doc/man/sphinx-build.rst
sphinx-build [options] <sourcedir> <outputdir> [filenames ...]
:program:sphinx-build generates documentation from the files in
<sourcedir> and places it in the <outputdir>.
:program:sphinx-build looks for <sourcedir>/conf.py for the configuration
settings. :manpage:sphinx-quickstart(1) may be used to generate template
files, including conf.py.
:program: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
:doc:/usage/builders/index.
By default, everything that is outdated is built. Output only for selected files can be built by specifying individual filenames.
.. program:: sphinx-build
.. _make_mode:
.. option:: -M buildername
Select a builder, using the make-mode.
See :doc:/usage/builders/index 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 :ref:Makefile or Make.bat <makefile_options>,
and provides the following additional build pipelines:
latexpdf
Build LaTeX files and run them through :program:pdflatex, or as per
:confval:latex_engine setting.
If :confval:language is set to 'ja', will use automatically
the :program:platex/dvipdfmx latex to PDF pipeline.
info
Build Texinfo files and run them through :program:makeinfo.
help Output a list of valid builder targets, and exit.
.. note::
The default output directory locations when using *make-mode*
differ from the defaults when using :option:`-b`.
* doctrees are saved to ``<outputdir>/doctrees``
* output files are saved to ``<outputdir>/<builder name>``
.. versionadded:: 1.2.1
.. option:: -b buildername, --builder buildername
Selects a builder.
See :doc:/usage/builders/index for a list of all of Sphinx's built-in builders.
Extensions can add their own builders.
.. versionchanged:: 7.3
Add --builder long option.
.. option:: -a, --write-all
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 :option:--fresh-env instead.
.. versionchanged:: 7.3
Add --write-all long option.
.. option:: -E, --fresh-env
Don't use a saved :term: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.
.. versionchanged:: 7.3
Add --fresh-env long option.
.. option:: -t tag, --tag tag
Define the tag tag.
This is relevant for :rst:dir:only directives that
include their content only if certain tags are set.
See :ref:including content based on tags <tags> for further detail.
.. versionadded:: 0.6
.. versionchanged:: 7.3
Add --tag long option.
.. option:: -d path, --doctree-dir path
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 :file:.doctrees under
the build directory; with this option you can select a different cache
directory (the doctrees can be shared between all builders).
.. versionchanged:: 7.3
Add --doctree-dir long option.
.. option:: -j N, --jobs N
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.
.. versionadded:: 1.2 This option should be considered experimental.
.. versionchanged:: 1.7
Support auto argument.
.. versionchanged:: 6.2
Add --jobs long option.
.. option:: -c path, --conf-dir path
Don't look for the :file: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.
.. versionadded:: 0.3
.. versionchanged:: 7.3
Add --conf-dir long option.
.. option:: -C, --isolated
Don't look for a configuration file; only take options via the :option:--define option.
.. versionadded:: 0.5
.. versionchanged:: 7.3
Add --isolated long option.
.. option:: -D setting=value, --define setting=value
Override a configuration value set in the :file: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.
.. versionchanged:: 0.6 The value can now be a dictionary value.
.. versionchanged:: 1.3 The value can now also be a list value.
.. versionchanged:: 7.3
Add --define long option.
.. option:: -A name=value, --html-define name=value
Make the name assigned to value in the HTML templates.
.. versionadded:: 0.5
.. versionchanged:: 7.3
Add --html-define long option.
.. option:: -n, --nitpicky
Run in nitpicky mode. Currently, this generates warnings for all missing
references. See the config value :confval:nitpick_ignore for a way to
exclude some references as "known missing".
.. versionchanged:: 7.3
Add --nitpicky long option.
.. option:: -N, --no-color
Do not emit colored output.
.. versionchanged:: 1.6
Add --no-color long option.
.. option:: --color
Emit colored output. Auto-detected by default.
.. versionadded:: 1.6
.. option:: -v, --verbose
Increase verbosity (log-level). This option can be given up to three times
to get more debug logging output. It implies :option:-T.
.. versionadded:: 1.2
.. versionchanged:: 7.3
Add --verbose long option.
.. option:: -q, --quiet
Do not output anything on standard output, only write warnings and errors to standard error.
.. versionchanged:: 7.3
Add --quiet long option.
.. option:: -Q, --silent
Do not output anything on standard output, also suppress warnings. Only errors are written to standard error.
.. versionchanged:: 7.3
Add --silent long option.
.. option:: -w file, --warning-file file
Write warnings (and errors) to the given file, in addition to standard error.
.. versionchanged:: 7.3
ANSI control sequences are stripped when writing to *file*.
.. versionchanged:: 7.3
Add --warning-file long option.
.. option:: -W, --fail-on-warning
Turn warnings into errors.
This means that :program:sphinx-build exits with exit status 1
if any warnings are generated during the build.
.. versionchanged:: 7.3
Add --fail-on-warning long option.
.. versionchanged:: 8.1
:program: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 :option:--keep-going.
.. option:: --keep-going
From Sphinx 8.1, :option:!--keep-going is always enabled.
Previously, it was only applicable whilst using :option:--fail-on-warning,
which by default exited :program:sphinx-build on the first warning.
Using :option:!--keep-going runs :program:sphinx-build to completion
and exits with exit status 1 if errors are encountered.
.. versionadded:: 1.8
.. versionchanged:: 8.1
:program:sphinx-build no longer exits on the first warning,
meaning that in effect :option:!--keep-going is always enabled.
The option is retained for compatibility, but may be removed at some
later date.
.. xref RemovedInSphinx10Warning: deprecate this option in Sphinx 10 or no earlier than 2026-01-01.
.. option:: -T, --show-traceback
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.
.. versionadded:: 1.2
.. versionchanged:: 7.3
Add --show-traceback long option.
.. option:: -P, --pdb
(Useful for debugging only.) Run the Python debugger, :mod:pdb, if an
unhandled exception occurs while building.
.. versionchanged:: 7.3
Add --pdb long option.
.. option:: --exception-on-warning
Raise an exception when a warning is emitted during the build.
This can be useful in combination with :option:--pdb to debug warnings.
.. versionadded:: 8.1
.. option:: -h, --help, --version
Display usage summary or Sphinx version.
.. versionadded:: 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).
The :program:sphinx-build refers following environment variables:
.. describe:: MAKE
A path to make command. A command name is also allowed.
:program:sphinx-build uses it to invoke sub-build process on make-mode.
.. _makefile_options:
.. rubric:: Makefile Options
The :file:Makefile and :file:make.bat files created by
:program:sphinx-quickstart usually run :program:sphinx-build only with the
:option:-b and :option:-d options. However, they support the following
variables to customize behavior:
.. describe:: PAPER
This sets the 'papersize' key of :confval: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.
.. describe:: SPHINXBUILD
The command to use instead of sphinx-build.
.. describe:: BUILDDIR
The build directory to use instead of the one chosen in
:program:sphinx-quickstart.
.. describe:: SPHINXOPTS
Additional options for :program:sphinx-build. These options can
also be set via the shortcut variable O (capital 'o').
.. describe:: NO_COLOR
When set (regardless of value), :program:sphinx-build will not use color
in terminal output. NO_COLOR takes precedence over FORCE_COLOR. See
no-color.org <https://no-color.org/>__ for other libraries supporting this
community standard.
.. versionadded:: 4.5.0
.. describe:: FORCE_COLOR
When set (regardless of value), :program:sphinx-build will use color in
terminal output. NO_COLOR takes precedence over FORCE_COLOR.
.. versionadded:: 4.5.0
.. _when-deprecation-warnings-are-displayed:
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):manpage:sphinx-quickstart(1)