Redeemable convertible preferred stock and stockholders' (deficit) equity - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	0 Months Ended		3 Months Ended												1 Months Ended												0 Months Ended	3 Months Ended			0 Months Ended
	Mar. 12, 2014	Feb. 27, 2014	Mar. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013	Mar. 12, 2014 AQXP Canada [Member] Exchangeable Common Stock [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 AQXP Canada [Member] Series A Exchangeable Preferred Shares [Member]	Mar. 12, 2014 AQXP Canada [Member] Series A Exchangeable Preferred Shares [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 AQXP Canada [Member] Series A Exchangeable Preferred Shares [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 AQXP Canada [Member] AQXP Canada, Series B Exchangeable Preferred Shares [Member]	Mar. 12, 2014 AQXP Canada [Member] AQXP Canada, Series B Exchangeable Preferred Shares [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 AQXP Canada [Member] AQXP Canada, Series B Exchangeable Preferred Shares [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 AQXP Canada [Member] Series C Exchangeable Preferred Shares [Member]	Mar. 12, 2014 AQXP Canada [Member] Series C Exchangeable Preferred Shares [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 AQXP Canada [Member] Series C Exchangeable Preferred Shares [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 Aquinox USA [Member] Common Stock [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Aquinox USA [Member] Common Stock [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 Aquinox USA [Member] Series A Preferred Stock [Member]	Mar. 12, 2014 Aquinox USA [Member] Series A Preferred Stock [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Aquinox USA [Member] Series A Preferred Stock [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 Aquinox USA [Member] Series B Preferred Stock [Member]	Mar. 12, 2014 Aquinox USA [Member] Series B Preferred Stock [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Aquinox USA [Member] Series B Preferred Stock [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 Aquinox USA [Member] Series C Preferred Stock [Member]	Mar. 12, 2014 Aquinox USA [Member] Series C Preferred Stock [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Aquinox USA [Member] Series C Preferred Stock [Member]	Mar. 12, 2014 Aquinox USA [Member] Redeemable Convertible Preferred Stock [Member]	Mar. 12, 2014 Underwriters [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 Shares Transferred from AQXP Canada to Aquinox USA [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 Shares Transferred from AQXP Canada to Aquinox USA [Member] Common Stock [Member]	Mar. 31, 2014 Conversion of Redeemable Convertible Preferred Stock to Common Stock [Member] Aquinox USA [Member]	Mar. 12, 2014 Conversion of Redeemable Convertible Preferred Stock to Common Stock [Member] Aquinox USA [Member] Common Stock [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Conversion basis for reverse stock split			The Company effected a 1-for-19.2 reverse stock split
Conversion ratio of reverse stock split		0.052083	0.052083
Common stock shares conversion, description																													Each of the 301,745 outstanding common exchangeable shares of AQXP Canada was transferred to Aquinox USA in exchange for one common stock of Aquinox USA.
Common stock, shares outstanding					301,745										10,675,260	301,745
Preferred shares conversion, description																												Each of the 791,016 outstanding Series A exchangeable preferred shares, 793,617 outstanding Series B exchangeable preferred shares and 378,786 outstanding Series C exchangeable preferred share of AQXP Canada was transferred to Aquinox USA in exchange for one share of Series A, B and C convertible preferred stock of Aquinox USA, respectively. As a result, following such exchange, there were 1,453,891 shares of Series A, 2,367,414 shares of Series B and 1,722,210 shares of Series C convertible preferred stock of Aquinox USA.		All 5,543,515 of the outstanding shares of redeemable convertible preferred stock of Aquinox USA converted to an equivalent number of shares of common stock of Aquinox USA.
Redeemable convertible preferred stock, shares outstanding						0	791,016	791,016	0	793,617	793,617	0	378,786	378,786			0		662,875	0		1,573,797	0		1,343,424	5,543,515
Convertible preferred stock																		791,016			793,617			378,786
Redeemable convertible preferred stock, shares issued						0		791,016	0		793,617	0		378,786			0	1,453,891	662,875	0	2,367,414	1,573,797	0	1,722,210	1,343,424
Common stock shares converted																															5,543,515
Ownership percentage			100.00%
Accrued tax payable on preferred stock			$ 1,797,412	$ 1,797,412
Derivative liability for redemption option on preferred stock			800,206
Shares of common stock sold in IPO	4,830,000																										630,000
Common stock share price per share	$ 11.00
Aggregate net proceeds received from offering	47,341,274
Underwriting discounts and commissions and offering costs	$ 5,788,726														$ 5,788,726
Total number of shares authorized	55,000,000
Common stock, shares authorized	50,000,000														50,000,000	139,266,037
Common stock, par value	$ 0.000001														$ 0.000001	$ 0.000001
Preferred stock, shares authorized	5,000,000
Preferred stock, par value	$ 0.000001
Preferred stock, shares issued			0	0
Preferred stock, shares outstanding			0	0