diff --git a/.readthedocs.yaml b/.readthedocs.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index ae2436da8..000000000
--- a/.readthedocs.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,27 +0,0 @@
-# Read the Docs configuration file for music21
-# See https://docs.readthedocs.io/en/stable/config-file/v2.html for details
-
-# Required
-version: 2
-
-# Set the OS, Python version and other tools you might need
-build:
-  os: ubuntu-22.04
-  tools:
-    python: "3.13"
-
-# Build documentation in the "docs/" directory with Sphinx
-sphinx:
-   configuration: documentation/source/conf.py
-
-# Optionally build your docs in additional formats such as PDF and ePub
-# formats:
-#    - pdf
-#    - epub
-
-# Optional but recommended, declare the Python requirements required
-# to build your documentation
-# See https://docs.readthedocs.io/en/stable/guides/reproducible-builds.html
-# python:
-#    install:
-#    - requirements: docs/requirements.txt
diff --git a/documentation/docbuild_requirements.txt b/documentation/docbuild_requirements.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index a2ec2689e..000000000
--- a/documentation/docbuild_requirements.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-# for readthedocs.io (based on requirements_dev.txt)
-nbconvert
-sphinx
diff --git a/documentation/nbvalNotebook.py b/documentation/nbvalNotebook.py
index 859049a1a..613a8c210 100644
--- a/documentation/nbvalNotebook.py
+++ b/documentation/nbvalNotebook.py
@@ -12,13 +12,30 @@
 import subprocess
 
 # noinspection PyPackageRequirements
-import pytest  # pylint: disable=unused-import  # noqa
+try:
+    import pytest
+except ImportError:  # pragma: no cover
+    # fail here to get a better message than file-not-found below.
+    raise ImportError(
+        'Please install pytest -- in the music21 directory run "pip install ".[dev]"'
+    )
+
 # noinspection PyPackageRequirements
-import nbval  # pylint: disable=unused-import  # noqa
+try:
+    import nbval
+except ImportError:  # pragma: no cover
+    raise ImportError(
+        'Please install nbval -- in the music21 directory run "pip install ".[dev]"'
+    )
 
 from music21 import environment
 from music21 import common
 
+if pytest is None or nbval is None:  # pragma: no cover
+    # this will never run, but it's important to use pytest and nbval variables
+    # or some modern code linters will remove the import pytest, import nbval lines.
+    raise ImportError('Please install pytest and nbval')
+
 # pytest --nbval usersGuide_15_key.ipynb --nbval-sanitize-with ../../nbval-sanitize.cfg -q
 skip = ['installJupyter.ipynb']
 
diff --git a/documentation/source/readthedocs_conf.py b/documentation/source/readthedocs_conf.py
index 601457bee..86988e444 100644
--- a/documentation/source/readthedocs_conf.py
+++ b/documentation/source/readthedocs_conf.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Configuration file for readthedocs
+# Configuration file for docs
 # builds everything before sphinx
 
 import os