Autolink

Automatically creates backlinks between your notes with intelligent word completion and customizable behavior.
Available on Obsidian!

Features

• Smart word completion: Creates backlinks when you finish typing note titles
• Multiple modes: Choose from autonomous, semi-autonomous, suggestions, or custom modes
• Easy undo: Press backspace, delete, or Ctrl+Shift+Z to undo any auto-link
• Alias support: Matches note aliases from frontmatter
• Conflict resolution: Waits for disambiguation when multiple notes have similar names
• Link limits: Limit repeated links across a note or per section

Modes

Autonomous

Keeps a list of all your notes and automatically inserts backlinks when you complete typing a word that matches a note title.

Example:

• Notes: Note, Note1, Note with Space
• Writing in any note: Note1 has etc
• Becomes: [[Note1]] has etc

Smart disambiguation: If multiple notes share prefixes, the plugin waits until you complete the word to determine the correct match.

Example:

• Notes: Note, Note with Space
• Writing: Note (space typed)
• Since both Note and Note with Space start with "Note", it waits
• After: Note has etc
• Becomes: [[Note]] has etc

Semi-Autonomous

Works exactly like Autonomous mode, but only creates backlinks to notes in the current folder.

• Root directory: only links to other root notes
• Subfolder: only links to notes in the same subfolder

Suggestions

Shows a popup below your cursor with matching notes instead of auto-inserting.

• Press Enter/Return to accept a suggestion
• Press Escape to dismiss
• Navigate with arrow keys

Custom

Provides full customization over when and how backlinks are created.

Options:

• Choose specific folders to scan
• Toggle Enter key acceptance for suggestions
• Enable/disable auto-insertion for single matches
• Fine-tune behavior to match your workflow

Settings

• Mode: Choose your preferred linking behavior
• Minimum word length: Set the minimum characters before linking activates (1-10)
• Case sensitive matching: Toggle case sensitivity for note matching
• Include aliases: Match against frontmatter aliases in addition to note titles
• Debounce delay: Adjust typing delay before processing (50-1000ms)
• Max suggestions: Limit popup suggestions (1-20)
• Max links per note: Limit repeated links to the same note (0-10, 0 for unlimited)
• Link limit scope: Apply the limit to the whole note or each heading section

Link Limits

By default, AutoLink links to the same note once. Set Max links per note to 0 for unlimited links.

Updating from an older version? This default also applies after updating.

Scopes:

• Whole note: Count links across the current note (default)
• Per section: Count links from the current heading to the next heading of any level (# through ######)
• Text before the first heading counts as its own section
• Headings inside frontmatter or fenced code blocks are ignored

Behavior:

• Existing wikilinks count, including manual links and unsaved changes
• Display aliases, heading/block links, and folder paths count too
• Embeds do not count
• Deleting or undoing a link allows another link to that note
• Notes at the limit are hidden from suggestions
• Notes with the same name share a count, even in different folders
• Existing links are left unchanged, and you can still add links manually

Undo Options

• Backspace/Delete: Immediate undo when pressed right after a link is created
• Ctrl+Shift+Z: Undo the last auto-link from anywhere
• Both methods temporarily disable auto-linking to prevent conflicts

Installation

Direct (Recommended)

You can install Autolink directly from Obsidian’s Community Plugins at the plugin page.

1. Open Settings -> Community Plugins
2. Make sure Restricted Mode is off
3. Click Browse
4. Search for “Autolink”
5. Click Install, then Enable

Manual

If you prefer installing manually:

1. Download the latest release from the repo’s Releases page
   • You need:
     • main.js
     • manifest.json
     • styles.css (if present)
2. Create a folder in your vault:

   .obsidian/plugins/autolink
   

3. Place all downloaded files inside that folder
4. Restart Obsidian
5. Go to Settings -> Community Plugins and enable Autolink

Install

Technical Details

• Built with TypeScript
• Debounced input processing for performance
• Intelligent cursor positioning and conflict detection

Development

Requires Node.js 22+ and npm. Obsidian provides the plugin API.

npm ci
npm run build

Other commands:

• npm run dev: Rebuild when source files change
• npm test: Run tests
• npm run lint: Lint the code

Testing in Obsidian:

1. Copy main.js and manifest.json from dist/ to your vault's .obsidian/plugins/autolink/ folder
2. Restart Obsidian and enable Autolink

Star History

Contributors

Moy 🐛

JoonasBjork 🐛

GrimbiXcode 💻 ⚠️

Ansraer 🐛

Oskar Norén 🐛

Danymaddox 🤔