Repair Broken References

repair-broken-references

When to Use

Use this skill when project references have become stale:

• Documentation contains broken internal links
• External URLs return 404 errors
• Import statements reference moved or deleted modules
• Cross-references between files are out of sync
• Files exist but are never referenced anywhere
• A directory of markdown notes has an index, and topic files may not be linked from it

Do NOT use for refactoring module dependencies or redesigning information architecture. This skill repairs existing references, not restructures them.

Two Modes

Index mode exists because source mode returns empty on an agent-memory directory while real orphans sit on disk, and an empty result reads as "no problems". Three separate causes, each addressed in Steps 9-10: discovery looks for source extensions rather than .md notes; the age heuristic keys off version-control history, which a memory directory typically does not have; and orphanhood is defined tree-wide rather than against the index — a different and stricter question, since a topic file cited only by a sibling topic file counts as reachable tree-wide while nothing ever loads the sibling either.

Inputs

Procedure

Steps 1-8 are source mode. In index mode run Steps 9-10 instead, not after: source discovery, external URL checking, and import scanning all measure the wrong corpus for a directory of markdown notes.

Step 1: Scan for Broken Internal Links

Find all markdown links pointing to non-existent files.

# Find all markdown files
find . -name "*.md" -type f > markdown_files.txt

# Extract all markdown links: [text](path)
grep -oP '\[.*?\]\(\K[^)]+' *.md | sort | uniq > all_links.txt

# For each link:
while read link; do
  # Skip external URLs (http/https)
  if [[ "$link" =~ ^https?:// ]]; then
    continue
  fi

  # Resolve relative path
  target=$(realpath -m "$link")

  # Check if target exists
  if [ ! -e "$target" ]; then
    echo "BROKEN: $link (referenced in $file)" >> broken_internal.txt
  fi
done < all_links.txt

Expected: broken_internal.txt lists all broken internal references

On failure: If realpath unavailable, manually check each link

Step 2: Check External URLs

Verify that external links are still accessible (HTTP 200 response).

# Extract external URLs
grep -ohP 'https?://[^\s\)]+' *.md | sort | uniq > external_urls.txt

# Check each URL (rate-limit to avoid bans)
while read url; do
  status=$(curl -o /dev/null -s -w "%{http_code}" "$url")

  if [ "$status" -ge 400 ]; then
    echo "DEAD ($status): $url" >> dead_urls.txt
  fi

  sleep 0.5  # Rate limit
done < external_urls.txt

Expected: dead_urls.txt lists URLs returning 4xx/5xx errors

On failure: If curl unavailable or blocked, use online link checker or skip

Note: Some URLs may return 403 due to bot detection but work in browsers. Manual review required.

Step 3: Find Broken Imports

Check that all import/require statements reference existing modules.

JavaScript/TypeScript:

# Find all import statements
grep -rh "^import.*from ['\"]" . | sed -E "s/.*from ['\"]([^'\"]+)['\"].*/\1/" > imports.txt

# For each import:
while read import; do
  # Skip node_modules and external packages
  if [[ "$import" =~ ^[./] ]]; then
    # Resolve to file path
    target="${import}.js"  # Try .js, .ts, .jsx, .tsx

    if [ ! -e "$target" ]; then
      echo "BROKEN IMPORT: $import" >> broken_imports.txt
    fi
  fi
done < imports.txt

Python:

# Find all import statements
grep -rh "^from .* import\|^import " . --include="*.py" | \
  sed -E "s/from ([^ ]+) import.*/\1/" | \
  sed -E "s/import ([^ ]+)/\1/" > imports.txt

# For each local import (starts with .)
# Check if module file exists

R:

# Find library() and source() calls
grep -rh "library(\\|source(" . --include="*.R" | \
  sed -E 's/.*library\("([^"]+)"\).*/\1/' > packages.txt

# For source() calls, check if file exists
# For library() calls, check if package installed
Rscript -e "installed.packages()[,'Package']" > installed_packages.txt

Expected: broken_imports.txt lists all references to deleted/moved modules

On failure: If language-specific tool unavailable, manually review recent refactoring commits

Step 4: Find Orphaned Files

Identify files that exist but are never referenced anywhere.

# Find all code files
find . -type f \( -name "*.js" -o -name "*.py" -o -name "*.R" \) > all_files.txt

# For each file:
while read file; do
  basename=$(basename "$file")

  # Search for references (import, require, source, href, link)
  refs=$(grep -r "$basename" . --exclude-dir=node_modules --exclude-dir=.git | wc -l)

  # If only 1 reference (itself):
  if [ "$refs" -le 1 ]; then
    # Check last modified date
    last_mod=$(git log -1 --format="%ci" "$file")

    # If modified more than orphan_threshold days ago
    # Flag as potential orphan
    echo "ORPHAN: $file (last modified: $last_mod)" >> orphans.txt
  fi
done < all_files.txt

Expected: orphans.txt lists files not referenced elsewhere

On failure: If git log fails, use filesystem mtime instead

Note: Some files (e.g., CLI entry points, top-level scripts) are legitimately unreferenced but not orphans. Requires manual review.

Step 5: Fix Internal Links

Repair broken internal references using one of three strategies:

Strategy 1: Find Moved Files

# For each broken link, search for file by name
while read broken_link; do
  filename=$(basename "$broken_link")

  # Search for file in project
  found=$(find . -name "$filename" | head -1)

  if [ -n "$found" ]; then
    # Update link to new path
    old_path="$broken_link"
    new_path="$found"

    # Use Edit tool to replace in all markdown files
    echo "FIX: $old_path -> $new_path"
  fi
done < broken_internal.txt

Strategy 2: Create Redirect Stub

# If file was deleted intentionally, create redirect stub
echo "# Moved" > "$broken_link"
echo "This content moved to [new location](new_path.md)" >> "$broken_link"

Strategy 3: Remove Dead Link

# If content no longer exists, remove link (keep text)
# Replace [text](broken_link) with text (plain)

Expected: All broken internal links either fixed, redirected, or removed

On failure: If automated fix breaks context, escalate for manual review

Step 6: Fix Broken Imports

Update import statements to reference correct paths after moves.

JavaScript Example:

// Before (broken)
import { helper } from './utils/helper';

// After (fixed — file moved to lib/)
import { helper } from './lib/helper';

For each broken import:

1. Locate the moved module (similar to Step 5)
2. Update import path in all files referencing it
3. Run linter/type checker to verify fix

Expected: All imports resolve correctly; no module-not-found errors

On failure: If module was truly deleted, escalate to determine if functionality still needed

Step 7: Document Orphaned Files

For files flagged as orphans, determine disposition:

1. Keep: Legitimately unreferenced (entry points, scripts, templates)
2. Archive: Old code no longer needed but preserve history
3. Delete: Dead code with no value

# Orphaned Files Review

| File | Last Modified | Recommendation | Reason |
|------|---------------|----------------|--------|
| scripts/old_deploy.sh | 2024-01-05 | Archive | Replaced by CI/CD |
| src/legacy_api.js | 2023-06-12 | Delete | API v1 fully deprecated |
| bin/cli.py | 2025-12-01 | Keep | CLI entry point (unreferenced by design) |

Expected: Orphan review document created; automated decisions flagged for human approval

On failure: (N/A — document even if no clear disposition)

Step 8: Generate Repair Report

Summarize all broken references and fixes applied.

# Reference Repair Report

**Date**: YYYY-MM-DD
**Project**: <project_name>
**Fix Mode**: auto | report | interactive

## Broken Internal Links

- Total: X
- Fixed: Y
- Redirected: Z
- Escalated: W

Details:
- [file.md](file.md) line 45: Fixed broken link to moved doc
- [another.md](another.md) line 12: Created redirect stub

## Dead External URLs

- Total: X
- Fixed (wayback machine): Y
- Removed: Z

Details:
- https://example.com/old-page (404) → Removed
- https://api.old.com/docs (gone) → Replaced with new docs

## Broken Imports

- Total: X
- Fixed: Y
- Escalated: Z

Details:
- src/main.js line 3: Updated import path after refactor

## Orphaned Files

- Total: X
- Kept: Y
- Archived: Z
- Escalated for review: W

See ORPHAN_REVIEW.md for full analysis.

## Validation

- [x] All tests pass after fixes
- [x] Linter reports no module-not-found errors
- [x] Dead links documented in report

Expected: Report saved to REFERENCE_REPAIR_REPORT.md

On failure: (N/A — generate report regardless)

Step 9: Index Mode — Reachability Against a Designated Index

Applies when the corpus is a flat directory of markdown notes with one designated index — an agent-memory store (MEMORY.md plus topic files) is the reference case, and the block below also appears in manage-memory, prune-agent-memory, and verify-memory-integrity, kept byte-identical across all four by scripts/test/memory-blocks.test.js. Only the index is loaded automatically; topic files are read on demand. So a write succeeding tells you nothing about whether the memory will ever be read again. Verify reachability, not write success — and verify it every session, because the operation that breaks reachability (compaction) is the same operation the size and line caps make mandatory.

# Reachability: the index is the only file loaded automatically, so a topic file
# that nothing links to is not deprioritized — it is invisible.
DIR=<memory-dir>
python3 - "$DIR" <<'PY'
import os, re, sys

d    = sys.argv[1]
text = open(os.path.join(d, 'MEMORY.md'), 'rb').read().decode('utf-8', 'replace')
# HTML comments are stripped before the index reaches the model, and the
# stripped content is excluded from the load limits: a note left in one is
# invisible to the reader, and buys nothing by being cheap.
text = re.sub(r'<!--.*?-->', '', text, flags=re.S)

EXAMPLES = {'file.md', 'example.md', 'topic-name.md'}      # format-documentation targets
linked   = {os.path.basename(m) for m in re.findall(r'\]\(([^)#\s]+\.md)', text)} - EXAMPLES for f in os.listdir(d) if f.endswith('.md') and f != 'MEMORY.md'}

orphans, dangling = sorted(on_disk - linked), sorted(linked - on_disk)
size = lambda names: sum(os.path.getsize(os.path.join(d, n)) for n in names)
tot  = size(on_disk) or 1

print(f"topic files {len(on_disk)}; linked {len(linked & on_disk)}")
print(f"ORPHANS  {len(orphans)} = {len(orphans)/max(len(on_disk),1):.1%} of files, {size(orphans)/tot:.1%} of bytes")
print(f"DANGLING {len(dangling)} (linked, absent on disk)")
for n in orphans:  print(f"  orphan   {n}")
for n in dangling: print(f"  dangling {n}")
PY

Rules this implementation honors, each learned from a real miss:

1. Exclude template/example link targets — a format-documentation line such as - [Title](file.md) — hook otherwise reports as a dangling link forever, and a check that cries wolf trains its operator to ignore it.
2. A prose mention is not reachability. Require an exact filename match on a real link target. Report near-matches separately as degraded references; never count them as reachable.
3. HTML comments in the index are not a mitigation. They are stripped before the index reaches the model, so a curator note left in one is written into a void. If a note must survive, it has to be a plain markdown line.
4. Parse frontmatter, do not grep it. A ^type: regex misses a field nested under metadata: and reports a conformance failure that does not exist.
5. Report both denominators, labeled. File share and byte share are different numbers and must never be printed interchangeably.

Expected: Every topic file is classified reachable or orphan, every index link either resolves or is reported dangling, and the orphan share is printed as both a file share and a byte share.

On failure: If the designated index is absent, stop and report that. An index-mode run with no index has no reachability question to answer, and falling back to Step 4 would silently answer the tree-wide question instead.

Step 10: Index Mode — Age Without Version-Control History

Step 4 dates a candidate orphan with git log -1. A memory directory usually lives outside any repository, so that command prints nothing, every candidate loses its date, and the run reports no orphans at all. Fall back to filesystem mtime:

# Age fallback for a store with no version-control history.
DIR=<memory-dir>
find "$DIR" -maxdepth 1 -name '*.md' ! -name 'MEMORY.md' \
  -printf '%TY-%Tm-%Td  %p\n' | sort

mtime measures writes, not reads. A topic file read every session and never edited is byte-for-byte indistinguishable from one nothing has opened in a year. Age is therefore a ranking aid for files Step 9 has already called orphans, never evidence that a reachable file is unused, and never on its own a reason to delete. That is why this block carries no orphan_threshold cutoff: Step 9 decides orphanhood and Step 10 only dates it, so an -mtime filter here would hide a recently written orphan behind an empty result — the failure Pitfall 8 describes, reproduced inside index mode.

Expected: Every orphan carries a last-modified date, and none is dropped for want of a commit.

On failure: If find -printf is unavailable (BSD/macOS), substitute stat -f '%Sm %N'. If the directory is under version control, prefer Step 4's git log -1: it dates the content change rather than the file write, and a checkout rewrites mtime.

Validation Checklist

After repairs:

• No broken internal links in documentation
• Dead external URLs documented (not all fixable)
• All imports resolve correctly
• Orphaned files reviewed and dispositioned
• Tests pass after import fixes
• Linter reports no unresolved references
• Git history preserved (used git mv for any moves)

Index mode replaces those with:

• The designated index exists — an empty result from a missing index is not a clean result
• Every topic file is linked from the index, or listed as a reviewed orphan
• Every index link resolves on disk; dangling links fixed or removed
• Orphan share reported as file share and byte share, each labeled
• Orphans dated from mtime where no version-control history exists, and the date read as a write, not a read

Common Pitfalls

1. Automatic URL Fixes Break Context: Replacing dead links with web.archive.org URLs may not be what the author intended. Some links are better removed.

2. Over-Aggressive Orphan Deletion: Entry points, CLI scripts, and templates are often unreferenced by design. Don't delete without review.

3. Import Path Assumptions: Assuming all relative imports use the same base path. Different module systems (CommonJS, ES6, TypeScript) handle paths differently.

4. External URL False Positives: Some sites block curl/bots but work fine in browsers. Always manually verify dead URLs.

5. Circular Reference Traps: File A imports B, B imports A. Updating one breaks the other. Requires simultaneous fix.

6. Ignoring Fragment Identifiers: Fixing [link](#section) requires checking if #section anchor exists, not just if file exists.

7. Wrong R binary on hybrid systems: On WSL or Docker, Rscript may resolve to a cross-platform wrapper instead of native R. Check with which Rscript && Rscript --version. Prefer the native R binary (e.g., /usr/local/bin/Rscript on Linux/WSL) for reliability. See Setting Up Your Environment for R path configuration.

8. Running Source Mode Against an Index Corpus: Steps 1-8 report nothing on a directory of markdown notes — the discovery globs miss .md, and the age heuristic finds no version-control history — and an empty report reads as "no problems found" rather than "the wrong question was asked". Choose the mode before the run, not after reading the result.

9. Reading mtime as Evidence of Use: A recent mtime says a file was written recently, not that anything has read it. Nothing in the store records reads at all, so no amount of filesystem metadata can promote a file out of orphan status — only a link in the index can.

10. Carrying the Source-Mode Orphan Definition into Index Mode: A topic file linked from a sibling topic file is reachable tree-wide and still an orphan against the index, because nothing loads the sibling either. Counting those as reachable is how a store reports zero orphans while carrying dozens.

Related Skills

• clean-codebase — Remove dead code after confirming orphans
• tidy-project-structure — Reorganize files (may create broken references)
• escalate-issues — Route complex reference issues to specialists
• validate-references — External URL and DOI validation for bibliographies
• manage-memory — Curates the index this skill's index mode measures
• verify-memory-integrity — Runs the same reachability block alongside the dual-cap budget check
• references/EXAMPLES.md — Worked index-mode run, report template, and the degraded-reference pass