In Live Preview, clicking a collapsed reference link `[slug][]` creates a note named `[]` instead of following the link (works in Reading view)

Bug reports
1

Steps to reproduce

  1. In a new sandbox vault, create a note containing exactly:

    [slug][]
[slug][slug]

[slug]: https://example.com/

  2. Stay in editing view with Live Preview enabled. Both lines render as clickable links.

  3. Click each link in turn.

  4. Switch to Reading view (Cmd+E) and click each link again.

Did you read and follow the Troubleshooting Guide ?

Yes. I’ve reproduced the bug in the Sandbox vault with no third-party plugins, snippets, or custom theme.

Expected result

In both views, both links behave identically and open https://example.com/. An empty second bracket pair means “reuse the link text as the label”, so [slug][] is exactly equivalent to [slug][slug].

This is not a recent or exotic extension. It is in the original Markdown syntax description as the “implicit link name” shortcut ( Daring Fireball: Markdown Syntax Documentation ): “allows you to omit the name of the link, in which case the link text itself is used as the name. Just use an empty set of square brackets.”

CommonMark calls it a collapsed reference link ( CommonMark Spec ): [foo][] together with [foo]: /url "title" renders as <a href="/url" title="title">foo</a>. Obsidian’s own documentation states that “Obsidian supports CommonMark, GitHub Flavored Markdown, and LaTeX” ( Obsidian Flavored Markdown - Obsidian Help ).

Actual result

Both lines render as links, so they look identical. They do not behave identically:

  • [slug][slug] opens https://example.com/ as expected.
  • [slug][] does not follow the link. Instead it is treated as an internal link with an empty target: Obsidian creates a new, empty note named [] ([].md) in the vault root and opens it.

In Reading view, both links open https://example.com/ correctly, so the link reference definition is being resolved there. Only Live Preview is affected: it styles the collapsed form as a link but never resolves it against the definition, and clicking it silently pollutes the vault with a stray note.

Environment

SYSTEM INFO:
	Obsidian version: 1.14.0
	Installer version: 1.10.3
	Operating system: Darwin Kernel Version 25.6.0: Fri Jul 31 19:18:53 PDT 2026; root:xnu-12377.161.14~5/RELEASE_ARM64_T6031 25.6.0
	Login status: logged in
	Language: en
	Catalyst license: supporter
	Insider build toggle: on
	Live preview: on
	Base theme: adapt to system
	Community theme: none
	Snippets enabled: 0
	Restricted mode: on

RECOMMENDATIONS:
	none

Additional information

The related, previously reported reference-link issues (both now in Bug graveyard) concern only the full [text][id] form, which now works here; the collapsed form does not appear to have been reported:

2

Thanks! Fixed for the next release.