diff --git a/src/lib/server/note-links.ts b/src/lib/server/note-links.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d11278a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/server/note-links.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+import type { Db } from './db/index.js';
+import { noteLinks, notes } from './db/schema.js';
+import { eq, inArray } from 'drizzle-orm';
+import { canAccessNote } from './api-utils.js';
+
+/**
+ * Sync link rows for a note: removes old associations, inserts the current set.
+ * Mirrors syncNoteTags — called right after a note's content is saved.
+ */
+export function syncNoteLinks(db: Db, noteId: string, targetIds: string[]): void {
+	db.delete(noteLinks).where(eq(noteLinks.sourceNoteId, noteId)).run();
+
+	for (const targetId of targetIds) {
+		db.insert(noteLinks).values({ sourceNoteId: noteId, targetNoteId: targetId }).run();
+	}
+}
+
+/**
+ * Find notes that link to the given note, scoped to what the requesting user
+ * can access — this both respects normal sharing boundaries and, as a side
+ * effect, prevents an unrelated note from appearing in someone's backlinks
+ * just because it happens to reference a note ID it was never shared to see.
+ */
+export function fetchBacklinksForNote(
+	db: Db,
+	noteId: string,
+	userId: number
+): { id: string; title: string }[] {
+	const linkRows = db
+		.select({ sourceNoteId: noteLinks.sourceNoteId })
+		.from(noteLinks)
+		.where(eq(noteLinks.targetNoteId, noteId))
+		.all();
+
+	if (linkRows.length === 0) return [];
+
+	const sourceIds = linkRows.map((r) => r.sourceNoteId);
+	const accessibleIds = sourceIds.filter((id) => canAccessNote(db, id, userId).canAccess);
+	if (accessibleIds.length === 0) return [];
+
+	const sourceNotes = db
+		.select({ id: notes.id, title: notes.title })
+		.from(notes)
+		.where(inArray(notes.id, accessibleIds))
+		.all();
+
+	return sourceNotes;
+}
diff --git a/src/lib/utils/note-links.test.ts b/src/lib/utils/note-links.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..67f0f9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/utils/note-links.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
+import { extractNoteLinks } from './note-links.js';
+
+describe('extractNoteLinks', () => {
+	it('should extract a single note-link reference', () => {
+		expect(extractNoteLinks('See [Grocery List](crumb-note://abc-123)')).toEqual(['abc-123']);
+	});
+
+	it('should extract multiple distinct references', () => {
+		const content = '[A](crumb-note://id-1) and [B](crumb-note://id-2)';
+		expect(extractNoteLinks(content)).toEqual(['id-1', 'id-2']);
+	});
+
+	it('should deduplicate repeated references', () => {
+		const content = '[A](crumb-note://id-1) again: [A again](crumb-note://id-1)';
+		expect(extractNoteLinks(content)).toEqual(['id-1']);
+	});
+
+	it('should return an empty array for content with no note-links', () => {
+		expect(extractNoteLinks('Just [a normal link](https://example.com)')).toEqual([]);
+	});
+
+	it('should return an empty array for empty content', () => {
+		expect(extractNoteLinks('')).toEqual([]);
+	});
+
+	it('should not match crumb-note:// occurring inside a code block', () => {
+		const content = '```\n[A](crumb-note://id-1)\n```';
+		expect(extractNoteLinks(content)).toEqual([]);
+	});
+
+	it('should not match crumb-note:// occurring inside inline code', () => {
+		expect(extractNoteLinks('Use `crumb-note://id-1` as an example')).toEqual([]);
+	});
+});