diff --git a/scripts/check_links.py b/scripts/check_links.py
index 945079f..43d061e 100644
--- a/scripts/check_links.py
+++ b/scripts/check_links.py
@@ -25,12 +25,18 @@
             text = fh.read()
         for match in LINK_RE.finditer(text):
             url = match.group(1)
+            # Skip external links, mailto:, and in-page anchors
             if url.startswith(("http://", "https://", "mailto:", "#")):
                 continue
-            target = urllib.parse.unquote(url.split("#")[0])
+            # Normalize: remove fragment and query parameters (e.g., ?raw=1)
+            target = urllib.parse.unquote(url.split("#")[0].split("?", 1)[0])
             if not target:
                 continue
-            resolved = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(path), target))
+            # If the link begins with a slash, treat it as repo-root-relative
+            if target.startswith("/"):
+                resolved = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(REPO, target.lstrip("/")))
+            else:
+                resolved = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(path), target))
             if not os.path.exists(resolved):
                 line = text[: match.start()].count("\n") + 1
                 broken.append((os.path.relpath(path, REPO), line, url))
diff --git a/scripts/test_check_links.py b/scripts/test_check_links.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..db9a185
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/test_check_links.py
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+# Minimal functional test — runs the check_links script in a temporary repo layout.
+import os
+import subprocess
+import tempfile
+import textwrap
+import sys
+
+SCRIPT = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "check_links.py")
+
+
+def write(path, content):
+    os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(path), exist_ok=True)
+    with open(path, "w", encoding="utf-8") as fh:
+        fh.write(content)
+
+
+def run_test():
+    with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as td:
+        # Create a minimal repo layout
+        repo_root = td
+        docs_dir = os.path.join(repo_root, "docs", "test-rig-evidence")
+        os.makedirs(docs_dir)
+        # A real file that should be found
+        real_zip = os.path.join(docs_dir, "aeroflex-test-rig-reference-photo-set-20260817.zip")
+        with open(real_zip, "wb") as fh:
+            fh.write(b"zip")
+        # README with a ?raw=1 query on the local filename
+        readme = os.path.join(docs_dir, "README.md")
+        write(readme, textwrap.dedent("""
+        For a one-click handoff, download
+        [`aeroflex-test-rig-reference-photo-set-20260817.zip`](aeroflex-test-rig-reference-photo-set-20260817.zip?raw=1).
+        """))
+        # Run the check_links.py script with cwd set to repo root
+        proc = subprocess.run([sys.executable, SCRIPT], cwd=repo_root, capture_output=True, text=True)
+        print("stdout:", proc.stdout)
+        print("stderr:", proc.stderr)
+        return proc.returncode
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    rc = run_test()
+    if rc != 0:
+        print("Test failed: check_links returned non-zero")
+        sys.exit(rc)
+    print("Test passed")