SPHINX-APIDOC(1)                    Sphinx                    SPHINX-APIDOC(1)

NAME
       sphinx-apidoc - Sphinx API doc generator tool

SYNOPSIS
       sphinx-apidoc [OPTIONS] -o <OUTPUT_PATH> <MODULE_PATH> [EXCLUDE_PATTERN
       ...]

DESCRIPTION
       sphinx-apidoc is a tool for automatic generation of Sphinx sources
       that, using the autodoc <#module-sphinx.ext.autodoc> extension,
       document a whole package in the style of other automatic API
       documentation tools.

       MODULE_PATH is the path to a Python package to document, and
       OUTPUT_PATH is the directory where the generated sources are placed.
       Any EXCLUDE_PATTERNs given are fnmatch-style <https://docs.python.org/
       3/library/fnmatch.html> file and/or directory patterns that will be
       excluded from generation.

       Warning:
          sphinx-apidoc generates source files that use sphinx.ext.autodoc <#
          module-sphinx.ext.autodoc> to document all found modules.  If any
          modules have side effects on import, these will be executed by
          autodoc when sphinx-build is run.

          If you document scripts (as opposed to library modules), make sure
          their main routine is protected by a if __name__ == '__main__'
          condition.

OPTIONS

       -o <OUTPUT_PATH>
              Directory to place the output files. If it does not exist, it is
              created.

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

       -f, --force
              Force overwriting of any existing generated files.

       -l, --follow-links
              Follow symbolic links. Defaults to False.

       -n, --dry-run
              Do not create or remove any files.

       -s <suffix>
              Suffix for the source files generated. Defaults to rst.

       -d <MAXDEPTH>
              Maximum depth for the generated table of contents file. Defaults
              to 4.

       --tocfile
              Filename for a table of contents file. Defaults to modules.

       -T, --no-toc
              Do not create a table of contents file. Ignored when --full is
              provided.

       --remove-old
              Remove existing files in the output directory that are not
              created anymore.  Not compatible with --full.

       -F, --full
              Generate a full Sphinx project (conf.py, Makefile etc.) using
              the same mechanism as sphinx-quickstart.

       -e, --separate
              Put documentation for each module on its own page.

              Added in version 1.2.


       -E, --no-headings
              Do not create headings for the modules/packages. This is useful,
              for example, when docstrings already contain headings.

       -P, --private
              Include "_private" modules.

              Added in version 1.2.


       --implicit-namespaces
              Without this option, sphinx-apidoc searches sys.path <https://
              docs.python.org/3/library/sys.html#sys.path> for Python packages
              containing __init__.py files, or single-file Python modules.

              This option instead uses PEP 420 <https://peps.python.org/
              pep-0420/> implicit namespaces that allow layouts paths such as
              foo/bar/module.py or foo/bar/baz/__init__.py (note that bar and
              foo are namespaces, not modules).

       -M, --module-first
              Put module documentation before submodule documentation.

       These options are used when --full is specified:

       -a     Append module_path to sys.path.

       -H <project>
              Sets the project name to put in generated files (see project <#
              confval-project>).

       -A <author>
              Sets the author name(s) to put in generated files (see copyright
              <#confval-copyright>).

       -V <version>
              Sets the project version to put in generated files (see version
              <#confval-version>).

       -R <release>
              Sets the project release to put in generated files (see release
              <#confval-release>).

       Project templating

       Added in version 2.2: Project templating options for sphinx-apidoc


       -t, --templatedir=TEMPLATEDIR
              Template directory for template files.  You can modify the
              templates of sphinx project files generated by apidoc.
              Following Jinja2 template files are allowed:

              o module.rst.jinja

              o package.rst.jinja

              o toc.rst.jinja

              o root_doc.rst.jinja

              o conf.py.jinja

              o Makefile.jinja

              o Makefile.new.jinja

              o make.bat.jinja

              o make.bat.new.jinja

              In detail, please refer the system template files Sphinx
              provides.  (sphinx/templates/apidoc and
              sphinx/templates/quickstart)

ENVIRONMENT

       SPHINX_APIDOC_OPTIONS
              A comma-separated list of option to append to generated
              automodule directives. Defaults to
              members,undoc-members,show-inheritance.

SEE ALSO
       sphinx-build(1), sphinx-autogen(1)

Copyright
       2007-2026, the Sphinx developers

9.1.0                            March 4, 2026                SPHINX-APIDOC(1)