Creating Documentation¶

This section covers the basics of how to create documentation using Sphinx and host the documentation for free in Read The Docs.

Installing Sphinx¶

Use pip to install Sphinx:

Unix/macOS

python3 -m pip install --upgrade sphinx

Windows

py -m pip install --upgrade sphinx

For other installation methods, see this installation guide by Sphinx.

Create a docs directory inside your project to hold your documentation:

cd /path/to/project
mkdir docs

Run sphinx-quickstart inside the docs directory:

cd docs
sphinx-quickstart

This sets up a source directory, walks you through some basic configurations, and creates an index.rst file as well as a conf.py file.

You can add some information about your project in index.rst, then build them:

make html

For more details on the build process, see this guide by Read The Docs.

For a more detailed guide on how to use Sphinx and reStructuredText, please see this documentation tutorial on Hitchhiker’s Guide to Python.