diff --git a/docs/conf.py b/docs/conf.py
index 0e6fa560d5..71ce84a33e 100644
--- a/docs/conf.py
+++ b/docs/conf.py
@@ -126,7 +126,13 @@ language = 'en'
 # List of patterns, relative to source directory, that match files and
 # directories to ignore when looking for source files.
 # This pattern also affects html_static_path and html_extra_path.
-exclude_patterns = ['_build', 'Thumbs.db', '.DS_Store']
+exclude_patterns = [
+    "_build",
+    "Thumbs.db",
+    ".DS_Store",
+    ".venv",
+    "references/docs/.venv",
+]
 
 # The name of the Pygments (syntax highlighting) style to use.
 pygments_style = None
@@ -369,6 +375,7 @@ def on_init(app):  # lint-amnesty, pylint: disable=redefined-outer-name, unused-
                     exclude.append(os.path.join(dirpath, name))
         if exclude:
             args.extend(exclude)
+
         check_call(args)