sphinx-hoverxref
Sphinx extension to show tooltips with content embedded when hover a reference.
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes, if your Sphinx documentation build is stable and you need hover tooltips on cross-references. The extension has low install friction and permissive licensing. However, exercise caution: the repository is archived and abandoned, so no bug fixes or compatibility updates will be released. Test thoroughly with your current Sphinx version before relying on it in production documentation.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Low install friction with only two runtime dependencies (sphinx and sphinxcontrib-jquery).
- However, the repository is archived and marked abandoned as of the fact sheet date, with no releases since 2024-11-18.
License · maintenance · safety
permissive license (permissive) — Licensed under MIT (permissive), which allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions.
last release 2024-11-18 (634 days) · last repo commit 2025-04-09 · 105 stars · archived
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 85,819 downloads/mo, #13,897 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install sphinx-hoverxref
Then add to conf.py:
extensions = ['hoverxref.extension']- Whether the package remains compatible with current Sphinx versions despite being archived.
- Whether sphinxcontrib-jquery is still maintained and compatible with modern Sphinx releases.
- Whether the tooltip functionality works reliably across modern browsers and Sphinx themes.
What it is and what it does
sphinx-hoverxref is a Sphinx documentation extension that enhances cross-references by showing tooltips containing the content of the linked section when users hover over them. This improves documentation navigation by allowing readers to preview linked content without leaving the current page.
The extension integrates directly into Sphinx's build process and requires only sphinx and sphinxcontrib-jquery as runtime dependencies. Configuration is minimal—just adding 'hoverxref.extension' to the extensions list in conf.py. However, the project repository is archived and abandoned, meaning no active maintenance or updates are occurring.
Use it for
- Add hover previews to API documentation cross-references so readers can see function signatures without navigating away.
- Enhance glossary links in technical documentation with inline term definitions visible on hover.
- Improve internal documentation navigation by showing section summaries when hovering over table-of-contents links.
- Create better user experience in large documentation sites where readers frequently jump between related sections.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes, if your Sphinx documentation build is stable and you need hover tooltips on cross-references.
The extension has low install friction and permissive licensing. However, exercise caution: the repository is archived and abandoned, so no bug fixes or compatibility updates will be released. Test thoroughly with your current Sphinx version before relying on it in production documentation.
Install
sphinx-hoverxref on PyPI
Before you install
Low install friction with only two runtime dependencies (sphinx and sphinxcontrib-jquery). However, the repository is archived and marked abandoned as of the fact sheet date, with no releases since 2024-11-18.
License in practice
Licensed under MIT (permissive), which allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions.
Quickstart
pip install sphinx-hoverxref
Then add to conf.py:
extensions = ['hoverxref.extension']Verify before relying
- Whether the package remains compatible with current Sphinx versions despite being archived.
- Whether sphinxcontrib-jquery is still maintained and compatible with modern Sphinx releases.
- Whether the tooltip functionality works reliably across modern browsers and Sphinx themes.
Package facts
| License | permissive license permissive |
| Python support | Not specified |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 2 packagessphinxsphinxcontrib-jquery |
| Maintenance | Abandoned 634 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | repository archived |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 85,819 / month, #13,897 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Development Status :: 5 - Production/StableFramework :: SphinxFramework :: Sphinx :: ExtensionLicense :: OSI Approved :: MIT LicenseOperating System :: OS IndependentProgramming Language :: Python :: 2.7Programming Language :: Python :: 3Topic :: Documentation :: SphinxTopic :: Software Development :: Documentation |
Evidence: sphinx_hoverxref-1.4.2-py2.py3-none-any.whl
Tags
Let your AI agent find packages like this
Example. Real query, live index.
You found this page by searching. An agent finds it by wishing: SkillFed indexes 14,416 PyPI packages by what they can do, searchable in plain language.
wish › “documentation cross-reference tooltips”
- sphinx-hoverxrefSphinx extension that displays tooltips with linked section content…
- sphinx_tippyAdds interactive tooltips to Sphinx documentation using the Tippy.js…
- sphobjinvInspect, search, and manipulate Sphinx objects.inv inventory files…
Give your agent the search over MCP, or paste the wish link into any chat.
More Sphinx packages
Parses Python docstrings in ReST, Google, Numpydoc, and Epydoc formats, extracting structured information like descriptions, parameters, return types, and exceptions.
Install it if you need to programmatically read and extract structured data from Python docstrings.
Sphinx generates professional documentation from reStructuredText source files, producing HTML, PDF, EPUB, and other formats with automatic cross-references, code highlighting, and hierarchical navigation.
A Sphinx extension that outputs documentation in serialized HTML formats (JSON and pickle) alongside standard HTML.
Alabaster is a clean, responsive Sphinx theme for documentation that requires Python 3.10 or newer and Sphinx 6.2 or newer.
A Sphinx extension that generates HTML help files from reStructuredText documentation source.
A Sphinx extension that converts documentation source files into QtHelp format, enabling integration with Qt-based help systems and documentation viewers.
However, be aware that maintenance is dormant—if you rely on it long-term, monitor Sphinx compatibility and consider whether QtHelp remains the right format for your…
See also sphinx-codeautolink · sphinx_tippy · sphinx-favicon · intersphinx-registry · readthedocs-sphinx-search · sphinx-click · mkdocs-autorefs · sphinx-reredirects · sphinxext-opengraph · sphobjinv