diff --git a/lib/spack/docs/Makefile b/lib/spack/docs/Makefile
index d86faa6ad46..9f5464134ca 100644
--- a/lib/spack/docs/Makefile
+++ b/lib/spack/docs/Makefile
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ upload:
 apidoc:
 	sphinx-apidoc -f -T -o . ../spack
 	sphinx-apidoc -f -T -o . ../llnl
+        ./nosearch-api-docs  # set :nosearch: at top of each file
 
 help:
 	@echo "Please use \`make <target>' where <target> is one of"
diff --git a/lib/spack/docs/nosearch-api-docs b/lib/spack/docs/nosearch-api-docs
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..3e11e0b10ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/spack/docs/nosearch-api-docs
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# Set :nosearch: at top of each api doc file
+for filename in {spack,llnl}.*.rst; do
+    $(echo ":nosearch:"; cat $filename) > $filename
+done