The source code that powers readthedocs.org
8,386
stars
21,279
commits
Python
primary language
Sep 11, 2026
updated
Welcome to Read the Docs
========================
|build-status| |docs| |coverage|
Purpose
-------
`Read the Docs`_ hosts documentation for the open source community.
It supports many documentation tools
(e.g. Sphinx_ docs written with reStructuredText_, MkDocs_ docs written with markdown_, among others),
and can pull Git_ repositories.
We then automatically build your documentation and host it for you.
Read the Docs is designed for developers and teams who want to automate
the building, versioning, and hosting of documentation alongside their code.
It follows the “Docs as Code” philosophy, treating documentation with the same
care and workflow as source code.
Think of it as *Continuous Documentation*, or documentation as code.
.. _Read the Docs: https://app.readthedocs.org/
.. _Sphinx: http://www.sphinx-doc.org/
.. _reStructuredText: http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/usage/restructuredtext/basics.html
.. _Git: http://git-scm.com/
.. _MkDocs: https://www.mkdocs.org/
.. _markdown: https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/
Who should use Read the Docs?
-----------------------------
Read the Docs is commonly used by:
- Open source projects hosting public documentation
- Teams maintaining internal or private documentation
- Developers using Sphinx, MkDocs, or similar documentation tools
- Projects following continuous integration workflows for documentation
Documentation for Read the Docs
-------------------------------
You will find complete documentation for setting up and managing your project
in `the Read the Docs documentation`_.
.. _the Read the Docs documentation: https://docs.readthedocs.com/
Get in touch
------------
You can find information about getting in touch with Read the Docs on our
`Contribution page <https://docs.readthedocs.com/dev/latest/contribute.html#get-in-touch>`_.
Contributing
------------
We welcome contributions from the community.
You can find information about contributing to Read the Docs, including
development setup and contribution guidelines, on our
`Contribution page <https://docs.readthedocs.com/dev/latest/contribute.html>`_.
Quickstart for GitHub hosted projects
-------------------------------------
By the end of this quickstart, you will have a project on Read the Docs
that automatically rebuilds and updates its documentation whenever you
push changes to GitHub.
#. Create an account on `Read the Docs`_ by signing up with GitHub.
#. When prompted on GitHub, grant access to your repositories.
#. Log in and click on "Add project".
#. Start typing the name of your repository, select it from the list,
and click "Continue".
#. Review and update any project information if needed, then click "Next".
#. All done. Commit away, and your documentation will auto-update on every push.
.. |build-status| image:: https://circleci.com/gh/readthedocs/readthedocs.org.svg?style=svg
:alt: Build status
:target: https://circleci.com/gh/readthedocs/readthedocs.org
.. |docs| image:: https://app.readthedocs.org/projects/docs/badge/?version=latest
:alt: Documentation Status
:scale: 100%
:target: https://docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/?badge=latest
.. |coverage| image:: https://codecov.io/gh/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/branch/main/graph/badge.svg
:alt: Test coverage
:scale: 100%
:target: https://codecov.io/gh/readthedocs/readthedocs.org
License
-------
`MIT`_ © 2025 Read the Docs, Inc. & contributors
.. _MIT: LICENSE
Not written in Markdown, so it's shown here as plain text — view it formatted on GitHub.
(top 30 of 412)
Python
87.7%
HTML
11.4%
The source code that powers readthedocs.org
8,386
stars
21,279
commits
Python
primary language
Sep 11, 2026
updated
Welcome to Read the Docs
========================
|build-status| |docs| |coverage|
Purpose
-------
`Read the Docs`_ hosts documentation for the open source community.
It supports many documentation tools
(e.g. Sphinx_ docs written with reStructuredText_, MkDocs_ docs written with markdown_, among others),
and can pull Git_ repositories.
We then automatically build your documentation and host it for you.
Read the Docs is designed for developers and teams who want to automate
the building, versioning, and hosting of documentation alongside their code.
It follows the “Docs as Code” philosophy, treating documentation with the same
care and workflow as source code.
Think of it as *Continuous Documentation*, or documentation as code.
.. _Read the Docs: https://app.readthedocs.org/
.. _Sphinx: http://www.sphinx-doc.org/
.. _reStructuredText: http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/usage/restructuredtext/basics.html
.. _Git: http://git-scm.com/
.. _MkDocs: https://www.mkdocs.org/
.. _markdown: https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/
Who should use Read the Docs?
-----------------------------
Read the Docs is commonly used by:
- Open source projects hosting public documentation
- Teams maintaining internal or private documentation
- Developers using Sphinx, MkDocs, or similar documentation tools
- Projects following continuous integration workflows for documentation
Documentation for Read the Docs
-------------------------------
You will find complete documentation for setting up and managing your project
in `the Read the Docs documentation`_.
.. _the Read the Docs documentation: https://docs.readthedocs.com/
Get in touch
------------
You can find information about getting in touch with Read the Docs on our
`Contribution page <https://docs.readthedocs.com/dev/latest/contribute.html#get-in-touch>`_.
Contributing
------------
We welcome contributions from the community.
You can find information about contributing to Read the Docs, including
development setup and contribution guidelines, on our
`Contribution page <https://docs.readthedocs.com/dev/latest/contribute.html>`_.
Quickstart for GitHub hosted projects
-------------------------------------
By the end of this quickstart, you will have a project on Read the Docs
that automatically rebuilds and updates its documentation whenever you
push changes to GitHub.
#. Create an account on `Read the Docs`_ by signing up with GitHub.
#. When prompted on GitHub, grant access to your repositories.
#. Log in and click on "Add project".
#. Start typing the name of your repository, select it from the list,
and click "Continue".
#. Review and update any project information if needed, then click "Next".
#. All done. Commit away, and your documentation will auto-update on every push.
.. |build-status| image:: https://circleci.com/gh/readthedocs/readthedocs.org.svg?style=svg
:alt: Build status
:target: https://circleci.com/gh/readthedocs/readthedocs.org
.. |docs| image:: https://app.readthedocs.org/projects/docs/badge/?version=latest
:alt: Documentation Status
:scale: 100%
:target: https://docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/?badge=latest
.. |coverage| image:: https://codecov.io/gh/readthedocs/readthedocs.org/branch/main/graph/badge.svg
:alt: Test coverage
:scale: 100%
:target: https://codecov.io/gh/readthedocs/readthedocs.org
License
-------
`MIT`_ © 2025 Read the Docs, Inc. & contributors
.. _MIT: LICENSE
Not written in Markdown, so it's shown here as plain text — view it formatted on GitHub.
(top 30 of 412)
Python
87.7%
HTML
11.4%