sphinx-gallery
A Sphinx extension that builds an HTML gallery of examples from any set of Python scripts.
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes. Sphinx-Gallery is a mature, actively maintained tool with low install friction and no known vulnerabilities. It solves a concrete problem—turning Python scripts into documented, executable galleries—and is widely adopted by major projects. Install it if you need to showcase runnable examples in Sphinx documentation.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Sphinx and pillow as runtime dependencies; Python 3.10 or later.
- Low friction: pure Python wheel with only two runtime dependencies (pillow and sphinx).
- Actively maintained as of 2026-04-24 with recent activity, supporting current Python versions (3.10–3.14).
License · maintenance · safety
3-clause BSD (permissive) — 3-clause BSD is permissive; you can use, modify, and distribute sphinx-gallery freely in commercial and private projects with minimal restrictions.
last release 2026-04-24 (112 days) · last repo commit 2026-08-14 · 454 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 650,798 downloads/mo, #5,556 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install sphinx-gallery
# In doc/conf.py:
extensions = ['sphinx_gallery.gen_gallery']
sphinx_gallery_conf = {
'examples_dirs': '../examples',
'gallery_dirs': 'auto_examples',
}- Whether optional system binaries (optipng) are required or merely recommended for PNG optimization.
- Performance characteristics when processing large numbers of example scripts or high-resolution images.
What it is and what it does
Sphinx-Gallery is a Sphinx extension that transforms a directory of Python example scripts into an interactive HTML gallery embedded in your documentation. It executes each script, captures outputs (including plots from Matplotlib and related packages), and generates formatted gallery pages with the code, results, and narrative text from docstrings or accompanying README files.
You configure it in your Sphinx conf.py by specifying the source directory of example scripts and the output directory for generated gallery files. Sphinx-Gallery then handles execution, output capture, and reST file generation during your normal Sphinx build. It's designed for library documentation but can also serve as a standalone showcase for a Python package or module.
Use it for
- Build an interactive example gallery for a scientific Python library (like scikit-learn or Matplotlib) to demonstrate typical usage patterns.
- Generate a gallery of tutorials or how-to guides from executable Python scripts as part of your project documentation.
- Showcase data analysis workflows or computational examples with live output and visualizations in a web-accessible format.
- Create a portfolio or cookbook of example code snippets with their results for educational or reference purposes.
- Automatically keep example outputs in sync with code changes by re-executing scripts during documentation builds.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes.
Sphinx-Gallery is a mature, actively maintained tool with low install friction and no known vulnerabilities. It solves a concrete problem—turning Python scripts into documented, executable galleries—and is widely adopted by major projects. Install it if you need to showcase runnable examples in Sphinx documentation.
Install
sphinx-gallery on PyPI
Before you install
Low friction: pure Python wheel with only two runtime dependencies (pillow and sphinx). Actively maintained as of 2026-04-24 with recent activity, supporting current Python versions (3.10–3.14).
Requires Sphinx and pillow as runtime dependencies; Python 3.10 or later.
License in practice
3-clause BSD is permissive; you can use, modify, and distribute sphinx-gallery freely in commercial and private projects with minimal restrictions.
Quickstart
pip install sphinx-gallery
# In doc/conf.py:
extensions = ['sphinx_gallery.gen_gallery']
sphinx_gallery_conf = {
'examples_dirs': '../examples',
'gallery_dirs': 'auto_examples',
}Verify before relying
- Whether optional system binaries (optipng) are required or merely recommended for PNG optimization.
- Performance characteristics when processing large numbers of example scripts or high-resolution images.
Package facts
| License | 3-clause BSD permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.10 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 2 packagespillowsphinx |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 112 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 650,798 / month, #5,556 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Development Status :: 4 - BetaFramework :: Sphinx :: ExtensionIntended Audience :: DevelopersProgramming Language :: PythonProgramming Language :: Python :: 3 :: OnlyProgramming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14 |
Evidence: sphinx_gallery-0.21.0-py3-none-any.whl
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