Wikilink Application Skill

Scan a note for entities that should be wikilinked and automatically apply [[brackets]] to them.

When to Use

Triggers when you say:

• "apply wikilinks" - Process current daily note
• "wikilink this note" - Process current context
• "apply wikilinks to [file]" - Process specific file

Process

1. Identify Target File

• If argument provided: Use specified file path
• If no argument: Use today's daily note (from config paths.daily_notes)

2. Load Known Entities from Cache

Load wikilinks from the cache file for fast lookup:

• Read .claude/wikilink-entities.json
• Load all categories (technologies, people, projects, acronyms, etc.)
• Build comprehensive set of known entities
• Fallback: If cache doesn't exist, scan vault directly

3. Scan Target File for Unlinkable Text

Find plain text that matches known entities:

Detection patterns:

• Exact matches of existing wikilinks (case-insensitive)
• Capitalized multi-word phrases (2-4 words) that exist in entity list
• Known acronyms (2-6 uppercase letters) that exist in entity list

Skip these areas:

• Inside code blocks (```)
• Inside inline code (text)
• Already wikilinked text ([[already linked]])
• URLs (http://, https://)
• YAML frontmatter (between --- markers)

4. Categorize Detected Entities

Group by type for reporting:

• People/Entities: Mixed-case multi-word names
• Technologies: Tech-related terms
• Projects: Project names
• Acronyms: Uppercase abbreviations

5. Show Preview

Display what will be linked:

🔗 Applying Wikilinks to: 2025-12-29.md
────────────────────────────────────────
People/Entities (3):
  • Person Name → [[Person Name]]

Technologies (4):
  • Databricks → [[Databricks]]
  • Claude Code → [[Claude Code]]

Projects (2):
  • ProjectName → [[ProjectName]]
────────────────────────────────────────
Total: 9 entities will be wikilinked

6. Apply Wikilinks

Use Edit tool to wrap detected entities with [[brackets]]:

• Process entities from longest to shortest (avoid partial replacements)
• Use word boundaries to ensure exact matches
• Preserve original capitalization
• Don't re-link already wikilinked text

7. Verify Changes (Gate 6)

After Edit:

1. Re-read the modified file to verify wikilinks were applied
2. Check for the new [[brackets]] in the content
3. Handle failures:
   • If Edit is blocked or failed: Inform user "Edit failed - wikilinks not applied"
   • If wikilinks not found: Alert user "Wikilinks may not have been applied correctly"
   • Only report success if verification confirms wikilinks present

8. Report Results

Confirm what was changed (only if verification succeeded):

✓ Successfully applied 9 wikilinks to 2025-12-29.md

Categories updated:
  • People/Entities: 3
  • Technologies: 4
  • Projects: 2

Critical Rules

Detection Rules

• Case-insensitive matching: "databricks" matches [[Databricks]]
• Word boundaries only: Don't link partial words
• Existing links preserved: Never re-link [[already linked]] text
• Code blocks protected: Never link inside ``` or ` marks

Application Rules

• Longest match first: Apply longer entity names before shorter ones
• One pass only: Don't run multiple replacement passes
• Preserve spacing: Maintain original whitespace
• Original caps: Use exact match from entity list for wikilink

Safety Rules

• Read before edit: Always read file first
• Validate paths: Ensure file exists before processing
• Non-destructive: Only adds [[brackets]], doesn't change text

Example Transformation

Before:

## Log
- Met with team to discuss Databricks optimization
- Deployed project to production
- Fixed API configuration issue

After:

## Log
- Met with team to discuss [[Databricks]] optimization
- Deployed project to production
- Fixed [[API]] configuration issue

Performance Considerations

• Cache load: Fast regex-based matching
• Single edit: One Edit operation per file
• Idempotent: Safe to run multiple times (won't double-link)
• Cache refresh: Run /rebuild-wikilink-cache if suggestions seem outdated

Integration with Hook

Works seamlessly with wikilink-auto.py hook:

1. Hook auto-applies wikilinks (after Edit/Write)
2. If hook is disabled, user can run this skill manually
3. Skill applies detected wikilinks
4. Hook runs again (but finds no new entities since they're now linked)

Edge Cases

Ambiguous entities: If "API" could mean multiple things, prefer exact match Partial matches: "APIs" won't match [[API]] (word boundary protection) Already linked aliases: Don't re-link [[Entity|Alias]] usage Case variations: "databricks", "Databricks", "DATABRICKS" all link to [[Databricks]]

Six Gates Compliance