diff --git a/packages/ide/vscode/package.json b/packages/ide/vscode/package.json
index 00efbd79..ac3667af 100644
--- a/packages/ide/vscode/package.json
+++ b/packages/ide/vscode/package.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
     "name": "zenstack-v3",
     "publisher": "zenstack",
-    "version": "3.0.8",
+    "version": "3.0.9",
     "displayName": "ZenStack V3 Language Tools",
     "description": "VSCode extension for ZenStack (v3) ZModel language",
     "private": true,
diff --git a/packages/language/src/index.ts b/packages/language/src/index.ts
index 6b2cb56a..4b578f31 100644
--- a/packages/language/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/language/src/index.ts
@@ -70,7 +70,11 @@ export async function loadDocument(
 
     // build the document together with standard library, plugin modules, and imported documents
     await services.shared.workspace.DocumentBuilder.build([stdLib, ...pluginDocs, document, ...importedDocuments], {
-        validation: true,
+        validation: {
+            stopAfterLexingErrors: true,
+            stopAfterParsingErrors: true,
+            stopAfterLinkingErrors: true,
+        },
     });
 
     const diagnostics = langiumDocuments.all
diff --git a/packages/language/src/zmodel-document-builder.ts b/packages/language/src/zmodel-document-builder.ts
index 8e55e267..cddfc80b 100644
--- a/packages/language/src/zmodel-document-builder.ts
+++ b/packages/language/src/zmodel-document-builder.ts
@@ -1,22 +1,26 @@
-import { DefaultDocumentBuilder, type BuildOptions, type LangiumDocument } from 'langium';
+import { DefaultDocumentBuilder, type LangiumSharedCoreServices } from 'langium';
 
 export class ZModelDocumentBuilder extends DefaultDocumentBuilder {
-    override buildDocuments(documents: LangiumDocument[], options: BuildOptions, cancelToken: any): Promise<void> {
-        return super.buildDocuments(
-            documents,
-            {
-                ...options,
-                validation:
-                    // force overriding validation options
-                    options.validation === false || options.validation === undefined
-                        ? options.validation
-                        : {
-                              stopAfterLexingErrors: true,
-                              stopAfterParsingErrors: true,
-                              stopAfterLinkingErrors: true,
-                          },
-            },
-            cancelToken,
-        );
+    constructor(services: LangiumSharedCoreServices) {
+        super(services);
+
+        // override update build options to skip validation when there are
+        // errors in the previous stages
+        let validationOptions = this.updateBuildOptions.validation;
+        const stopFlags = {
+            stopAfterLinkingErrors: true,
+            stopAfterLexingErrors: true,
+            stopAfterParsingErrors: true,
+        };
+        if (validationOptions === true) {
+            validationOptions = stopFlags;
+        } else if (typeof validationOptions === 'object') {
+            validationOptions = { ...validationOptions, ...stopFlags };
+        }
+
+        this.updateBuildOptions = {
+            ...this.updateBuildOptions,
+            validation: validationOptions,
+        };
     }
 }
diff --git a/packages/language/src/zmodel-linker.ts b/packages/language/src/zmodel-linker.ts
index 65a2cb84..9b045283 100644
--- a/packages/language/src/zmodel-linker.ts
+++ b/packages/language/src/zmodel-linker.ts
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@ import {
     type LangiumDocument,
     type LinkingError,
     type Reference,
+    type ReferenceInfo,
     interruptAndCheck,
-    isReference,
 } from 'langium';
 import { match } from 'ts-pattern';
 import {
@@ -94,18 +94,18 @@ export class ZModelLinker extends DefaultLinker {
         document.state = DocumentState.Linked;
     }
 
-    private linkReference(
-        container: AstNode,
-        property: string,
-        document: LangiumDocument,
-        extraScopes: ScopeProvider[],
-    ) {
-        if (this.resolveFromScopeProviders(container, property, document, extraScopes)) {
+    private linkReference(refInfo: ReferenceInfo, document: LangiumDocument, extraScopes: ScopeProvider[]) {
+        const defaultRef = refInfo.reference as DefaultReference;
+        if (defaultRef._ref) {
+            // already linked
             return;
         }
-
-        const reference: DefaultReference = (container as any)[property];
-        this.doLink({ reference, container, property }, document);
+        if (this.resolveFromScopeProviders(refInfo.reference, document, extraScopes)) {
+            // resolved from additional scope provider
+            return;
+        }
+        // default linking
+        this.doLink(refInfo, document);
     }
 
     //#endregion
@@ -113,12 +113,10 @@ export class ZModelLinker extends DefaultLinker {
     //#region Expression type resolving
 
     private resolveFromScopeProviders(
-        node: AstNode,
-        property: string,
+        reference: DefaultReference,
         document: LangiumDocument,
         providers: ScopeProvider[],
     ) {
-        const reference: DefaultReference = (node as any)[property];
         for (const provider of providers) {
             const target = provider(reference.$refText);
             if (target) {
@@ -276,7 +274,7 @@ export class ZModelLinker extends DefaultLinker {
     }
 
     private resolveInvocation(node: InvocationExpr, document: LangiumDocument, extraScopes: ScopeProvider[]) {
-        this.linkReference(node, 'function', document, extraScopes);
+        this.linkReference({ reference: node.function, container: node, property: 'function' }, document, extraScopes);
         node.args.forEach((arg) => this.resolve(arg, document, extraScopes));
         if (node.function.ref) {
             const funcDecl = node.function.ref as FunctionDecl;
@@ -401,7 +399,7 @@ export class ZModelLinker extends DefaultLinker {
                 if (isArrayExpr(node.value)) {
                     node.value.items.forEach((item) => {
                         if (isReferenceExpr(item)) {
-                            const resolved = this.resolveFromScopeProviders(item, 'target', document, [scopeProvider]);
+                            const resolved = this.resolveFromScopeProviders(item.target, document, [scopeProvider]);
                             if (resolved) {
                                 this.resolveToDeclaredType(item, (resolved as DataField).type);
                             } else {
@@ -414,7 +412,7 @@ export class ZModelLinker extends DefaultLinker {
                         this.resolveToBuiltinTypeOrDecl(node.value, node.value.items[0].$resolvedType.decl, true);
                     }
                 } else if (isReferenceExpr(node.value)) {
-                    const resolved = this.resolveFromScopeProviders(node.value, 'target', document, [scopeProvider]);
+                    const resolved = this.resolveFromScopeProviders(node.value.target, document, [scopeProvider]);
                     if (resolved) {
                         this.resolveToDeclaredType(node.value, (resolved as DataField).type);
                     } else {
@@ -495,13 +493,9 @@ export class ZModelLinker extends DefaultLinker {
     }
 
     private resolveDefault(node: AstNode, document: LangiumDocument<AstNode>, extraScopes: ScopeProvider[]) {
-        for (const [property, value] of Object.entries(node)) {
-            if (!property.startsWith('$')) {
-                if (isReference(value)) {
-                    this.linkReference(node, property, document, extraScopes);
-                }
-            }
-        }
+        AstUtils.streamReferences(node).forEach((ref) => {
+            this.linkReference(ref, document, extraScopes);
+        });
         for (const child of AstUtils.streamContents(node)) {
             this.resolve(child, document, extraScopes);
         }