diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/flowchart/parser/antlr/FlowLexer.g4 b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/flowchart/parser/antlr/FlowLexer.g4
index 563b8feba..5e1b01cdf 100644
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/flowchart/parser/antlr/FlowLexer.g4
+++ b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/flowchart/parser/antlr/FlowLexer.g4
@@ -124,7 +124,8 @@ MINUS: '-';
 
 // Node string - allow dashes with lookahead to prevent conflicts with links (matches Jison pattern)
 // Pattern: ([A-Za-z0-9!"\#$%&'*+\.`?\\_\/]|\-(?=[^\>\-\.])|=(?!=))+
-NODE_STRING: ([A-Za-z0-9!"#$%&'*+.`?\\/_] | '-' ~[>\-.] | '=' ~'=')+;
+// Fixed: Use positive lookahead instead of consuming the following character
+NODE_STRING: ([A-Za-z0-9!"#$%&'*+.`?\\/_] | '-' {this.inputStream.LA(1) != '>'.charCodeAt(0) && this.inputStream.LA(1) != '-'.charCodeAt(0) && this.inputStream.LA(1) != '.'.charCodeAt(0)}? | '=' ~'=')+;
 
 // Unicode text support (simplified from Jison's extensive Unicode ranges)
 UNICODE_TEXT: [\u00AA\u00B5\u00BA\u00C0-\u00D6\u00D8-\u00F6\u00F8-\u02C1\u02C6-\u02D1\u02E0-\u02E4\u02EC\u02EE]+;
diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/flowchart/parser/antlr/antlr-parser.ts b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/flowchart/parser/antlr/antlr-parser.ts
index bcf914da2..231106877 100644
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/flowchart/parser/antlr/antlr-parser.ts
+++ b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/flowchart/parser/antlr/antlr-parser.ts
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ class FlowchartListener implements ParseTreeListener {
     nodes: (string | { stmt: string; value: string })[];
   }[] = [];
   private currentArrowText: string = '';
+  private currentLinkData: any = null;
 
   constructor(db: any) {
     this.db = db;
@@ -603,7 +604,9 @@ class FlowchartListener implements ParseTreeListener {
           const vertex = styledVertex.vertex();
           if (vertex) {
             const idCtx = vertex.idString();
-            return idCtx ? idCtx.getText() : null;
+            const nodeId = idCtx ? idCtx.getText() : null;
+
+            return nodeId;
           }
         }
       }
@@ -1383,6 +1386,16 @@ class FlowchartListener implements ParseTreeListener {
     return false;
   }
 
+  // Handle link processing - this is the critical missing method
+  exitLink = (ctx: any) => {
+    try {
+      // Store link data for use in vertexStatement processing
+      this.currentLinkData = this.extractLinkData(ctx);
+    } catch (_error) {
+      // Error handling for link processing
+    }
+  };
+
   // Handle arrow text (pipe-delimited edge text)
   exitArrowText = (ctx: any) => {
     try {