sphinx-lint
Check for stylistic and formal issues in .rst and .py files included in the documentation.
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes. Sphinx Lint is actively maintained, has no security vulnerabilities, low install friction, and a permissive license. It fills a genuine gap—catching documentation errors Sphinx misses—and is designed for both local and CI use. The line-by-line limitation in tables is a known constraint, not a hidden gotcha. Suitable for any project using reStructuredText documentation.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python 3.10 or later; does not work with reStructuredText tables due to line-by-line processing.
- Low friction: pure Python wheel with only two runtime dependencies (polib and regex).
- Actively maintained with recent releases; last commit 2026-07-06 and production-stable status.
License · maintenance · safety
PSF-2.0 (permissive) — Licensed under PSF-2.0 (Python Software Foundation License Version 2), a permissive license derived from its origin in CPython's documentation tools—no restrictions on use or distribution.
last release 2025-11-19 (268 days) · last repo commit 2026-07-06 · 104 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 811,563 downloads/mo, #5,003 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install sphinx-lint
sphinx-lint file.rst
sphinx-lint docs/- Whether false positives have been eliminated in practice or remain common in real documentation projects.
- Performance characteristics on large documentation trees or whether editor integration is truly comfortable at scale.
- Coverage of all Sphinx-invisible errors or whether some categories remain undetected.
What it is and what it does
Sphinx Lint is a command-line linter for reStructuredText and Python documentation files, designed to find errors that Sphinx's own build process does not catch. It evolved from CPython's rstlint.py tool and focuses on stylistic and formal issues—malformed roles, unclosed directives, and similar problems—while deliberately avoiding duplication of checks that sphinx-build already performs. The tool runs line-by-line and is intended to be fast enough for editor integration and single-file checking.
The linter can be invoked directly on files or directories, integrated into pre-commit workflows, and configured to ignore specific paths. It aims for zero false positives, though it currently skips some rules within tables due to limitations in line-by-line parsing. Runtime dependencies are minimal (polib and regex), and it supports Python 3.10 through 3.14.
Use it for
- Catch reStructuredText syntax errors during local editing before running a full Sphinx build.
- Enforce documentation style consistency across a project via pre-commit hooks.
- Validate documentation files in CI/CD pipelines without triggering a complete Sphinx build.
- Find role and directive issues that Sphinx's build process does not report.
- Lint individual .rst files during authoring without checking the entire documentation tree.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes.
Sphinx Lint is actively maintained, has no security vulnerabilities, low install friction, and a permissive license. It fills a genuine gap—catching documentation errors Sphinx misses—and is designed for both local and CI use. The line-by-line limitation in tables is a known constraint, not a hidden gotcha. Suitable for any project using reStructuredText documentation.
Install
sphinx-lint on PyPI
Before you install
Low friction: pure Python wheel with only two runtime dependencies (polib and regex). Actively maintained with recent releases; last commit 2026-07-06 and production-stable status.
Requires Python 3.10 or later; does not work with reStructuredText tables due to line-by-line processing.
License in practice
Licensed under PSF-2.0 (Python Software Foundation License Version 2), a permissive license derived from its origin in CPython's documentation tools—no restrictions on use or distribution.
Quickstart
pip install sphinx-lint
sphinx-lint file.rst
sphinx-lint docs/Verify before relying
- Whether false positives have been eliminated in practice or remain common in real documentation projects.
- Performance characteristics on large documentation trees or whether editor integration is truly comfortable at scale.
- Coverage of all Sphinx-invisible errors or whether some categories remain undetected.
Package facts
| License | PSF-2.0 permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.10 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 2 packagespolibregex |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 268 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 811,563 / month, #5,003 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/StableIntended Audience :: DevelopersNatural Language :: EnglishProgramming Language :: Python :: 3 :: OnlyProgramming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14Topic :: Documentation :: Sphinx |
Evidence: sphinx_lint-1.0.2-py3-none-any.whl
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See also doc8 · doccmd · docsig · docstrfmt · restructuredtext-lint · sphinxcontrib-shellcheck · rstcheck · rstcheck-core · flake8-rst-docstrings · yamllint