Link posts and inline post mentions

How to get there:

  • Relationships panel: open a post, find Linked Posts in the right sidebar, click Add link.
  • Inline post mention: type #postkey (post not found) in any post description or comment, where postkey is the post's portal_post_key (visible in the post URL).

ProductLift gives you two ways to connect posts. They serve different jobs.

1. Linked Posts (typed relationships)

Use this when you want a formal relationship that shows up in a dedicated panel on both posts. Common when planning dependencies or marking duplicates.

  1. Open the source post.
  2. Expand Linked Posts in the right sidebar.
  3. Click Add link.
  4. Search for the target post by title.
  5. Pick a relationship type.
  6. Click Link.

The reverse direction shows automatically on the target post.

Available relationship types

  • Related to: general association, no dependency.
  • Blocks: this post must ship before the linked one can.
  • Blocked by: this post can't ship until the linked one does.
  • Duplicate of: the linked post describes the same thing (typically used right before merging).
  • Parent of: this post is the umbrella for the linked post.
  • Child of: this post is a sub-item of the linked post.
  • Depends on: same as Blocked by, framed from the requirements side.
  • Required by: same as Blocks, framed from the requirements side.

Use cases

  • Dependency planning. "API rate limiting" → blocked by → "API authentication".
  • Epic breakdown. "Mobile platform" → parent of → "iOS app", "Android app", "Push notifications".
  • Duplicate handling. Mark a duplicate before merging posts.
  • Phased rollouts. Phase 2 depends on Phase 1, Phase 3 depends on Phase 2.

Hover the linked entry in the panel, click the remove icon. The reverse link disappears from the other post.

2. Inline post mentions (#postkey (post not found))

Use this when you want to reference another post in flowing text (description, comment, status update). The mention renders inline as a card showing the linked post's title and short description, with a click-through.

How to write one

In the post or comment body, write #abc123 (post not found) where abc123 is the portal_post_key of the post you want to mention. The key is the short ID at the end of the post URL.

Example: in the URL https://yourportal.com/p/dark-mode-aB3xQ, the key is aB3xQ.

You can also mention users with <@user-key> (a UUID), which renders as a profile link.

Use cases

  • Cross-referencing related ideas in a description without committing to a formal relationship.
  • Linking out from a status update: "Folding this work into #aB3xQ (post not found)."
  • Pointing at the canonical post when responding to a duplicate.

When to use which

Goal Use
Show a structured dependency or duplicate on both posts Linked Posts panel
Drop a clickable reference in flowing text Inline #key (post not found) mention
Manage build order across an epic Linked Posts panel (Parent/Child)
Point a comment at another post Inline #key (post not found) mention

The two systems are independent. Adding an inline mention doesn't create a typed link, and vice versa.