diff --git a/aio/package.json b/aio/package.json
index 6a953e7104..463c8be4af 100644
--- a/aio/package.json
+++ b/aio/package.json
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@
     "fs-extra": "^2.1.2",
     "globby": "^6.1.0",
     "hast-util-is-element": "^1.0.0",
+    "hast-util-to-string": "^1.0.0",
     "html": "^1.0.0",
     "http-server": "^0.9.0",
     "image-size": "^0.5.1",
diff --git a/aio/src/styles/2-modules/_code.scss b/aio/src/styles/2-modules/_code.scss
index 0fa10ce522..4015777436 100644
--- a/aio/src/styles/2-modules/_code.scss
+++ b/aio/src/styles/2-modules/_code.scss
@@ -235,3 +235,8 @@ code-tabs md-tab-group *.mat-ripple-element, code-tabs md-tab-group *.mat-tab-bo
 [role="tabpanel"] {
     transition: none;
 }
+
+.sidenav-content code a {
+  color: inherit;
+  font-size: inherit;
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/aio/tools/transforms/angular-api-package/index.js b/aio/tools/transforms/angular-api-package/index.js
index 4bc8db59c8..783b263e54 100644
--- a/aio/tools/transforms/angular-api-package/index.js
+++ b/aio/tools/transforms/angular-api-package/index.js
@@ -114,10 +114,11 @@ module.exports = new Package('angular-api', [basePackage, typeScriptPackage])
   })
 
 
-  .config(function(convertToJsonProcessor, postProcessHtml, EXPORT_DOC_TYPES) {
+  .config(function(convertToJsonProcessor, postProcessHtml, EXPORT_DOC_TYPES, autoLinkCode) {
     const DOCS_TO_CONVERT = EXPORT_DOC_TYPES.concat([
       'decorator', 'directive', 'pipe', 'module'
     ]);
     convertToJsonProcessor.docTypes = convertToJsonProcessor.docTypes.concat(DOCS_TO_CONVERT);
     postProcessHtml.docTypes = convertToJsonProcessor.docTypes.concat(DOCS_TO_CONVERT);
+    autoLinkCode.docTypes = DOCS_TO_CONVERT;
   });
diff --git a/aio/tools/transforms/angular-base-package/index.js b/aio/tools/transforms/angular-base-package/index.js
index 83d1fd84df..ab05c4e976 100644
--- a/aio/tools/transforms/angular-base-package/index.js
+++ b/aio/tools/transforms/angular-base-package/index.js
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ module.exports = new Package('angular-base', [
   .factory(require('./services/getImageDimensions'))
 
   .factory(require('./post-processors/add-image-dimensions'))
+  .factory(require('./post-processors/auto-link-code'))
 
   .config(function(checkAnchorLinksProcessor) {
     // This is disabled here to prevent false negatives for the `docs-watch` task.
@@ -123,12 +124,13 @@ module.exports = new Package('angular-base', [
   })
 
 
-  .config(function(postProcessHtml, addImageDimensions) {
+  .config(function(postProcessHtml, addImageDimensions, autoLinkCode) {
     addImageDimensions.basePath = path.resolve(AIO_PATH, 'src');
     postProcessHtml.plugins = [
       require('./post-processors/autolink-headings'),
       addImageDimensions,
       require('./post-processors/h1-checker'),
+      autoLinkCode,
     ];
   })
 
diff --git a/aio/tools/transforms/angular-base-package/post-processors/auto-link-code.js b/aio/tools/transforms/angular-base-package/post-processors/auto-link-code.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cb6e115d04
--- /dev/null
+++ b/aio/tools/transforms/angular-base-package/post-processors/auto-link-code.js
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+const visit = require('unist-util-visit');
+const is = require('hast-util-is-element');
+const textContent = require('hast-util-to-string');
+
+/**
+ * Automatically add in a link to the relevant document for simple
+ * code blocks, e.g. `<code>MyClass</code>` becomes
+ * `<code><a href="path/to/myclass">MyClass</a></code>`
+ *
+ * @property docTypes an array of strings. Only docs that have one of these docTypes
+ * will be linked to.
+ * Usually set to the API exported docTypes, e.g. "class", "function", "directive", etc.
+ */
+module.exports = function autoLinkCode(getDocFromAlias) {
+  autoLinkCodeImpl.docTypes = [];
+  return autoLinkCodeImpl;
+
+  function autoLinkCodeImpl()  {
+    return (ast) => {
+      visit(ast, node => {
+        if (is(node, 'code')) {
+          const docs = getDocFromAlias(textContent(node));
+          if (docs.length === 1 && autoLinkCodeImpl.docTypes.indexOf(docs[0].docType) !== -1) {
+            const link = {
+              type: 'element',
+              tagName: 'a',
+              properties: { href: docs[0].path },
+              children: node.children
+            };
+            node.children = [link];
+          }
+        }
+      });
+    };
+  }
+};
diff --git a/aio/tools/transforms/angular-base-package/post-processors/auto-link-code.spec.js b/aio/tools/transforms/angular-base-package/post-processors/auto-link-code.spec.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9ddd36a3e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/aio/tools/transforms/angular-base-package/post-processors/auto-link-code.spec.js
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+var createTestPackage = require('../../helpers/test-package');
+var Dgeni = require('dgeni');
+
+describe('autoLinkCode post-processor', () => {
+  let processor, autoLinkCode, aliasMap;
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    const testPackage = createTestPackage('angular-base-package');
+    const dgeni = new Dgeni([testPackage]);
+    const injector = dgeni.configureInjector();
+    autoLinkCode = injector.get('autoLinkCode');
+    autoLinkCode.docTypes = ['class', 'pipe'];
+    aliasMap = injector.get('aliasMap');
+    processor = injector.get('postProcessHtml');
+    processor.docTypes = ['test-doc'];
+    processor.plugins = [autoLinkCode];
+  });
+
+  it('should insert an anchor into every code item that matches the id of an API doc', () => {
+    aliasMap.addDoc({ docType: 'class', id: 'MyClass', aliases: ['MyClass'], path: 'a/b/myclass' });
+    const doc = { docType: 'test-doc', renderedContent: '<code>MyClass</code>' };
+    processor.$process([doc]);
+    expect(doc.renderedContent).toEqual('<code><a href="a/b/myclass">MyClass</a></code>');
+  });
+
+  it('should insert an anchor into every code item that matches an alias of an API doc', () => {
+    aliasMap.addDoc({ docType: 'class', id: 'MyClass', aliases: ['MyClass', 'foo.MyClass'], path: 'a/b/myclass' });
+    const doc = { docType: 'test-doc', renderedContent: '<code>foo.MyClass</code>' };
+    processor.$process([doc]);
+    expect(doc.renderedContent).toEqual('<code><a href="a/b/myclass">foo.MyClass</a></code>');
+  });
+
+  it('should ignore code items that do not match a link to an API doc', () => {
+    aliasMap.addDoc({ docType: 'guide', id: 'MyClass', aliases: ['MyClass'], path: 'a/b/myclass' });
+    const doc = { docType: 'test-doc', renderedContent: '<code>MyClass</code>' };
+    processor.$process([doc]);
+    expect(doc.renderedContent).toEqual('<code>MyClass</code>');
+  });
+});