diff --git a/doc/requirements.txt b/doc/requirements.txt
index 6808065ca..4377fe904 100644
--- a/doc/requirements.txt
+++ b/doc/requirements.txt
@@ -3,3 +3,5 @@ sphinxcontrib-blockdiag>=1.1.0
 funcparserlib>=1.0.0a0  # https://github.com/blockdiag/blockdiag/pull/148
 sphinxcontrib-seqdiag
 sphinx_rtd_theme
+# NOTE(ianw) 2022-10-17 : until we can figure out circular reference errors
+sphinx<=5.2.3