sphinx-nested-apidoc

When flattened is not enough.

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Installation ++++++++++++

Use pip or pip3 to install sphinx-nested-apidoc

.. code-block:: bash

pip install sphinx-nested-apidoc

.. code-block:: bash

pip3 install sphinx-nested-apidoc

Introduction ++++++++++++

sphinx-apidoc is a great tool for generating documentation, but it does not replicate the directory structure of your package. sphinx-nested-apidoc aims to solve that problem.

Tutorial ++++++++

Let's say we have the following directory structure of our package:

.. code-block:: text

mymodule/ ├── fruits/ │ ├── init.py │ ├── mango.py │ ├── pear.py ├── animals/ │ ├── special/ │ │ ├── init.py │ │ ├── doggo.py │ │ └── catto.py │ ├── init.py │ ├── monke.py │ └── chimp.py ├── init.py ├── base.py └── exceptions.py

And we want to generate documentation for this package in some directory docs/.

Let's see the difference.

Using `sphinx-apidoc` we get

We use the following command:

.. code-block:: bash

sphinx-apidoc -o docs/ mymodule/ -e

It generates:

.. code-block:: text

docs/ ├── modules.rst ├── mymodule.animals.chimp.rst ├── mymodule.animals.monke.rst ├── mymodule.animals.rst ├── mymodule.animals.special.catto.rst ├── mymodule.animals.special.doggo.rst ├── mymodule.animals.special.rst ├── mymodule.base.rst ├── mymodule.exceptions.rst ├── mymodule.fruits.mango.rst ├── mymodule.fruits.pear.rst ├── mymodule.fruits.rst └── mymodule.rst

This is not very clean, obviously.

Using `sphinx-nested-apidoc` we get

We use the following command:

.. code-block:: bash

sphinx-nested-apidoc -o docs/ mymodule/

It generates:

.. code-block:: text

docs/ ├── modules.rst └── mymodule/ ├── animals/ │ ├── chimp.rst │ ├── index.rst │ ├── monke.rst │ └── special/ │ ├── catto.rst │ ├── doggo.rst │ └── index.rst ├── base.rst ├── exceptions.rst ├── fruits/ │ ├── mango.rst │ ├── pear.rst │ └── index.rst └── index.rst

Looks clean!

Want to name the package something else?

.. code-block:: bash

sphinx-nested-apidoc --package-name src -o docs/ mymodule/

It generates:

.. code-block:: text

docs/ ├── modules.rst └── src/ ├── animals/ │ ├── chimp.rst │ ├── index.rst │ ├── monke.rst │ └── special/ │ ├── catto.rst │ ├── doggo.rst │ └── index.rst ├── base.rst ├── exceptions.rst ├── fruits/ │ ├── mango.rst │ ├── pear.rst │ └── index.rst └── index.rst

Note that mymodule has been renamed to src.

As a Sphinx Extension

You can also use this as a sphinx extension.

Create a file called docs/conf.py and configure it like this:

.. code-block:: python

...

extensions = [ "sphinx_nested_apidoc", # ...other extensions ]

Name of the package directory.

sphinx_nested_apidoc_package_dir = "packagename"

Name of the folder to put all the package documentation in. By default it is

the name of the package itself.

sphinx_nested_apidoc_package_name = "src"

...

And then run:

.. code-block:: bash

sphinx-build docs docs/_build

Usage Details +++++++++++++

.. code-block:: text

usage: sphinx-nested-apidoc [-h] [-v | -q] [--version] [-f] [-n] -o DESTDIR [--package-name PACKAGE_NAME] [-s SUFFIX] [--implicit-namespaces] module_path ...

Generates nested directory from sphinx-apidoc's flattened files. It is simply a wrapper over sphinx-apidoc and you can pass additional arguments to it for extended configuration.

positional arguments: module_path Path to package to document. ... Commands and flags to supply to sphinx-apidoc. Note that some arguments like --dry-run are ignored.

options: -h, --help show this help message and exit -v, --verbose Increase application verbosity. This option is repeatable and will increase verbosity each time it is repeated. This option cannot be used when -q/--quiet is used. (default: 3) -q, --quiet Disable logging. This option cannot be used when -v/--verbose is used. (default: False) --version show program's version number and exit -f, --force Replace existing files. (default: False) -n, --dry-run Run the script without creating files (default: False) -o, --output-dir directory to place all output (default: None) --package-name Name of the directory to put the package documentation in. By default it is the name of the package itself. (default: None)

sphinx-apidoc options: -s, --suffix file suffix (default: rst) --implicit-namespaces interpret module paths according to PEP-0420 implicit namespaces specification (default: False)

Sphinx Extension Configuration ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The following configuration values are used:

+-----------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------+------------+ | Option Name | Description | Default | Required? | +===============================================+==================================================================================================================+=========================+============+ | sphinx_nested_apidoc_package_dir | This is where the package to document resides. | | YES | +-----------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------+------------+ | sphinx_nested_apidoc_package_name | Name of the directory to put all the package documentation in. By default it is the name of the package itself. | None | | +-----------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------+------------+ | sphinx_nested_apidoc_suffix | The suffix of the generated documentation files. | rst | | +-----------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------+------------+ | sphinx_nested_apidoc_excluded_files | List of files (without extension) to exclude from modification/renaming. | index, modules | | +-----------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------+------------+ | sphinx_nested_apidoc_module_first | put module documentation before submodule documentation. | False | | +-----------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------+------------+ | sphinx_nested_apidoc_implicit_namespaces | interpret module paths according to PEP-0420 implicit namespaces specification. | False | | +-----------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------+------------+

Some additional details +++++++++++++++++++++++

What it does

As you saw earlier, it generates a nested directory from a flattened one.
Under the hood, it uses sphinx-apidoc. More on this below.

As stated above, sphinx-nested-apidoc uses sphinx-apidoc internally. This means, you can configure sphinx-apidoc from sphinx-nested-apidoc. For example:

.. code-block:: bash