diff --git a/build-logic/docs-core/src/main/groovy/org/grails/doc/gradle/AuditGroovydocLinksTask.groovy b/build-logic/docs-core/src/main/groovy/org/grails/doc/gradle/AuditGroovydocLinksTask.groovy
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0fd1770b982
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build-logic/docs-core/src/main/groovy/org/grails/doc/gradle/AuditGroovydocLinksTask.groovy
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+/*
+ *  Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ *  or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ *  distributed with this work for additional information
+ *  regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ *  to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ *  "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ *  with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ *  software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ *  "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ *  KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ *  specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ *  under the License.
+ */
+package org.grails.doc.gradle
+
+import org.gradle.api.DefaultTask
+import org.gradle.api.GradleException
+import org.gradle.api.file.DirectoryProperty
+import org.gradle.api.tasks.InputDirectory
+import org.gradle.api.tasks.TaskAction
+
+/**
+ * A task that audits generated Groovydocs for malformed inner-class links, where a
+ * slash-separated 'phantom' path (e.g. {@code Outer/Inner.html}) was emitted instead
+ * of the dotted Groovydoc naming convention ({@code Outer.Inner.html}).
+ *
+ * @see GroovydocLinkAuditor
+ */
+abstract class AuditGroovydocLinksTask extends DefaultTask {
+
+    @InputDirectory
+    abstract DirectoryProperty getApiDocsDir()
+
+    @TaskAction
+    void auditLinks() {
+        File apiDir = apiDocsDir.get().asFile
+
+        List<String> violations = GroovydocLinkAuditor.findViolations(apiDir)
+
+        if (!violations.isEmpty()) {
+            violations.take(10).each { logger.error(it) }
+            if (violations.size() > 10) logger.error("... and ${violations.size() - 10} more")
+            throw new GradleException("Found ${violations.size()} malformed links in Groovydoc. Please fix the source issue rather than patching. See logs for details.")
+        } else {
+            logger.lifecycle "No malformed Groovydoc links found in ${apiDir.absolutePath}"
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/build-logic/docs-core/src/main/groovy/org/grails/doc/gradle/GroovydocLinkAuditor.groovy b/build-logic/docs-core/src/main/groovy/org/grails/doc/gradle/GroovydocLinkAuditor.groovy
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..54c1340f6bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build-logic/docs-core/src/main/groovy/org/grails/doc/gradle/GroovydocLinkAuditor.groovy
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+/*
+ *  Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ *  or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ *  distributed with this work for additional information
+ *  regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ *  to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ *  "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ *  with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ *  software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ *  "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ *  KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ *  specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ *  under the License.
+ */
+package org.grails.doc.gradle
+
+import java.nio.file.Files
+import java.nio.file.Path
+import java.util.regex.Matcher
+import java.util.regex.Pattern
+
+/**
+ * Scans generated Groovydoc HTML for malformed inner-class links, where a
+ * slash-separated path segment (produced for an inner class, e.g.
+ * {@code Outer/Inner.html}) should have been the dotted Groovydoc naming
+ * convention ({@code Outer.Inner.html}). Kept free of the Gradle API so it
+ * can be unit tested directly - {@code build-logic/docs-core} deliberately
+ * keeps Gradle classes off the test compile classpath.
+ *
+ * <p>This intentionally does not audit the navigation links (deprecated-list.html,
+ * help-doc.html, etc.): the bottom nav bar that {@code groovy-groovydoc} emits on
+ * package-summary pages omits the relative-root prefix that every other occurrence
+ * carries, which is a pre-existing quirk of that template rather than a content
+ * issue this repository can fix - checking for it would flag hundreds of instances
+ * of the same known, low-impact tool behavior on every doc build.</p>
+ */
+class GroovydocLinkAuditor {
+
+    // Inner class path issues like Query/Order.Direction.html -> Query.Order.Direction.html.
+    private static final Pattern INNER_CLASS_LINK_PATTERN =
+            Pattern.compile(/href='([^']+?)\/([A-Z][A-Za-z0-9_]*?)\/([A-Z][A-Za-z0-9_.]*?\.html)'/)
+
+    static List<String> findViolations(File apiDir) {
+        List<String> violations = []
+
+        apiDir.eachFileRecurse { File file ->
+            if (file.name.endsWith('.html')) {
+                violations.addAll(findViolationsInFile(file))
+            }
+        }
+
+        violations
+    }
+
+    private static List<String> findViolationsInFile(File file) {
+        List<String> violations = []
+        String content = file.text
+        Path currentPath = file.toPath().parent
+
+        Matcher innerMatcher = INNER_CLASS_LINK_PATTERN.matcher(content)
+        while (innerMatcher.find()) {
+            String relPath = innerMatcher.group(1)
+            String outer = innerMatcher.group(2)
+            String inner = innerMatcher.group(3)
+
+            Path targetPath = currentPath.resolve(relPath).resolve("${outer}.${inner}").normalize()
+
+            if (Files.exists(targetPath)) {
+                violations << "Malformed inner class link in ${file.name}: ${innerMatcher.group(0)}".toString()
+            }
+        }
+
+        violations
+    }
+}
diff --git a/build-logic/docs-core/src/test/groovy/org/grails/doc/gradle/GroovydocLinkAuditorSpec.groovy b/build-logic/docs-core/src/test/groovy/org/grails/doc/gradle/GroovydocLinkAuditorSpec.groovy
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..90555ce49e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build-logic/docs-core/src/test/groovy/org/grails/doc/gradle/GroovydocLinkAuditorSpec.groovy
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+/*
+ *  Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ *  or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ *  distributed with this work for additional information
+ *  regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ *  to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ *  "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ *  with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ *  software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ *  "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ *  KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ *  specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ *  under the License.
+ */
+package org.grails.doc.gradle
+
+import spock.lang.Specification
+import spock.lang.TempDir
+
+class GroovydocLinkAuditorSpec extends Specification {
+
+    @TempDir
+    File apiDir
+
+    void "reports no violations for clean inner class links"() {
+        given:
+        writeHtml('index.html', """
+            <a href="deprecated-list.html">Deprecated</a>
+            <a href="help-doc.html">Help</a>
+            <a href='SomePackage.SomeClass.html'>SomeClass</a>
+        """)
+
+        expect:
+        GroovydocLinkAuditor.findViolations(apiDir).empty
+    }
+
+    void "flags an inner class link using a slash-separated path when the dotted file actually exists"() {
+        given: 'the real generated file uses the dotted Groovydoc naming convention'
+        writeHtml('Query.Order.Direction.html', '<p>Direction</p>')
+        and: 'another page links to it using a malformed slash-separated path'
+        writeHtml('index.html', "<a href='./Query/Order.Direction.html'>Direction</a>")
+
+        when:
+        List<String> violations = GroovydocLinkAuditor.findViolations(apiDir)
+
+        then:
+        violations.size() == 1
+        violations[0].contains('Query/Order.Direction.html')
+    }
+
+    void "does not flag a slash-separated inner class link when no dotted file exists to resolve to"() {
+        given: 'the referenced target was never generated, so this cannot be the known malformed-path case'
+        writeHtml('index.html', "<a href='./Query/Order.Direction.html'>Direction</a>")
+
+        expect:
+        GroovydocLinkAuditor.findViolations(apiDir).empty
+    }
+
+    private File writeHtml(String relativePath, String content) {
+        File file = new File(apiDir, relativePath)
+        file.parentFile.mkdirs()
+        file.text = content
+        file
+    }
+}
diff --git a/gradle/docs-dependencies.gradle b/gradle/docs-dependencies.gradle
index fd33607c98f..1cd98457277 100644
--- a/gradle/docs-dependencies.gradle
+++ b/gradle/docs-dependencies.gradle
@@ -31,16 +31,10 @@ dependencies {
 }
 
 String resolveProjectVersion(String artifact) {
-    String version = configurations.runtimeClasspath
-            .resolvedConfiguration
-            .resolvedArtifacts
-            .find {
-                it.moduleVersion.id.name == artifact
-            }?.moduleVersion?.id?.version
-    if (!version) {
-        return null
+    def component = configurations.runtimeClasspath.incoming.resolutionResult.allComponents.find {
+        it.moduleVersion?.name == artifact
     }
-    version
+    return component?.moduleVersion?.version
 }
 
 def configureGroovyDoc = tasks.register('configureGroovyDoc') {
@@ -54,14 +48,54 @@ def configureGroovyDoc = tasks.register('configureGroovyDoc') {
         if (testContainersVersion) {
             links << [packages: 'org.testcontainers.', href: "https://javadoc.io/doc/org.testcontainers/testcontainers/${testContainersVersion}/"]
         }
-        def springVersion = resolveProjectVersion('spring-core')
-        if (springVersion) {
-            links << [packages: 'org.springframework.core.', href: "https://docs.spring.io/spring-framework/docs/${springVersion}/javadoc-api/"]
-        }
+        // Groovydoc resolves 'links' first-match-wins in declaration order, so the more
+        // specific org.springframework.boot. entry must come before the broader
+        // org.springframework. entry or every Boot class link resolves against the
+        // Framework javadocs instead, where the Boot classes don't exist.
         def springBootVersion = resolveProjectVersion('spring-boot')
         if (springBootVersion) {
             links << [packages: 'org.springframework.boot.', href: "https://docs.spring.io/spring-boot/docs/${springBootVersion}/api/"]
         }
+        def springVersion = resolveProjectVersion('spring-core')
+        if (springVersion) {
+            links << [packages: 'org.springframework.', href: "https://docs.spring.io/spring-framework/docs/${springVersion}/javadoc-api/"]
+        }
+        def hibernateVersion = resolveProjectVersion('hibernate-core')
+        if (hibernateVersion) {
+            def shortVersion = hibernateVersion.split('\\.').take(2).join('.')
+            links << [packages: 'org.hibernate.', href: "https://docs.jboss.org/hibernate/orm/${shortVersion}/javadocs/"]
+        }
+        def jakartaValidationVersion = resolveProjectVersion('jakarta.validation-api')
+        if (jakartaValidationVersion) {
+            def specVersion = jakartaValidationVersion.split('\\.').take(2).join('.')
+            links << [packages: 'jakarta.validation.', href: "https://jakarta.ee/specifications/bean-validation/${specVersion}/apidocs/"]
+        }
+        def jakartaPersistenceVersion = resolveProjectVersion('jakarta.persistence-api')
+        if (jakartaPersistenceVersion) {
+            def specVersion = jakartaPersistenceVersion.split('\\.').take(2).join('.')
+            links << [packages: 'jakarta.persistence.', href: "https://jakarta.ee/specifications/persistence/${specVersion}/apidocs/"]
+        }
+        def jakartaServletVersion = resolveProjectVersion('jakarta.servlet-api')
+        if (jakartaServletVersion) {
+            def servletSpecVersion = jakartaServletVersion.split('\\.').take(2).join('.')
+            // The platform apidocs are versioned by Jakarta EE Platform release, not by the
+            // Servlet spec version, so the two can't be derived from one another directly.
+            def servletSpecToPlatformVersion = ['5.0': '9', '6.0': '10', '6.1': '11']
+            def platformVersion = servletSpecToPlatformVersion[servletSpecVersion]
+            if (platformVersion) {
+                links << [packages: 'jakarta.servlet.', href: "https://jakarta.ee/specifications/platform/${platformVersion}/apidocs/"]
+            }
+        }
+        // No external link is registered for org.grails.datastore./grails.gorm./org.grails.gorm.:
+        // since the data modules merged into grails-core in 7.0, those classes are generated
+        // directly in this repo's own aggregate Groovydoc and resolve locally. Mapping them to
+        // the older, standalone gorm.grails.org site would misdirect those in-repo links.
+        def groovyVersion = resolveProjectVersion('groovy')
+        if (groovyVersion) {
+            links << [packages: 'groovy.', href: "https://docs.groovy-lang.org/${groovyVersion}/html/gapi/"]
+            links << [packages: 'org.apache.groovy.', href: "https://docs.groovy-lang.org/${groovyVersion}/html/gapi/"]
+            links << [packages: 'org.codehaus.groovy.', href: "https://docs.groovy-lang.org/${groovyVersion}/html/gapi/"]
+        }
         if (it.ext.has('groovydocLinks')) {
             links.addAll(it.ext.groovydocLinks as List<Map<String, String>>)
         }
diff --git a/grails-doc/build.gradle b/grails-doc/build.gradle
index d7a5cf71b09..ba1e602e281 100644
--- a/grails-doc/build.gradle
+++ b/grails-doc/build.gradle
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import grails.doc.git.FetchTagsTask
 import grails.doc.dropdown.CreateReleaseDropDownTask
 import grails.doc.gradle.PublishGuideTask
 import groovy.json.JsonSlurper
+import org.grails.doc.gradle.AuditGroovydocLinksTask
 
 import java.util.zip.ZipFile
 
@@ -125,6 +126,10 @@ combinedGroovydoc.configure { Groovydoc gdoc ->
     gdoc.outputs.dir(gdoc.destinationDir)
 }
 
+def auditGroovydocLinks = tasks.register('auditGroovydocLinks', AuditGroovydocLinksTask) {
+    apiDocsDir = project.layout.dir(combinedGroovydoc.map { it.destinationDir })
+}
+
 String getVersion(String artifact) {
     String version = configurations.runtimeClasspath
             .resolvedConfiguration