sphinx-last-updated-by-git

What it is and what it does

This is a Sphinx extension that automatically populates the last-updated timestamp for each documentation page by querying Git commit history. Instead of manually setting update dates, the extension inspects the Git author date of the most recent commit that changed each source file, and also checks included files and dependencies to use their timestamp if more recent. The extension respects Git's tracked-file status and can be configured to handle auto-generated files, exclude patterns, and timezone preferences.

The extension integrates directly into Sphinx's build process and requires only that your documentation source is in a Git repository. It handles edge cases like shallow clones (common on Read the Docs and GitHub Actions) by setting the timestamp to None and optionally warning during the build. Configuration options allow you to control dependency checking, source links for untracked files, timezone display, HTML metatag generation, and exclusion patterns for both files and commits.

Use it for:

• Display accurate last-modified dates in Sphinx documentation footers without manual maintenance.
• Track which pages in a large documentation project have been recently updated or are stale.
• Automatically include dependency changes (e.g., included snippets or generated content) in page freshness calculations.
• Exclude specific files or commits from affecting the last-updated timestamp for auto-generated or frequently-touched files.
• Configure timezone-aware timestamps for international documentation teams using Babel or Python timezone objects.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

A Sphinx extension that automatically extracts and displays the last-updated timestamp for each documentation page from Git commit history, checking dependencies and included files for more recent changes.

Yes, if you maintain Sphinx documentation in a Git repository and want automatic, accurate last-updated timestamps without manual configuration. The package is actively maintained, has no vulnerabilities, and integrates seamlessly with Sphinx. Be aware that shallow Git clones (common on Read the Docs by default) will cause some files to show no timestamp—this is documented and has a documented workaround.

Install

sphinx-last-updated-by-git on PyPI

pip install sphinx-last-updated-by-git

uv add sphinx-last-updated-by-git

poetry add sphinx-last-updated-by-git

Installing sphinx-last-updated-by-git

Before you install

Low install friction with a single runtime dependency on Sphinx. The package is actively maintained with a recent commit history (last commit 2026-07-20) and no known vulnerabilities, making it straightforward to add to an existing Sphinx setup.

License in practice

Licensed under BSD-2-Clause, the same permissive license as Sphinx itself, so there are no licensing constraints on use in commercial or open-source projects.

Quickstart

pip install sphinx-last-updated-by-git

# In conf.py:
extensions = ['sphinx_last_updated_by_git']

# Then run: sphinx-build -b html source build/html

Requires Git to be installed and the documentation source to be in a Git repository; shallow clones may cause some files to have no last-updated time.

Verify before relying

• Whether the extension works correctly with all Sphinx themes or only specific ones (e.g., sphinx_rtd_theme compatibility details).
• Performance impact when processing large documentation projects with many files and dependencies.

Package facts

Evidence: sphinx_last_updated_by_git-0.3.8-py3-none-any.whl

Keywords: Sphinx, Git

Tags

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