Now define this link:

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
(org-link-set-parameters "bare"
:help-echo "BARE LINK"
:activate-func (lambda (start end path _bracketp)
 (message-box "%S activating bare" (list start end path))
 (put-text-property start
    end
    'face '(:foreground "OrangeRed1"))))

#+END_SRC

When I put my cursor on the org-cite line and press spc, I see a message box pop up, and the @key has a tooltip of "BARE LINK".

I guess this means the activate-func is being used too aggressively. It looks like it is called after (re-search-forward org-link-any-re limit t). This does seem to match the cite syntax above.

Does anyone else see this?