diff --git a/ApiVisualEditor.php b/ApiVisualEditor.php
index a649128731..dd575448b5 100644
--- a/ApiVisualEditor.php
+++ b/ApiVisualEditor.php
@@ -467,19 +467,33 @@ class ApiVisualEditor extends ApiBase {
 				$wikipage = WikiPage::factory( $page );
 				$popts = $wikipage->makeParserOptions( 'canonical' );
 				$cached = ParserCache::singleton()->get( $article, $popts, true );
+				$isOldRevision = isset( $params['oldid'] ) && $params['oldid'] != 0 &&
+					$params['oldid'] != $page->getLatestRevID();
+				$links = array(
+					// Array of linked pages that are missing
+					'missing' => array(),
+					// For current revisions: true (treat all non-missing pages as existing)
+					// For old revisions: array of linked pages that exist
+					'extant' => $isOldRevision ? array() : true,
+				);
 				if ( $cached ) {
 					foreach ( $cached->getLinks() as $ns => $dbks ) {
 						foreach ( $dbks as $dbk => $id ) {
-							$links[ Title::makeTitle( $ns, $dbk )->getPrefixedText() ] = array(
-								'missing' => $id == 0
-							);
+							$pft = Title::makeTitle( $ns, $dbk )->getPrefixedText();
+							if ( $id == 0 ) {
+								$links['missing'][] = $pft;
+							} elseif ( $isOldRevision ) {
+								$links['extant'][] = $pft;
+							}
 						}
 					}
 				}
-
-				$links[$page->getPrefixedText()] = array(
-					'missing' => !$page->exists()
-				);
+				// Add information about current page
+				if ( !$page->exists() ) {
+					$links['missing'][] = $page->getPrefixedText();
+				} elseif ( $isOldRevision ) {
+					$links['extant'][] = $page->getPrefixedText();
+				}
 
 				// On parser cache miss, just don't bother populating red link data
 
diff --git a/modules/ve-mw/init/ve.init.mw.LinkCache.js b/modules/ve-mw/init/ve.init.mw.LinkCache.js
index 98a619d5eb..5abb7df09d 100644
--- a/modules/ve-mw/init/ve.init.mw.LinkCache.js
+++ b/modules/ve-mw/init/ve.init.mw.LinkCache.js
@@ -47,6 +47,32 @@
 		} );
 	};
 
+	/**
+	 * Enable or disable automatic assumption of existence.
+	 *
+	 * While enabled, any get() for a title that's not already in the cache will return
+	 * { missing: false } and write that to the cache.
+	 *
+	 * @param {boolean} assume Assume all uncached titles exist
+	 */
+	ve.init.mw.LinkCache.prototype.setAssumeExistence = function ( assume ) {
+		this.assumeExistence = !!assume;
+	};
+
+	/**
+	 * @inheritdoc
+	 */
+	ve.init.mw.LinkCache.prototype.get = function ( title ) {
+		var data = {};
+		if ( this.assumeExistence ) {
+			data[this.normalizeTitle( title )] = { missing: false };
+			this.set( data );
+		}
+
+		// Parent method
+		return ve.init.mw.LinkCache.super.prototype.get.call( this, title );
+	};
+
 	/**
 	 * @inheritdoc
 	 */
diff --git a/modules/ve-mw/init/ve.init.mw.Target.js b/modules/ve-mw/init/ve.init.mw.Target.js
index 23ccbfa286..bb3ea4ed14 100644
--- a/modules/ve-mw/init/ve.init.mw.Target.js
+++ b/modules/ve-mw/init/ve.init.mw.Target.js
@@ -408,7 +408,8 @@ ve.init.mw.Target.onModulesReady = function () {
  * @fires loadError
  */
 ve.init.mw.Target.onLoad = function ( response ) {
-	var data = response ? response.visualeditor : null;
+	var i, len, linkData,
+		data = response ? response.visualeditor : null;
 
 	if ( !data && !response.error ) {
 		ve.init.mw.Target.onLoadError.call(
@@ -451,7 +452,21 @@ ve.init.mw.Target.onLoad = function ( response ) {
 
 		// Populate link cache
 		if ( data.links ) {
-			ve.init.platform.linkCache.set( data.links );
+			// Format from the API: { missing: [titles], extant: true|[titles] }
+			// Format expected by LinkCache: { title: { missing: true|false } }
+			linkData = {};
+			for ( i = 0, len = data.links.missing.length; i < len; i++ ) {
+				linkData[data.links.missing[i]] = { missing: true };
+			}
+			if ( data.links.extant === true ) {
+				// Set back to false by onReady()
+				ve.init.platform.linkCache.setAssumeExistence( true );
+			} else {
+				for ( i = 0, len = data.links.extant.length; i < len; i++ ) {
+					linkData[data.links.extant[i]] = { missing: false };
+				}
+			}
+			ve.init.platform.linkCache.set( linkData );
 		}
 
 		// Everything worked, the page was loaded, continue as soon as the modules are loaded
@@ -521,6 +536,8 @@ ve.init.mw.Target.prototype.onReady = function () {
 	this.loading = false;
 	this.edited = false;
 	this.setupSurface( this.doc, function () {
+		// onLoad() may have called setAssumeExistence( true );
+		ve.init.platform.linkCache.setAssumeExistence( false );
 		target.startSanityCheck();
 		target.emit( 'surfaceReady' );
 	} );