diff --git a/ui/src/lib/issue-reference.test.ts b/ui/src/lib/issue-reference.test.ts
index 27d4e9c42d0..d1d613e0325 100644
--- a/ui/src/lib/issue-reference.test.ts
+++ b/ui/src/lib/issue-reference.test.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,12 @@ describe("issue-reference", () => {
     expect(parseIssuePathIdFromPath("http://localhost:3100/PAP/issues/PAP-1179")).toBe("PAP-1179");
   });
 
+  it("ignores placeholder issue paths", () => {
+    expect(parseIssuePathIdFromPath("/issues/:id")).toBeNull();
+    expect(parseIssuePathIdFromPath("http://localhost:3100/issues/:id")).toBeNull();
+    expect(parseIssueReferenceFromHref("/issues/:id")).toBeNull();
+  });
+
   it("normalizes bare identifiers, issue URLs, and issue scheme links into internal links", () => {
     expect(parseIssueReferenceFromHref("pap-1271")).toEqual({
       issuePathId: "PAP-1271",
diff --git a/ui/src/lib/router.tsx b/ui/src/lib/router.tsx
index c8d3a352d38..0ec23ede33c 100644
--- a/ui/src/lib/router.tsx
+++ b/ui/src/lib/router.tsx
@@ -9,12 +9,7 @@ import {
   extractCompanyPrefixFromPath,
   normalizeCompanyPrefix,
 } from "@/lib/company-routes";
-
-function parseIssuePathIdFromPath(pathname: string | null | undefined): string | null {
-  if (!pathname) return null;
-  const match = pathname.match(/(?:^|\/)issues\/([^/?#]+)/);
-  return match?.[1] ?? null;
-}
+import { parseIssuePathIdFromPath } from "@/lib/issue-reference";
 
 function resolveTo(to: To, companyPrefix: string | null): To {
   if (typeof to === "string") {