diff --git a/docs/requirements.txt b/docs/requirements.txt
index 47e5a216..d2d241eb 100644
--- a/docs/requirements.txt
+++ b/docs/requirements.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
-sphinx
-sphinx-rtd-theme
+sphinx<7
+# rtd-theme 2.0.0 needs sphinx<8, but is buggy with sphinx 7, so both are pinned
+# rtd-theme v3 is still beta but should work with newer sphinx versions
+sphinx-rtd-theme<=2
 myst-parser
 sphinxcontrib-rawfiles