Read the Docs Search API

Query the public Read the Docs Search API to find documentation across millions of pages. This API is available on both Community and Business sites; the base URL changes by host.

Step-by-step instructions

1. Make a search request

Set RTD_HOST for your site:

Community: https://app.readthedocs.org
Business: https://app.readthedocs.com

Query the API using:

GET ${RTD_HOST}/api/v3/search/?q={query}&page={page}

Required parameters:

q: Your search query (e.g., "authentication", "API pagination")
page: Result page number (default: 1)

Note on scoping: You will generally get better and more consistent results by scoping your query to a specific project. Use fielded search syntax inside q, for example project:{project-slug} your terms. Examples: project:docs build, project:sphinx configuration.

2. Parse the response

The API returns JSON with this structure:

{
  "count": 1234,
  "next": "https://readthedocs.org/api/v3/search/?q=query&page=2",
  "previous": null,
  "results": [
    {
      "id": "project-name:doc-title",
      "project": "project-name",
      "version": "latest",
      "title": "Documentation Title",
      "path": "/en/latest/path/to/page.html",
      "domain": "project-name.readthedocs.io",
      "highlight": "snippet of matching <mark>text</mark>...",
      "blocks": [
        {
          "id": "section-id",
          "title": "Section Title",
          "path": "/path#section-id"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

3. Handle pagination

If there are more results, use the next URL to fetch the next page. Continue until next is null.

Examples

Search for authentication documentation

curl "${RTD_HOST}/api/v3/search/?q=authentication"

Search within a specific project

curl "${RTD_HOST}/api/v3/search/?q=project:docs%20authentication"

Project-scoped quick queries

# Sphinx
curl "${RTD_HOST}/api/v3/search/?q=project:sphinx%20configuration"
curl "${RTD_HOST}/api/v3/search/?q=project:sphinx%20autodoc"

# Requests
curl "${RTD_HOST}/api/v3/search/?q=project:requests%20proxies"
curl "${RTD_HOST}/api/v3/search/?q=project:requests%20authentication"

# Read the Docs
curl "${RTD_HOST}/api/v3/search/?q=project:readthedocs%20build"
curl "${RTD_HOST}/api/v3/search/?q=project:readthedocs%20redirects"

Search with pagination

curl "${RTD_HOST}/api/v3/search/?q=API&page=2"

Parse results with Python

import os
import requests

response = requests.get(
    f"{os.environ['RTD_HOST']}/api/v3/search/",
    params={"q": "REST API"}
)

data = response.json()
for result in data['results']:
    print(f"{result['project']}: {result['title']}")
    print(f"  Domain: {result['domain']}")
    print(f"  Path: {result['path']}")

Get all paginated results

def search_all(query):
    all_results = []
    page = 1
    while True:
        response = requests.get(
            f"{os.environ['RTD_HOST']}/api/v3/search/",
            params={"q": query, "page": page}
        )
        data = response.json()
        all_results.extend(data['results'])
        if not data['next']:
            break
        page += 1
    return all_results

Common edge cases

No authentication required: The Search API is public and does not require API keys or authentication.

Rate limiting: The API applies reasonable rate limits. If you receive HTTP 429, implement exponential backoff.

Private documentation excluded: Only publicly available documentation is searchable. Private projects are not included.

Search delay: The search index updates with a slight delay. New documentation may not appear immediately.

Empty results: If a query returns no results, try simpler keywords or browse the project directly on Read the Docs.

Project scoping recommended: The global index is large and queries can be broad. For most use cases, include a project:{project-slug} filter in q to scope results to the relevant documentation project.