Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 16, 2026

Read the Docs

Read the Docs is an open-sourced free software documentation hosting platform. It generates documentation written with the Sphinx documentation generator, MkDocs, or Jupyter Book.

Last revised
Jun 16, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
340 w
Citations
12
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Read the Docs
Read the Docs Logo
Country of originUnited States
Founder(s)Eric Holscher, Anthony Johnson
URLreadthedocs.org
Read the Docs
Written inPython
LicenseMIT
Websitereadthedocs.org Edit this on Wikidata
Repositorygithub.com/rtfd/readthedocs.org

Read the Docs is an open-sourced free software documentation hosting platform.1 It generates documentation written with the Sphinx documentation generator, MkDocs,2 or Jupyter Book.3

History

The site was created in 2010 by Eric Holscher, Bobby Grace, and Charles Leifer.4

On March 9, 2011, the Python Software Foundation Board awarded a grant of US$840 to the Read the Docs project for one year of hosting fees.5 On November 13, 2017, the Linux Mint project announced that they were moving their documentation to Read the Docs.6 In 2020, Read the Docs received a $200,000 grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.7 For 2021, Read the Docs reported 700 million page views and 196 million unique visitors.8

In 2013, a "Write the Docs" conference for Read the Docs users was launched, which has since turned into a generic software-documentation community.91011 As of 2024, it continues to hold annual global conferences, organize local meetups, and maintain a Slack channel for "people who care about documentation."12

References

References

  1. "Making documentation easy with Read the Docs". Opensource.com. Retrieved 2017-06-08.
  2. "MkDocs". www.mkdocs.org. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  3. "Built with Jupyter Book". jupyterbook.org. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  4. Eric Holscher. "Announcing Read The Docs". ericholscher.com. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
  5. Hellmann, Doug (2011-03-09). "PSF Funds readthedocs.org". pyfound.blogspot.ca. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  6. "Monthly News – November 2017". The Linux Mint Blog. 2017-11-16. Retrieved 2017-12-17.
  7. Holscher, Eric (2020-11-19). "Announcing Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Grant to Expand the Interoperability of Scientific Documentation". Read the Docs Blog. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
  8. Holscher, Eric (2022-03-21). "Read the Docs 2021 Stats". Read the Docs Blog. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
  9. Meri Williams (2021-02-05). "5 things you need to know about growing a tech team under Covid-19". Silicon Republic. Retrieved 2021-08-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  10. Matt Asay (2021-07-19). "Should documentation writers get paid more than developers?". TechRepublic. Retrieved 2021-08-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  11. "Origin Story". Write the Docs. Retrieved 2017-06-29.
  12. "Welcome to our community! — Write the Docs". www.writethedocs.org. Retrieved 2024-11-13.
External links