diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e6c69c68..56c91445 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ target
 *.iws
 doc/html
 doc/source/apidoc
+doc/source/api
+doc/build
 *.db
 .coverage
 nosetests.xml
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..11d2c442
--- /dev/null
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+[build_sphinx]
+all_files = 1
+build-dir = doc/build
+source-dir = doc/source
diff --git a/tools/build_docs b/tools/build_docs
index b59b6169..f287665b 100755
--- a/tools/build_docs
+++ b/tools/build_docs
@@ -1,12 +1,11 @@
-#!/bin/bash
+#!/bin/bash -e
 
 echo "Building docs..."
 
-rm -rf doc/html
-rm -rf doc/source/apidoc
+rm -rf doc/html doc/build
+rm -rf doc/source/apidoc doc/source/api
 
-# .venv/bin/sphinx-apidoc -f -o doc/source/apidoc/ eho
-.venv/bin/sphinx-build doc/source/ doc/html/
+.venv/bin/python setup.py build_sphinx
 
 echo "Done."
-echo "Docs are now available in 'doc/html/'"
+echo "Docs are now available in 'doc/build/html/'"