diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index ddfb9ac071b823c0b1f9b2495c1e44c49290ec1b..ef0861267fc42504b306d158ecfd332a44b3f6ce 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+# -*- mode:conf; -*-
+
 # dot files
 .*
 !/.git*
@@ -9,6 +11,8 @@
 # the build dir
 /public
 /sss_bin
+/node_modules/
+/build
 
 # screen logs
 screenlog.*
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 2a014f451fb7b6de3dd5a8715b3aeae701d806e5..7f009150afd1b3aec6d3aed2383c6b45607335a2 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 # Copyright (C) 2019 Henrik tom Wörden
 # Copyright (C) 2020 Timm Fitschen (t.fitschen@indiscale.com)
 # Copyright (C) 2020 IndiScale GmbH (info@indiscale.com)
+# Copyright (C) 2020 Daniel Hornung <d.hornung@indiscale.com>
 #
 # This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 # it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as
@@ -90,9 +91,25 @@ build-testenv:
     - cd test/docker
     - docker login -u gitlab-ci-token -p $CI_JOB_TOKEN $CI_REGISTRY
       # use here general latest or specific branch latest...
-    - docker pull $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:latest || true
     - docker build 
       --pull
-      --cache-from $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:latest
       -t $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:latest .
     - docker push $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:latest
+
+# Build the sphinx documentation and make it ready for deployment by Gitlab Pages
+# documentation:
+#   stage: deploy
+
+# Special job for serving a static website. See https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/yaml/README.html#pages
+pages:
+  tags: [ docker ]
+  stage: deploy
+  only:
+    - f-doc
+  script:
+    - echo "Deploying"
+    - make doc
+    - cp -r build/doc/html public
+  artifacts:
+    paths:
+      - public
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index c2802f2a004cb839bffcd816537bbb7a24769699..f2c54f430fd5e7f3ccd11294c8fe0daf5c7a23f1 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
   button (edit_mode).
 * Plotly preview has an additional parameter for a config object,
   e.g., for disabling the plotly logo
-- After a SELECT statement now also all referenced files can be downloaded.
+* After a SELECT statement now also all referenced files can be downloaded.
+* Automated documentation builds: `make doc`
 
 ### Changed (for changes in existing functionality)
 - enabled and enhanced autocompletion
diff --git a/makefile b/Makefile
similarity index 99%
rename from makefile
rename to Makefile
index d44625927fbef317ce4afa072a616ada36df96ce..92f69dfb6234826b752a1c3355e1e812e5b2df61 100644
--- a/makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -307,3 +307,9 @@ PYLINT ?= pylint3
 PYTHON_FILES = $(subst $(ROOT_DIR)/,,$(shell find $(ROOT_DIR)/ -iname "*.py"))
 pylint: $(PYTHON_FILES)
 	for f in $(PYTHON_FILES); do $(PYLINT) -d all -e E,F $$f || exit 1; done
+
+
+# Compile the standalone documentation
+.PHONY: doc
+doc:
+	$(MAKE) -C src/doc html
diff --git a/README_SETUP.md b/README_SETUP.md
index 127549ec3a273b0cca08ee6a824601fbbd3172bf..6fb59c342e91e938851ba5f999dab2e099e1f187 100644
--- a/README_SETUP.md
+++ b/README_SETUP.md
@@ -68,3 +68,15 @@ information.
 # Clean
 
 * Run `make clean` to clean up everything.
+
+# Documentation #
+
+Build documentation in `build/` with `make doc`.
+
+## Requirements ##
+
+- sphinx
+- sphinx-autoapi
+- jsdoc (`npm install jsdoc`)
+- sphinx-js
+- recommonmark
diff --git a/src/core/js/ext_bottom_line.js b/src/core/js/ext_bottom_line.js
index d92ea4d5b4e6285469c92c583d501534abf98d21..bd7ec6a9938ff80afbd7dafdf0a734cd443678bc 100644
--- a/src/core/js/ext_bottom_line.js
+++ b/src/core/js/ext_bottom_line.js
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ var ext_bottom_line = function($, logger, is_in_view_port, load_config, getEntit
      * Tiff files are decompressed if necessary and converted into png by UTIF library.
      *
      * @param {HTMLElement} entity
-     * @return {Promise for HTMLElement} Promise for an IMG element.
+     * @return {Promise | HTMLElement} Promise for an IMG element.
      */
     const _create_tiff_preview = function(entity) {
         const path = connection.getFileSystemPath() + getEntityPath(entity);
diff --git a/src/core/js/footer.js b/src/core/js/footer.js
index 79f3ed0ecb382534d7c997ce0bc230178792f677..c48c5cf19c405aea326b36aba2868008466a8329 100644
--- a/src/core/js/footer.js
+++ b/src/core/js/footer.js
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
  * Call initially.
  * 
  * TODO refactor to async function for better readability.
- * @return
+ * @return something
  */
 function footer_initOnDocumentReady() {
 
diff --git a/src/core/js/preview.js b/src/core/js/preview.js
index f74fd13ffd2fe373543c025866e91cfe6b6fd9eb..b85f7b56dc13ff94aa2c3de90eb1b464d7f1e9d6 100644
--- a/src/core/js/preview.js
+++ b/src/core/js/preview.js
@@ -211,8 +211,8 @@ var preview = new function() {
     /**
      * Transform the raw xml response of the server into an array of entities for preview.
      *
-     * @param {Promise for XMLDocument} xml - A Promise for the servers xml response.
-     * @return {Promise for HTMLElement[]} A Promise for an array of entities.
+     * @param {Promise | XMLDocument} xml - A Promise for the servers xml response.
+     * @return {Promise | HTMLElement[]} A Promise for an array of entities.
      */
     this.processPreviewResponse = function(xml) {
         let xsl = preview.getEntityXsl();
@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@ var preview = new function() {
     /**
      * Retrieve the XSL script for entities from the server.
      *
-     * @return {Promise for XMLDocument} A Promise for the XSL script.
+     * @return {Promise | XMLDocument} A Promise for the XSL script.
      */
     this.getEntityXsl = async function _getEntityXsl() {
         return transformation.retrieveEntityXsl();
@@ -679,7 +679,7 @@ var preview = new function() {
      * Retrieve a list of entities from the server.
      * 
      * @param {String[]} entityIds - The ids of the entities which are to be retrieved.
-     * @return {Promise for HTMLElement[]} A Promise for an array of entities.
+     * @return {Promise | HTMLElement[]} A Promise for an array of entities.
      */
     this.retrievePreviewEntities = async function _rPE(entityIds) {
         try {
@@ -711,9 +711,9 @@ var preview = new function() {
     /**
      * Transform the xml to an array of entities.
      * 
-     * @param {Promise XMLDocument} xml - The server response.
-     * @param {Promise XMLDocument} xsl - The xsl script.
-     * @return {Promise HTMLElement[]} A promise for an Array of HTMLElements.
+     * @param {Promise | XMLDocument} xml - The server response.
+     * @param {Promise | XMLDocument} xsl - The xsl script.
+     * @return {Promise | HTMLElement[]} A promise for an Array of HTMLElements.
      */
     this.transformXmlToPreviews = async function _tXTP(xml, xsl) {
         let html = await asyncXslt(xml, xsl);
diff --git a/src/core/js/webcaosdb.js b/src/core/js/webcaosdb.js
index 509abee58bd66bd938788527f4f0e459ceb36e6d..55337a36a97d6a7ad42aadfe673e429d6d942a0a 100644
--- a/src/core/js/webcaosdb.js
+++ b/src/core/js/webcaosdb.js
@@ -1706,13 +1706,13 @@ function insertParam(xsl, name, value = null) {
 /**
  * When the page is scrolled down 100 pixels, the scroll-back button appears.
  * 
- * @return
+ * @return FIXME
  */
 
 /**
  * Every initial function calling is done here.
  * 
- * @return
+ * @return TODO
  */
 function initOnDocumentReady() {
     hintMessages.init();
diff --git a/src/doc/Makefile b/src/doc/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..b3c35b4ddbc2849eb6b3bdc223095e275669ad39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/doc/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+# ** header v3.0
+# This file is a part of the CaosDB Project.
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2020 IndiScale GmbH <info@indiscale.com>
+# Copyright (C) 2020 Daniel Hornung <d.hornung@indiscale.com>
+#
+# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as
+# published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the
+# License, or (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+# along with this program. If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+#
+# ** end header
+
+# This Makefile is a wrapper for sphinx scripts.
+#
+# It is based upon the autocreated makefile for Sphinx documentation.
+
+# You can set these variables from the command line, and also
+# from the environment for the first two.
+SPHINXOPTS    ?= -a
+SPHINXBUILD   ?= sphinx-build
+# SPHINXAPIDOC  ?= javasphinx-apidoc
+SOURCEDIR      = .
+BUILDDIR       = ../../build/doc
+
+# npm is not always in the global PATH
+NPM_PATH = $(shell npm bin)
+
+.PHONY: doc-help Makefile apidoc
+
+# Put it first so that "make" without argument is like "make help".
+doc-help:
+	@$(SPHINXBUILD) -M help "$(SOURCEDIR)" "$(BUILDDIR)" $(SPHINXOPTS) $(O)
+
+# Catch-all target: route all unknown targets to Sphinx using the new
+# "make mode" option.  $(O) is meant as a shortcut for $(SPHINXOPTS).
+%: Makefile
+	PATH=$(NPM_PATH):$$PATH $(SPHINXBUILD) -M $@ "$(SOURCEDIR)" "$(BUILDDIR)" $(SPHINXOPTS) $(O)
+#	sphinx-build -M html . ../../build/doc
+
+# Not necessary in this repository, apidoc is doone with the sphinx-autoapi extension
+# apidoc:
+# 	@$(SPHINXAPIDOC) -o _apidoc --update --title="CaosDB Server" ../main/
diff --git a/src/doc/concepts.rst b/src/doc/concepts.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..23e5fc4f6ddb666757fb9c79e192e07ffed8fb44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/doc/concepts.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+========================
+The concepts of pycaosdb
+========================
+
+Some text...
+
diff --git a/src/doc/conf.py b/src/doc/conf.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..56fbccb79f8e5ecbff7f70e5c7b7e2c0f56cf040
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/doc/conf.py
@@ -0,0 +1,206 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+#
+# Configuration file for the Sphinx documentation builder.
+#
+# This file only contains a selection of the most common options. For a full
+# list see the documentation:
+# https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/usage/configuration.html
+
+# -- Path setup --------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# If extensions (or modules to document with autodoc) are in another directory,
+# add these directories to sys.path here. If the directory is relative to the
+# documentation root, use os.path.abspath to make it absolute, like shown here.
+#
+# import os
+# import sys
+# sys.path.insert(0, os.path.abspath('../caosdb'))
+
+
+# -- Project information -----------------------------------------------------
+
+project = 'caosdb-server'
+copyright = '2020, IndiScale GmbH'
+author = 'Daniel Hornung'
+
+# The short X.Y version
+version = '0.X.Y'
+# The full version, including alpha/beta/rc tags
+release = '0.x.y-beta-rc2'
+
+
+# -- General configuration ---------------------------------------------------
+
+# If your documentation needs a minimal Sphinx version, state it here.
+#
+# needs_sphinx = '1.0'
+
+# Add any Sphinx extension module names here, as strings. They can be
+# extensions coming with Sphinx (named 'sphinx.ext.*') or your custom
+# ones.
+extensions = [
+    'sphinx_js',
+    'sphinx.ext.todo',
+    "sphinx.ext.autodoc",
+    'autoapi.extension',
+    "recommonmark",            # For markdown files.
+    # 'sphinx.ext.intersphinx',
+    # 'sphinx.ext.napoleon',     # For Google style docstrings
+]
+
+# Add any paths that contain templates here, relative to this directory.
+templates_path = ['_templates']
+
+# The suffix(es) of source filenames.
+# You can specify multiple suffix as a list of string:
+#
+# source_suffix = ['.rst', '.md']
+source_suffix = '.rst'
+
+# The master toctree document.
+master_doc = 'index'
+
+# The language for content autogenerated by Sphinx. Refer to documentation
+# for a list of supported languages.
+#
+# This is also used if you do content translation via gettext catalogs.
+# Usually you set "language" from the command line for these cases.
+language = None
+
+# 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 = []
+
+# The name of the Pygments (syntax highlighting) style to use.
+pygments_style = None
+
+
+# -- Options for HTML output -------------------------------------------------
+
+# The theme to use for HTML and HTML Help pages.  See the documentation for
+# a list of builtin themes.
+#
+html_theme = 'alabaster'
+
+# Theme options are theme-specific and customize the look and feel of a theme
+# further.  For a list of options available for each theme, see the
+# documentation.
+#
+# html_theme_options = {}
+
+# Add any paths that contain custom static files (such as style sheets) here,
+# relative to this directory. They are copied after the builtin static files,
+# so a file named "default.css" will overwrite the builtin "default.css".
+html_static_path = ['_static']
+
+# Custom sidebar templates, must be a dictionary that maps document names
+# to template names.
+#
+# The default sidebars (for documents that don't match any pattern) are
+# defined by theme itself.  Builtin themes are using these templates by
+# default: ``['localtoc.html', 'relations.html', 'sourcelink.html',
+# 'searchbox.html']``.
+#
+# html_sidebars = {}
+
+
+# -- Options for HTMLHelp output ---------------------------------------------
+
+# Output file base name for HTML help builder.
+htmlhelp_basename = 'caosdb-webuidoc'
+
+
+# -- Options for LaTeX output ------------------------------------------------
+
+latex_elements = {
+    # The paper size ('letterpaper' or 'a4paper').
+    #
+    # 'papersize': 'letterpaper',
+
+    # The font size ('10pt', '11pt' or '12pt').
+    #
+    # 'pointsize': '10pt',
+
+    # Additional stuff for the LaTeX preamble.
+    #
+    # 'preamble': '',
+
+    # Latex figure (float) alignment
+    #
+    # 'figure_align': 'htbp',
+}
+
+# Grouping the document tree into LaTeX files. List of tuples
+# (source start file, target name, title,
+#  author, documentclass [howto, manual, or own class]).
+latex_documents = [
+    (master_doc, 'caosdb-webui.tex', 'caosdb-webui Documentation',
+     'IndiScale GmbH', 'manual'),
+]
+
+
+# -- Options for manual page output ------------------------------------------
+
+# One entry per manual page. List of tuples
+# (source start file, name, description, authors, manual section).
+man_pages = [
+    (master_doc, 'caosdb-webui', 'caosdb-webui Documentation',
+     [author], 1)
+]
+
+
+# -- Options for Texinfo output ----------------------------------------------
+
+# Grouping the document tree into Texinfo files. List of tuples
+# (source start file, target name, title, author,
+#  dir menu entry, description, category)
+texinfo_documents = [
+    (master_doc, 'caosdb-webui', 'caosdb-webui Documentation',
+     author, 'caosdb-webui', 'One line description of project.',
+     'Miscellaneous'),
+]
+
+
+# -- Options for Epub output -------------------------------------------------
+
+# Bibliographic Dublin Core info.
+epub_title = project
+
+# The unique identifier of the text. This can be a ISBN number
+# or the project homepage.
+#
+# epub_identifier = ''
+
+# A unique identification for the text.
+#
+# epub_uid = ''
+
+# A list of files that should not be packed into the epub file.
+epub_exclude_files = ['search.html']
+
+
+# -- Extension configuration -------------------------------------------------
+
+# -- Options for sphinx-js ---------------------------------------------------
+# See also https://pypi.org/project/sphinx-js/
+
+js_source_path = '../core/js/'
+primary_domain = 'js'  # Not strictly necessary?
+
+# -- Options for intersphinx extension ---------------------------------------
+
+# Example configuration for intersphinx: refer to the Python standard library.
+intersphinx_mapping = {'https://docs.python.org/': None}
+
+# TODO Which options do we want?
+autodoc_default_options = {
+    'members': None,
+    'undoc-members': None,
+}
+
+# -- Options for sphinx-autoapi ----------------------------------------------
+# See also https://pypi.org/project/sphinx-js/
+
+autoapi_type = 'javascript'
+autoapi_dirs = ['../core/js/']
diff --git a/src/doc/getting_started.md b/src/doc/getting_started.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..6805181e73a7f338fbacb74bdd9f734360404372
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/doc/getting_started.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# Getting started with pycaosdb #
+
+1. Install
+2. import
+3. enjoy
diff --git a/src/doc/index.rst b/src/doc/index.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..9c1f07e6ca5023d5dc25176d7ec7c68909952652
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/doc/index.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+
+Welcome to caosdb-server's documentation!
+=========================================
+
+.. toctree::
+   :maxdepth: 2
+   :caption: Contents:
+   :hidden:
+
+   Getting started <getting_started>
+   Concepts <concepts>
+   tutorials
+   API documentation<autoapi>
+
+Welcome to the WebUI for CaosDB, ``pycaosdb``!
+
+This documentation helps you to :doc:`get started<getting_started>`, explains the most important
+:doc:`concepts<concepts>` and offers a range of :doc:`tutorials<tutorials>`.
+
+.. note::
+
+   TODO: Build the index (manually?) like here: https://github.com/mozilla/fathom/edit/master/docs/
+
+  .. js:autofunction:: input2caosdbDate
+
+  .. js:autofunction:: getEntityVersion
+
+
+
+Indices and tables
+==================
+
+* :ref:`genindex`
+* :ref:`modindex`
+* :ref:`search`
diff --git a/test/docker/Dockerfile b/test/docker/Dockerfile
index bccd94fe14f49a79d8a43b559b3b857ed1d7d07d..f355939cacd0f16b7038ae459584f2d015e04763 100644
--- a/test/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/test/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -1,8 +1,16 @@
-FROM debian:latest
-RUN apt-get update && \
-    apt-get install firefox-esr gettext-base pylint3 python3-pip \
-    python3-httpbin git curl x11-apps xvfb unzip -y python3-pytest
+FROM debian:10
+RUN echo "deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list \
+    && apt-get update \
+    && apt-get install -y \
+      firefox-esr gettext-base pylint3 python3-pip \
+      python3-httpbin git curl x11-apps xvfb unzip python3-pytest \
+      python3-recommonmark \
+    && apt-get install -y -t buster-backports \
+      npm
+
 RUN pip3 install caosdb
 RUN pip3 install pandas xlrd
 RUN pip3 install git+https://gitlab.com/caosdb/caosdb-advanced-user-tools.git@dev
-
+# For automatic documentation
+RUN npm install -g jsdoc
+RUN pip3 install sphinx-js sphinx-autoapi