> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://smolbren.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# smolbren links and backlinks — traverse graph edges

> Fetch outgoing links (links) and incoming links (backlinks) for any note. Filter by edge type to focus on specific relationship kinds.

smolbren extracts every wikilink from note frontmatter and stores them as typed edges in the index. The `links` command shows which notes a given note points to (outgoing edges), while `backlinks` shows which notes point to it (incoming edges). Both commands support filtering by edge type so you can focus on a specific kind of relationship.

## links

Fetch the outgoing wikilink edges from a note — i.e. the notes that this note references.

**Synopsis**

```bash theme={null}
smolbren links <id> [--type <edge_type>]
```

<ParamField path="id" type="string" required>
  The vault-relative ID of the source note (path without `.md`). For example,
  `blogs/context-engineering`. See [Note ID format](/cli/get#note-id-format).
</ParamField>

<ParamField query="--type" type="string">
  Filter results to only edges of this relationship type. The edge type is the
  frontmatter key that contained the wikilink, e.g. `mentions`, `for`,
  `derives_from`. Use `smolbren edges` to discover what edge types exist in your
  vault.
</ParamField>

**Output**

Returns a JSON array of edge objects, sorted by `(edge_type, position)` — i.e. alphabetically by relationship type, then in the order the wikilinks appeared within each frontmatter field.

| Field       | Type           | Description                                                                               |
| ----------- | -------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `edge_type` | string         | The frontmatter key that contained this wikilink, e.g. `mentions`                         |
| `to_id`     | string         | The resolved vault-relative ID of the target note. Empty string if the link is unresolved |
| `to_alias`  | string \| null | The display alias from the wikilink, if one was specified with the `\|alias` syntax       |
| `resolved`  | boolean        | Whether the wikilink target was successfully matched to an indexed note                   |
| `position`  | integer        | Zero-based index of this wikilink within its frontmatter field's list                     |

**Example**

```bash theme={null}
smolbren links blogs/context-engineering --type mentions
```

```json theme={null}
[
  {"edge_type": "mentions", "to_id": "projects/prism",                           "to_alias": null, "resolved": true, "position": 0},
  {"edge_type": "mentions", "to_id": "repos/smolbren",                           "to_alias": null, "resolved": true, "position": 1},
  {"edge_type": "mentions", "to_id": "blogs/context-development-lifecycle",      "to_alias": null, "resolved": true, "position": 2},
  {"edge_type": "mentions", "to_id": "blogs/context-platform-engineering",       "to_alias": null, "resolved": true, "position": 3}
]
```

***

## backlinks

Fetch the incoming wikilink edges pointing to a note — i.e. the notes that reference this note.

**Synopsis**

```bash theme={null}
smolbren backlinks <id> [--type <edge_type>]
```

<ParamField path="id" type="string" required>
  The vault-relative ID of the target note (path without `.md`).
</ParamField>

<ParamField query="--type" type="string">
  Filter results to only incoming edges of this relationship type.
</ParamField>

**Output**

Returns a JSON array of backlink objects, sorted by `(edge_type, from_id)` — alphabetically by relationship type, then by source note ID. Each object is enriched with the source note's type and title from the notes dataset.

| Field        | Type           | Description                                                                   |
| ------------ | -------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `edge_type`  | string         | The frontmatter key on the source note that contained the wikilink            |
| `from_id`    | string         | The vault-relative ID of the source note                                      |
| `from_type`  | string \| null | The `type` field of the source note, or `null` if the source note has no type |
| `from_title` | string         | The title of the source note                                                  |

**Example**

```bash theme={null}
smolbren backlinks projects/prism
```

```json theme={null}
[
  {
    "edge_type": "for",
    "from_id": "blogs/context-engineering",
    "from_type": "blog",
    "from_title": "Context engineering"
  },
  {
    "edge_type": "mentions",
    "from_id": "blogs/context-engineering",
    "from_type": "blog",
    "from_title": "Context engineering"
  },
  {
    "edge_type": "mentions",
    "from_id": "Journal/2026, June 01",
    "from_type": null,
    "from_title": "2026, June 01"
  }
]
```

***

<Note>
  An edge with `"resolved": false` means the wikilink target recorded in
  `to_id` could not be matched to any indexed note at the time of the last
  `smolbren index` run. This can happen when a note is referenced before it
  exists, or when it is deleted. After adding or renaming the target note, run
  `smolbren index` to re-resolve the link. Run `smolbren index --full` to
  recompute all edge resolutions across the entire vault.
</Note>