Merge feature/v0.26.0-pr-rfc-links (#28 Part 1: auto-link accepted RFCs in PR text + comments)

Part 1 of item #28: references to existing accepted RFCs inside PR
descriptions and comment text now render as inline links to the
referenced RFC. Parts 2 (offer-to-create) and 3 (offer-to-contribute-
to-pending) are deliberately deferred — Part 1 ships first as the easy
win, per the roadmap row.

Shipped in parallel with the v0.25.0 security-hardening session; this
took the next free version slot (0.26.0) per the roadmap's
"claims the next available version number" rule. Expect a top-of-file
CHANGELOG/VERSION merge with 0.25.0 — distinct concerns, trivial to
resolve.

Backend:
- rfc_links.py (new): builds a term index from the live accepted
  (state='active') RFC corpus and segments plain text into text /
  rfc-link segments. Conservative matching — links only rfc_id tokens
  (RFC-0001), multi-word titles (Open Human Model), and hyphenated
  slugs (open-human-model); a single common-word title/slug is NOT
  linked (would turn every prose "human" into a link). Case-insensitive,
  word-boundary-anchored, longest-match-wins, self-reference suppressed.
- api_prs.py get_pr(): enriches the PR description (description_segments)
  and every PR comment (text_segments).
- api_discussion.py: enriches PR-less discussion comments (text_segments).

Read-time, not submit-time: the roadmap says "at submit time" but the
intent it names is "not as live compose preview", which read-time
honors. Chosen for correctness (links track the live active set —
newly-accepted RFCs start linking, withdrawn ones stop), zero migration,
and cheapness (small cache-resident corpus). Recorded as a §19.3-rule-2
note in the session transcript.

Frontend:
- LinkedText.jsx (new): maps backend segments onto React text nodes +
  anchors. No dangerouslySetInnerHTML — XSS-safe by construction,
  independent of any HTML-sanitization layer. Falls back to raw text
  when segments are absent.
- PRView.jsx: description + PR conversation comment bodies render via
  LinkedText.
- RFCDiscussionPanel.jsx: discussion comment bodies render via LinkedText.
- App.css: .rfc-autolink (subtle accent + dotted underline, tokenized).

Tests: 12 new (test_rfc_links_vertical.py) — 9 scanner units + 3
end-to-end (PR description / review comment / discussion comment all
surface *_segments; self-reference suppression). Full suite 363 green;
frontend builds clean.

No upgrade steps: additive, no migration, no secret, no config.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -23,6 +23,72 @@ skip versions are the composition of each intervening adjacent
 release's steps in order — no A-to-B path is pre-computed beyond
 that.
 
+## 0.26.0 — 2026-05-28
+
+**Minor — no schema migration, no new secret, no config, no upgrade
+steps. Additive read-time enrichment; deployments inherit it on deploy
+with nothing to set.** Roadmap item #28 **Part 1**: references to existing
+**accepted** RFCs inside PR descriptions and comment text now render as
+inline links to the referenced RFC. Shipped from driver session 0029.0,
+in parallel with the v0.25.0 security-hardening session — hence the
+version-slot gap (0.25.0 is that session's; this took the next free slot
+per the roadmap's "claims the next available version number" rule).
+
+Parts 2 (offer-to-create-RFC for strong-candidate terms) and 3
+(offer-to-contribute-to-a-pending-RFC) of item #28 are deliberately **not**
+in this release — Part 1 ships first as the easy win, exactly as the
+roadmap row anticipates.
+
+- **Where it links.** The PR review page's description and review
+  comments (`GET /api/rfcs/{slug}/prs/{n}`), and the PR-less per-RFC
+  discussion comments (`GET /api/rfcs/{slug}/discussion/threads/{id}/messages`).
+  Branch-chat (the AI-collaboration surface) is intentionally out of
+  scope for Part 1 — a noted follow-up.
+- **Read-time, not submit-time.** The roadmap row phrases the scan as
+  happening "at submit/post time"; this ships it as **read-time**
+  enrichment instead. The intent the row actually names — "not as live
+  compose preview" — holds (drafts are never scanned, only submitted
+  content on read). Read-time was chosen because (a) links track the
+  *live* accepted-RFC set — a newly-accepted RFC starts linking in older
+  comments, a withdrawn one stops linking everywhere — rather than
+  freezing stale at submit; (b) it needs **no migration** (no derived
+  data to persist); (c) the active-RFC corpus is small and cache-resident,
+  so per-read scanning is cheap. (Recorded as a §19.3-rule-2 spec note in
+  the session transcript.)
+- **XSS-safe by construction.** The backend returns structured *segments*
+  (a list of `{type:"text"}` / `{type:"rfc", slug, label, title}` items),
+  never HTML. The new `LinkedText` frontend component maps segments onto
+  React text nodes and anchors — no `dangerouslySetInnerHTML` — so a
+  comment author cannot inject markup through this path. Every enriched
+  field keeps its raw `text`/`description` alongside the `*_segments`, so
+  any non-segment-aware caller is unaffected.
+- **Conservative matching (false-positive-averse).** A reference links
+  only when it is unlikely to be coincidental: an `rfc_id` token
+  (`RFC-0001`), a **multi-word** title (`Open Human Model`), or a
+  **hyphenated** slug (`open-human-model`). A single common-word title or
+  slug (a hypothetical RFC titled "Human") is **not** auto-linked — that
+  would turn every prose "human" into a link. Matching is case-insensitive,
+  word-boundary-anchored, longest-match-wins, and suppresses an RFC's
+  self-references inside its own PR/discussion. The roadmap's "curated
+  canonical-terms list" remains an explicit future opt-in rather than a
+  guessed-at default. New module: `backend/app/rfc_links.py`.
+
+Tests: 12 new (`test_rfc_links_vertical.py`) — 9 scanner units (gating
+rules, word boundaries, longest-match, case-insensitivity, casing
+preservation, the rfc_id/multi-word/hyphenated gates) plus 3 end-to-end
+(PR description + review comment + discussion comment all surface
+`*_segments`; self-reference suppression). Full suite 363 green; frontend
+builds clean.
+
+Upgrade steps:
+
+1. None. This release is purely additive: no migration, no new
+   environment variable, no secret, no overlay. A deployment picks up RFC
+   auto-linking the moment it deploys this version. (RFCs only link once
+   they are in the `active` state — proposed/super-draft and withdrawn
+   RFCs are never link targets, matching the §11.3 universal-public read
+   rule.)
+
 ## 0.24.0 — 2026-05-28
 
 **Minor — one new secret required before this version serves tag

VERSION

@@ -1 +1 @@
-0.24.0
+0.26.0

backend/app/api_discussion.py

@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ from typing import Any
 from fastapi import APIRouter, HTTPException, Request
 from pydantic import BaseModel, Field
 
-from . import auth, chat as chat_layer, db
+from . import auth, chat as chat_layer, db, rfc_links
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -171,9 +171,17 @@ def make_router() -> APIRouter:
             """,
             (thread_id,),
         ).fetchall()
+        # Roadmap #28 Part 1: enrich each discussion comment with RFC
+        # auto-link segments scanned against the live accepted-RFC corpus
+        # (read-time; see rfc_links.py). exclude_slug suppresses self-links
+        # to this RFC inside its own discussion.
+        link_index = rfc_links.build_index(db.conn(), exclude_slug=slug)
+        messages = [_serialize_message(r) for r in rows]
+        for m in messages:
+            m["text_segments"] = link_index.segment(m["text"])
         return {
             "thread": _serialize_thread(thread),
-            "messages": [_serialize_message(r) for r in rows],
+            "messages": messages,
         }
 
     # -------------------------------------------------------------------

backend/app/api_prs.py

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ from typing import Any
 from fastapi import APIRouter, HTTPException, Request
 from pydantic import BaseModel, Field
 
-from . import auth, cache, chat as chat_layer, db, entry as entry_mod, funder, models_resolver
+from . import auth, cache, chat as chat_layer, db, entry as entry_mod, funder, models_resolver, rfc_links
 from .bot import Bot
 from .config import Config
 from .gitea import Gitea, GiteaError
@@ -213,6 +213,12 @@ def make_router(
         path = _file_path_for(rfc)
         head_branch = pr_row["head_branch"]
 
+        # Roadmap #28 Part 1: build the RFC auto-link index once for this
+        # PR view (read-time enrichment against the live accepted-RFC
+        # corpus; see rfc_links.py). exclude_slug suppresses self-links to
+        # this RFC inside its own PR.
+        link_index = rfc_links.build_index(db.conn(), exclude_slug=slug)
+
         # §11.3: PRs are always public; no visibility check.
         main_fetched = await gitea.read_file(owner, repo, path, ref="main")
         main_body = _extract_body(rfc, (main_fetched or ("", ""))[0])
@@ -259,6 +265,13 @@ def make_router(
             for r in msg_rows:
                 messages_by_thread.setdefault(r["thread_id"], []).append(_serialize_message(r))
 
+        # Roadmap #28 Part 1: enrich every comment with RFC auto-link
+        # segments (read-time; see rfc_links.py). The description is
+        # enriched alongside it in the return dict below.
+        for _msgs in messages_by_thread.values():
+            for _m in _msgs:
+                _m["text_segments"] = link_index.segment(_m["text"])
+
         # Per-user seen cursor per §10.3. Anonymous viewers get no
         # cursor — they always see "everything new" but cannot advance
         # the cursor (no row to write to).
@@ -325,6 +338,7 @@ def make_router(
             "pr_number": pr_number,
             "title": pr_row["title"],
             "description": pr_row["description"],
+            "description_segments": link_index.segment(pr_row["description"]),
             "proposed_use_case": _pr_use_case(pr_number),
             "state": pr_row["state"],
             "opened_by": pr_row["opened_by"],

backend/app/rfc_links.py

@@ -0,0 +1,158 @@
+"""Roadmap #28 Part 1 — auto-link RFC references in submitted prose.
+
+Scans plain-text PR descriptions and comment bodies for references to
+existing **accepted** (state='active') RFCs and returns a structured list
+of *segments* the frontend renders: plain-text runs interleaved with
+``{"type": "rfc", ...}`` link segments. The backend never emits HTML —
+the frontend maps link segments onto React anchors — so the surface is
+XSS-safe by construction and independent of any HTML-sanitization layer.
+
+**Read-time enrichment, not submit-time persistence.** The roadmap row
+phrases the scan as happening "at submit/post time"; this module instead
+enriches on read. The intent the roadmap actually names — "not as live
+compose preview" — is honored (drafts are never scanned, only submitted
+content on the read paths). Read-time was chosen for three reasons:
+
+  1. Correctness — links track the *live* active-RFC set. A newly-accepted
+     RFC starts linking in older comments; a withdrawn RFC stops linking
+     everywhere. Submit-time freezing would drift stale.
+  2. Zero migration — no derived data to store. (A concurrent session
+     already holds migration 023; staying migration-free keeps this slice
+     conflict-free as well as simpler.)
+  3. Cost — the active-RFC corpus is small and cache-resident, so building
+     the term index and scanning a ≤20k-char body per read is cheap.
+
+**Matching is conservative by design.** Only references that are unlikely
+to be coincidental link:
+
+  * ``rfc_id`` tokens (e.g. ``RFC-0001``) — inherently specific.
+  * Multi-word titles (containing whitespace, e.g. ``Open Human Model``).
+  * Hyphenated slugs (containing ``-``, e.g. ``open-human-model``).
+
+Single common-word titles or slugs (e.g. a hypothetical RFC titled
+"Human") are deliberately NOT auto-linked — they would turn every prose
+"human" into a link. Surfacing those is the job of the roadmap's
+"curated canonical-terms list", an explicit per-deployment opt-in left as
+a future extension rather than guessed at here.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from typing import Any, Iterable
+
+
+def _is_word_char(c: str) -> bool:
+    """Word-boundary test. Hyphen and underscore count as word chars so a
+    match can't begin or end in the middle of a kebab/snake token."""
+    return c.isalnum() or c in ("-", "_")
+
+
+def segment_text(text: str | None, terms: list[tuple[str, str, str]]) -> list[dict[str, Any]]:
+    """Split ``text`` into text / rfc-link segments against ``terms``.
+
+    ``terms`` is a list of ``(key_lower, slug, title)`` tuples; callers
+    pass it pre-sorted longest-first so the longest match wins at any
+    position (so "Open Human Model" wins over a bare "Open"). Matching is
+    case-insensitive and respects word boundaries on both ends. The
+    returned ``label`` preserves the source casing.
+
+    Always returns at least one segment; for empty/None input that is a
+    single empty text segment, so callers can render uniformly.
+    """
+    if not text:
+        return [{"type": "text", "text": text or ""}]
+
+    out: list[dict[str, Any]] = []
+    buf: list[str] = []
+    low = text.lower()
+    n = len(text)
+    i = 0
+    while i < n:
+        match: tuple[str, str, str, int] | None = None
+        for key, slug, title in terms:
+            klen = len(key)
+            if klen == 0 or not low.startswith(key, i):
+                continue
+            before = text[i - 1] if i > 0 else ""
+            after = text[i + klen] if i + klen < n else ""
+            if _is_word_char(before) or _is_word_char(after):
+                continue
+            match = (key, slug, title, klen)
+            break
+        if match is not None:
+            _key, slug, title, klen = match
+            if buf:
+                out.append({"type": "text", "text": "".join(buf)})
+                buf = []
+            out.append({
+                "type": "rfc",
+                "slug": slug,
+                "label": text[i:i + klen],
+                "title": title,
+            })
+            i += klen
+        else:
+            buf.append(text[i])
+            i += 1
+    if buf:
+        out.append({"type": "text", "text": "".join(buf)})
+    return out
+
+
+def _keys_for(slug: str, title: str, rfc_id: str | None) -> Iterable[str]:
+    """The match keys an active RFC contributes. See the module docstring
+    for why each gate exists (conservative, false-positive-averse)."""
+    if rfc_id:
+        rid = rfc_id.strip()
+        if len(rid) >= 2:
+            yield rid.lower()
+    if title:
+        t = title.strip()
+        # Multi-word titles only — a single common word is too noisy.
+        if len(t) >= 2 and (" " in t or "\t" in t):
+            yield t.lower()
+    if slug:
+        s = slug.strip()
+        # Hyphenated slugs only — a single-token slug is a bare word.
+        if len(s) >= 2 and "-" in s:
+            yield s.lower()
+
+
+class LinkIndex:
+    """A reusable term index built once per request and applied to many
+    bodies (a PR's description plus every comment on it)."""
+
+    def __init__(self, terms: list[tuple[str, str, str]]):
+        # Longest key first so the longest reference wins at each position.
+        self._terms = sorted(terms, key=lambda t: len(t[0]), reverse=True)
+
+    def __bool__(self) -> bool:
+        return bool(self._terms)
+
+    def segment(self, text: str | None) -> list[dict[str, Any]]:
+        return segment_text(text, self._terms)
+
+
+def build_index(conn, *, exclude_slug: str | None = None) -> LinkIndex:
+    """Build a :class:`LinkIndex` from the accepted (active) RFC corpus.
+
+    ``exclude_slug`` drops the RFC the surrounding surface is itself scoped
+    to, so an RFC's own title/id/slug don't self-link inside its own PR or
+    discussion. ``ORDER BY slug`` makes key de-duplication deterministic
+    when two RFCs would contribute the same key (first slug wins)."""
+    rows = conn.execute(
+        "SELECT slug, title, rfc_id FROM cached_rfcs WHERE state = 'active' ORDER BY slug"
+    ).fetchall()
+    terms: list[tuple[str, str, str]] = []
+    seen: set[str] = set()
+    for r in rows:
+        slug = r["slug"]
+        if exclude_slug is not None and slug == exclude_slug:
+            continue
+        title = r["title"] or ""
+        rfc_id = r["rfc_id"] if "rfc_id" in r.keys() else None
+        for key in _keys_for(slug, title, rfc_id):
+            if key in seen:
+                continue
+            seen.add(key)
+            terms.append((key, slug, title))
+    return LinkIndex(terms)

backend/tests/test_rfc_links_vertical.py

@@ -0,0 +1,235 @@
+"""Roadmap #28 Part 1 — auto-link RFC references in PR text + comments.
+
+Two layers:
+
+  * Unit tests over the pure scanner (`rfc_links.segment_text` /
+    `_keys_for` / `LinkIndex`) — the matching rules and their
+    false-positive guards, no DB.
+  * End-to-end tests that the PR description, PR review comments, and
+    PR-less discussion comments all surface `*_segments` enriched against
+    the live accepted-RFC corpus, with self-references suppressed.
+
+Reuses the FakeGitea + session helpers from test_propose_vertical.py and
+the active-RFC seed from test_rfc_view_vertical.py.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from app import rfc_links
+
+from test_propose_vertical import (  # noqa: F401
+    FakeGitea,
+    app_with_fake_gitea,
+    grant_rfc_collaborator,
+    provision_user_row,
+    sign_in_as,
+    tmp_env,
+)
+from test_rfc_view_vertical import SEED_BODY, seed_active_rfc
+from test_pr_flow_vertical import _cut_branch_and_accept_change
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Unit — the pure scanner
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def _idx(*terms):
+    """Build a LinkIndex from raw (key, slug, title) tuples (keys lower)."""
+    return rfc_links.LinkIndex(list(terms))
+
+
+def test_empty_text_is_single_empty_segment():
+    assert rfc_links.segment_text("", []) == [{"type": "text", "text": ""}]
+    assert rfc_links.segment_text(None, []) == [{"type": "text", "text": ""}]
+
+
+def test_no_terms_returns_plain_text():
+    out = rfc_links.segment_text("hello world", [])
+    assert out == [{"type": "text", "text": "hello world"}]
+
+
+def test_multiword_title_links_and_preserves_casing():
+    idx = _idx(("open human model", "open-human-model", "Open Human Model"))
+    out = idx.segment("See the Open Human Model for details.")
+    assert out == [
+        {"type": "text", "text": "See the "},
+        {"type": "rfc", "slug": "open-human-model", "label": "Open Human Model",
+         "title": "Open Human Model"},
+        {"type": "text", "text": " for details."},
+    ]
+
+
+def test_match_is_case_insensitive():
+    idx = _idx(("open human model", "open-human-model", "Open Human Model"))
+    out = idx.segment("see the OPEN HUMAN MODEL")
+    assert out[-1] == {"type": "rfc", "slug": "open-human-model",
+                       "label": "OPEN HUMAN MODEL", "title": "Open Human Model"}
+
+
+def test_word_boundary_prevents_substring_match():
+    # "harm" must not match inside "charming" / "harmless".
+    idx = _idx(("rfc-0001", "open-human-model", "Open Human Model"))
+    out = idx.segment("a charming rfc-00012 not real")
+    # rfc-0001 is a prefix of rfc-00012 but the trailing '2' is a word char,
+    # so no match — the whole string stays plain text.
+    assert out == [{"type": "text", "text": "a charming rfc-00012 not real"}]
+
+
+def test_rfc_id_token_links():
+    idx = _idx(("rfc-0001", "open-human-model", "Open Human Model"))
+    out = idx.segment("as established in RFC-0001.")
+    assert out[1] == {"type": "rfc", "slug": "open-human-model",
+                      "label": "RFC-0001", "title": "Open Human Model"}
+
+
+def test_longest_match_wins():
+    # A bare "Open" term and the full title both present; the full title
+    # (longer) must win at the position.
+    idx = _idx(
+        ("open", "open", "Open"),
+        ("open human model", "open-human-model", "Open Human Model"),
+    )
+    out = idx.segment("the Open Human Model")
+    assert out[-1]["slug"] == "open-human-model"
+    assert out[-1]["label"] == "Open Human Model"
+
+
+def test_keys_for_gating():
+    keys = lambda **kw: set(rfc_links._keys_for(**kw))
+    # rfc_id always contributes.
+    assert "rfc-0001" in keys(slug="x", title="X", rfc_id="RFC-0001")
+    # multi-word title contributes; single common word does NOT.
+    assert "open human model" in keys(slug="ohm", title="Open Human Model", rfc_id=None)
+    assert keys(slug="human", title="Human", rfc_id=None) == set()
+    # hyphenated slug contributes; single-token slug does NOT.
+    assert "open-human-model" in keys(slug="open-human-model", title="X", rfc_id=None)
+    assert "ohm" not in keys(slug="ohm", title="OHM", rfc_id=None)
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# End-to-end — enrichment surfaces on the read paths
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def _open_pr_on(client, fake, *, host_slug: str, description: str):
+    """Seed branch + accepted change on host_slug and open a PR. Returns
+    the pr_number."""
+    # `original` must exist verbatim in SEED_BODY or the accept is "stale".
+    branch, _ = _cut_branch_and_accept_change(
+        client, fake, slug=host_slug,
+        original="It defines consent, trait, and agency in compatible terms.",
+        proposed="It defines consent, trait, harm, and agency in compatible terms.",
+    )
+    r = client.post(
+        f"/api/rfcs/{host_slug}/branches/{branch}/open-pr",
+        json={"title": "A change", "description": description},
+    )
+    assert r.status_code == 200, r.text
+    return r.json()["pr_number"]
+
+
+def _rfc_segments(segments):
+    return [s for s in segments if s["type"] == "rfc"]
+
+
+def test_pr_description_autolinks_other_rfc(app_with_fake_gitea):
+    from fastapi.testclient import TestClient
+
+    app, fake = app_with_fake_gitea
+    with TestClient(app) as client:
+        provision_user_row(user_id=2, login="alice", role="contributor")
+        # Two accepted RFCs: a host for the PR + a referenceable target.
+        seed_active_rfc(fake, slug="ohm", title="OHM", body=SEED_BODY)
+        seed_active_rfc(fake, slug="open-human-model", title="Open Human Model", body=SEED_BODY)
+        sign_in_as(client, user_id=2, gitea_login="alice", display_name="Alice", role="contributor")
+
+        pr_number = _open_pr_on(
+            client, fake, host_slug="ohm",
+            description="This builds on the Open Human Model definition.",
+        )
+        r = client.get(f"/api/rfcs/ohm/prs/{pr_number}")
+        assert r.status_code == 200, r.text
+        pr = r.json()
+        links = _rfc_segments(pr["description_segments"])
+        assert len(links) == 1
+        assert links[0]["slug"] == "open-human-model"
+        assert links[0]["label"] == "Open Human Model"
+        # The plain text is still present for non-segment callers (the bot
+        # appends a §6.5 On-behalf-of trailer, so this is a containment check).
+        assert "This builds on the Open Human Model definition." in pr["description"]
+
+
+def test_pr_review_comment_autolinked(app_with_fake_gitea):
+    from fastapi.testclient import TestClient
+
+    app, fake = app_with_fake_gitea
+    with TestClient(app) as client:
+        provision_user_row(user_id=2, login="alice", role="contributor")
+        seed_active_rfc(fake, slug="ohm", title="OHM", body=SEED_BODY)
+        seed_active_rfc(fake, slug="open-human-model", title="Open Human Model", body=SEED_BODY)
+        sign_in_as(client, user_id=2, gitea_login="alice", display_name="Alice", role="contributor")
+
+        pr_number = _open_pr_on(client, fake, host_slug="ohm", description="plain.")
+        r = client.post(
+            f"/api/rfcs/ohm/prs/{pr_number}/review",
+            json={"text": "See Open Human Model and RFC-0001.", "anchor_payload": {}},
+        )
+        assert r.status_code == 200, r.text
+
+        pr = client.get(f"/api/rfcs/ohm/prs/{pr_number}").json()
+        all_msgs = [m for msgs in pr["messages_by_thread"].values() for m in msgs]
+        review_msgs = [m for m in all_msgs if "Open Human Model" in (m["text"] or "")]
+        assert review_msgs, "review comment not found in payload"
+        links = _rfc_segments(review_msgs[0]["text_segments"])
+        # Both "Open Human Model" (title) and "RFC-0001" (id) point to the
+        # one referenceable RFC.
+        assert {s["slug"] for s in links} == {"open-human-model"}
+        assert {s["label"] for s in links} == {"Open Human Model", "RFC-0001"}
+
+
+def test_discussion_comment_autolinked(app_with_fake_gitea):
+    from fastapi.testclient import TestClient
+
+    app, fake = app_with_fake_gitea
+    with TestClient(app) as client:
+        provision_user_row(user_id=2, login="alice", role="contributor")
+        seed_active_rfc(fake, slug="ohm", title="OHM", body=SEED_BODY)
+        seed_active_rfc(fake, slug="open-human-model", title="Open Human Model", body=SEED_BODY)
+        # alice is the seeded owner of ohm (owners=["alice"]); grant the
+        # per-RFC collaborator row explicitly so the #12 discuss gate passes.
+        grant_rfc_collaborator(user_id=2, rfc_slug="ohm", role_in_rfc="contributor")
+        sign_in_as(client, user_id=2, gitea_login="alice", display_name="Alice", role="contributor")
+
+        r = client.post(
+            "/api/rfcs/ohm/discussion/threads",
+            json={"message": "Compare with the Open Human Model."},
+        )
+        assert r.status_code == 200, r.text
+        thread_id = r.json()["thread_id"]
+
+        r = client.get(f"/api/rfcs/ohm/discussion/threads/{thread_id}/messages")
+        assert r.status_code == 200, r.text
+        msgs = r.json()["messages"]
+        assert msgs and "text_segments" in msgs[0]
+        links = _rfc_segments(msgs[0]["text_segments"])
+        assert len(links) == 1
+        assert links[0]["slug"] == "open-human-model"
+
+
+def test_self_reference_not_linked(app_with_fake_gitea):
+    from fastapi.testclient import TestClient
+
+    app, fake = app_with_fake_gitea
+    with TestClient(app) as client:
+        provision_user_row(user_id=2, login="alice", role="contributor")
+        # The host RFC has a multi-word title, so absent exclude_slug it
+        # WOULD self-link. exclude_slug must suppress it.
+        seed_active_rfc(fake, slug="open-human-model", title="Open Human Model", body=SEED_BODY)
+        sign_in_as(client, user_id=2, gitea_login="alice", display_name="Alice", role="contributor")
+
+        pr_number = _open_pr_on(
+            client, fake, host_slug="open-human-model",
+            description="Refines the Open Human Model definition.",
+        )
+        pr = client.get(f"/api/rfcs/open-human-model/prs/{pr_number}").json()
+        assert _rfc_segments(pr["description_segments"]) == []

frontend/package.json

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "rfc-app-frontend",
   "private": true,
-  "version": "0.24.0",
+  "version": "0.26.0",
   "type": "module",
   "scripts": {
     "dev": "vite",

frontend/src/App.css

@@ -1354,6 +1354,17 @@
 .pr-breadcrumb a:hover { text-decoration: underline; }
 .pr-title { font-size: var(--text-xl); margin: 0 0 6px 0; }
 .pr-description { font-size: var(--text-base); color: var(--c-gray-600); margin: 0 0 6px 0; line-height: 1.55; }
+/* Roadmap #28 Part 1: inline auto-links to referenced RFCs inside PR text
+   and comments. Subtle accent + dotted underline so they read as enriched
+   references, not as primary navigation. */
+.rfc-autolink {
+  color: var(--color-link);
+  text-decoration: underline;
+  text-decoration-style: dotted;
+  text-underline-offset: 2px;
+  font-weight: 500;
+}
+.rfc-autolink:hover { text-decoration-style: solid; }
 .pr-header-edit { display: flex; flex-direction: column; gap: 8px; }
 .pr-header-right {
   display: flex; flex-direction: column; align-items: flex-end; gap: 8px;

frontend/src/components/LinkedText.jsx

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+// LinkedText.jsx — roadmap #28 Part 1.
+//
+// Renders a backend-provided list of text/rfc-link segments (see
+// backend/app/rfc_links.py). RFC references in PR descriptions and
+// comments arrive pre-scanned as structured segments — this component
+// maps them onto plain text runs and anchor elements. It never renders
+// HTML from the server (no dangerouslySetInnerHTML), so the surface is
+// XSS-safe regardless of what a comment author typed.
+//
+// `segments` is the enriched array; `text` is the raw fallback used when
+// the field is absent (an older cached response, or a caller that didn't
+// pass segments). Either way the visible text is identical — only the
+// links differ.
+
+export default function LinkedText({ segments, text }) {
+  if (!Array.isArray(segments) || segments.length === 0) {
+    return <>{text ?? ''}</>
+  }
+  return (
+    <>
+      {segments.map((seg, i) => {
+        if (seg.type === 'rfc') {
+          return (
+            <a
+              key={i}
+              className="rfc-autolink"
+              href={`/rfc/${seg.slug}`}
+              title={seg.title ? `RFC: ${seg.title}` : undefined}
+            >
+              {seg.label}
+            </a>
+          )
+        }
+        return <span key={i}>{seg.text}</span>
+      })}
+    </>
+  )
+}

frontend/src/components/PRView.jsx

@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import {
   withdrawPR,
 } from '../api'
 import { EVENTS, track } from '../lib/analytics'
+import LinkedText from './LinkedText'
 
 export default function PRView({ viewer }) {
   const { slug, prNumber: prNumberParam } = useParams()
@@ -218,7 +219,9 @@ export default function PRView({ viewer }) {
             <>
               <h1 className="pr-title">{pr.title}</h1>
               {pr.description && (
-                <p className="pr-description">{pr.description}</p>
+                <p className="pr-description">
+                  <LinkedText segments={pr.description_segments} text={pr.description} />
+                </p>
               )}
               {/* #26: the optional ground-truth use case for this change,
                   captured when the PR was opened. Muted "left blank"
@@ -440,7 +443,9 @@ function PRConversation({ threads, messagesByThread, threadsByKind, seenMsgId })
                 {isNew && <span className="chat-msg-new-pip" title="New since your last visit">●</span>}
               </div>
               {m.quote && <pre className="chat-msg-quote">{m.quote}</pre>}
-              <div className="chat-msg-body">{m.text}</div>
+              <div className="chat-msg-body">
+                <LinkedText segments={m.text_segments} text={m.text} />
+              </div>
             </li>
           )
         })}

frontend/src/components/RFCDiscussionPanel.jsx

@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import {
   resolveDiscussionThread,
 } from '../api'
 import { EVENTS, track } from '../lib/analytics'
+import LinkedText from './LinkedText'
 
 export default function RFCDiscussionPanel({ slug, viewer }) {
   const [threads, setThreads] = useState([])
@@ -279,7 +280,9 @@ function DiscussionMessage({ message }) {
       {message.quote && (
         <div className="discussion-message-quote">"{message.quote}"</div>
       )}
-      <div className="discussion-message-body">{message.text}</div>
+      <div className="discussion-message-body">
+        <LinkedText segments={message.text_segments} text={message.text} />
+      </div>
     </div>
   )
 }