Wiki Links & Backlinks

Wiki links are the foundation of connected note-taking in Lokus. They enable bidirectional linking between notes, creating a web of knowledge that mirrors how ideas naturally connect in your mind.

Overview

Wiki links allow you to reference other notes using a simple [[Note Name]] syntax. Unlike traditional hyperlinks, wiki links automatically create backlinks, showing you all notes that reference the current note.

Key Benefits

Effortless Connections: Link notes with simple bracket syntax
Bidirectional Tracking: Automatically see incoming and outgoing links
Discoverability: Find related content through link networks
Knowledge Graphs: Visualize your note relationships
Broken Link Detection: Identify and fix missing connections

Creating Wiki Links

Basic Syntax

Create a wiki link by wrapping a note name in double brackets:

[[Note Name]]
[[My Project Ideas]]
[[2024-03-15 Meeting Notes]]

Features:

Case-sensitive or case-insensitive (configurable)
Spaces and special characters allowed
Relative to workspace root
Creates note if it doesn’t exist

Autocomplete

As you type [[, Lokus displays an autocomplete menu:

Autocomplete Features:

Fuzzy search across all notes
Recent notes prioritized
Folder path shown
Keyboard navigation (↑↓, Enter)
Filter by folder
Shows note preview on hover

Example:

[[proj     → Shows "Project Ideas", "Project Plan", etc.

Link Aliases

Display different text than the note name:

[[Note Name|Display Text]]
[[2024-Q1-Report|Q1 Report]]
[[Technical Documentation|docs]]

Use Cases:

Shorter display text
Natural language flow
Alternative naming
Localization

Link Validation

Lokus validates links in real-time:

Valid Link:

Green underline
Click to navigate
Hover shows preview

Broken Link:

Red underline
Click to create note
Hover shows “Note not found”

Ambiguous Link:

Yellow underline
Multiple matches found
Click to choose target

Backlinks

Backlinks are automatically generated references showing which notes link to the current note.

Backlinks Panel

Located in the right sidebar, the backlinks panel displays:

Information Shown:

Note name with link
Excerpt showing link context
Number of references in note
Last modified date
Folder location

Interactions:

Click to navigate to note
Hover to preview full context
Filter by folder
Sort by date or name
Group by folder or flat list

Backlinks Display

Current Note: "Project Ideas"
 
Backlinks (3):
├─ Meeting Notes 2024-03-15
│  "Discussed [[Project Ideas]] for Q2"
│
├─ Team Brainstorm
│  "Review [[Project Ideas]] and prioritize"
│  "Assign owners to [[Project Ideas]]"
│
└─ Quarterly Planning
   "Incorporate [[Project Ideas]] into roadmap"

Unlinked Mentions

Lokus also finds unlinked mentions - text that matches note names but isn’t linked:

Example:

Current Note: "Python Best Practices"
 
Unlinked Mentions (2):
├─ Code Review Notes
│  "Follow Python Best Practices for..."
│  [Convert to Link]
│
└─ Onboarding Guide
   "Read Python Best Practices before..."
   [Convert to Link]

Features:

One-click conversion to wiki link
Batch conversion
Ignore false positives
Case-insensitive matching

Link Types

Internal Links

Standard wiki links to notes in your workspace:

[[Note Name]]
[[Folder/Note Name]]
[[../Parent Folder/Note Name]]

Folder Links

Link to entire folders:

[[Projects/]]
[[Archive/2023/]]

Features:

Shows all notes in folder
Folder note (index.md) shown first
Navigate folder structure
Create notes in folder

Header Links

Link to specific sections within notes:

[[Note Name#Header]]
[[Project Ideas#Q2 Plans]]
[[README#Installation]]

Features:

Scroll to header on click
Autocomplete shows headers
Backlinks show header context
Deep linking support

Block Links

Link to specific blocks/paragraphs:

[[Note Name#^block-id]]

Creating Block IDs:

This is a paragraph ^unique-id
 
- List item ^item-id

Use Cases:

Reference specific quotes
Link to particular points
Create precise citations

Link Management

Link Explorer

Access the Link Explorer from the sidebar:

Features:

All links in workspace
Orphaned notes (no links)
Broken links
Most linked notes
Least linked notes
Link statistics

Finding Links

Search for links:

By Source:

links from: "Project Ideas"

By Target:

links to: "Project Ideas"

By Path:

links in: "Projects/"

Refactoring Links

When renaming or moving notes, Lokus updates all links automatically:

Rename Note:

Right-click note → Rename
Enter new name
Lokus updates all references
Backlinks preserved

Move Note:

Drag note to new folder
Lokus updates all paths
Links continue working
Relative paths adjusted

Batch Operations:

Rename multiple notes
Move multiple notes
Update link patterns
Fix broken links

Link Visualization

Graph View

See Graph Visualization for detailed information.

Quick Access:

Click graph icon in note
Shows local graph (1-2 hops)
Interactive navigation
Filter by link type

Backlink Graph

Visualize backlinks as a network:

Features:

Current note at center
Backlinks as connected nodes
Bidirectional arrows
Distance indicates strength
Click to navigate

Advanced Features

Link Properties

Add metadata to links:

[[Note Name|alias]]{ .class #id key=value }

Use Cases:

Styling (CSS classes)
Type indicators
Relationship labels
Custom attributes

Transclusion

Embed content from other notes:

![[Note Name]]
![[Note Name#Header]]
![[Note Name#^block-id]]

Features:

Live updating
Nested transclusion
Circular reference detection
Edit in place (optional)

Example:

# Project Overview
 
## Goals
![[Project Goals#Q2]]
 
## Timeline
![[Project Timeline]]

Link Filtering

Filter links by criteria:

In Note:

Show only links matching:
- Path pattern: `[[Projects/*]]`
- Tag: `[[#project]]`
- Type: internal, external, broken

In Backlinks Panel:

Filter by folder
Filter by tag
Filter by date range
Hide resolved links

Link Contexts

Context Display

Backlinks show surrounding context:

Short Context (default):

"...previous text [[Link]] following text..."

Extended Context:

Entire paragraph containing the link.
Can span multiple sentences.
Helps understand reference meaning.

No Context:

[[Link]]
(Just the link, useful for reference lists)

Context Settings

Configure in Settings > Links:

Context length (0-500 characters)
Show before/after separately
Highlight link in context
Trim by sentence boundaries
Include list markers

Link Patterns

Smart Link Detection

Lokus recognizes various link patterns:

Hashtags:

#project #idea #q2-2024

Wikilinks:

[[Note Name]]

Markdown Links:

[Text](url)

URLs:

https://example.com

File Links:

file:///path/to/file

Link Conversion

Convert between link types:

Convert to Wiki Link:

Select text
Press Cmd/Ctrl + K
Autocomplete shows notes
Select target

Convert to Markdown Link:

Right-click wiki link
“Convert to Markdown”
Generates [text](path)

Link Statistics

Note Statistics

View link metrics for each note:

Outgoing Links:

Total count
Unique notes linked
Most frequent targets
Link density

Incoming Links (Backlinks):

Total count
Unique sources
Most frequent sources
Reference density

Workspace Statistics

Overall workspace metrics:

Link Metrics:

Total links
Average links per note
Most linked notes (top 10)
Orphaned notes (no links)
Broken links
Link growth over time

Graph Metrics:

Connected components
Average path length
Clustering coefficient
Network density

Search Integration

Link Search

Search within links:

Query Syntax:

link:"Project"           # Links containing "Project"
haslink:[[Project Ideas]] # Notes linking to specific note
nolink                   # Notes with no links

Advanced Queries:

link:"Project" AND tag:#active
haslink:[[README]] OR haslink:[[Guide]]
nolink folder:"Archive"

Quick Switcher

Access links via command palette:

Press Cmd/Ctrl + P
Type note name
See incoming/outgoing links
Navigate instantly

Best Practices

Linking Strategy

When to Link:

Related concepts
Prerequisites
Examples and instances
Categories and tags
Sources and references

When Not to Link:

Common words (unless note exists)
Every occurrence (link first only)
Generic terms
Temporary content

Naming Conventions

Good Note Names:

Clear and descriptive
Unique and distinctive
Searchable keywords
Consistent format

Examples:

Good:
[[Python Data Structures]]
[[Meeting Notes 2024-03-15]]
[[Project Roadmap Q2]]
 
Avoid:
[[Notes]]           # Too generic
[[Stuff]]           # Unclear
[[temp]]            # Temporary
[[New Note 23]]     # Meaningless

Link Organization

Hierarchy:

Use folders for structure
Link notes within hierarchy
Cross-reference between folders
Create index notes

Hub Notes:

Create overview notes
Link to related notes
Update regularly
Serve as entry points

Example Hub:

# Machine Learning Hub
 
## Fundamentals
- [[Neural Networks Basics]]
- [[Gradient Descent]]
- [[Activation Functions]]
 
## Frameworks
- [[TensorFlow Guide]]
- [[PyTorch Tutorial]]
 
## Projects
- [[Image Classification Project]]
- [[NLP Sentiment Analysis]]

Performance

Optimization

Lokus efficiently handles large link networks:

Indexing:

Real-time link extraction
Incremental updates
Background processing
Fast lookup tables

Caching:

Link graph cached
Backlinks precomputed
Lazy loading for large sets
Debounced updates

Benchmarks:

10,000+ notes supported
under 10ms link lookup
under 50ms backlink retrieval
under 100ms graph rendering

Configuration

Settings

Configure linking behavior in Settings > Links:

General:

Case sensitivity
Auto-create notes
Link format (wiki/markdown)
Show preview on hover

Backlinks:

Show context
Context length
Group by folder
Sort order

Validation:

Highlight broken links
Check on save
Auto-fix on rename
Warn on delete

Keyboard Shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
Create Link	Cmd/Ctrl + K
Follow Link	Cmd/Ctrl + Click
Open Link in New Pane	Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + Click
Copy Link	Right-click → Copy
Show Backlinks	Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + B
Link Explorer	Cmd/Ctrl + L

Integration

Graph Integration

Links power the graph view:

Each note is a node
Each link is an edge
Bidirectional arrows
Weight by link count
See Graph Visualization

Search Integration

Links enhance search:

Find linked notes
Filter by connections
Rank by link strength
See Search System

Task Integration

Link tasks to notes:

- [ ] Review [[Project Proposal]] by Friday
- [x] Update [[Documentation]] with new features
- [ ] Discuss [[Budget]] in [[Team Meeting]]

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Issue: Links not working Solution: Check syntax, ensure note exists, verify workspace

Issue: Backlinks not showing Solution: Rebuild link index (Settings > Links > Rebuild)

Issue: Slow link autocomplete Solution: Clear cache, reduce workspace size, check indexing

Issue: Broken links after rename Solution: Use built-in rename (not file system), enable auto-update

Debugging

Link Inspector:

Right-click link
Select “Inspect Link”
View link properties
See resolution path
Check for issues

Migration

From Other Apps

Obsidian:

Wiki links compatible
Aliases supported
Block references work
Transclusion supported

Roam Research:

Convert [[Page]] → works directly
Convert ((Block)) → use block links
Convert #tags → keep as-is

Notion:

Export to markdown
Convert [Page] → [[Page]]
Preserve links in export
Use migration tool

Next Steps

Explore Graph Visualization to see your link network
Learn about Search for finding linked content
Check out Templates with pre-built link structures
See Canvas for visual link organization

Rich Text Editor Graph Visualization