diff --git a/_static/custom.css b/_static/custom.css
index 29232e04..f51145cf 100644
--- a/_static/custom.css
+++ b/_static/custom.css
@@ -314,6 +314,9 @@ header.sticky > .container > .md\:flex {
   margin: 0;
   width: 100%;
 }
+header.sticky .text-sm {
+  line-height: inherit;
+}
 header.sticky nav.items-center {
   margin: 0 auto;
 }
@@ -329,6 +332,11 @@ header.sticky nav.items-center a:focus {
   color: var(--link-hover-color);
 }
 
+/* minor correction of first menu item right margin */
+header.sticky nav.items-center > a:first-child {
+  margin-right: 5px;
+}
+
 footer p {
   font-size: 0.8rem;
   color: var(--text-color);
diff --git a/conf.py b/conf.py
index 1c8fb627..6bab602c 100644
--- a/conf.py
+++ b/conf.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 import os
 import sys
 from datetime import date
+from pathlib import Path
 
 import yaml
 
@@ -89,6 +90,8 @@
     ".DS_Store",
     "modules/*",
     "*/README.rst",
+    "partials/*",
+    "*/partials/*",
 ]
 
 # The reST default role (used for this markup: `text`) to use for all
@@ -502,3 +505,25 @@
 epub_basename = f"OpenWISP-{version}"
 
 nitpicky = True
+
+
+def write_pygments_dark_css(app, exception):
+    """Write the dark Pygments stylesheet expected by Sphinx 9.
+
+    sphinxawesome-theme appends dark styles to pygments.css, but Sphinx 9
+    links pygments_dark.css separately when a dark Pygments style is set.
+    """
+    if exception or app.builder.format != "html":
+        return
+    dark_highlighter = getattr(app.builder, "dark_highlighter", None)
+    if dark_highlighter is None:
+        return
+    static_dir = Path(app.outdir) / "_static"
+    static_dir.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
+    (static_dir / "pygments_dark.css").write_text(
+        dark_highlighter.get_stylesheet(), encoding="utf-8"
+    )
+
+
+def setup(app):
+    app.connect("build-finished", write_pygments_dark_css)
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 4e22f084..c55b3e91 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-sphinx~=8.0.2
+sphinx~=9.1.0
 sphinxawesome-theme~=6.0.2
 svglib
 rst2pdf