diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 5ef87934..4bf35b41 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -87,7 +87,6 @@
     "polka": "^0.5.2",
     "prismjs": "^1.23.0",
     "sirv": "^1.0.11",
-    "slash": "^3.0.0",
     "vite": "^2.0.0-beta.70",
     "vue": "^3.0.5"
   },
diff --git a/src/node/build/bundle.ts b/src/node/build/bundle.ts
index f167ab6a..0142216f 100644
--- a/src/node/build/bundle.ts
+++ b/src/node/build/bundle.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import ora from 'ora'
 import path from 'path'
-import slash from 'slash'
+import { slash } from '../utils/slash'
 import { APP_PATH } from '../alias'
 import { SiteConfig } from '../config'
 import { RollupOutput } from 'rollup'
diff --git a/src/node/markdownToVue.ts b/src/node/markdownToVue.ts
index 463f175c..dc6aeb02 100644
--- a/src/node/markdownToVue.ts
+++ b/src/node/markdownToVue.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,8 @@ import LRUCache from 'lru-cache'
 import { createMarkdownRenderer, MarkdownOptions } from './markdown/markdown'
 import { deeplyParseHeader } from './utils/parseHeader'
 import { PageData, HeadConfig } from '../../types/shared'
-import slash from 'slash'
+import { slash } from './utils/slash'
+import chalk from 'chalk'
 
 const debug = require('debug')('vitepress:md')
 const cache = new LRUCache<string, MarkdownCompileResult>({ max: 1024 })
@@ -13,13 +14,16 @@ const cache = new LRUCache<string, MarkdownCompileResult>({ max: 1024 })
 interface MarkdownCompileResult {
   vueSrc: string
   pageData: PageData
+  deadLinks: string[]
 }
 
 export function createMarkdownToVueRenderFn(
   root: string,
-  options: MarkdownOptions = {}
+  options: MarkdownOptions = {},
+  pages: string[]
 ) {
   const md = createMarkdownRenderer(root, options)
+  pages = pages.map((p) => slash(p.replace(/\.md$/, '')))
 
   return (src: string, file: string): MarkdownCompileResult => {
     const relativePath = slash(path.relative(root, file))
@@ -40,7 +44,31 @@ export function createMarkdownToVueRenderFn(
       .replace(/import\.meta/g, 'import.<wbr/>meta')
       .replace(/process\.env/g, 'process.<wbr/>env')
 
-    // TODO validate data.links?
+    // validate data.links
+    const deadLinks = []
+    if (data.links) {
+      const dir = path.dirname(file)
+      for (let url of data.links) {
+        url = url.replace(/[?#].*$/, '').replace(/\.(html|md)$/, '')
+        if (url.endsWith('/')) url += `index`
+        const resolved = slash(
+          url.startsWith('/')
+            ? url.slice(1)
+            : path.relative(root, path.resolve(dir, url))
+        )
+        if (!pages.includes(resolved)) {
+          console.warn(
+            chalk.yellow(
+              `\n(!) Found dead link ${chalk.cyan(
+                url
+              )} in file ${chalk.white.dim(file)}`
+            )
+          )
+          deadLinks.push(url)
+        }
+      }
+    }
+
     const pageData: PageData = {
       title: inferTitle(frontmatter, content),
       description: inferDescription(frontmatter),
@@ -59,7 +87,8 @@ export function createMarkdownToVueRenderFn(
 
     const result = {
       vueSrc,
-      pageData
+      pageData,
+      deadLinks
     }
     cache.set(src, result)
     return result
diff --git a/src/node/plugin.ts b/src/node/plugin.ts
index 7a6e3acf..dbbff709 100644
--- a/src/node/plugin.ts
+++ b/src/node/plugin.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import { SiteConfig, resolveSiteData } from './config'
 import { createMarkdownToVueRenderFn } from './markdownToVue'
 import { APP_PATH, SITE_DATA_REQUEST_PATH } from './alias'
 import createVuePlugin from '@vitejs/plugin-vue'
-import slash from 'slash'
+import { slash } from './utils/slash'
 import { OutputAsset, OutputChunk } from 'rollup'
 
 const hashRE = /\.(\w+)\.js$/
@@ -24,11 +24,11 @@ const isPageChunk = (
 
 export function createVitePressPlugin(
   root: string,
-  { configPath, alias, markdown, site, vueOptions }: SiteConfig,
+  { configPath, alias, markdown, site, vueOptions, pages }: SiteConfig,
   ssr = false,
   pageToHashMap?: Record<string, string>
 ): Plugin[] {
-  const markdownToVue = createMarkdownToVueRenderFn(root, markdown)
+  const markdownToVue = createMarkdownToVueRenderFn(root, markdown, pages)
 
   const vuePlugin = createVuePlugin({
     include: [/\.vue$/, /\.md$/],
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ export function createVitePressPlugin(
   })
 
   let siteData = site
+  let hasDeadLinks = false
 
   const vitePressPlugin: Plugin = {
     name: 'vitepress',
@@ -71,7 +72,17 @@ export function createVitePressPlugin(
     transform(code, id) {
       if (id.endsWith('.md')) {
         // transform .md files into vueSrc so plugin-vue can handle it
-        return markdownToVue(code, id).vueSrc
+        const { vueSrc, deadLinks } = markdownToVue(code, id)
+        if (deadLinks.length) {
+          hasDeadLinks = true
+        }
+        return vueSrc
+      }
+    },
+
+    renderStart() {
+      if (hasDeadLinks) {
+        throw new Error(`One or more pages contain dead links.`)
       }
     },
 
diff --git a/src/node/utils/slash.ts b/src/node/utils/slash.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f06ed939
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/node/utils/slash.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+export function slash(p: string): string {
+  return p.replace(/\\/g, '/')
+}
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 76c48975..4cc35a04 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -6090,10 +6090,10 @@ verror@1.10.0:
     core-util-is "1.0.2"
     extsprintf "^1.2.0"
 
-vite@^2.0.0-beta.67:
-  version "2.0.0-beta.67"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/vite/-/vite-2.0.0-beta.67.tgz#2d4e7a62a925539448bd18154008afb2b4484a07"
-  integrity sha512-QNxIRajidVG3ejikBUb17NgCV1bJ9UyKHBdItgw1O/ljQ1hBoph5I2/DrviqV4G9H3WP7teXk5vwQWuCVS9fqQ==
+vite@^2.0.0-beta.70:
+  version "2.0.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/vite/-/vite-2.0.0.tgz#156f35eadaa7947629aa8a24eb23129b07116ee3"
+  integrity sha512-rNli5g0DaQ6+btlRqkmaR06neWaJGApmt40gocqrYDNi2XoEXYQgKiHSWzMeUgc1Cdva2HduqazaE+RaKjBpdQ==
   dependencies:
     esbuild "^0.8.34"
     postcss "^8.2.1"