diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index e08f587e45..363cd0015f 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@
     cmake_minimum_required_version="3.0",
     extras_require={
         "test": ["dpdata>=0.1.9", "ase", "pytest", "pytest-cov", "pytest-sugar"],
-        "docs": ["sphinx>=3.1.1,<4.1.0", "recommonmark", "sphinx_rtd_theme", "sphinx_markdown_tables", "myst-parser", "breathe", "exhale", "numpydoc", "ase"],
+        "docs": ["sphinx>=3.1.1,<4.1.0", "recommonmark", "sphinx_rtd_theme>=1.0.0rc1", "sphinx_markdown_tables", "myst-parser", "breathe", "exhale", "numpydoc", "ase"],
         **extras_require,
     },
     entry_points={"console_scripts": ["dp = deepmd.entrypoints.main:main"]},