diff --git a/.github/workflows/build_docs.yml b/.github/workflows/build_docs.yml
index 0c9f5d64e..89da7460b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build_docs.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build_docs.yml
@@ -23,5 +23,5 @@ jobs:
           path: .cache
           restore-keys: |
             mkdocs-material-
-      - run: pip install -r mkdocs-requirements.txt
+      - run: pip install ".[docs]"
       - run: mkdocs gh-deploy --force
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/dev-requirements.txt b/dev-requirements.txt
index 964464733..e37a7b443 100644
--- a/dev-requirements.txt
+++ b/dev-requirements.txt
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 # This file is autogenerated by pip-compile with Python 3.10
 # by the following command:
 #
-#    pip-compile --extra=dev --output-file=dev-requirements.txt pyproject.toml
+#    pip-compile --extra=dev --extra=docs --output-file=dev-requirements.txt pyproject.toml
 #
 appnope==0.1.3
     # via
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ attrs==23.1.0
     # via
     #   cattrs
     #   requests-cache
+babel==2.14.0
+    # via mkdocs-material
 backcall==0.2.0
     # via ipython
 blosc2==2.0.0
@@ -39,10 +41,13 @@ charset-normalizer==3.3.2
 click==8.1.7
     # via
     #   dask
+    #   mkdocs
     #   pip-tools
     #   pynxtools (pyproject.toml)
 cloudpickle==3.0.0
     # via dask
+colorama==0.4.6
+    # via mkdocs-material
 comm==0.2.0
     # via ipykernel
 contourpy==1.1.1
@@ -107,6 +112,8 @@ fsspec==2023.10.0
     #   hyperspy
 future==0.18.3
     # via uncertainties
+ghp-import==2.1.0
+    # via mkdocs
 gitdb==4.0.11
     # via gitpython
 gitpython==3.1.40
@@ -164,7 +171,11 @@ ipython==8.12.3
 jedi==0.19.1
     # via ipython
 jinja2==3.1.2
-    # via hyperspy
+    # via
+    #   hyperspy
+    #   mkdocs
+    #   mkdocs-macros-plugin
+    #   mkdocs-material
 joblib==1.3.2
     # via scikit-learn
 jupyter-client==8.6.0
@@ -191,8 +202,15 @@ locket==1.0.0
     # via partd
 lxml==4.9.3
     # via fabio
+markdown==3.5.2
+    # via
+    #   mkdocs
+    #   mkdocs-material
+    #   pymdown-extensions
 markupsafe==2.1.3
-    # via jinja2
+    # via
+    #   jinja2
+    #   mkdocs
 matplotlib==3.7.4
     # via
     #   ase
@@ -211,7 +229,22 @@ matplotlib-inline==0.1.6
 matplotlib-scalebar==0.8.1
     # via orix
 mergedeep==1.3.4
+    # via
+    #   mkdocs
+    #   pynxtools (pyproject.toml)
+mkdocs==1.5.3
+    # via
+    #   mkdocs-macros-plugin
+    #   mkdocs-material
+    #   pynxtools (pyproject.toml)
+mkdocs-macros-plugin==1.0.5
+    # via pynxtools (pyproject.toml)
+mkdocs-material==9.5.10
     # via pynxtools (pyproject.toml)
+mkdocs-material-extensions==1.3.1
+    # via
+    #   mkdocs-material
+    #   pynxtools (pyproject.toml)
 mpmath==1.3.0
     # via sympy
 msgpack==1.0.7
@@ -315,11 +348,14 @@ packaging==23.2
     #   hyperspy
     #   ipykernel
     #   matplotlib
+    #   mkdocs
     #   pooch
     #   pytest
     #   scikit-image
     #   tables
     #   xarray
+paginate==0.5.6
+    # via mkdocs-material
 pandas==2.0.3
     # via
     #   ifes-apt-tc-data-modeling
@@ -329,6 +365,8 @@ parso==0.8.3
     # via jedi
 partd==1.4.1
     # via dask
+pathspec==0.12.1
+    # via mkdocs
 pexpect==4.9.0
     # via ipython
 pickleshare==0.7.5
@@ -348,6 +386,7 @@ pip-tools==7.3.0
 platformdirs==4.0.0
     # via
     #   jupyter-core
+    #   mkdocs
     #   pooch
     #   requests-cache
     #   virtualenv
@@ -382,7 +421,11 @@ pycifrw==4.4.6
 pyfai==2023.9.0
     # via pyxem
 pygments==2.17.2
-    # via ipython
+    # via
+    #   ipython
+    #   mkdocs-material
+pymdown-extensions==10.7
+    # via mkdocs-material
 pyparsing==3.1.1
     # via matplotlib
 pyproject-hooks==1.0.0
@@ -398,10 +441,12 @@ pytest-timeout==2.2.0
     # via pynxtools (pyproject.toml)
 python-dateutil==2.8.2
     # via
+    #   ghp-import
     #   hyperspy
     #   ipyparallel
     #   jupyter-client
     #   matplotlib
+    #   mkdocs-macros-plugin
     #   pandas
 pytz==2023.3.post1
     # via
@@ -419,8 +464,14 @@ pyyaml==6.0.1
     #   dask
     #   hyperspy
     #   kikuchipy
+    #   mkdocs
+    #   mkdocs-macros-plugin
     #   pre-commit
+    #   pymdown-extensions
     #   pynxtools (pyproject.toml)
+    #   pyyaml-env-tag
+pyyaml-env-tag==0.1
+    # via mkdocs
 pyzmq==25.1.1
     # via
     #   ipykernel
@@ -428,9 +479,12 @@ pyzmq==25.1.1
     #   jupyter-client
 radioactivedecay==0.4.21
     # via ifes-apt-tc-data-modeling
+regex==2023.12.25
+    # via mkdocs-material
 requests==2.31.0
     # via
     #   hyperspy
+    #   mkdocs-material
     #   pooch
     #   pynxtools (pyproject.toml)
     #   requests-cache
@@ -486,6 +540,8 @@ sympy==1.12
     #   radioactivedecay
 tables==3.8.0
     # via ifes-apt-tc-data-modeling
+termcolor==2.4.0
+    # via mkdocs-macros-plugin
 threadpoolctl==3.2.0
     # via scikit-learn
 tifffile==2023.7.10
@@ -564,6 +620,8 @@ urllib3==2.1.0
     #   types-requests
 virtualenv==20.25.0
     # via pre-commit
+watchdog==4.0.0
+    # via mkdocs
 wcwidth==0.2.12
     # via
     #   prettytable
diff --git a/mkdocs-requirements.txt b/mkdocs-requirements.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 798f6c303..000000000
--- a/mkdocs-requirements.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-mkdocs
-mkdocs-material
-mkdocs-material-extensions
-mkdocs-macros-plugin
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index e66cdcbf0..caba0f20d 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -53,6 +53,12 @@ dependencies = [
 "Bug Tracker" = "https://github.com/FAIRmat-NFDI/pynxtools/issues"
 
 [project.optional-dependencies]
+docs = [
+    "mkdocs",
+    "mkdocs-material",
+    "mkdocs-material-extensions",
+    "mkdocs-macros-plugin",
+]
 dev = [
     "mypy",
     "ruff",