diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index bc4e53e12..cbc338edd 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -42,3 +42,15 @@ repos:
     rev: 1.7.0
     hooks:
       - id: poetry-check
+
+  - repo: local
+    hooks:
+      - id: check-readme
+        name: check-readme
+        files: README.rst
+        language: python
+        entry: rst2html.py README.rst --halt=warning
+        pass_filenames: false
+        additional_dependencies:
+        - docutils==0.20.1
+        - pygments
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 7cc660b6b..a679df598 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ Using pip
 
     pip install sphinx-needs
 
-If you wish to also use the plotting features of sphinx-needs (see :ref:`needbar` and :ref:`needpie`), you need to also install ``matplotlib``, which is available *via* the ``plotting`` extra:
+If you wish to also use the plotting features of sphinx-needs (see ``needbar`` and ``needpie``), you need to also install ``matplotlib``, which is available *via* the ``plotting`` extra:
 
 .. code-block:: bash