Does Smart Links require an underline Application Links connection set up?

[Kate Stryhunivska]

I'm exploring the App Link connection and came across Smart Links in Confluence, and I'm trying to connect the dots between App Links and Smart Links. It seems both are related, but I can't find any Atlassian documentation to confirm. Any pointers will be much appreciated.

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski]

Hello and welcome to the Community @Kate Stryhunivska 

Smart Links and Application Links are related ideas, but they are not the same thing. Smart Links are the newer link-preview/embed experience when you paste supported URLs into Confluence or Jira. Atlassian’s Cloud docs describe that as a built-in platform feature, not something where you first have to go and manually create an AppLink just to make normal Smart Links work.

Where Application Links still come in is more in the background integration cases, for example linking Atlassian products more deeply, or especially Cloud ↔ Data Center scenarios. So if someone says “Smart Links use AppLinks underneath”, that may be true in some setups, but I would not describe Smart Links in Cloud as simply “Application Links with a new name.”