diff --git a/conf.py b/conf.py
index 78f37f003f..0e4922b319 100644
--- a/conf.py
+++ b/conf.py
@@ -100,6 +100,7 @@ exclude_patterns = ["*/build-*",
                     "esp8266",
                     "examples",
                     "extmod",
+                    "frozen",
                     "lib",
                     "minimal",
                     "mpy-cross",
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..75df61718c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+# dummy file to work around readthedocs bug: https://github.com/rtfd/readthedocs.org/issues/2855