MDS043 link ready

MDS043: no-reference-style

Reference-style links and footnotes require global definition resolution; flag them in favor of inline links.

Inline links ([text](url)) carry their target locally. Reference links ([text][id] plus [id]: url) and footnotes ([^slug] plus [^slug]: ...) require a second pass over the document to resolve. Forbidding them keeps every link diff readable in isolation.

# Settings

Setting	Type	Default	Description
`allow-footnotes`	bool	`false`	Opt back into footnotes. Numeric slugs and definitions placed away from the referencing paragraph still fail

# Config

Enable:

rules:
  no-reference-style: true

Allow footnotes when the slug is meaningful and the definition sits right after its referencing paragraph:

rules:
  no-reference-style:
    allow-footnotes: true

Disable:

rules:
  no-reference-style: false

# Examples

# Bad – full reference link

# Full

See [example][site] for more.

[site]: https://example.com

# Bad – shortcut reference link

# Shortcut

See [example] for more.

[example]: https://example.com

# Bad – footnote (default)

# Footnote

A claim here.[^1]

[^1]: A note.

# Bad – unused reference definition

# Unused

Some plain prose with no links.

[orphan]: https://example.com

# Good – inline links

# Inline Links

See [example](https://example.com) for more.

Also see [home](https://example.org) for the project page.

# Good – footnote when allowed

# Footnotes Allowed

A claim with a citation.[^source]
[^source]: Author, "Title", 2024.

# Diagnostics

Message	Meaning
`reference-style link; use inline form ...`	Full, collapsed, or shortcut reference link found
`footnote reference; footnotes are not allowed`	A `[^slug]` reference appeared while `allow-footnotes` is false
`footnote slug is numeric; use a meaningful slug`	`allow-footnotes` is true but the slug is purely digits
`footnote reference has no matching definition`	`allow-footnotes` is true and no `[^slug]:` definition exists
`footnote definition must follow ...`	`allow-footnotes` is true but the definition is not adjacent to the ref
`unused reference definition: [id]`	A reference definition has no matching link in the file

# Meta-Information

ID: MDS043
Name: no-reference-style
Status: ready
Default: disabled, opt-in
Fixable: yes (reference links only; footnotes are not auto-fixed)
Implementation: source
Category: link

View source on GitHub