Configuration File V2

Read the Docs supports configuring your documentation builds with a YAML file. The Read the Docs file must be in the root directory of your project.

Here is an example of how this file looks like:

# .readthedocs.yml

version: 2

python:
  version: 3.7
  install:
     - method: pip
       path: .

Supported settings

Note

The presence of any other key that isn’t documented here will make the build to fail. This is to avoid typos and provide feedback on invalid configurations.

version

Required:true

Example:

version: 2

Warning

If you don’t provide the version, v1 will be used.

formats

Formats of the documentation to be built.

Type:list
Options:htmlzip, pdf, epub
Default:[]

Example:

# Default
formats: []
# Build PDF & ePub
formats:
  - epub
  - pdf

Note

You can use the all keyword to indicate all formats.

# Build all formats
formats: all

python

Configuration of the Python environment to be used. Example:

python:
   version: 3.7
   install:
      - requirements: docs/requirements.txt
      - method: pip
        path: .
        extra_requirements:
            - docs
      - method: setuptools
        path: another/package
   system_packages: true

python.version

The Python version (this depends on build.image).

Type:number
Default:3

python.install

List of installation methods of packages and requirements. You can have several of the following methods.

Type:list
Default:[]
Requirements file

Install packages from a requirements file.

The path to the requirements file, relative to the root of the project.

Key:requirements
Type:path
Required:true

Example:

python:
   version: 3.7
   install:
      - requirements: docs/requirements.txt
      - requirements: requirements.txt
Packages

Install the project using python setup.py install or pip install.

The path to the package, relative to the root of the project.

Key:path
Type:path
Required:true

The installation method.

Key:method
Options:pip, setuptools
Default:pip

Extra requirements section to install in addition to the package dependencies.

Warning

You need to install your project with pip to use extra_requirements.

Key:extra_requirements
Type:list
Default:[]

Example:

python:
   version: 3.7
   install:
      - method: pip
        path: .
        extra_requirements:
           - docs
      - method: setuptools
        path: package

With the previous settings, Read the Docs will execute the next commands:

pip install .[docs]
python package/setup.py install

python.system_packages

Give the virtual environment access to the global site-packages directory.

Type:bool
Default:false

Depending on the build.image, Read the Docs includes some libraries like scipy, numpy, etc. That you can access to them by enabling this option. See The build environment for more details.

conda

Configuration for Conda support. Example:

conda:
  environment: environment.yml

conda.environment

The path to the Conda environment file, relative to the root of the project.

Type:path
Required:true

build

Configuration for the documentation build process. Example:

build:
  image: latest

python:
  version: 3.7

build.image

The Docker image used for building the docs.

Type:string
Options:stable, latest
Default:latest

Each image support different Python versions and has different packages installed, as defined here:

  • stable: 2, 2.7, 3, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6
  • latest: 2, 2.7, 3, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7

sphinx

Configuration for Sphinx documentation (this is the default documentation type). Example:

sphinx:
  builder: html
  configuration: conf.py
  fail_on_warning: true

sphinx.builder

The builder type for the Sphinx documentation.

Type:string
Options:html, htmldir, singlehtml
Default:html

sphinx.configuration

The path to the conf.py file, relative to the root of the project.

Type:path
Default:null

If the value is null, Read the Docs will try to find a conf.py file in your project.

sphinx.fail_on_warning

Turn warnings into errors. This means that the build stops at the first warning and exits with exit status 1.

Type:bool
Default:false

mkdocs

Configuration for Mkdocs documentation. Example:

mkdocs:
  configuration: mkdocs.yml
  fail_on_warning: false

mkdocs.configuration

The path to the mkdocs.yml file, relative to the root of the project.

Type:path
Default:null

If the value is null, Read the Docs will try to find a mkdocs.yml file in your project.

mkdocs.fail_on_warning

Turn warnings into errors. This means that the build stops at the first warning and exits with exit status 1.

Type:bool
Default:false

submodules

VCS submodules configuration.

Note

Only Git is supported at the moment.

Note

You can’t use include and exclude settings for submodules at the same time.

Example:

submodules:
  include:
     - one
     - two
  recursive: true

submodules.include

List of submodules to be included.

Type:list
Default:[]

Note

You can use the all keyword to include all submodules.

submodules:
  include: all

submodules.exclude

List of submodules to be excluded.

Type:list
Default:[]

Note

You can use the all keyword to exclude all submodules. This is the same as include: [].

submodules:
  exclude: all

submodules.recursive

Do a recursive clone of the submodules.

Type:bool
Default:false

Note

This is ignored if there aren’t submodules to clone.

Schema

You can see the complete schema here.

Migrating from v1

Changes

  • The version setting is required. See version.
  • The default value of the formats setting has changed to [] and it doesn’t include the values from the web interface.
  • The top setting requirements_file was moved to python.install and we don’t try to find a requirements file if the option isn’t present. See Requirements file.
  • The setting conda.file was renamed to conda.environment. See conda.environment.
  • The build.image setting now only has two options: latest (default) and stable. See build.image.
  • The settings python.setup_py_install and python.pip_install were replaced by python.install. And now it accepts a path to the package. See Packages.
  • The setting python.use_system_site_packages was renamed to python.system_packages. See python.system_packages.
  • The build will fail if there are invalid keys (strict mode).

Warning

Some values from the web interface are no longer respected, please see Migrating from the web interface if you have settings there.

Migrating from the web interface

This should be pretty straightforward, just go to the Admin > Advanced settings, and find their respective setting in here.

Not all settings in the web interface are per version, but are per project. These settings aren’t supported via the configuration file.

  • Name
  • Repository URL
  • Repository type
  • Language
  • Programming language
  • Project homepage
  • Tags
  • Single version
  • Default branch
  • Default version
  • Show versions warning
  • Privacy level
  • Analytics code