Remove [[wiki-links]], backlinks and the graph

Operator, 2026-08-22 (note 2897): ThoughtSync is an intermediary surface. You
write here because it's easy — a notebook in your pocket — and later you recall
the thing and go finish it somewhere else. Recall is the product; organization
is secondary. A linking system is organization, and it isn't what this is for.

So: `[[wiki-links]]`, backlinks, the `[[` autocomplete, the note_links table,
`/api/notes/link-search`, `/api/notes/<id>/backlinks`, the whole graph blueprint
and GraphView. Rust core loses `extract_links`, `backlinks`, `link_search` and
`create_titled`; the desktop loses the three Tauri commands that exposed them.

This subsumes 982d24c rather than reverting it. That commit bound links to a
note id so a rename would stop rewriting other notes' bodies — real infra, but
infra for a feature that is now gone, and nothing it added survives. Alembic
0023 stays in the chain anyway: it shipped in an image and may already be
applied, and deleting an applied revision strands a database's version pointer.
0024 drops the table and takes the column with it. The history stays honest
about the fact that it existed for a day.

Two things deliberately kept, because they were serving recall and only
incidentally serving links:

- `/api/notes/titles` and the titles store. The command palette lists them so
  you can jump to a note by name. `resolve()` — the name→note lookup that only
  linking needed — is gone.
- `display_title`. Every note still has a name for search results and export
  filenames. What that name is FOR changed; that it exists did not.

`notes/links.py` is now `notes/tags.py`, holding the #tag→label reconciliation
it always also owned. A file called links.py with no links in it would have been
exactly the drift this removal is meant to end.

Also swept out on the way: `_escape_like`, whose only caller was link-search,
and the `graph` icon. Nothing lost that a person typed — note_links was always
derived, and the `[[text]]` is still sitting in every body it was written in.

core/src/local/derive.rs

@@ -1,38 +1,14 @@
-//! Deriving `[[wiki-links]]` and `#tags` from a note's body — the local mirror of
-//! what the server computes on save. Pure string scanning (no regex dependency),
-//! kept in lockstep with the frontend's inline rules (see frontend notes/markdown.ts):
+//! Deriving `#tags` from a note's body — the local mirror of what the server computes
+//! on save. Pure string scanning (no regex dependency), kept in lockstep with the
+//! frontend's inline rules (see frontend notes/markdown.ts):
 //!
-//! - `[[link]]`: `[[` … `]]` with no brackets inside, inner text trimmed. Used to
-//!   compute backlinks at query time (links are derived, never stored/synced).
 //! - `#tag`: `#` at a word boundary followed by tag characters (letter first).
 //!   On save these become labels attached with `via_tag = true`.
 //!
-//! Both dedupe case-insensitively, preserving first-seen order.
-
-/// Extract the trimmed inner text of every `[[wiki-link]]` in `body`.
-pub fn extract_links(body: &str) -> Vec<String> {
-    let bytes = body.as_bytes();
-    let mut out: Vec<String> = Vec::new();
-    let mut i = 0;
-    while i + 1 < bytes.len() {
-        if bytes[i] == b'[' && bytes[i + 1] == b'[' {
-            if let Some(rel) = body[i + 2..].find("]]") {
-                let inner = &body[i + 2..i + 2 + rel];
-                // Mirror the frontend's `[^[\]]+`: no stray brackets inside.
-                if !inner.contains('[') && !inner.contains(']') {
-                    let t = inner.trim();
-                    if !t.is_empty() {
-                        push_unique(&mut out, t);
-                    }
-                }
-                i += 2 + rel + 2;
-                continue;
-            }
-        }
-        i += 1;
-    }
-    out
-}
+//! Dedupes case-insensitively, preserving first-seen order.
+//!
+//! Also derived `[[wiki-links]]` until they were removed (note 2897) — this is a
+//! capture-and-recall surface, and a linking system is organization.
 
 /// Extract every `#tag` name (without the leading `#`) from `body`.
 pub fn extract_tags(body: &str) -> Vec<String> {
@@ -73,28 +49,6 @@ fn push_unique(out: &mut Vec<String>, candidate: &str) {
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
 
-    #[test]
-    fn links_basic_and_trim() {
-        assert_eq!(
-            extract_links("see [[ Alpha ]] and [[Beta]]"),
-            vec!["Alpha", "Beta"]
-        );
-    }
-
-    #[test]
-    fn links_dedupe_case_insensitive_first_seen() {
-        assert_eq!(extract_links("[[Note]] then [[note]] again"), vec!["Note"]);
-    }
-
-    #[test]
-    fn links_ignore_malformed_and_nested_brackets() {
-        assert_eq!(
-            extract_links("[[a[b]] [[]] [ [x] ] plain"),
-            Vec::<String>::new()
-        );
-        assert_eq!(extract_links("[[ok]] [[a]b]]"), vec!["ok"]);
-    }
-
     #[test]
     fn tags_basic() {
         assert_eq!(
@@ -116,7 +70,6 @@ mod tests {
 
     #[test]
     fn empty_body() {
-        assert!(extract_links("").is_empty());
         assert!(extract_tags("").is_empty());
     }
 }

core/src/local/models.rs

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ pub struct Note {
     pub id: String,
     pub title: Option<String>,
     /// title if set, else the note's first body line — always present, so body-only
-    /// notes are still nameable and `[[link]]`-able. Derived, never stored.
+    /// notes still have something to be called. Derived, never stored.
     pub display_title: String,
     pub body: String,
     pub color: String,
@@ -94,12 +94,6 @@ pub struct TitleEntry {
     pub title: String,
 }
 
-#[derive(Serialize)]
-pub struct Backlink {
-    pub id: String,
-    pub title: String,
-}
-
 #[derive(Serialize)]
 pub struct SavedFilter {
     pub id: String,

core/src/local/schema.rs

@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 //! Local SQLite schema + migrations. The schema mirrors the note/label model so an
 //! offline note can later sync 1:1 with the server. Each syncable row carries local
 //! `sync_revision` + `dirty` bookkeeping (consumed by the sync engine in M10.7);
-//! `[[links]]` are NOT stored (derived at query time), matching docs/sync.md.
+//! `#tags` are NOT stored as such (derived at query time into labels), matching
+//! docs/sync.md.
 //!
 //! Migrations are gated on `PRAGMA user_version`; bump it and add a block per change.
 

core/src/local/store.rs

@@ -350,61 +350,6 @@ pub fn search(conn: &Connection, q: &str) -> rusqlite::Result<Vec<Note>> {
     ids.iter().map(|id| load_note(conn, id)).collect()
 }
 
-pub fn backlinks(conn: &Connection, id: &str) -> rusqlite::Result<Vec<Backlink>> {
-    let target: String = {
-        let (t, b): (Option<String>, String) =
-            conn.query_row("SELECT title, body FROM notes WHERE id = ?1", [id], |r| {
-                Ok((r.get(0)?, r.get(1)?))
-            })?;
-        display_title(t.as_deref(), &b)
-    };
-    if target.is_empty() {
-        return Ok(Vec::new());
-    }
-    let mut stmt =
-        conn.prepare("SELECT id, title, body FROM notes WHERE trashed = 0 AND id != ?1")?;
-    let rows = stmt.query_map([id], |r| {
-        let nid: String = r.get(0)?;
-        let t: Option<String> = r.get(1)?;
-        let b: String = r.get(2)?;
-        Ok((nid, t, b))
-    })?;
-    let mut out = Vec::new();
-    for row in rows {
-        let (nid, t, b) = row?;
-        if derive::extract_links(&b)
-            .iter()
-            .any(|l| l.eq_ignore_ascii_case(&target))
-        {
-            out.push(Backlink {
-                id: nid,
-                title: display_title(t.as_deref(), &b),
-            });
-        }
-    }
-    Ok(out)
-}
-
-pub fn link_search(conn: &Connection, q: &str) -> rusqlite::Result<Vec<TitleEntry>> {
-    let ql = q.trim().to_lowercase();
-    let mut stmt = conn.prepare("SELECT id, title, body FROM notes WHERE trashed = 0")?;
-    let rows = stmt.query_map([], |r| {
-        let id: String = r.get(0)?;
-        let t: Option<String> = r.get(1)?;
-        let b: String = r.get(2)?;
-        Ok((id, t, b))
-    })?;
-    let mut out = Vec::new();
-    for row in rows {
-        let (id, t, b) = row?;
-        let dt = display_title(t.as_deref(), &b);
-        if ql.is_empty() || dt.to_lowercase().contains(&ql) {
-            out.push(TitleEntry { id, title: dt });
-        }
-    }
-    Ok(out)
-}
-
 // ---- notes: write -----------------------------------------------------------
 
 pub fn create_note(conn: &Connection, input: &NoteCreateInput) -> rusqlite::Result<Note> {
@@ -434,30 +379,6 @@ pub fn create_note(conn: &Connection, input: &NoteCreateInput) -> rusqlite::Resu
     load_note(conn, &id)
 }
 
-pub fn create_titled(conn: &Connection, title: &str) -> rusqlite::Result<Note> {
-    let input = NoteCreateInput {
-        title: title.to_string(),
-        body: String::new(),
-        color: "default".to_string(),
-        kind: None,
-        items: None,
-    };
-    create_note(conn, &input)
-}
-
-fn snapshot_revision(conn: &Connection, id: &str) -> rusqlite::Result<()> {
-    let (title, body): (Option<String>, String) =
-        conn.query_row("SELECT title, body FROM notes WHERE id = ?1", [id], |r| {
-            Ok((r.get(0)?, r.get(1)?))
-        })?;
-    conn.execute(
-        "INSERT INTO note_revisions (id, note_id, title, body, created_at) VALUES (?1, ?2, ?3, ?4, ?5)",
-        params![new_id(), id, title, body, now()],
-    )?;
-    Ok(())
-}
-
-/// PATCH semantics: apply exactly the fields present in `changes`.
 pub fn update_note(conn: &Connection, id: &str, changes: &Value) -> rusqlite::Result<Note> {
     let obj = changes
         .as_object()