URL: /rules/links/dead-links

---
title: "Dead Links (Cloud)"
description: "Verifies external links through the cloud dead-links service with a shared global cache"
---

<Note>**Cloud rule** - requires login (`squirrel auth login`) and costs **1 credit per 100 external URLs**. Skipped when not logged in (external links are then checked locally as usual). See [Cloud rules](/cloud/rules).</Note>

Verifies external links through the cloud dead-links service, which shares a global link-check cache across all audits.

| | |
|---|---|
| **Rule ID** | `links/dead-links` |
| **Category** | [Links](/rules/links) |
| **Scope** | Site-wide |
| **Severity** | info |
| **Weight** | 1/10 |
| **Default** | Enabled |

## What it does

This rule is the **enable gate** for cloud external-link checking. When it's enabled and you're logged in, the audit's external-link phase routes through the cloud service instead of fetching every link from your machine:

- **Shared global cache** - links checked by any recent audit (yours or anyone's) return instantly from cache, so repeat audits are much faster and third-party sites aren't hammered.
- **Fresh results** - working links are cached for 7 days, failures for 24 hours.
- **Same report shape** - broken links found this way are detailed by [`links/broken-external-links`](/rules/links/broken-external-links), exactly as with local checking.

If an audit's estimated dead-link spend exceeds your `confirm_threshold`, you're prompted before the phase runs. Declining (or being logged out) falls back to local per-link checking.

## Enable / Disable

### Disable cloud link checking (keep local checking)

```toml squirrel.toml
[rules]
disable = ["links/dead-links"]
```

### Disable external link checking entirely

```toml squirrel.toml
[external_links]
enabled = false
```