Wikilinks

Wikilinks are the core navigation primitive in AS Notes. Wrap any page name in double square brackets and AS Notes turns it into a navigable link — no folder paths, no file extensions needed.

[[Page Name]]

AS Notes resolves the link to the matching .md file anywhere in your workspace. If Page Name.md doesn't exist yet, navigating to it creates the file automatically.

Writing and Navigating Links

• Write [[ and a completion list appears immediately. Keep typing to filter by page name or alias.
• Navigate — hold Ctrl (Cmd on macOS) and click any wikilink to open the target file.
• Create — if the target file doesn't exist, navigating to it creates it. Link first, write later.
• Hover — hover over a wikilink to see the target filename, whether it exists, and how many pages link to it.

Highlighting

Every wikilink in a markdown file is highlighted in blue. When your cursor is inside a link, that specific link is highlighted with a brighter blue, bold, and underlined — so you always know which link you're about to interact with.

How Resolution Works

Wikilinks resolve globally across your workspace, not just in the current folder. Given:

notes/
  Project Ideas.md
  journal/
    2026_03_07.md

The link [[Project Ideas]] resolves correctly from any file, at any depth.

Resolution order:

1. Direct filename match — finds Page Name.md anywhere in the workspace
2. Alias match — checks page aliases declared in YAML front matter
3. Auto-create — creates the file in the same directory as the source note

When multiple files share the same name:

1. A file in the same directory as the source always wins
2. Otherwise, the closest folder by directory distance wins

Autocomplete

Type [[ in any markdown file to trigger the autocomplete list:

• Page names — all indexed pages, with folder paths shown when names collide
• Aliases — shown as Alias → CanonicalPage
• Selecting a suggestion inserts the name and closes the brackets with ]]
• Typing [[ inside an already-open [[... starts autocomplete for an inner (nested) link
• Autocomplete is suppressed inside YAML front matter

Rename Synchronisation

When you edit a wikilink's text and move the cursor away (or switch files), AS Notes detects the change and offers to:

1. Rename the corresponding .md file (if it exists)
2. Update every matching wikilink across all markdown files in the workspace

A single confirmation dialog covers all affected pages. You can decline — the link text change is kept but files and other links are left untouched.

Rename tracking is alias-aware: editing an alias wikilink offers to update the alias in the front matter and all matching references.

Page Aliases

Define alternative names for a page using YAML front matter:

---
aliases:
  - Short Name
  - Another Name
---

Or inline:

---
aliases: [Short Name, Another Name]
---

[[Short Name]] and [[Another Name]] now both navigate to that page — no extra file is created. Hover tooltips show the alias resolution (Short Name → ActualPage.md). Alias values are plain strings; any accidental [[ or ]] characters are stripped automatically.

Nested Wikilinks

Wikilinks can contain other wikilinks, allowing composite page names that are themselves fully navigable:

[[Specific [[Topic]] Details]]

This creates two navigable targets:

More deeply nested examples work the same way:

[[[[[[Deep]] Topic]] Notes]]

Resolves three links: Deep.md, [[Deep]] Topic.md, and [[[[Deep]] Topic]] Notes.md.

Practical use: Nested wikilinks let you build a topic hierarchy where sub-pages share their parent's name. For example:

See [[[[AS Notes]] Changelog]] for recent changes.

Both AS Notes.md and [[AS Notes]] Changelog.md are independently navigable from that single line.

The cursor highlight always identifies the innermost link at your cursor position.

Filename Sanitisation

Invalid filename characters (/ ? < > \ : * | ") are replaced with _ when a new file is created from a wikilink:

[[What is 1/2 + 1/4?]]  →  What is 1_2 + 1_4_.md

Case Insensitivity

[[my page]] resolves to My Page.md regardless of how the file was named. On case-sensitive filesystems (Linux), AS Notes does a directory scan to find the match.

Missing Links

A wikilink with no matching file is still valid. It is highlighted (slightly differently) and navigating to it creates the file. See also the Backlinks panel, which shows incoming links to pages that don't exist yet.

Backlinks

Every wikilink is tracked in the index. The Backlinks panel shows all pages that link to the current page, including nested references.