---
title: Link card
description: A card with a title, description, a primary link list, and an optional aside. It is designed to sit inside a {card-group}, and it renders standalone too...
url: https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/pull/3826/syntax/link-card
products:
  - Elastic Docs Builder
---

# Link card
A card with a title, description, a primary link list, and an optional aside. It is designed to sit inside a [`{card-group}`](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/pull/3826/syntax/card-group), and it renders standalone too.
See the [docs-builder documentation hub](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/pull/3826/examples/products/docs-builder) for both rendering modes on one page.

## Basic

```markdown
:::{link-card}
title: Writing content
link: /getting-started/writing-content.md
description: Author a page, add links, and preview it locally.
links:
  - label: Pages and links
    url: /getting-started/pages-and-links.md
  - label: Syntax guide
    url: /syntax/index.md
:::
```

The body is **YAML, not markdown**. The directive expects a fixed schema and renders it, so an author fills in fields rather than writing markup. A missing `title` or invalid YAML fails the build.

## Schema

```yaml
title: Writing content            
link: /getting-started/serve.md   
description: One short blurb.     
icon: elasticsearch               
variant: es                       
links:                            
  - label: Pages and links
    url: /getting-started/pages-and-links.md
aside:                            
  label: Build types
  links:
    - label: Isolated
      url: /documentation/isolated/configure/index.md
    - label: Assembler
      url: /documentation/assembler/index.md
```


## Variants

`variant: es`, `obs`, or `sec` adds a left border in the matching solution colour. Use it for solution cards.
`icon` takes the same product keys as [`{hero}`](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/pull/3826/syntax/hero): `elasticsearch`, `kibana`, `observability`, `security`.

## Inside `{explore}`

Nested in an [`{explore}`](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/pull/3826/syntax/explore) section, through a `{card-group}` ancestor, the same YAML renders as a titled link column instead of a bordered card. Two things change:
- `description` is dropped. A column is a pure link index.
- `aside` renders as a badge cluster under its own `label`, rather than an inline dot-separated list.

The `aside` label is authored. There is no fixed label text.

## Links

Every `link`, every entry in `links`, and every entry in `aside.links` validates at build time. Use one of these forms:

| Form               | Example                                             | Behavior                                                        |
|--------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| Site-absolute path | `/syntax/index.md`                                  | The markdown extension is stripped. The link preloads on hover. |
| Cross-link scheme  | `elasticsearch://reference/index.md`                | Resolves through the link index.                                |
| External URL       | `https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch` | Opens in a new tab, with `rel="noopener noreferrer"`.           |

A relative path such as `foo.md` is rejected. Prefer a cross-link scheme for any page outside the current repository. A site-absolute path that points into another repository's documentation set is validated nowhere.