diff --git a/server/utils/mdKit.ts b/server/utils/mdKit.ts
index 3ebe367d95..f4ba2ed219 100644
--- a/server/utils/mdKit.ts
+++ b/server/utils/mdKit.ts
@@ -215,6 +215,8 @@ export function getHeadingSlugSource(text: string): string {
 }
 
 const htmlAnchorRe = /<a(\s[^>]*?)href=(["'])([^"']*)\2([^>]*)>([\s\S]*?)<\/a>/gi
+const anchorTokenOpenRe = /^<a(?:\s.+)?\/?>$/i
+const anchorTokenCloseRe = /^<\/a>$/i
 
 export type ToUserContentIdFn = (id: string) => string
 
@@ -239,7 +241,11 @@ export function createHeading(options: {
     this: Renderer<string, string>,
     { tokens, depth },
   ) {
-    const displayHtml = this.parser.parseInline(tokens)
+    const isWrappedInSingleAnchor =
+      anchorTokenOpenRe.test(tokens[0]?.raw ?? '') &&
+      anchorTokenCloseRe.test(tokens[tokens.length - 1]?.raw ?? '')
+    const headingTokens = isWrappedInSingleAnchor ? tokens.slice(1, -1) : tokens
+    const displayHtml = this.parser.parseInline(headingTokens)
     const plainText = getHeadingPlainText(displayHtml)
     const slugSource = getHeadingSlugSource(displayHtml)
     return processHeading(depth, displayHtml, plainText, slugSource)
diff --git a/server/utils/readme.ts b/server/utils/readme.ts
index 717136f981..266dd87840 100644
--- a/server/utils/readme.ts
+++ b/server/utils/readme.ts
@@ -157,6 +157,7 @@ marked.use({
   },
 })
 
+const LOCAL_NPMX_REDIRECT_PREFIX = '$npmx-local:'
 function withUserContentPrefix(value: string): string {
   return value.startsWith(USER_CONTENT_PREFIX) ? value : `${USER_CONTENT_PREFIX}${value}`
 }
@@ -169,6 +170,14 @@ function toUserContentHash(value: string): string {
   return `#${withUserContentPrefix(value)}`
 }
 
+function toLocalNpmxRedirect(path: string): string {
+  return `${LOCAL_NPMX_REDIRECT_PREFIX}${path}`
+}
+
+function isMarkdownFileUrl(url: string): boolean {
+  return /\.(?:md|markdown)$/i.test(url.split('?')[0]?.split('#')[0] ?? '')
+}
+
 /**
  * Resolve a relative URL to an absolute URL.
  * If repository info is available, resolve to provider's raw file URLs.
@@ -177,6 +186,9 @@ function toUserContentHash(value: string): string {
  */
 function resolveUrl(url: string, packageName: string, repoInfo?: RepositoryInfo): string {
   if (!url) return url
+  if (url.startsWith(LOCAL_NPMX_REDIRECT_PREFIX)) {
+    return url.slice(LOCAL_NPMX_REDIRECT_PREFIX.length)
+  }
   if (url.startsWith('#')) {
     // Prefix anchor links to match heading IDs (avoids collision with page IDs)
     // Normalize markdown-style heading fragments to the same slug format used
@@ -192,15 +204,24 @@ function resolveUrl(url: string, packageName: string, repoInfo?: RepositoryInfo)
     const normalizedFragment = slugify(decodeHashFragment(fragment))
     return toUserContentHash(normalizedFragment || fragment)
   }
-  // Absolute paths (e.g. /package/foo from a previous npmjs redirect) are already resolved
-  if (url.startsWith('/')) return url
+  // Check if this is a markdown file link
+  const isMarkdownFile = isMarkdownFileUrl(url)
+
+  if (url.startsWith('/') && !url.startsWith('//')) {
+    if (!repoInfo?.rawBaseUrl) {
+      return url
+    }
+
+    const baseUrl = isMarkdownFile ? repoInfo.blobBaseUrl : repoInfo.rawBaseUrl
+    return `${baseUrl}${url}`
+  }
   if (hasProtocol(url, { acceptRelative: true })) {
     try {
       const parsed = new URL(url, 'https://example.com')
       if (parsed.protocol === 'http:' || parsed.protocol === 'https:') {
         // Redirect npmjs urls to ourself
         if (isNpmJsUrlThatCanBeRedirected(parsed)) {
-          return parsed.pathname + parsed.search + parsed.hash
+          return toLocalNpmxRedirect(parsed.pathname + parsed.search + parsed.hash)
         }
         return url
       }
@@ -214,9 +235,6 @@ function resolveUrl(url: string, packageName: string, repoInfo?: RepositoryInfo)
     // for non-HTTP protocols (javascript:, data:, etc.), don't return, treat as relative
   }
 
-  // Check if this is a markdown file link
-  const isMarkdownFile = /\.md$/i.test(url.split('?')[0]?.split('#')[0] ?? '')
-
   // Use provider's URL base when repository info is available
   // This handles assets that exist in the repo but not in the npm tarball
   if (repoInfo?.rawBaseUrl) {
diff --git a/test/unit/server/utils/readme.spec.ts b/test/unit/server/utils/readme.spec.ts
index d24158d777..21e80915d2 100644
--- a/test/unit/server/utils/readme.spec.ts
+++ b/test/unit/server/utils/readme.spec.ts
@@ -249,6 +249,100 @@ describe('Markdown File URL Resolution', () => {
         'href="https://github.com/test-owner/test-repo/blob/HEAD/CONTRIBUTING.md"',
       )
     })
+
+    it('resolves root-relative .md links to the repository root blob URL', async () => {
+      const repoInfo = createRepoInfo({
+        directory: 'packages/core',
+      })
+      const markdown = `[Root Contributing](/CONTRIBUTING.md)`
+      const result = await renderReadmeHtml(markdown, 'test-pkg', repoInfo)
+
+      expect(result.html).toContain(
+        'href="https://github.com/test-owner/test-repo/blob/HEAD/CONTRIBUTING.md"',
+      )
+    })
+
+    it('resolves issue #2928 root-relative markdown links from the repo root', async () => {
+      const repoInfo = createRepoInfo({
+        owner: 'withastro',
+        repo: 'astro',
+        rawBaseUrl: 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/withastro/astro/HEAD',
+        blobBaseUrl: 'https://github.com/withastro/astro/blob/HEAD',
+        directory: 'packages/astro',
+      })
+      const markdown = `[contributing guide](/CONTRIBUTING.md)`
+      const result = await renderReadmeHtml(markdown, 'astro', repoInfo)
+
+      expect(result.html).toContain(
+        'href="https://github.com/withastro/astro/blob/HEAD/CONTRIBUTING.md"',
+      )
+      expect(result.html).not.toContain('href="/CONTRIBUTING.md"')
+      expect(result.html).not.toContain('href="https://npmx.dev/CONTRIBUTING.md"')
+    })
+
+    it('resolves root-relative .markdown links to the repository root blob URL', async () => {
+      const repoInfo = createRepoInfo({
+        directory: 'packages/core',
+      })
+      const markdown = `[Root Contributing](/CONTRIBUTING.markdown)`
+      const result = await renderReadmeHtml(markdown, 'test-pkg', repoInfo)
+
+      expect(result.html).toContain(
+        'href="https://github.com/test-owner/test-repo/blob/HEAD/CONTRIBUTING.markdown"',
+      )
+    })
+
+    it('resolves root-relative .md links in raw HTML anchors', async () => {
+      const repoInfo = createRepoInfo()
+      const markdown = `<a href="/CONTRIBUTING.md">Contributing</a>`
+      const result = await renderReadmeHtml(markdown, 'test-pkg', repoInfo)
+
+      expect(result.html).toContain(
+        'href="https://github.com/test-owner/test-repo/blob/HEAD/CONTRIBUTING.md"',
+      )
+    })
+
+    it('resolves root-relative non-.md links to the repository root raw URL', async () => {
+      const repoInfo = createRepoInfo({
+        directory: 'packages/core',
+      })
+      const markdown = `[Logo](/assets/logo.png)`
+      const result = await renderReadmeHtml(markdown, 'test-pkg', repoInfo)
+
+      expect(result.html).toContain(
+        'href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/test-owner/test-repo/HEAD/assets/logo.png"',
+      )
+    })
+
+    it('resolves authored root-relative npmx-like paths to the repository root raw URL', async () => {
+      const repoInfo = createRepoInfo()
+      const markdown = `[Package](/package/test-pkg)`
+      const result = await renderReadmeHtml(markdown, 'test-pkg', repoInfo)
+
+      expect(result.html).toContain(
+        'href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/test-owner/test-repo/HEAD/package/test-pkg"',
+      )
+    })
+
+    it('keeps npmjs redirects local when repository info is available', async () => {
+      const repoInfo = createRepoInfo()
+      const markdown = `[Package](https://www.npmjs.com/package/test-pkg)`
+      const result = await renderReadmeHtml(markdown, 'test-pkg', repoInfo)
+
+      expect(result.html).toContain('href="/package/test-pkg"')
+    })
+
+    it('keeps npmjs route roots local when repository info is available', async () => {
+      const repoInfo = createRepoInfo()
+      const markdown = [
+        `[Packages](https://www.npmjs.com/package)`,
+        `[Organizations](https://www.npmjs.com/org)`,
+      ].join('\n')
+      const result = await renderReadmeHtml(markdown, 'test-pkg', repoInfo)
+
+      expect(result.html).toContain('href="/package"')
+      expect(result.html).toContain('href="/org"')
+    })
   })
 
   describe('without repository info', () => {
@@ -284,6 +378,14 @@ describe('Markdown File URL Resolution', () => {
 
       expect(result.html).toContain('href="https://docs.example.com/"')
     })
+
+    it('leaves protocol-relative URLs unchanged with repository info', async () => {
+      const repoInfo = createRepoInfo()
+      const markdown = `[CDN](//cdn.example.com/file.css)`
+      const result = await renderReadmeHtml(markdown, 'test-pkg', repoInfo)
+
+      expect(result.html).toContain('href="//cdn.example.com/file.css"')
+    })
   })
 
   describe('anchor links', () => {
@@ -592,13 +694,13 @@ describe('HTML output', () => {
   })
 
   describe('heading anchors (renderer.heading)', () => {
-    it('keeps the full-line anchor wrapper and places the link to the heading at the end', async () => {
+    it('strips a full-line anchor wrapper and uses inner text for slug, toc, and permalink', async () => {
       const markdown = '## <a href="https://example.com">My Section</a>'
       const result = await renderReadmeHtml(markdown, 'test-pkg')
 
       expect(result.toc).toEqual([{ text: 'My Section', depth: 2, id: 'user-content-my-section' }])
       expect(result.html).toBe(
-        `<h3 id="user-content-my-section" data-level="2"><a href="https://example.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">My Section</a><a href="#user-content-my-section" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a></h3>\n`,
+        `<h3 id="user-content-my-section" data-level="2"><a href="#user-content-my-section">My Section</a></h3>\n`,
       )
     })