@yossarian > Furthermore, this is the reality for every YAML parser in wide use: all widespread YAML parsers choose (reasonably) to copy anchored values into each location where they’re referenced, meaning that the analyzing tool cannot “see” the original element for source location purposes.

This is not universally true. In JavaScript:

import { isAlias, parseDocument } from 'yaml'

const src = `jobs:
job1:
env: &env_vars
NODE_ENV: production
job2:
env: *env_vars`
const doc = parseDocument(src)

const alias = doc.getIn(['jobs', 'job2', 'env'])
// Alias { source: 'env_vars', range: [ 77, 86, 86 ] }
isAlias(alias) // true

src.substring(77, 86) === '*env_vars'

const envNode = doc.getIn(['jobs', 'job1', 'env'])
alias.resolve(doc) === envNode // true

See docs here: https://eemeli.org/yaml/#alias-nodes