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Lean Auto-Links

Lightweight auto-linking engine for WordPress. Keywords, affiliates, glossary — one plugin.

by Cristian Tala · github.com/ctala/lean-autolinks · website

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Install

No release zip yet. The repository archive installs, but the folder name will carry the branch suffix and updates will not flow:

wp plugin install https://github.com/ctala/lean-autolinks/archive/refs/heads/main.zip

Readme github.com/ctala/lean-autolinks ↗

Lightweight, configurable auto-linking engine for WordPress. Custom keywords, affiliate links, glossary terms — all managed from one place.

Features

Custom keyword → URL mapping with per-keyword flags
Per-keyword rel="sponsored" for affiliate links (Sp column)
Global rel="nofollow" for external links — safe by default
Per-keyword dofollow override (DF column) to pass link juice when intended
Auto-detect post types — all public CPTs enabled by default
Configurable protected zones — skip headings, captions, blockquotes, post title
REST API for programmatic CRUD (bulk import glossary/actors/affiliates)
Groups for organization (custom, glosario, actores, affiliate, etc.)
Longer terms matched first — "Venture Capital" won't be broken by "Capital"
External links open in new tab by default (target="_blank")
Single file, ~30KB, zero extra DB tables, zero dependencies

Installation

Download ZIP from GitHub releases
WP Admin → Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin → select ZIP
Activate
Go to Settings → Auto-Links

Admin UI

Three tabs:

Tab	Description
Keywords	Add/edit keywords with On/Off, URL, Group, Sp (sponsored), DF (dofollow)
Settings	Post types, protected zones, external link behavior, matching options
Stats	Summary, group breakdown, REST API reference

How It Works

Keywords are matched in post content using Unicode-aware regex
Existing links, headings, code blocks, and other protected zones are skipped
Each keyword is linked at most N times per post (configurable)
Longer terms are matched first to prevent partial matches
Optional plural suffix matching (e.g., "startup" also matches "startups")

Link Behavior

Scenario	Result
Internal link	Normal `<a href>`
External link (default)	`target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow"`
External + Sp checked	`rel="noopener nofollow sponsored"`
External + DF checked	`rel="noopener"` (no nofollow)
External + Sp + DF	`rel="noopener sponsored"` (dofollow + sponsored)

REST API

All endpoints require manage_options capability (use Application Passwords).

Keywords

GET    /wp-json/lean-autolinks/v1/keywords          # List all (optional ?group=)
POST   /wp-json/lean-autolinks/v1/keywords          # Add keywords (deduplicates)
PUT    /wp-json/lean-autolinks/v1/keywords          # Replace all keywords
DELETE /wp-json/lean-autolinks/v1/keywords?group=    # Delete by group
DELETE /wp-json/lean-autolinks/v1/keywords?term=     # Delete by term

Keyword Object

{
  "term": "Venture Capital",
  "url": "https://example.com/venture-capital/",
  "sponsored": false,
  "dofollow": true,
  "group": "pillar",
  "active": true
}

Settings

GET  /wp-json/lean-autolinks/v1/settings      # Get current settings
POST /wp-json/lean-autolinks/v1/settings      # Update settings (partial merge)

Cache

POST /wp-json/lean-autolinks/v1/cache/flush   # Flush keyword cache

Configuration

All settings are available in Settings → Auto-Links. Key options:

Setting	Default	Description
Post types	All public	Which post types to auto-link
Max links/post	10	Maximum auto-links per post
Max per keyword	1	Times same keyword can be linked per post
Min term length	3	Minimum characters for a keyword
Cache hours	24	Transient cache duration (0 = no cache)
External new tab	✅	Open external links in new tab
Nofollow external	✅	Add nofollow to external links by default
Skip headings	✅	Don't link inside H1-H6
Skip captions	✅	Don't link inside figcaption
Skip blockquotes	❌	Don't link inside blockquote
Skip own title	✅	Don't link the post's own title

Requirements

WordPress 5.0+
PHP 7.4+

License

GPL-2.0-or-later