Wikilinks & Backlinks

Connect a note to the source, decision, person, or project that makes it useful. Wikilinks give every idea a path to related knowledge, and backlinks reveal where that idea is already being used.

A file can live in one folder while contributing to many projects. Links let you express those relationships without duplicating the content.

Create a wikilink

Type a page name inside double square brackets:

See [[Website Launch Brief]] for the audience and goal.

Click a resolved link to open the target page. To use a different visible label, place it after a pipe:

Read [[Website Launch Brief|the launch brief]] before drafting.

The target remains “Website Launch Brief”; the visible text becomes “the launch brief.”

Use autocomplete to select the right page

Type [[ in either the web or Mac editor. Keep typing to narrow the page list, then select the intended page and press Enter.

Autocomplete is especially useful when your vault contains similarly named pages. Descriptive titles also make links easier to maintain.

On Mac, the Wikilink slash command starts a link, and Cmd+Shift+K wraps selected text in wikilink syntax.

Understand backlinks

If “Launch Plan” links to “Audience Interviews,” the interviews page gains an incoming reference from the plan. That reference is a backlink.

Backlinks help answer practical questions:

• Which projects use this research?
• Where have I already discussed this decision?
• What might need review if this explanation changes?

The Mac app's Inspector shows incoming links with surrounding context. A backlink is derived from an existing link; it does not insert a second link into the target's text.

Build hub pages for recurring work

A hub is a page that gathers useful links and explains their purpose:

# Website Launch

- [[Website Launch Brief]]: goal and audience
- [[Audience Interviews]]: evidence and feedback
- [[Homepage Messaging Decision]]: chosen direction
- [[Launch Checklist]]: remaining work

Add enough explanation that a person or agent can choose the right source. A hub becomes more useful when its linked pages link back to relevant decisions or sources themselves.

Link selectively

Link a reference when following it would help the reader. You do not need to link every repeated word or connect every page to everything else.

Use tags for broad shared themes and wikilinks for specific page-to-page references. Two notes sharing customer-research may be related without either explicitly citing the other.

Keep references clear after changes

MindWiki resolves links using page titles, filenames, and supported path matching. If a target is missing or ambiguous, check the intended page in autocomplete and update the reference.

After renaming a file or changing its title, inspect important backlinks. Do not assume all references to an old name were rewritten. When both title and filename change, old text may need updating.

This is particularly important before an agent performs a structural reorganization. Ask for a supported proposal and inspect the affected files rather than relying on a naming convention alone.

Use links with your AI

Try:

Read my Website Launch hub and the brief it links to. Summarize the remaining decisions and identify the source pages for each point.

Or:

Find notes that could help explain this decision. Suggest relevant links and explain why each belongs.

A link tells the agent where related knowledge lives. The agent still needs to retrieve the page, and its permissions still apply.

See connections in the graph

Wikilinks form explicit edges in the knowledge graph. Additional relationships, such as shared tags or folders, can supply structural context. An explicit reference and an inferred association have different meanings; use the graph as a way to investigate the relationship.

Next: Knowledge Graph, Vault Structure, and Search & Views.