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Sphinx RST Conventions

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Use when writing or editing docs/**/*.rst. Covers Sphinx/reStructuredText conventions, cross-references, toctree hygiene, and RocketPy unit/reference-frame documentation requirements.

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Sphinx and RST Guidelines

  • Follow existing heading hierarchy and style in the target document.
  • Prefer linking to existing documentation pages instead of duplicating content.
  • Use Sphinx cross-references where appropriate (:class:, :func:, :mod:, :doc:, :ref:).
  • Keep API names and module paths consistent with current code exports.
  • Document physical units and coordinate/reference-frame conventions explicitly.
  • Include concise, practical examples when introducing new user-facing behavior.
  • Keep prose clear and technical; avoid marketing language in development/reference docs.
  • When adding a new page, update the relevant toctree so it appears in navigation.
  • Use RocketPy docs build workflow:
    • make build-docs from repository root for normal validation.
    • If stale artifacts appear, clean docs build outputs via cd docs && make clean, then rebuild.
  • Treat new Sphinx warnings/errors as issues to fix or explicitly call out in review notes.
  • Keep docs/index.rst section structure coherent with user, development, reference, technical, and examples navigation.
  • Do not edit Sphinx-generated scaffolding files unless explicitly requested:
    • docs/Makefile
    • docs/make.bat
  • For API docs, ensure references remain aligned with exported/public objects and current module paths.

See:

  • docs/index.rst
  • docs/development/build_docs.rst
  • docs/development/style_guide.rst
  • docs/reference/index.rst
  • docs/technical/index.rst