Notion Builder for Sphinx

Builder for Sphinx which enables publishing documentation to Notion.

See a sample document source and the published Notion page for an example of what it can do.

Contents

• Notion Builder for Sphinx
  • Installation
  • Supported Notion Block Types
  • Directives
    • notion-link-to-page
    • notion-file
  • Roles
    • notion-mention-user
    • notion-mention-page
    • notion-mention-database
    • notion-mention-date
  • Cross-references
  • Unsupported Notion Block Types
  • Uploading Documentation to Notion
    • Prerequisites
    • Usage
    • Upload Strategies
    • Automatic Publishing Configuration
    • Publishing the Sample Document Locally
    • Targeting Your Own Workspace

Installation

sphinx-notionbuilder is compatible with Python 3.11+.

$ pip install sphinx-notionbuilder

Add the following to conf.py to enable the extension:

"""Configuration for Sphinx."""

extensions = ["sphinx_notion"]

sphinx-notionbuilder also works with a variety of Sphinx extensions:

• sphinx-toolbox collapse
• sphinx-toolbox rest_example
• sphinxcontrib-video
• sphinxnotes-strike
• atsphinx-audioplayer
• sphinx-immaterial task_lists
• sphinx.ext.mathjax
• sphinx-simplepdf
• sphinx-iframes
• sphinx-tabs
• sphinx-design
• sphinxcontrib-text-styles
• sphinxcontrib-mermaid

See a sample document source and the published Notion page for an example of each of these.

To set these up, install the extensions you want to use and add them to your conf.py, before sphinx_notion:

"""Configuration for Sphinx."""

extensions = [
    "atsphinx.audioplayer",
    "sphinx.ext.mathjax",
    "sphinx_iframes",
    "sphinx_immaterial.task_lists",
    "sphinx_design",
    "sphinx_simplepdf",
    "sphinx_tabs.tabs",
    "sphinx_toolbox.collapse",
    "sphinx_toolbox.rest_example",
    "sphinxcontrib.mermaid",
    "sphinxcontrib.video",
    "sphinxcontrib_text_styles",
    "sphinxnotes.strike",
    "sphinx_notion",
]

Most of these extensions are installed automatically with sphinx-notionbuilder. sphinx-tabs and sphinx-design are not, so to use their directives (tabs/tab and tab-set/tab-item respectively) install them separately:

$ pip install sphinx-tabs sphinx-design

Supported Notion Block Types

The following syntax is supported:

• Headers (levels 1-4)
• Bulleted lists
• TODO lists (with checkboxes)
• Code blocks
• Table of contents
• Block quotes
• Callouts
• Collapsible sections (using the collapse directive from sphinx-toolbox )
• Tabs (using the tabs and tab directives from sphinx-tabs, or the tab-set and tab-item directives from sphinx-design )
• Rest-example blocks (using the rest-example directive from sphinx-toolbox )
• Images (with URLs or local paths)
• Videos (with URLs or local paths)
• Audio (with URLs or local paths)
• PDFs (with URLs or local paths)
• Files (with URLs or local paths)
• Embed blocks (using the iframe directive from sphinx-iframes )
• Tables
• Dividers (horizontal rules / transitions)
• Strikethrough text (using the strike role from sphinxnotes-strike )
• Colored text and text styles (bold, italic, monospace) (using various roles from sphinxcontrib-text-styles )
• Mermaid diagrams (using the mermaid directive from sphinxcontrib-mermaid )
• Mathematical equations (inline and block-level, using the math role and directive from sphinx.ext.mathjax )
• Link to page blocks (using the notion-link-to-page directive)
• Mentions (users, pages, databases, dates) (using the notion-mention-user, notion-mention-page, notion-mention-database, and notion-mention-date roles)
• Describe blocks (using the describe directive)
• Definition lists
• Glossary definitions (using the glossary directive)
• Rubrics (informal headings that do not appear in the table of contents)

See a sample document source and the published Notion page.

All of these can be used in a way which means your documentation can still be rendered to HTML.

Directives

sphinx-notionbuilder provides custom directives for Notion-specific features:

notion-link-to-page

Creates a Notion "link to page" block that references another page in your Notion workspace.

Usage:

.. notion-link-to-page:: PAGE_ID

Parameters:

• PAGE_ID: The UUID of the Notion page you want to link to (without hyphens or with hyphens, both formats are accepted)

Example:

.. notion-link-to-page:: 12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789abc

This creates a clickable link block in Notion that navigates to the specified page when clicked.

notion-file

Creates a Notion File block that links to an external file by URL, or uploads a local file.

Usage:

.. notion-file:: FILE_URL_OR_PATH

Parameters:

• FILE_URL_OR_PATH: A URL to an external file, or a local file path relative to the source directory

Options:

• :name:: (Optional) Display name for the file in Notion
• :caption:: (Optional) Caption text displayed below the file block

Examples:

.. notion-file:: https://example.com/document.zip

.. notion-file:: _static/data.csv
   :name: Project Data
   :caption: CSV export of the project data

When not using the Notion builder (e.g. HTML), the directive renders as a link to the file.

Roles

sphinx-notionbuilder provides custom roles for inline Notion-specific features:

notion-mention-user

Creates a Notion user mention inline.

Usage:

:notion-mention-user:`USER_ID`

Parameters:

• USER_ID: The UUID of the Notion user you want to mention

Example:

Hello :notion-mention-user:`12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789abc` there!

notion-mention-page

Creates a Notion page mention inline.

Usage:

:notion-mention-page:`PAGE_ID`

Parameters:

• PAGE_ID: The UUID of the Notion page you want to mention

Example:

See :notion-mention-page:`87654321-4321-4321-4321-cba987654321` for details.

notion-mention-database

Creates a Notion database mention inline.

Usage:

:notion-mention-database:`DATABASE_ID`

Parameters:

• DATABASE_ID: The UUID of the Notion database you want to mention

Example:

Check the :notion-mention-database:`abcdef12-3456-7890-abcd-ef1234567890` database.

notion-mention-date

Creates a Notion date mention inline.

Usage:

:notion-mention-date:`DATE_STRING`

Parameters:

• DATE_STRING: A date string in ISO format (e.g., 2025-11-09)

Example:

The meeting is on :notion-mention-date:`2025-11-09`.

Cross-references

Sphinx cross-reference roles are not fully supported by the Notion builder because there is no way to determine the URL of the target page in Notion. Cross-references that resolve to internal links are rendered as plain text and a build warning is emitted.

The affected roles include :doc:, :ref:, :term:, :any:, :numref:, :keyword:, :option:, :envvar:, :confval:, and :token:.

To suppress these warnings, add the following to your conf.py:

"""Configuration for Sphinx."""

suppress_warnings = ["ref.notion"]

Unsupported Notion Block Types

• Bookmark
• Breadcrumb
• Child database
• Child page
• Column and column list
• Link preview
• Synced block
• Template
• Heading with is_toggleable set to True

Uploading Documentation to Notion

Build documentation with the notion builder. For eaxmple:

$ sphinx-build -W -b notion source build/notion

After building your documentation with the Notion builder, you can upload it to Notion using the included command-line tool.

Prerequisites

1. Create a Notion integration at notion-integrations

The integration token must have the following "Capabilities" set within the "Configuration" tab:

• Content Capabilities: Insert content, Update content, Read content
• Comment Capabilities: Read comments (required for checking if blocks have discussion threads for the --cancel-on-discussion option)
• User Capabilities: Read user information without email addresses (for bot identification)

In the "Access" tab, choose the pages and databases your integration can access.

1. Get your integration token and set it as an environment variable:

$ export NOTION_TOKEN="your_integration_token_here"

Usage

# The JSON file will be in the build directory, e.g. ./build/notion/index.json
$ notion-upload --file path/to/output.json --parent-page-id parent_page_id --title "Page Title"

Or with a database parent:

$ notion-upload --file path/to/output.json --parent-database-id parent_database_id --title "Page Title"

Or update a known page directly, without specifying its parent:

$ notion-upload --file path/to/output.json --page-id page_id --title "Page Title"

Arguments:

• --file: Path to the JSON file generated by the Notion builder
• --parent-page-id: The ID of the parent page in Notion (must be shared with your integration) - required without --page-id and mutually exclusive with --parent-database-id
• --parent-database-id: The ID of the parent database in Notion (must be shared with your integration) - required without --page-id and mutually exclusive with --parent-page-id
• --title: Title for the new page in Notion
• --page-id: (Optional) ID of an existing page to update; the page is renamed to the given title
• --icon: (Optional) Icon for the page (emoji)
• --cover-path: (Optional) Path to a cover image file for the page
• --strategy: (Optional) Block upload strategy, diff (the default) or replace

The command will create a new page if one with the given title doesn't exist, or update the existing page if one with the given title already exists.

With --page-id, the page is looked up by ID instead of by title, and the command fails if no page with that ID exists. This avoids a silent fork where renaming a page (in Notion or in your configuration) causes a new page to be created alongside the old one.

Upload Strategies

The default diff strategy keeps matching blocks at the beginning and end of the page and only replaces the changed middle. It minimizes API calls and preserves the IDs and discussion threads of unchanged blocks, but its synchronization algorithm is more involved.

The replace strategy uploads the complete new document at the bottom of the page and only then deletes every previously existing block. Appending first means an append failure leaves the old document intact. This strategy is simpler, but it uploads every block, briefly duplicates the document during synchronization, and replaces all old block IDs and their discussions. Consequently, --cancel-on-discussion treats every existing block as deletable when replace is selected.

Use diff for routine publishing where preserving discussions and minimizing API calls matter. Use replace when append-before-delete failure safety and straightforward replacement matter more than retaining old block IDs.

Automatic Publishing Configuration

Instead of using the command-line tool, you can configure automatic publishing to Notion in your conf.py. When enabled, documentation will be uploaded to Notion automatically after a successful build with the notion builder.

Add the following configuration options to your conf.py:

"""Configuration for Sphinx."""

# Enable automatic publishing to Notion
notion_publish = True

# Required without notion_page_id: Parent page or database ID
notion_parent_page_id = "your-page-id-here"
# OR
notion_parent_database_id = "your-database-id-here"

# Required: Title for the Notion page
notion_page_title = "My Documentation"

# Optional alternative to a parent: ID of an existing page to update
notion_page_id = "your-page-id-here"

# Optional: Icon emoji for the page
notion_page_icon = "📚"

# Optional: Cover image URL
notion_page_cover_url = "https://example.com/cover.jpg"

# Optional: Cancel upload if blocks to be deleted have discussion threads
notion_cancel_on_discussion = True

# Optional: Use "diff" (default) or append-then-delete "replace"
notion_upload_strategy = "diff"

Configuration Options:

notion_publish

Enable automatic publishing to Notion after the build completes. When set to True, the documentation will be uploaded to Notion automatically after a successful build with the notion builder. Default: False

notion_parent_page_id

The ID of the parent Notion page under which the documentation will be published. The page must be shared with your Notion integration. This option is mutually exclusive with notion_parent_database_id. A parent location is required only when notion_page_id is not set. Default: None

notion_parent_database_id

The ID of the parent Notion database under which the documentation will be published. The database must be shared with your Notion integration. This option is mutually exclusive with notion_parent_page_id. A parent location is required only when notion_page_id is not set. Default: None

notion_page_title

The title for the Notion page. This is required when notion_publish is True. If a page with this title already exists under the parent, it will be updated. Otherwise, a new page will be created. Default: None

notion_page_id

The ID of an existing Notion page to update. When set, the page is looked up by ID instead of by title, and is renamed to notion_page_title. No parent page or database ID is required in this mode. Publishing fails with an error if no page with this ID exists. Default: None

notion_page_icon

An optional emoji icon for the Notion page (e.g., "📚"). Default: None

notion_page_cover_url

An optional URL for a cover image for the Notion page. Default: None

notion_cancel_on_discussion

When set to True, the upload will be cancelled with an error if any blocks that would be deleted have discussion threads attached to them. This helps prevent accidentally losing discussion content. Default: False

notion_upload_strategy

Selects the block synchronization strategy: "diff" preserves matching block IDs and discussions while uploading only changes, and "replace" appends the complete new document before deleting all old blocks. With "replace", all existing blocks are considered deletable by notion_cancel_on_discussion. Default: "diff"

Publishing the Sample Document Locally

A convenience script is provided to build and publish the sample documentation to a test Notion page.

1. Create a .env file in the repository root with your integration token:

   export NOTION_TOKEN=your_integration_token_here

   This file is gitignored and will not be committed.

2. Run the script:

   $ ./publish-sample.sh

The Notion object IDs that the sample links to and mentions (a page, a user and a database) are read from the committed sample.env file rather than being hardcoded in the documentation, so the sample can be uploaded to any workspace.

Targeting Your Own Workspace

The committed sample.env points at the project's own demo workspace. To regenerate it for a workspace of your own, run the bootstrap script. It creates the linked page and database under a parent page shared with your integration, picks a user to mention, and writes the IDs to sample.env:

$ export NOTION_TOKEN="your_integration_token_here"
$ uv run --all-extras python bootstrap-sample-env.py --parent-page-id parent_page_id