diff --git a/src/main/skills/skill-freshness-inventory.test.ts b/src/main/skills/skill-freshness-inventory.test.ts
index 7d160ba704b..475a581ab8c 100644
--- a/src/main/skills/skill-freshness-inventory.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/skills/skill-freshness-inventory.test.ts
@@ -252,6 +252,32 @@ describe('read-only skill freshness inventory', () => {
     expect(getSkillFreshnessDisplayStatus(inventory, 'orca-cli')).toBe('up-to-date')
   })
 
+  it.runIf(process.platform !== 'win32')(
+    'deduplicates a symlinked provider skills root',
+    async () => {
+      const test = await fixture()
+      const canonicalRoot = join(test.homeDir, '.agents', 'skills')
+      await test.writeSkill(canonicalRoot, test.currentMarkdown)
+      await mkdir(join(test.homeDir, '.claude'), { recursive: true })
+      await symlink(canonicalRoot, join(test.homeDir, '.claude', 'skills'))
+
+      const inventory = await inventorySkillFreshness({
+        currentAppVersion: '2.0.0',
+        homeDir: test.homeDir,
+        repos: [],
+        resourceRoot: test.resourceRoot
+      })
+
+      expect(inventory.installations).toHaveLength(1)
+      expect(inventory.installations[0]).toMatchObject({
+        topology: 'canonical-copy',
+        status: 'current',
+        providers: ['agent-skills', 'claude']
+      })
+      expect(getSkillFreshnessDisplayStatus(inventory, 'orca-cli')).toBe('up-to-date')
+    }
+  )
+
   it('reads up to date after the OS drops a sidecar into an untouched install', async () => {
     const test = await fixture()
     const directory = await test.writeSkill(
diff --git a/src/main/skills/skill-installation-topology.ts b/src/main/skills/skill-installation-topology.ts
index 0b6174120f0..3b86452148c 100644
--- a/src/main/skills/skill-installation-topology.ts
+++ b/src/main/skills/skill-installation-topology.ts
@@ -129,10 +129,8 @@ export async function classifyHomeSkillTopology(
     normalizedSkillIdentityPath(dirname(resolvedPath)) ===
     normalizedSkillIdentityPath(canonicalRoot)
   let topology: SkillInstallationTopology
-  if (linked) {
+  if (linked || rootOrProviderParentLinked) {
     topology = isCanonicalTarget ? 'provider-alias' : 'external-link'
-  } else if (rootOrProviderParentLinked) {
-    topology = 'external-link'
   } else {
     topology = root.id === 'home-agents' ? 'canonical-copy' : 'independent-copy'
   }