Resolve Alias Links

Resolve Alias Links

Find and replace standalone alias wikilinks with their full explicit format.

Problem

In Obsidian, notes can have aliases defined in YAML frontmatter:

aliases:
  - LLM
  - Large Language Models

Users often link to notes using these aliases: [[LLM]]. While Obsidian resolves these links correctly, they can cause issues:

1. Ambiguity: It's unclear whether [[LLM]] refers to a note named "LLM" or is an alias
2. Dataview queries: Alias links may not be resolved properly in some query contexts
3. Export/portability: External tools may not understand alias resolution

Solution

This skill converts standalone alias wikilinks to explicit format:

• Before: [[LLM]]
• After: [[Large Language Model|LLM]]

This makes the link explicit while preserving the display text.

Instructions

Use the Python helper script at .claude/skills/resolve-alias-links/scripts/resolve_alias_links.py:

uv run --with pyyaml .claude/skills/resolve-alias-links/scripts/resolve_alias_links.py <command> [args]

Helper Script Commands

# Scan directory for alias links (dry-run, shows what would be changed)
uv run --with pyyaml .claude/skills/resolve-alias-links/scripts/resolve_alias_links.py scan <directory>

# Fix all alias links in directory
uv run --with pyyaml .claude/skills/resolve-alias-links/scripts/resolve_alias_links.py fix <directory>

# Check single file for alias links (dry-run)
uv run --with pyyaml .claude/skills/resolve-alias-links/scripts/resolve_alias_links.py check <file_path>

# Resolve alias links in single file
uv run --with pyyaml .claude/skills/resolve-alias-links/scripts/resolve_alias_links.py resolve <file_path>

# List all aliases indexed from directory
uv run --with pyyaml .claude/skills/resolve-alias-links/scripts/resolve_alias_links.py aliases <directory>

Examples

Scan SlipBox for alias links

uv run --with pyyaml .claude/skills/resolve-alias-links/scripts/resolve_alias_links.py scan "02-SlipBox"

Fix all alias links in the vault

uv run --with pyyaml .claude/skills/resolve-alias-links/scripts/resolve_alias_links.py fix "."

Check a single note

uv run --with pyyaml .claude/skills/resolve-alias-links/scripts/resolve_alias_links.py check "02-SlipBox/Large Language Model.md"

List all aliases in the vault

uv run --with pyyaml .claude/skills/resolve-alias-links/scripts/resolve_alias_links.py aliases "."

Detection Rules

A wikilink [[X]] is identified as an alias link if:

1. X matches an alias defined in some note's frontmatter
2. X is NOT itself a note name (to avoid false positives)
3. X does NOT contain a pipe (already explicit: [[Note|X]])
4. X does NOT contain a hash (section links: [[Note#Section]])

Output Format

The script outputs JSON with scan/fix results:

{
  "total_aliases_indexed": 216,
  "files_with_alias_links": 5,
  "total_occurrences": 12,
  "files": [
    {
      "file": "02-SlipBox/Large Language Model.md",
      "count": 1,
      "occurrences": [
        {
          "original": "[[LLM]]",
          "alias": "LLM",
          "actual_note": "Large Language Model",
          "replacement": "[[Large Language Model|LLM]]"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Wikilink Formats

Format	Description	Handled
[[Note]]	Direct link	Checked for alias match
[[Note|Alias]]	Explicit alias	Skipped (already explicit)
[[Note#Section]]	Section link	Skipped
[[Note#Section|Text]]	Section with alias	Skipped

Notes

• The script builds an alias index from all notes in the target directory
• Aliases are matched case-insensitively but preserve original case in replacement
• Links in YAML frontmatter (inside --- delimiters) are also processed
• Always run scan first to preview changes before using fix
• Automatically skips hidden/system directories: .claude, .obsidian, .trash, .git, node_modules