diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index f62f9cd3..e3360954 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -172,6 +172,9 @@ npm = ["jlpm"]
 source_dir = "jupyterlab/packages"
 build_dir = "jupyterlab/jupyterlab_jupytext/labextension"
 
+[tool.hatch.build.hooks.custom]
+path = "tools/absolute_links_in_readme.py"
+
 [tool.check-wheel-contents]
 ignore = ["W002"]
 
diff --git a/tools/absolute_links_in_readme.py b/tools/absolute_links_in_readme.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8d29b3b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/absolute_links_in_readme.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+import re
+
+from hatchling.builders.hooks.plugin.interface import BuildHookInterface
+
+
+class AbsoluteLinksInReadme(BuildHookInterface):
+    def initialize(self, version, build_data):
+        readme_path = "README.md"
+        base_url = "https://github.com/mwouts/jupytext/blob/main/"
+        self.convert_links(readme_path, base_url)
+
+    def convert_links(self, readme_path, base_url):
+        with open(readme_path, "r") as file:
+            content = file.read()
+
+        # Regex to find markdown links
+        pattern = re.compile(r"\[([^\]]+)\]\(([^)]+)\)")
+
+        def replace_link(match):
+            text, url = match.groups()
+            if not url.startswith(("http://", "https://")):
+                url = base_url + url
+            return f"[{text}]({url})"
+
+        new_content = pattern.sub(replace_link, content)
+
+        with open(readme_path, "w") as file:
+            file.write(new_content)