diff --git a/docs/README.md b/docs/README.md
index 9ed75c10b..18509c7ed 100644
--- a/docs/README.md
+++ b/docs/README.md
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 1. Get [hotdoc](https://hotdoc.github.io/installing.html) (0.8.9 required)
 1. Run hotdoc in the docs/ directory:
 
-    hotdoc run
+    ../meson/meson.py build/
 
 ## Upload
 
@@ -12,5 +12,4 @@ removes the html pages and replaces with the new content.
 
 You can simply run:
 
-    hotdoc run --git-upload-activate
-
+    ninja -C build/ upload
diff --git a/docs/hotdoc.json b/docs/hotdoc.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 482bc95d1..000000000
--- a/docs/hotdoc.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-{
-    "extra_assets": [
-        "images/"
-    ],
-    "html_extra_theme": "theme/extra/",
-    "include_paths": [
-        "markdown/"
-    ],
-    "output": "built_docs/",
-    "project_name": "Meson documentation",
-    "project_version": "1.0",
-    "default-license": "CC-BY-SAv4.0",
-    "sitemap": "sitemap.txt",
-    "git_upload_repository": "git@github.com:jpakkane/jpakkane.github.io.git",
-    "edit_on_github_repository": "https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/"
-}
diff --git a/docs/meson.build b/docs/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c83d5f89f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/meson.build
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+project('Meson documentation', version: '1.0')
+
+hotdoc = import('hotdoc')
+documentation = hotdoc.generate_doc(meson.project_name(),
+    project_version: meson.project_version(),
+    sitemap: 'sitemap.txt',
+    build_by_default: true,
+    index: 'markdown/index.md',
+    install: false,
+    extra_assets: ['images/'],
+    include_paths: ['markdown'],
+    default_license: 'CC-BY-SAv4.0',
+    html_extra_theme: join_paths('theme', 'extra'),
+    git_upload_repository: 'git@github.com:jpakkane/jpakkane.github.io.git',
+    edit_on_github_repository: 'https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/',
+    syntax_highlighting_activate: true,
+)
+
+run_target('upload',
+    command: [find_program('hotdoc'), 'run', '--conf-file', documentation.config_path(),
+              '--git-upload']
+)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/mesonbuild/modules/hotdoc.py b/mesonbuild/modules/hotdoc.py
index 79db2f90e..1f7368a08 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/modules/hotdoc.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/modules/hotdoc.py
@@ -132,11 +132,7 @@ class HotdocTargetBuilder:
             paths = [paths]
 
         for path in paths:
-            try:
-                self.add_extension_paths([path])
-            except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
-                raise MesonException(
-                    "Could not setup hotdoc extension %s: %s" % (paths, e))
+            self.add_extension_paths([path])
 
         return []