# Sphinx: AI-friendly with conditions

> AI-assisted pull requests are accepted if AI use is disclosed in detail and the author understands and can explain the code. Autonomous agents are not allowed, and AI may not write descriptions, comments or issues except for translation or grammar fixes.

- What it is: The Python documentation generator. (Developer tool)
- Homepage: https://www.sphinx-doc.org/
- Repository: https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx
- Overall stance: AI-friendly with conditions (Mostly friendly). AI-assisted contributions are accepted with extra rules, such as disclosing AI use, or AI is banned for issues or written text.
- Last classified: 2026-10-09 (manual review, high confidence)
- Policy last changed: 2026-10-09
- Web page: https://areweaifriendly.com/projects/sphinx/

## Policy by area

- **Code contributions**: AI-friendly with conditions (AI use must be disclosed; Contributor takes full responsibility; Output must be license-compatible; No autonomous agents)
- **Issues & bug reports**: Not AI-friendly (Only minor help (autocomplete, grammar))
- **AI-written text**: Not AI-friendly (Only minor help (autocomplete, grammar))

## In their own words

- Code contributions: "You must disclose whether AI has been used to assist in the development of your pull request." (https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/blob/master/doc/internals/ai-policy.rst)
- Code contributions: "It is not acceptable to submit a patch that you cannot understand and explain yourself." (https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/blob/master/doc/internals/ai-policy.rst)
- Code contributions: "Code generated by AI may infringe on copyright and it is the submitter's responsibility to not infringe." (https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/blob/master/doc/internals/ai-policy.rst)
- Code contributions: "The use of an AI agent that writes code and then submits a pull request autonomously is not permitted." (https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/blob/master/doc/internals/ai-policy.rst)
- Issues & bug reports: "In explaining your contribution, do not use AI to automatically generate comments, pull request descriptions, or issue descriptions." (https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/blob/master/doc/internals/ai-policy.rst)
- AI-written text: "When interacting with developers (forums, discussions, issues, pull requests, etc.) do not use AI to speak for you, except for translation or grammar editing." (https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/blob/master/doc/internals/ai-policy.rst)

## Sources

- [Sphinx AI Policy](https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx/blob/master/doc/internals/ai-policy.rst), fetched 2026-10-09