diff --git a/conf.py b/conf.py
index 156a7529..24b99bb8 100644
--- a/conf.py
+++ b/conf.py
@@ -95,6 +95,35 @@
 
 html_show_sourcelink = False
 
+def namespace_generated_labels(spec_dir, version):
+    """Prefix the labels generated by ``pre_build.py`` with the spec version.
+
+    ``pre_build.py`` emits targets such as ``(examples:multiscales_strict:...)=``
+    and ``(schemas:image)=``.  Every version submodule uses the exact same names,
+    so once Sphinx reads them all into a single project the duplicates collapse
+    and *all* of them resolve to whichever version happened to be read first
+    (``dev``).  Links on the 0.5 examples/schemas pages then silently pointed at
+    the dev spec.
+
+    Hand-written spec labels already namespace themselves as ``version0.5:...``;
+    do the same for the generated ones.  This is done here in the superproject so
+    we do not have to edit, commit, and bump every ngff-spec version submodule.
+    """
+    import re
+    from pathlib import Path
+
+    prefix = f"version{version}:"
+    # target definition at the start of a line, and MyST link to such a target
+    target_re = re.compile(r"^\((examples|schemas):", re.MULTILINE)
+    link_re = re.compile(r"\]\(#(examples|schemas):")
+
+    for md_file in Path(spec_dir).rglob("*.md"):
+        text = md_file.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+        patched = link_re.sub(rf"](#{prefix}\1:", target_re.sub(rf"({prefix}\1:", text))
+        if patched != text:
+            md_file.write_text(patched, encoding="utf-8")
+
+
 def build_served_html():
     import glob
     import subprocess
@@ -143,6 +172,9 @@ def build_served_html():
         subprocess.check_call([sys.executable, script])
         print("✅ Built rendered examples/schemas for version", version)
 
+        namespace_generated_labels(spec_dir, version)
+        print(f"✅ Namespaced generated labels for version {version}")
+
         # build jupyter-book docs in specification submodules
         myst_file = glob.glob(f"specifications/{version}/**/myst.yml", recursive=True)[
             0