---
title: Set up Sphinx
description: Add quickinfo hovers to a Sphinx site with autodoc.
sidebar:
  label: Sphinx
---

:::tip
To have an LLM add quickinfo for you, paste the [Get started](/quickinfo/get-started)
prompt into it. This page covers the manual steps.
:::

On Sphinx, the symbol data comes from the site itself. Every HTML build
writes `objects.inv`, the inventory intersphinx reads, which lists each
documented object with its kind and anchor. The `quickinfo build` command
reads it, takes signatures, docstring summaries, and base classes from the
autodoc pages, and writes the data files with the hover script beside them.

## Load the script

Add the script to `conf.py`:

```python
html_js_files = [("quickinfo/quickinfo.js", {"defer": "defer"})]
```

Sphinx resolves the path inside `_static/` and adjusts it for every page
depth.

## Build the data

Run `quickinfo build` on the HTML output after each Sphinx build:

```bash
sphinx-build -b html docs docs/_build/html
npx quickinfo build docs/_build/html
```

The command writes `names.json`, `info.json`, and `quickinfo.js` to
`_build/html/_static/quickinfo/`. The script finds its data next to itself,
so it needs no options. Reference links in the data are relative, so the
output works under any deploy path.

## What gets annotated

Code blocks in Python (`python`, `py`, `pycon`, and Sphinx's default
highlighting) resolve against the snippet's imports and bindings, as
[symbol resolution](/quickinfo/resolution) describes. Cross-references such as
`` :class:`pathlib.Path` `` take their symbol from the link target, and
inline literals resolve by name. Links in the sidebar and table of contents
stay plain.

For example, a guide page with this block, on a site that documents a
Python library, gets a hover on every API name. Hover them here:

```python
import zipfile
from pathlib import Path

bundle = Path("bundle.zip")
with zipfile.ZipFile(bundle) as archive:
    print(archive.namelist())
```

Tooltips follow the theme's light and dark palette on Furo. On other
themes, set the [`--quickinfo-*` color variables](/quickinfo/script-tag#colors).

`sphinx-autobuild` serves a fresh build without the data. Run
`quickinfo build` once against its output directory to see hovers while
writing.