diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index d5bea7f6d5..cb8fd278c5 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -13,9 +13,7 @@ test_tube_data/
 test_tube_exp/
 
 # Documentations
-docs/source/pl_examples*.rst
-docs/source/pytorch_lightning*.rst
-docs/source/tests*.rst
+docs/source/api
 docs/source/*.md
 
 # Byte-compiled / optimized / DLL files
diff --git a/docs/source/conf.py b/docs/source/conf.py
index 9a9948680b..b41351f150 100644
--- a/docs/source/conf.py
+++ b/docs/source/conf.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import inspect
 # import m2r
 import builtins
 import pt_lightning_sphinx_theme
+from sphinx.ext import apidoc
 
 PATH_HERE = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
 PATH_ROOT = os.path.join(PATH_HERE, '..', '..')
@@ -127,18 +128,18 @@ language = None
 # directories to ignore when looking for source files.
 # This pattern also affects html_static_path and html_extra_path.
 exclude_patterns = [
-    'pytorch_lightning.rst',
-    'pl_examples.*',
-    'modules.rst',
+    'api/pytorch_lightning.rst',
+    'api/pl_examples.*',
+    'api/modules.rst',
 
     # deprecated/renamed:
-    'pytorch_lightning.loggers.comet_logger.rst',           # TODO: remove in v0.8.0
-    'pytorch_lightning.loggers.mlflow_logger.rst',          # TODO: remove in v0.8.0
-    'pytorch_lightning.loggers.test_tube_logger.rst',       # TODO: remove in v0.8.0
-    'pytorch_lightning.callbacks.pt_callbacks.*',           # TODO: remove in v0.8.0
-    'pytorch_lightning.pt_overrides.*',                     # TODO: remove in v0.8.0
-    'pytorch_lightning.root_module.*',                      # TODO: remove in v0.8.0
-    'pytorch_lightning.logging.*',                          # TODO: remove in v0.8.0
+    'api/pytorch_lightning.loggers.comet_logger.rst',           # TODO: remove in v0.8.0
+    'api/pytorch_lightning.loggers.mlflow_logger.rst',          # TODO: remove in v0.8.0
+    'api/pytorch_lightning.loggers.test_tube_logger.rst',       # TODO: remove in v0.8.0
+    'api/pytorch_lightning.callbacks.pt_callbacks.*',           # TODO: remove in v0.8.0
+    'api/pytorch_lightning.pt_overrides.*',                     # TODO: remove in v0.8.0
+    'api/pytorch_lightning.root_module.*',                      # TODO: remove in v0.8.0
+    'api/pytorch_lightning.logging.*',                          # TODO: remove in v0.8.0
 ]
 
 # The name of the Pygments (syntax highlighting) style to use.
@@ -263,32 +264,33 @@ intersphinx_mapping = {
 # If true, `todo` and `todoList` produce output, else they produce nothing.
 todo_include_todos = True
 
-# https://github.com/rtfd/readthedocs.org/issues/1139
-# I use sphinx-apidoc to auto-generate API documentation for my project.
-# Right now I have to commit these auto-generated files to my repository
-# so that RTD can build them into HTML docs. It'd be cool if RTD could run
-# sphinx-apidoc for me, since it's easy to forget to regen API docs
-# and commit them to my repo after making changes to my code.
 
+# packages for which sphinx-apidoc should generate the docs (.rst files)
 PACKAGES = [
     pytorch_lightning.__name__,
     'pl_examples',
 ]
 
+apidoc_output_folder = os.path.join(PATH_HERE, 'api')
+
 
 def run_apidoc(_):
+    sys.path.insert(0, apidoc_output_folder)
+
+    # delete api-doc files before generating them
+    if os.path.exists(apidoc_output_folder):
+        shutil.rmtree(apidoc_output_folder)
+
     for pkg in PACKAGES:
-        argv = ['-e', '-o', PATH_HERE, os.path.join(PATH_HERE, PATH_ROOT, pkg),
-                '**/test_*', '--force', '--private', '--module-first']
-        try:
-            # Sphinx 1.7+
-            from sphinx.ext import apidoc
-            apidoc.main(argv)
-        except ImportError:
-            # Sphinx 1.6 (and earlier)
-            from sphinx import apidoc
-            argv.insert(0, apidoc.__file__)
-            apidoc.main(argv)
+        argv = ['-e',
+                '-o', apidoc_output_folder,
+                os.path.join(PATH_ROOT, pkg),
+                '**/test_*',
+                '--force',
+                '--private',
+                '--module-first']
+
+        apidoc.main(argv)
 
 
 def setup(app):
diff --git a/docs/source/index.rst b/docs/source/index.rst
index 6d1bfa26c2..b74a9490af 100644
--- a/docs/source/index.rst
+++ b/docs/source/index.rst
@@ -104,10 +104,10 @@ Indices and tables
 .. toctree::
    :hidden:
 
-   pytorch_lightning.core
-   pytorch_lightning.callbacks
-   pytorch_lightning.loggers
-   pytorch_lightning.overrides
-   pytorch_lightning.profiler
-   pytorch_lightning.trainer
-   pytorch_lightning.utilities
\ No newline at end of file
+   api/pytorch_lightning.core
+   api/pytorch_lightning.callbacks
+   api/pytorch_lightning.loggers
+   api/pytorch_lightning.overrides
+   api/pytorch_lightning.profiler
+   api/pytorch_lightning.trainer
+   api/pytorch_lightning.utilities
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docs/source/modules.rst b/docs/source/modules.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index e4c5121858..0000000000
--- a/docs/source/modules.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
-pl_examples
-===========
-
-.. toctree::
-   :maxdepth: 4
-
-   pl_examples