentation tools.
Specific extension ecosystem compatibility with Python 3.12+ for specialized documentation use cases.
Whether the 225 days since last release reflects normal maintenance cadence for this project.

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