diff --git a/.ci/link-checker/default.lycherc.toml b/.ci/link-checker/default.lycherc.toml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..22f97a0f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.ci/link-checker/default.lycherc.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+# Lychee link checker configuration
+# Generated by link-checker
+[lychee]
+# Performance settings
+
+# Maximum number of retries for failed checks
+
+max_retries = 3
+
+# Timeout for each link check (in seconds)
+timeout = 30
+
+# Maximum number of concurrent checks
+max_concurrency = 128
+
+skip_code_blocks = false
+
+# HTTP settings
+# Identify the tool to external services
+user_agent = "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; link-checker)"
+
+# Accept these HTTP status codes as valid
+accept = [200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 206, 301, 302, 303, 304,
+307, 308]
+
+# Skip these URL schemes
+scheme = ["file", "mailto", "tel"]
+
+# Exclude patterns (regex supported)
+exclude = [
+  # Localhost URLs
+  "^https?://localhost",
+  "^https?://127\\.0\\.0\\.1",
+
+  # Common CI/CD environments  
+  "^https?://.*\\.local",
+
+  # Example domains used in documentation
+  "^https?://example\\.(com|org|net)",
+
+  # Placeholder URLs from code block filtering
+  "https://example.com/REMOVED_FROM_CODE_BLOCK",
+  "example.com/INLINE_CODE_URL",
+
+  # URLs that require authentication
+  "^https?://.*\\.slack\\.com",
+  "^https?://.*\\.atlassian\\.net",
+
+  # GitHub URLs (often fail due to rate limiting and bot 
+  # detection)
+  "^https?://github\\.com",
+
+  # Common documentation placeholders
+  "YOUR_.*",
+  "REPLACE_.*",
+  "<.*>",
+]
+
+# Request headers
+[headers]
+# Add custom headers here if needed
+# "Authorization" = "Bearer $GITHUB_TOKEN"
+
+# Cache settings
+cache = true
+max_cache_age = "1d"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.ci/link-checker/production.lycherc.toml b/.ci/link-checker/production.lycherc.toml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9b8be5aa3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.ci/link-checker/production.lycherc.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+# Production Link Checker Configuration for InfluxData docs-v2
+# Optimized for performance, reliability, and reduced false positives
+[lychee]
+# Performance settings
+
+# Maximum number of retries for failed checks
+
+max_retries = 3
+
+# Timeout for each link check (in seconds)
+timeout = 30
+
+# Maximum number of concurrent checks
+max_concurrency = 128
+
+skip_code_blocks = false
+
+# HTTP settings
+# Identify the tool to external services
+"User-Agent" = "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; influxdata-link-checker/1.0; +https://github.com/influxdata/docs-v2)"
+accept = [200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 206, 301, 302, 303, 304, 307, 308]
+
+# Skip these URL schemes
+scheme = ["mailto", "tel"]
+
+# Performance optimizations
+cache = true
+max_cache_age = "1h"
+
+# Retry configuration for reliability
+include_verbatim = false
+
+# Exclusion patterns for docs-v2 (regex supported)
+exclude = [
+  # Localhost URLs
+  "^https?://localhost",
+  "^https?://127\\.0\\.0\\.1",
+
+  # Common CI/CD environments  
+  "^https?://.*\\.local",
+
+  # Example domains used in documentation
+  "^https?://example\\.(com|org|net)",
+
+  # Placeholder URLs from code block filtering
+  "https://example.com/REMOVED_FROM_CODE_BLOCK",
+  "example.com/INLINE_CODE_URL",
+
+  # URLs that require authentication
+  "^https?://.*\\.slack\\.com",
+  "^https?://.*\\.atlassian\\.net",
+
+  # GitHub URLs (often fail due to rate limiting and bot 
+  # detection)
+  "^https?://github\\.com",
+
+  # Social media URLs (often block bots)
+  "^https?://reddit\\.com",
+  "^https?://.*\\.reddit\\.com",
+
+  # InfluxData support URLs (certificate/SSL issues in CI)
+  "^https?://support\\.influxdata\\.com",
+
+  # Common documentation placeholders
+  "YOUR_.*",
+  "REPLACE_.*",
+  "<.*>",
+]
+
+# Request headers
+[headers]
+# Add custom headers here if needed
+# "Authorization" = "Bearer $GITHUB_TOKEN"
+"Accept" = "text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8"
+"Accept-Language" = "en-US,en;q=0.5"
+"Accept-Encoding" = "gzip, deflate"
+"DNT" = "1"
+"Connection" = "keep-alive"
+"Upgrade-Insecure-Requests" = "1"
+
+[ci]
+# CI-specific settings
+
+[ci.github_actions]
+output_format = "json"
+create_annotations = true
+fail_fast = false
+max_annotations = 50  # Limit to avoid overwhelming PR comments
+
+[ci.performance]
+# Performance tuning for CI environment
+parallel_requests = 32
+connection_timeout = 10
+read_timeout = 30
+
+# Resource limits
+max_memory_mb = 512
+max_execution_time_minutes = 10
+
+[reporting]
+# Report configuration
+include_fragments = false
+verbose = false
+no_progress = true  # Disable progress bar in CI
+
+# Summary settings
+show_success_count = true
+show_skipped_count = true 
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/actions/report-broken-links/action.yml b/.github/actions/report-broken-links/action.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 9e95e5605..000000000
--- a/.github/actions/report-broken-links/action.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,103 +0,0 @@
-name: 'Report Broken Links'
-description: 'Downloads broken link reports, generates PR comment, and posts results'
-
-inputs:
-  github-token:
-    description: 'GitHub token for posting comments'
-    required: false
-    default: ${{ github.token }}
-  max-links-per-file:
-    description: 'Maximum links to show per file in comment'
-    required: false
-    default: '20'
-  include-success-message:
-    description: 'Include success message when no broken links found'
-    required: false
-    default: 'true'
-
-outputs:
-  has-broken-links:
-    description: 'Whether broken links were found (true/false)'
-    value: ${{ steps.generate-comment.outputs.has-broken-links }}
-  broken-link-count:
-    description: 'Number of broken links found'
-    value: ${{ steps.generate-comment.outputs.broken-link-count }}
-
-runs:
-  using: 'composite'
-  steps:
-    - name: Download broken link reports
-      uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
-      with:
-        path: reports
-      continue-on-error: true
-    
-    - name: Generate PR comment
-      id: generate-comment
-      run: |
-        # Generate comment using our script
-        node .github/scripts/comment-generator.js \
-          --max-links ${{ inputs.max-links-per-file }} \
-          ${{ inputs.include-success-message == 'false' && '--no-success' || '' }} \
-          --output-file comment.md \
-          reports/ || echo "No reports found or errors occurred"
-        
-        # Check if comment file was created and has content
-        if [[ -f comment.md && -s comment.md ]]; then
-          echo "comment-generated=true" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-          
-          # Count broken links by parsing the comment
-          broken_count=$(grep -o "Found [0-9]* broken link" comment.md | grep -o "[0-9]*" || echo "0")
-          echo "broken-link-count=$broken_count" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-          
-          # Check if there are actually broken links (not just a success comment)
-          if [[ "$broken_count" -gt 0 ]]; then
-            echo "has-broken-links=true" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-          else
-            echo "has-broken-links=false" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-          fi
-        else
-          echo "has-broken-links=false" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-          echo "broken-link-count=0" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-          echo "comment-generated=false" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-        fi
-      shell: bash
-    
-    - name: Post PR comment
-      if: steps.generate-comment.outputs.comment-generated == 'true'
-      uses: actions/github-script@v7
-      with:
-        github-token: ${{ inputs.github-token }}
-        script: |
-          const fs = require('fs');
-          
-          if (fs.existsSync('comment.md')) {
-            const comment = fs.readFileSync('comment.md', 'utf8');
-            
-            if (comment.trim()) {
-              await github.rest.issues.createComment({
-                issue_number: context.issue.number,
-                owner: context.repo.owner,
-                repo: context.repo.repo,
-                body: comment
-              });
-            }
-          }
-    
-    - name: Report validation results
-      run: |
-        has_broken_links="${{ steps.generate-comment.outputs.has-broken-links }}"
-        broken_count="${{ steps.generate-comment.outputs.broken-link-count }}"
-        
-        if [ "$has_broken_links" = "true" ]; then
-          echo "::error::❌ Link validation failed: Found $broken_count broken link(s)"
-          echo "Check the PR comment for detailed broken link information"
-          exit 1
-        else
-          echo "::notice::✅ Link validation passed successfully"
-          echo "All links in the changed files are valid"
-          if [ "${{ steps.generate-comment.outputs.comment-generated }}" = "true" ]; then
-            echo "PR comment posted with validation summary and cache statistics"
-          fi
-        fi
-      shell: bash
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/actions/validate-links/action.yml b/.github/actions/validate-links/action.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index cf180556c..000000000
--- a/.github/actions/validate-links/action.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,106 +0,0 @@
-name: 'Validate Links'
-description: 'Runs e2e browser-based link validation tests against Hugo site using Cypress'
-
-inputs:
-  files:
-    description: 'Space-separated list of files to validate'
-    required: true
-  product-name:
-    description: 'Product name for reporting (optional)'
-    required: false
-    default: ''
-  cache-enabled:
-    description: 'Enable link validation caching'
-    required: false
-    default: 'true'
-  cache-key:
-    description: 'Cache key prefix for this validation run'
-    required: false
-    default: 'link-validation'
-  timeout:
-    description: 'Test timeout in seconds'
-    required: false
-    default: '900'
-
-outputs:
-  failed:
-    description: 'Whether validation failed (true/false)'
-    value: ${{ steps.validate.outputs.failed }}
-
-runs:
-  using: 'composite'
-  steps:
-    - name: Restore link validation cache
-      if: inputs.cache-enabled == 'true'
-      uses: actions/cache@v4
-      with:
-        path: .cache/link-validation
-        key: ${{ inputs.cache-key }}-${{ runner.os }}-${{ hashFiles('content/**/*.md', 'content/**/*.html') }}
-        restore-keys: |
-          ${{ inputs.cache-key }}-${{ runner.os }}-
-          ${{ inputs.cache-key }}-
-    
-    - name: Run link validation
-      shell: bash
-      run: |
-        # Set CI-specific environment variables
-        export CI=true
-        export GITHUB_ACTIONS=true
-        export NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=4096"
-        
-        # Set test runner timeout for Hugo shutdown
-        export HUGO_SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT=5000
-        
-        # Add timeout to prevent hanging (timeout command syntax: timeout DURATION COMMAND)
-        timeout ${{ inputs.timeout }}s node cypress/support/run-e2e-specs.js ${{ inputs.files }} \
-          --spec cypress/e2e/content/article-links.cy.js || {
-          exit_code=$?
-          
-          # Handle timeout specifically
-          if [ $exit_code -eq 124 ]; then
-            echo "::error::Link validation timed out after ${{ inputs.timeout }} seconds"
-            echo "::notice::This may indicate Hugo server startup issues or very slow link validation"
-          else
-            echo "::error::Link validation failed with exit code $exit_code"
-          fi
-          
-          # Check for specific error patterns and logs (but don't dump full content)
-          if [ -f /tmp/hugo_server.log ]; then
-            echo "Hugo server log available for debugging"
-          fi
-          
-          if [ -f hugo.log ]; then
-            echo "Additional Hugo log available for debugging"
-          fi
-          
-          if [ -f /tmp/broken_links_report.json ]; then
-            # Only show summary, not full report (full report is uploaded as artifact)
-            broken_count=$(grep -o '"url":' /tmp/broken_links_report.json | wc -l || echo "0")
-            echo "Broken links report contains $broken_count entries"
-          fi
-          
-          exit $exit_code
-        }
-        
-        # Report success if we get here
-        echo "::notice::✅ Link validation completed successfully"
-        echo "No broken links detected in the tested files"
-        
-    - name: Upload logs on failure
-      if: failure()
-      uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
-      with:
-        name: validation-logs-${{ inputs.product-name && inputs.product-name || 'default' }}
-        path: |
-          hugo.log
-          /tmp/hugo_server.log
-        if-no-files-found: ignore
-    
-    
-    - name: Upload broken links report
-      if: always()
-      uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
-      with:
-        name: broken-links-report${{ inputs.product-name && format('-{0}', inputs.product-name) || '' }}
-        path: /tmp/broken_links_report.json
-        if-no-files-found: ignore
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr-link-check.yml b/.github/workflows/pr-link-check.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b0764089a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr-link-check.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,241 @@
+name: Link Check PR Changes
+
+on:
+  pull_request:
+    paths:
+      - 'content/**/*.md'
+      - 'data/**/*.yml'
+      - 'layouts/**/*.html'
+    types: [opened, synchronize, reopened]
+
+jobs:
+  link-check:
+    name: Check links in affected files
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout repository
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+          
+      - name: Detect content changes
+        id: detect
+        run: |
+          echo "🔍 Detecting changes between ${{ github.base_ref }} and ${{ github.sha }}"
+          
+          # For PRs, use the GitHub Files API to get changed files
+          if [[ "${{ github.event_name }}" == "pull_request" ]]; then
+            echo "Using GitHub API to detect PR changes..."
+            curl -s -H "Authorization: token ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" \
+              "https://api.github.com/repos/${{ github.repository }}/pulls/${{ github.event.number }}/files" \
+              | jq -r '.[].filename' > all_changed_files.txt
+          else
+            echo "Using git diff to detect changes..."
+            git diff --name-only ${{ github.event.before }}..${{ github.sha }} > all_changed_files.txt
+          fi
+          
+          # Filter for content markdown files
+          CHANGED_FILES=$(grep '^content/.*\.md$' all_changed_files.txt || true)
+          
+          echo "📁 All changed files:"
+          cat all_changed_files.txt
+          echo ""
+          echo "📝 Content markdown files:"
+          echo "$CHANGED_FILES"
+          
+          if [[ -n "$CHANGED_FILES" ]]; then
+            echo "✅ Found $(echo "$CHANGED_FILES" | wc -l) changed content file(s)"
+            echo "has-changes=true" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+            echo "changed-content<<EOF" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+            echo "$CHANGED_FILES" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+            echo "EOF" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+            
+            # Check if any shared content files were modified
+            SHARED_CHANGES=$(echo "$CHANGED_FILES" | grep '^content/shared/' || true)
+            if [[ -n "$SHARED_CHANGES" ]]; then
+              echo "has-shared-content=true" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+              echo "🔄 Detected shared content changes: $SHARED_CHANGES"
+            else
+              echo "has-shared-content=false" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+            fi
+          else
+            echo "❌ No content changes detected"
+            echo "has-changes=false" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+            echo "has-shared-content=false" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          fi
+          
+      - name: Skip if no content changes
+        if: steps.detect.outputs.has-changes == 'false'
+        run: |
+          echo "No content changes detected in this PR - skipping link check"
+          echo "✅ **No content changes detected** - link check skipped" >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
+          
+      - name: Setup Node.js
+        if: steps.detect.outputs.has-changes == 'true'
+        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
+        with:
+          node-version: '20'
+          cache: 'yarn'
+          
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        if: steps.detect.outputs.has-changes == 'true'
+        run: yarn install --frozen-lockfile
+        
+      - name: Build Hugo site
+        if: steps.detect.outputs.has-changes == 'true'
+        run: npx hugo --minify
+        
+      - name: Download link-checker binary
+        if: steps.detect.outputs.has-changes == 'true'
+        run: |
+          echo "Downloading link-checker binary from docs-v2 releases..."
+          
+          # Download from docs-v2's own releases (always accessible)
+          curl -L -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
+            -H "Authorization: Bearer ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" \
+            -o link-checker-info.json \
+            "https://api.github.com/repos/influxdata/docs-v2/releases/tags/link-checker-v1.0.0"
+          
+          # Extract download URL for linux binary
+          DOWNLOAD_URL=$(jq -r '.assets[] | select(.name | test("link-checker.*linux")) | .url' link-checker-info.json)
+          
+          if [[ "$DOWNLOAD_URL" == "null" || -z "$DOWNLOAD_URL" ]]; then
+            echo "❌ No linux binary found in release"
+            echo "Available assets:"
+            jq -r '.assets[].name' link-checker-info.json
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          
+          echo "📥 Downloading: $DOWNLOAD_URL"
+          curl -L -H "Accept: application/octet-stream" \
+            -H "Authorization: Bearer ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" \
+            -o link-checker "$DOWNLOAD_URL"
+          
+          chmod +x link-checker
+          ./link-checker --version
+        
+      - name: Verify link checker config exists
+        if: steps.detect.outputs.has-changes == 'true'
+        run: |
+          if [[ ! -f .ci/link-checker/production.lycherc.toml ]]; then
+            echo "❌ Configuration file .ci/link-checker/production.lycherc.toml not found"
+            echo "Please copy production.lycherc.toml from docs-tooling/link-checker/"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          echo "✅ Using configuration: .ci/link-checker/production.lycherc.toml"
+        
+      - name: Map changed content to public files
+        if: steps.detect.outputs.has-changes == 'true'
+        id: mapping
+        run: |
+          echo "Mapping changed content files to public HTML files..."
+          
+          # Create temporary file with changed content files
+          echo "${{ steps.detect.outputs.changed-content }}" > changed-files.txt
+          
+          # Map content files to public files
+          PUBLIC_FILES=$(cat changed-files.txt | xargs -r ./link-checker map --existing-only)
+          
+          if [[ -n "$PUBLIC_FILES" ]]; then
+            echo "Found affected public files:"
+            echo "$PUBLIC_FILES"
+            echo "public-files<<EOF" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+            echo "$PUBLIC_FILES" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+            echo "EOF" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+            
+            # Count files for summary
+            FILE_COUNT=$(echo "$PUBLIC_FILES" | wc -l)
+            echo "file-count=$FILE_COUNT" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          else
+            echo "No public files found to check"
+            echo "public-files=" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+            echo "file-count=0" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          fi
+        
+      - name: Run link checker
+        if: steps.detect.outputs.has-changes == 'true' && steps.mapping.outputs.public-files != ''
+        id: link-check
+        run: |
+          echo "Checking links in ${{ steps.mapping.outputs.file-count }} affected files..."
+          
+          # Create temporary file with public files list
+          echo "${{ steps.mapping.outputs.public-files }}" > public-files.txt
+          
+          # Run link checker with detailed JSON output
+          set +e  # Don't fail immediately on error
+          
+          cat public-files.txt | xargs -r ./link-checker check \
+            --config .ci/link-checker/production.lycherc.toml \
+            --format json \
+            --output link-check-results.json
+          
+          EXIT_CODE=$?
+          
+          if [[ -f link-check-results.json ]]; then
+            # Parse results
+            BROKEN_COUNT=$(jq -r '.summary.broken_count // 0' link-check-results.json)
+            TOTAL_COUNT=$(jq -r '.summary.total_checked // 0' link-check-results.json)
+            SUCCESS_RATE=$(jq -r '.summary.success_rate // 0' link-check-results.json)
+            
+            echo "broken-count=$BROKEN_COUNT" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+            echo "total-count=$TOTAL_COUNT" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+            echo "success-rate=$SUCCESS_RATE" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+            
+            if [[ $BROKEN_COUNT -gt 0 ]]; then
+              echo "❌ Found $BROKEN_COUNT broken links out of $TOTAL_COUNT total links"
+              echo "check-result=failed" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+            else
+              echo "✅ All $TOTAL_COUNT links are valid"
+              echo "check-result=passed" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+            fi
+          else
+            echo "❌ Link check failed to generate results"
+            echo "check-result=error" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          fi
+          
+          exit $EXIT_CODE
+          
+      - name: Process and report results
+        if: always() && steps.detect.outputs.has-changes == 'true' && steps.mapping.outputs.public-files != ''
+        run: |
+          if [[ -f link-check-results.json ]]; then
+            # Create detailed error annotations for broken links
+            if [[ "${{ steps.link-check.outputs.check-result }}" == "failed" ]]; then
+              echo "Creating error annotations for broken links..."
+              
+              jq -r '.broken_links[]? | 
+                "::error file=\(.file // "unknown"),line=\(.line // 1)::Broken link: \(.url) - \(.error // "Unknown error")"' \
+                link-check-results.json || true
+            fi
+            
+            # Generate summary comment
+            cat >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY << 'EOF'
+          ## Link Check Results
+          
+          **Files Checked:** ${{ steps.mapping.outputs.file-count }}  
+          **Total Links:** ${{ steps.link-check.outputs.total-count }}  
+          **Broken Links:** ${{ steps.link-check.outputs.broken-count }}  
+          **Success Rate:** ${{ steps.link-check.outputs.success-rate }}%
+          
+          EOF
+          
+            if [[ "${{ steps.link-check.outputs.check-result }}" == "failed" ]]; then
+              echo "❌ **Link check failed** - see annotations above for details" >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
+            else
+              echo "✅ **All links are valid**" >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
+            fi
+          else
+            echo "⚠️ **Link check could not complete** - no results file generated" >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
+          fi
+          
+      - name: Upload detailed results
+        if: always() && steps.detect.outputs.has-changes == 'true' && steps.mapping.outputs.public-files != ''
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: link-check-results
+          path: |
+            link-check-results.json
+            changed-files.txt
+            public-files.txt
+          retention-days: 30
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr-link-validation.yml b/.github/workflows/pr-link-validation.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 8d6a8a735..000000000
--- a/.github/workflows/pr-link-validation.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,148 +0,0 @@
-# PR Link Validation Workflow
-# Provides basic and parallel workflows
-# with smart strategy selection based on change volume
-name: PR Link Validation
-
-on:
-  pull_request:
-    paths:
-      - 'content/**/*.md'
-      - 'content/**/*.html'
-      - 'api-docs/**/*.yml'
-      - 'assets/**/*.js'
-      - 'layouts/**/*.html'
-
-jobs:
-  # TEMPORARILY DISABLED - Remove this condition to re-enable link validation
-  disabled-check:
-    if: false  # Set to true to re-enable the workflow
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    steps:
-      - run: echo "Link validation is temporarily disabled"
-  setup:
-    name: Setup and Strategy Detection
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    if: false  # TEMPORARILY DISABLED - Remove this condition to re-enable
-    outputs:
-      strategy: ${{ steps.determine-strategy.outputs.strategy }}
-      has-changes: ${{ steps.determine-strategy.outputs.has-changes }}
-      matrix: ${{ steps.determine-strategy.outputs.matrix }}
-      all-files: ${{ steps.changed-files.outputs.all_changed_files }}
-      cache-hit-rate: ${{ steps.determine-strategy.outputs.cache-hit-rate }}
-      cache-hits: ${{ steps.determine-strategy.outputs.cache-hits }}
-      cache-misses: ${{ steps.determine-strategy.outputs.cache-misses }}
-      original-file-count: ${{ steps.determine-strategy.outputs.original-file-count }}
-      validation-file-count: ${{ steps.determine-strategy.outputs.validation-file-count }}
-      cache-message: ${{ steps.determine-strategy.outputs.message }}
-    steps:
-      - name: Checkout
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-        with:
-          fetch-depth: 0
-      
-      - name: Setup docs environment
-        uses: ./.github/actions/setup-docs-env
-      
-      - name: Get changed files
-        id: changed-files
-        uses: tj-actions/changed-files@v41
-        with:
-          files: |
-            content/**/*.md
-            content/**/*.html
-            api-docs/**/*.yml
-      
-      - name: Determine validation strategy
-        id: determine-strategy
-        run: |
-          if [[ "${{ steps.changed-files.outputs.any_changed }}" != "true" ]]; then
-            echo "No relevant files changed"
-            echo "strategy=none" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-            echo "has-changes=false" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-            echo "matrix={\"include\":[]}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-            echo "cache-hit-rate=100" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-            echo "cache-hits=0" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-            echo "cache-misses=0" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-            exit 0
-          fi
-          
-          # Use our matrix generator with cache awareness
-          files="${{ steps.changed-files.outputs.all_changed_files }}"
-          
-          echo "🔍 Analyzing ${files} for cache-aware validation..."
-          
-          # Generate matrix and capture outputs
-          result=$(node .github/scripts/matrix-generator.js \
-            --min-files-parallel 10 \
-            --max-concurrent 5 \
-            --output-format github \
-            $files)
-          
-          # Parse all outputs from matrix generator
-          while IFS='=' read -r key value; do
-            case "$key" in
-              strategy|has-changes|cache-hit-rate|cache-hits|cache-misses|original-file-count|validation-file-count|message)
-                echo "$key=$value" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-                ;;
-              matrix)
-                echo "matrix=$value" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-                ;;
-            esac
-          done <<< "$result"
-          
-          # Extract values for logging
-          strategy=$(echo "$result" | grep "^strategy=" | cut -d'=' -f2)
-          cache_hit_rate=$(echo "$result" | grep "^cache-hit-rate=" | cut -d'=' -f2)
-          cache_message=$(echo "$result" | grep "^message=" | cut -d'=' -f2-)
-          
-          echo "📊 Selected strategy: $strategy"
-          if [[ -n "$cache_hit_rate" ]]; then
-            echo "📈 Cache hit rate: ${cache_hit_rate}%"
-          fi
-          if [[ -n "$cache_message" ]]; then
-            echo "$cache_message"
-          fi
-
-  validate:
-    name: ${{ matrix.name }}
-    needs: setup
-    if: false  # TEMPORARILY DISABLED - Original condition: needs.setup.outputs.has-changes == 'true'
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    strategy:
-      fail-fast: false
-      matrix: ${{ fromJson(needs.setup.outputs.matrix) }}
-    steps:
-      - name: Checkout
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-        with:
-          fetch-depth: 0
-      
-      - name: Setup docs environment
-        uses: ./.github/actions/setup-docs-env
-      
-      - name: Validate links
-        uses: ./.github/actions/validate-links
-        with:
-          files: ${{ matrix.files || needs.setup.outputs.all-files }}
-          product-name: ${{ matrix.product }}
-          cache-enabled: ${{ matrix.cacheEnabled || 'true' }}
-          cache-key: link-validation-${{ hashFiles(matrix.files || needs.setup.outputs.all-files) }}
-          timeout: 900
-
-  report:
-    name: Report Results
-    needs: [setup, validate]
-    if: false  # TEMPORARILY DISABLED - Original condition: always() && needs.setup.outputs.has-changes == 'true'
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    steps:
-      - name: Checkout
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      
-      - name: Setup docs environment
-        uses: ./.github/actions/setup-docs-env
-      
-      - name: Report broken links
-        uses: ./.github/actions/report-broken-links
-        with:
-          github-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-          max-links-per-file: 20
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 0d9d333c3..32765da72 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -3,11 +3,14 @@
 public
 .*.swp
 node_modules
+package-lock.json
 .config*
 **/.env*
 *.log
 /resources
 .hugo_build.lock
+
+# Content generation
 /content/influxdb*/**/api/**/*.html
 !api-docs/**/.config.yml
 /api-docs/redoc-static.html*
@@ -16,18 +19,22 @@ node_modules
 !telegraf-build/templates
 !telegraf-build/scripts
 !telegraf-build/README.md
+
+# CI/CD tool files
 /cypress/downloads/*
 /cypress/screenshots/*
 /cypress/videos/*
+.lycheecache
 test-results.xml
 /influxdb3cli-build-scripts/content
+tmp
+
+# IDE files
 .vscode/*
 !.vscode/launch.json
 .idea
 **/config.toml
-package-lock.json
-tmp
 
-# Context files for LLMs and AI tools 
+# User context files for AI assistant tools
 .context/*
 !.context/README.md
diff --git a/TESTING.md b/TESTING.md
index 44a5006ae..e0a2f6f78 100644
--- a/TESTING.md
+++ b/TESTING.md
@@ -121,96 +121,169 @@ Potential causes:
   # This is ignored
   ```
 
-## Link Validation Testing
+## Link Validation with Link-Checker
 
-Link validation uses Cypress for e2e browser-based testing against the Hugo site to ensure all internal and external links work correctly.
+Link validation uses the `link-checker` tool to validate internal and external links in documentation files.
 
 ### Basic Usage
 
+#### Installation
+
+**Option 1: Download from docs-v2 releases (recommended)**
+
+The link-checker binary is distributed via docs-v2 releases for reliable access from GitHub Actions workflows:
+
 ```bash
-# Test specific files
-yarn test:links content/influxdb3/core/**/*.md
+# Download binary from docs-v2 releases
+curl -L -o link-checker \
+  https://github.com/influxdata/docs-v2/releases/download/link-checker-v1.0.0/link-checker-linux-x86_64
+chmod +x link-checker
 
-# Test all links (may take a long time)
-yarn test:links
-
-# Test by product (may take a long time)
-yarn test:links:v3
-yarn test:links:v2  
-yarn test:links:telegraf
-yarn test:links:chronograf
-yarn test:links:kapacitor
+# Verify installation
+./link-checker --version
 ```
 
-### How Link Validation Works
+**Option 2: Build from source**
 
-The tests:
-1. Start a Hugo development server
-2. Navigate to each page in a browser
-3. Check all links for validity
-4. Report broken or invalid links
+```bash
+# Clone and build link-checker
+git clone https://github.com/influxdata/docs-tooling.git
+cd docs-tooling/link-checker
+cargo build --release
+
+# Copy binary to your PATH or use directly
+cp target/release/link-checker /usr/local/bin/
+```
+
+#### Core Commands
+
+```bash
+# Map content files to public HTML files
+link-checker map content/path/to/file.md
+
+# Check links in HTML files
+link-checker check public/path/to/file.html
+
+# Generate configuration file
+link-checker config
+```
+
+### Content Mapping Workflows
+
+#### Scenario 1: Map and check InfluxDB 3 Core content
+
+```bash
+# Map Markdown files to HTML
+link-checker map content/influxdb3/core/get-started/
+
+# Check links in mapped HTML files
+link-checker check public/influxdb3/core/get-started/
+```
+
+#### Scenario 2: Map and check shared CLI content
+
+```bash
+# Map shared content files
+link-checker map content/shared/influxdb3-cli/
+
+# Check the mapped output files
+# (link-checker map outputs the HTML file paths)
+link-checker map content/shared/influxdb3-cli/ | \
+  xargs link-checker check
+```
+
+#### Scenario 3: Direct HTML checking
+
+```bash
+# Check HTML files directly without mapping
+link-checker check public/influxdb3/core/get-started/
+```
+
+#### Combined workflow for changed files
+
+```bash
+# Check only files changed in the last commit
+git diff --name-only HEAD~1 HEAD | grep '\.md$' | \
+  xargs link-checker map | \
+  xargs link-checker check
+```
+
+### Configuration Options
+
+#### Local usage (default configuration)
+
+```bash
+# Uses default settings or test.lycherc.toml if present
+link-checker check public/influxdb3/core/get-started/
+```
+
+#### Production usage (GitHub Actions)
+
+```bash
+# Use production configuration with comprehensive exclusions
+link-checker check \
+  --config .ci/link-checker/production.lycherc.toml \
+  public/influxdb3/core/get-started/
+```
 
 ### GitHub Actions Integration
 
-#### Composite Action
+**Automated Integration (docs-v2)**
 
-The `.github/actions/validate-links/` composite action provides reusable link validation:
+The docs-v2 repository includes automated link checking for pull requests:
+
+- **Trigger**: Runs automatically on PRs that modify content files
+- **Binary distribution**: Downloads latest pre-built binary from docs-v2 releases
+- **Smart detection**: Only checks files affected by PR changes
+- **Production config**: Uses optimized settings with exclusions for GitHub, social media, etc.
+- **Results reporting**: Broken links reported as GitHub annotations with detailed summaries
+
+The workflow automatically:
+1. Detects content changes in PRs using GitHub Files API
+2. Downloads latest link-checker binary from docs-v2 releases
+3. Builds Hugo site and maps changed content to public HTML files
+4. Runs link checking with production configuration
+5. Reports results with annotations and step summaries
+
+**Manual Integration (other repositories)**
+
+For other repositories, you can integrate link checking manually:
 
 ```yaml
-- uses: ./.github/actions/validate-links
-  with:
-    files: "content/influxdb3/core/file.md content/influxdb/v2/file2.md"
-    product-name: "core"
-    cache-enabled: "true"
-    cache-key: "link-validation"
+name: Link Check
+on:
+  pull_request:
+    paths:
+      - 'content/**/*.md'
+
+jobs:
+  link-check:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      
+      - name: Download link-checker
+        run: |
+          curl -L -o link-checker \
+            https://github.com/influxdata/docs-tooling/releases/latest/download/link-checker-linux-x86_64
+          chmod +x link-checker
+          cp target/release/link-checker ../../link-checker
+          cd ../..
+          
+      - name: Build Hugo site
+        run: |
+          npm install
+          npx hugo --minify
+          
+      - name: Check changed files
+        run: |
+          git diff --name-only origin/main HEAD | \
+            grep '\.md$' | \
+            xargs ./link-checker map | \
+            xargs ./link-checker check \
+              --config .ci/link-checker/production.lycherc.toml
 ```
 
-#### Matrix Generator
-
-The `.github/scripts/matrix-generator.js` script provides intelligent strategy selection:
-
-- **Sequential validation**: For small changes (< 10 files) or single-product changes
-- **Parallel validation**: For large changes across multiple products (up to 5 concurrent jobs)
-
-Test locally:
-
-```bash
-node .github/scripts/matrix-generator.js content/influxdb3/core/file1.md content/influxdb/v2/file2.md
-```
-
-Configuration options:
-- `--max-concurrent <n>`: Maximum parallel jobs (default: 5)
-- `--force-sequential`: Force sequential execution
-- `--min-files-parallel <n>`: Minimum files for parallel (default: 10)
-
-### Caching for Link Validation
-
-Link validation supports caching to improve performance:
-
-- **Cache location**: `.cache/link-validation/` (local), GitHub Actions cache (CI)
-- **Cache keys**: Based on content file hashes
-- **TTL**: 30 days by default, configurable
-
-#### Cache Configuration Options
-
-```bash
-# Use 7-day cache for more frequent validation
-yarn test:links --cache-ttl=7 content/influxdb3/**/*.md
-
-# Use 1-day cache via environment variable
-LINK_CACHE_TTL_DAYS=1 yarn test:links content/**/*.md
-
-# Clean up expired cache entries
-node .github/scripts/incremental-validator.js --cleanup
-```
-
-#### How Caching Works
-
-- **Cache key**: Based on file path + content hash (file changes invalidate cache immediately)
-- **External links**: Cached for the TTL period since URLs rarely change
-- **Internal links**: Effectively cached until file content changes
-- **Automatic cleanup**: Expired entries are removed on access and via `--cleanup`
-
 ## Style Linting (Vale)
 
 Style linting uses [Vale](https://vale.sh/) to enforce documentation writing standards, branding guidelines, and vocabulary consistency.
diff --git a/content/influxdb3/core/get-started/_index.md b/content/influxdb3/core/get-started/_index.md
index 16398f32f..72cbc7746 100644
--- a/content/influxdb3/core/get-started/_index.md
+++ b/content/influxdb3/core/get-started/_index.md
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ prepend: |
   > [!Note] 
   > InfluxDB 3 Core is purpose-built for real-time data monitoring and recent data.
   > InfluxDB 3 Enterprise builds on top of Core with support for historical data
+  > analysis and extended features.
   > querying, high availability, read replicas, and more.
   > Enterprise will soon unlock
   > enhanced security, row-level deletions, an administration UI, and more.