diff --git a/doc/requirements.txt b/doc/requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2850a181f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# The order of packages is significant, because pip processes them in the order
+# of appearance. Changing the order has an impact on the overall integration
+# process, which may cause wedges in the gate later.
+
+sphinx!=1.3b1,<1.4,>=1.2.1 # BSD
+oslosphinx>=4.7.0 # Apache-2.0
+reno>=1.8.0 # Apache-2.0
+
+# imported when the source code is parsed for generating documentation:
+fixtures>=3.0.0 # Apache-2.0/BSD
+kafka-python>=1.3.1 # Apache-2.0
+pyngus>=2.0.2 # Apache-2.0
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 500477888..3ef3970ab 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ commands = {posargs}
 
 [testenv:docs]
 commands = python setup.py build_sphinx
+deps = -r{toxinidir}/doc/requirements.txt
 
 [testenv:py27-func-rabbit]
 setenv =
@@ -117,6 +118,7 @@ commands = pip-missing-reqs -d --ignore-module=oslo_messaging* --ignore-file=osl
 
 [testenv:releasenotes]
 commands = sphinx-build -a -E -W -d releasenotes/build/doctrees -b html releasenotes/source releasenotes/build/html
+deps = -r{toxinidir}/doc/requirements.txt
 
 [testenv:bindep]
 deps = bindep