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+# Phase 3: Navigation and Links - Context
+
+**Gathered:** 2026-02-28
+**Status:** Ready for planning
+
+<domain>
+## Phase Boundary
+
+Users can browse the vault by following wiki-links and standard markdown links, navigating back/forward through their history, and Tab-cycling between links on a page. The status bar shows breadcrumb location and navigation state. Creating/editing documents, search, and directory listing are separate phases.
+
+</domain>
+
+<decisions>
+## Implementation Decisions
+
+### Link appearance & cycling
+- Links displayed as bracket-wrapped text with color: `[Link Text]` — fits the retro BBS aesthetic
+- Selected link (via Tab cycling) shown with inverted colors (foreground/background swap)
+- Tab cycling wraps around — after the last link, Tab returns to the first link on the page
+- When Tab-cycling to an off-screen link, the view auto-scrolls to center the selected link on screen
+
+### Breadcrumb & status bar
+- Current location shown as breadcrumb trail with separator: `docs > guides > getting-started`
+- File extensions (.md) stripped from breadcrumb display
+- Back/forward indicators shown when history exists (e.g. `< Back | Forward >`) — hidden when no history in that direction
+- Link cycling index displayed when a link is selected: `Link 3/7`
+
+### Wiki-link resolution
+- Case-insensitive matching: `[[Getting Started]]` matches `getting-started.md`, `Getting-Started.md`, etc.
+- Space-to-filename mapping tries multiple strategies: hyphens first, then underscores, then literal spaces
+- Broken wiki-links shown inline as red/strikethrough text — user sees it's broken without navigating
+- Subpaths supported: `[[guides/Getting Started]]` resolves to `guides/getting-started.md`
+
+### History behavior
+- Scroll position restored when navigating back — puts you exactly where you were
+- Selected link restored when navigating back — full state restoration
+- Unlimited history depth — full session history preserved
+- Forward stack cleared when following a new link after going back (browser-style fork behavior)
+
+### Claude's Discretion
+- Exact keybindings for back/forward (Backspace, Alt+Left/Right, etc.)
+- Link resolution search order for ambiguous matches
+- Error page design for broken link navigation attempts
+- Breadcrumb separator character and styling
+
+</decisions>
+
+<specifics>
+## Specific Ideas
+
+- Bracket-wrapped links `[Link Text]` give a classic BBS/terminal hyperlink feel
+- Inverted-color selection mirrors how BBS menus traditionally highlighted the active item
+- Browser-style history (clear forward on fork, restore scroll+selection on back) is the mental model
+
+</specifics>
+
+<deferred>
+## Deferred Ideas
+
+None — discussion stayed within phase scope
+
+</deferred>
+
+---
+
+*Phase: 03-navigation-and-links*
+*Context gathered: 2026-02-28*