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SPHINX-BUILD(1) Sphinx SPHINX-BUILD(1)

NAME

sphinx-build - Sphinx documentation generator tool

SYNOPSIS

sphinx-build [options] <sourcedir> <outputdir> [filenames ...]

DESCRIPTION

sphinx-build generates documentation from the files in <sourcedir> and places it in the <outputdir>.

sphinx-build looks for <sourcedir>/conf.py for the configuration settings. sphinx-quickstart(1) may be used to generate template files, including conf.py.

sphinx-build can create documentation in different formats. A format is selected by specifying the builder name on the command line; it defaults to HTML. Builders can also perform other tasks related to documentation processing. For a list of available builders, refer to Builders.

By default, everything that is outdated is built. Output only for selected files can be built by specifying individual filenames.

OPTIONS

Select a builder, using the make-mode. See Builders for a list of all of Sphinx's built-in builders. Extensions can add their own builders.

IMPORTANT:

Sphinx only recognizes the -M option if it is used first, along with the source and output directories, before any other options are passed. For example: 

sphinx-build -M html ./source ./build --fail-on-warning




The make-mode provides the same build functionality as a default Makefile or Make.bat, and provides the following additional build pipelines:

Build LaTeX files and run them through pdflatex, or as per latex_engine setting. If language is set to 'ja', will use automatically the platex/dvipdfmx latex to PDF pipeline.
Build Texinfo files and run them through makeinfo.

NOTE:

The default output directory locations when using make-mode differ from the defaults when using -b.
  • doctrees are saved to <outputdir>/doctrees
  • output files are saved to <outputdir>/<builder name>



Added in version 1.2.1.


Selects a builder.

See Builders for a list of all of Sphinx's built-in builders. Extensions can add their own builders.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --builder long option.


If given, always write all output files. The default is to only write output files for new and changed source files. (This may not apply to all builders.)

NOTE:

This option does not re-read source files. To read and re-process every file, use --fresh-env instead.


Changed in version 7.3: Add --write-all long option.


Don't use a saved environment (the structure caching all cross-references), but rebuild it completely. The default is to only read and parse source files that are new or have changed since the last run.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --fresh-env long option.


Define the tag tag. This is relevant for only directives that include their content only if certain tags are set. See including content based on tags for further detail.

Added in version 0.6.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --tag long option.


Since Sphinx has to read and parse all source files before it can write an output file, the parsed source files are cached as "doctree pickles". Normally, these files are put in a directory called .doctrees under the build directory; with this option you can select a different cache directory (the doctrees can be shared between all builders).

Changed in version 7.3: Add --doctree-dir long option.


Distribute the build over N processes in parallel, to make building on multiprocessor machines more effective. This feature only works on systems supporting "fork". Windows is not supported. Note that not all parts and not all builders of Sphinx can be parallelized. If auto argument is given, Sphinx uses the number of CPUs as N. Defaults to 1.

Added in version 1.2: This option should be considered experimental.

Changed in version 1.7: Support auto argument.

Changed in version 6.2: Add --jobs long option.


Don't look for the conf.py in the source directory, but use the given configuration directory instead. Note that various other files and paths given by configuration values are expected to be relative to the configuration directory, so they will have to be present at this location too.

Added in version 0.3.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --config-dir long option.


Don't look for a configuration file; only take options via the --define option.

Added in version 0.5.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --isolated long option.


Override a configuration value set in the conf.py file. The value must be a number, string, list or dictionary value.

For lists, you can separate elements with a comma like this: -D html_theme_path=path1,path2.

For dictionary values, supply the setting name and key like this: -D latex_elements.docclass=scrartcl.

For boolean values, use 0 or 1 as the value.

Changed in version 0.6: The value can now be a dictionary value.

Changed in version 1.3: The value can now also be a list value.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --define long option.


Make the name assigned to value in the HTML templates.

Added in version 0.5.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --html-define long option.


Run in nitpicky mode. Currently, this generates warnings for all missing references. See the config value nitpick_ignore for a way to exclude some references as "known missing".

Changed in version 7.3: Add --nitpicky long option.


Do not emit colored output.

Changed in version 1.6: Add --no-color long option.


Emit colored output. Auto-detected by default.

Added in version 1.6.


Increase verbosity (log-level). This option can be given up to three times to get more debug logging output. It implies -T.

Added in version 1.2.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --verbose long option.


Do not output anything on standard output, only write warnings and errors to standard error.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --quiet long option.


Do not output anything on standard output, also suppress warnings. Only errors are written to standard error.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --silent long option.


Write warnings (and errors) to the given file, in addition to standard error.

Changed in version 7.3: ANSI control sequences are stripped when writing to file.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --warning-file long option.


Turn warnings into errors. This means that sphinx-build exits with exit status 1 if any warnings are generated during the build.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --fail-on-warning long option.

Changed in version 8.1: sphinx-build no longer exits on the first warning, but instead runs the entire build and exits with exit status 1 if any warnings were generated. This behaviour was previously enabled with --keep-going.


From Sphinx 8.1, --keep-going is always enabled. Previously, it was only applicable whilst using --fail-on-warning, which by default exited sphinx-build on the first warning. Using --keep-going runs !sphinx-build to completion and exits with exit status 1 if errors are encountered.

Added in version 1.8.

Changed in version 8.1: sphinx-build no longer exits on the first warning, meaning that in effect --fail-on-warning is always enabled. The option is retained for compatibility, but may be removed at some later date.


Display the full traceback when an unhandled exception occurs. Otherwise, only a summary is displayed and the traceback information is saved to a file for further analysis.

Added in version 1.2.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --show-traceback long option.


(Useful for debugging only.) Run the Python debugger, pdb, if an unhandled exception occurs while building.

Changed in version 7.3: Add --pdb long option.


Raise an exception when a warning is emitted during the build. This can be useful in combination with --pdb to debug warnings.

Added in version 8.1.


Display usage summary or Sphinx version.

Added in version 1.2.


You can also give one or more filenames on the command line after the source and build directories. Sphinx will then try to build only these output files (and their dependencies).

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

The sphinx-build refers following environment variables:

A path to make command. A command name is also allowed. sphinx-build uses it to invoke sub-build process on make-mode.

Makefile Options

The Makefile and make.bat files created by sphinx-quickstart usually run sphinx-build only with the -b and -d options. However, they support the following variables to customize behavior:

This sets the 'papersize' key of latex_elements: i.e. PAPER=a4 sets it to 'a4paper' and PAPER=letter to 'letterpaper'.

NOTE:

Usage of this environment variable got broken at Sphinx 1.5 as a4 or letter ended up as option to LaTeX document in place of the needed a4paper, resp. letterpaper. Fixed at 1.7.7.



The command to use instead of sphinx-build.

The build directory to use instead of the one chosen in sphinx-quickstart.

Additional options for sphinx-build. These options can also be set via the shortcut variable O (capital 'o').

When set (regardless of value), sphinx-build will not use color in terminal output. NO_COLOR takes precedence over FORCE_COLOR. See no-color.org for other libraries supporting this community standard.

Added in version 4.5.0.


When set (regardless of value), sphinx-build will use color in terminal output. NO_COLOR takes precedence over FORCE_COLOR.

Added in version 4.5.0.


DEPRECATION WARNINGS

If any deprecation warning like RemovedInSphinxXXXWarning are displayed when building a user's document, some Sphinx extension is using deprecated features. In that case, please report it to author of the extension.

To disable the deprecation warnings, please set PYTHONWARNINGS= environment variable to your environment. For example:

  • PYTHONWARNINGS= make html (Linux/Mac)
  • export PYTHONWARNINGS= and do make html (Linux/Mac)
  • set PYTHONWARNINGS= and do make html (Windows)
  • modify your Makefile/make.bat and set the environment variable

SEE ALSO

sphinx-quickstart(1)

COPYRIGHT

2007-2025, the Sphinx developers

January 7, 2025 8.1.3