diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 98b6561..000fc92 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -949,6 +949,15 @@ version = "1.15.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "48c757948c5ede0e46177b7add2e67155f70e33c07fea8284df6576da70b3719"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "emojis"
+version = "0.6.4"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "99e1f1df1f181f2539bac8bf027d31ca5ffbf9e559e3f2d09413b9107b5c02f4"
+dependencies = [
+ "phf",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "encoding_rs"
 version = "0.8.35"
@@ -3731,6 +3740,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "base64 0.22.1",
  "bb8-postgres",
  "bitflags 2.9.0",
+ "emojis",
  "md-5",
  "pathbufd",
  "redis",
diff --git a/crates/app/src/main.rs b/crates/app/src/main.rs
index 1285a1a..0c9b3e0 100644
--- a/crates/app/src/main.rs
+++ b/crates/app/src/main.rs
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ mod routes;
 mod sanitize;
 
 use assets::{init_dirs, write_assets};
-use tetratto_core::model::permissions::FinePermission;
+use tetratto_core::model::{permissions::FinePermission, uploads::CustomEmoji};
 pub use tetratto_core::*;
 
 use axum::{Extension, Router};
@@ -24,7 +24,12 @@ use tokio::sync::RwLock;
 pub(crate) type State = Arc<RwLock<(DataManager, Tera, Client)>>;
 
 fn render_markdown(value: &Value, _: &HashMap<String, Value>) -> tera::Result<Value> {
-    Ok(tetratto_shared::markdown::render_markdown(value.as_str().unwrap()).into())
+    Ok(
+        CustomEmoji::replace(&tetratto_shared::markdown::render_markdown(
+            value.as_str().unwrap(),
+        ))
+        .into(),
+    )
 }
 
 fn color_escape(value: &Value, _: &HashMap<String, Value>) -> tera::Result<Value> {
diff --git a/crates/app/src/public/html/communities/create_post.html b/crates/app/src/public/html/communities/create_post.html
index f991b3a..306de5d 100644
--- a/crates/app/src/public/html/communities/create_post.html
+++ b/crates/app/src/public/html/communities/create_post.html
@@ -61,9 +61,14 @@
                         ></textarea>
                     </div>
 
-                    <button class="primary">
-                        {{ text "communities:action.create" }}
-                    </button>
+                    <div class="flex gap-2">
+                        {{ components::emoji_picker(element_id="content",
+                        render_dialog=true) }}
+
+                        <button class="primary">
+                            {{ text "communities:action.create" }}
+                        </button>
+                    </div>
                 </form>
             </div>
 
diff --git a/crates/app/src/public/html/components.html b/crates/app/src/public/html/components.html
index 539f054..a598ede 100644
--- a/crates/app/src/public/html/components.html
+++ b/crates/app/src/public/html/components.html
@@ -1112,4 +1112,75 @@ secondary=false) -%}
     </div>
     {% endif %}
 </div>
-{%- endmacro %}
+{%- endmacro %} {% macro emoji_picker(element_id, render_dialog=false) -%}
+<button
+    class="button small square quaternary"
+    onclick="window.EMOJI_PICKER_TEXT_ID = '{{ element_id }}'; document.getElementById('emoji_dialog').showModal()"
+    title="Emojis"
+    type="button"
+>
+    {{ icon "smile-plus" }}
+</button>
+
+{% if render_dialog %}
+<dialog id="emoji_dialog">
+    <div class="inner flex flex-col gap-2">
+        <script
+            type="module"
+            src="https://unpkg.com/emoji-picker-element@1.22.8/index.js"
+        ></script>
+
+        <emoji-picker
+            style="
+                --border-radius: var(--radius);
+                --background: var(--color-super-raised);
+                --input-border-radiFus: var(--radius);
+                --input-border-color: var(--color-primary);
+                --indicator-color: var(--color-primary);
+                --emoji-padding: 0.25rem;
+                box-shadow: 0 0 4px var(--color-shadow);
+            "
+            class="w-full"
+        ></emoji-picker>
+
+        <script>
+            document
+                .querySelector("emoji-picker")
+                .addEventListener("emoji-click", (event) => {
+                    function gemoji() {
+                        const use_first_shortcode = ["grinning squinting face"];
+
+                        if (
+                            use_first_shortcode.includes(
+                                event.detail.emoji.annotation,
+                            )
+                        ) {
+                            return event.detail.emoji.shortcodes[0];
+                        }
+
+                        return event.detail.emoji.shortcodes[1];
+                    }
+
+                    document.getElementById(
+                        window.EMOJI_PICKER_TEXT_ID,
+                    ).value += ` :${gemoji()}:`;
+                    document.getElementById("emoji_dialog").close();
+                });
+        </script>
+
+        <div class="flex justify-between">
+            <div></div>
+
+            <div class="flex gap-2">
+                <button
+                    class="bold red quaternary"
+                    onclick="document.getElementById('emoji_dialog').close()"
+                    type="button"
+                >
+                    {{ icon "x" }} {{ text "dialog:action.close" }}
+                </button>
+            </div>
+        </div>
+    </div>
+</dialog>
+{% endif %} {%- endmacro %}
diff --git a/crates/app/src/public/html/post/post.html b/crates/app/src/public/html/post/post.html
index d17182c..1d2cc7f 100644
--- a/crates/app/src/public/html/post/post.html
+++ b/crates/app/src/public/html/post/post.html
@@ -43,9 +43,14 @@
                 ></textarea>
             </div>
 
-            <button class="primary">
-                {{ text "communities:action.create" }}
-            </button>
+            <div class="flex gap-2">
+                {{ components::emoji_picker(element_id="content",
+                render_dialog=true) }}
+
+                <button class="primary">
+                    {{ text "communities:action.create" }}
+                </button>
+            </div>
         </form>
     </div>
     {% endif %}
@@ -198,8 +203,8 @@
                 >
                 <textarea
                     type="text"
-                    name="content"
-                    id="content"
+                    name="new_content"
+                    id="new_content"
                     placeholder="content"
                     required
                     minlength="2"
@@ -209,7 +214,14 @@
                 >
             </div>
 
-            <button class="primary">{{ text "general:action.save" }}</button>
+            <div class="flex gap-2">
+                {{ components::emoji_picker(element_id="new_content",
+                render_dialog=false) }}
+
+                <button class="primary">
+                    {{ text "general:action.save" }}
+                </button>
+            </div>
         </form>
     </div>
 
@@ -223,7 +235,7 @@
                     "Content-Type": "application/json",
                 },
                 body: JSON.stringify({
-                    content: e.target.content.value,
+                    content: e.target.new_content.value,
                 }),
             })
                 .then((res) => res.json())
diff --git a/crates/core/Cargo.toml b/crates/core/Cargo.toml
index fe4c626..692c5c5 100644
--- a/crates/core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/core/Cargo.toml
@@ -33,3 +33,4 @@ rusqlite = { version = "0.35.0", optional = true }
 tokio-postgres = { version = "0.7.13", optional = true }
 bb8-postgres = { version = "0.9.0", optional = true }
 base64 = "0.22.1"
+emojis = "0.6.4"
diff --git a/crates/core/src/database/emojis.rs b/crates/core/src/database/emojis.rs
index 9c47ff7..9e13332 100644
--- a/crates/core/src/database/emojis.rs
+++ b/crates/core/src/database/emojis.rs
@@ -54,40 +54,30 @@ impl DataManager {
         Ok(res.unwrap())
     }
 
-    /// Get all emojis by user.
+    /// Get an emoji by community and name.
     ///
     /// # Arguments
-    /// * `user` - the ID of the user to fetch emojis for
-    pub async fn get_emojis_by_user(&self, user: usize) -> Result<Vec<CustomEmoji>> {
-        let conn = match self.connect().await {
-            Ok(c) => c,
-            Err(e) => return Err(Error::DatabaseConnection(e.to_string())),
-        };
-
-        let res = query_rows!(
-            &conn,
-            "SELECT * FROM emojis WHERE (owner = $1 OR members LIKE $2) AND community = 0 ORDER BY created DESC",
-            params![&(user as i64), &format!("%{user}%")],
-            |x| { Self::get_emoji_from_row(x) }
-        );
-
-        if res.is_err() {
-            return Err(Error::GeneralNotFound("emoji".to_string()));
+    /// * `community` - the ID of the community to fetch emoji from
+    /// * `name` - the name of the emoji
+    ///
+    /// # Returns
+    /// `(custom emoji, emoji string)`
+    ///
+    /// Custom emoji will be none if emoji string is some, and vice versa. Emoji string
+    /// will only be some if the community is 0 (no community ID in parsed string, or `0.emoji_name`)
+    ///
+    /// Regular unicode emojis should have a community ID of 0, since they don't belong
+    /// to any community and can be used by anyone.
+    pub async fn get_emoji_by_community_name(
+        &self,
+        community: usize,
+        name: &str,
+    ) -> Result<(Option<CustomEmoji>, Option<String>)> {
+        if community == 0 {
+            return Ok((None, Some("🐇".to_string())));
         }
 
-        Ok(res.unwrap())
-    }
-
-    /// Get a emoji given its `owner` and a member.
-    ///
-    /// # Arguments
-    /// * `owner` - the ID of the owner
-    /// * `member` - the ID of the member
-    pub async fn get_emoji_by_owner_member(
-        &self,
-        owner: usize,
-        member: usize,
-    ) -> Result<CustomEmoji> {
+        // ...
         let conn = match self.connect().await {
             Ok(c) => c,
             Err(e) => return Err(Error::DatabaseConnection(e.to_string())),
@@ -95,9 +85,9 @@ impl DataManager {
 
         let res = query_row!(
             &conn,
-            "SELECT * FROM emojis WHERE owner = $1 AND members = $2 AND community = 0 ORDER BY created DESC",
-            params![&(owner as i64), &format!("[{member}]")],
-            |x| { Ok(Self::get_emoji_from_row(x)) }
+            "SELECT * FROM emojis WHERE community = $1 AND name = $2 ORDER BY name ASC",
+            params![&(community as i64), &name],
+            |x| { Ok((Some(Self::get_emoji_from_row(x)), None)) }
         );
 
         if res.is_err() {
diff --git a/crates/core/src/model/uploads.rs b/crates/core/src/model/uploads.rs
index 0eeae71..a94dfec 100644
--- a/crates/core/src/model/uploads.rs
+++ b/crates/core/src/model/uploads.rs
@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ pub struct CustomEmoji {
     pub name: String,
 }
 
+pub type EmojiParserResult = Vec<(String, usize, String)>;
+
 impl CustomEmoji {
     /// Create a new [`CustomEmoji`].
     pub fn new(owner: usize, community: usize, upload_id: usize, name: String) -> Self {
@@ -63,4 +65,105 @@ impl CustomEmoji {
             name,
         }
     }
+
+    /// Replace emojis in the given input string.
+    pub fn replace(input: &str) -> String {
+        let res = Self::parse(input);
+        let mut out = input.to_string();
+
+        for emoji in res {
+            if emoji.1 == 0 {
+                out = out.replace(
+                    &emoji.0,
+                    match emojis::get_by_shortcode(&emoji.2) {
+                        Some(e) => e.as_str(),
+                        None => &emoji.0,
+                    },
+                );
+            } else {
+                out = out.replace(
+                    &emoji.0,
+                    &format!(
+                        "<img class=\"emoji\" src=\"/api/v1/communities/{}/emoji/{}\" />",
+                        emoji.1, emoji.2
+                    ),
+                );
+            }
+        }
+
+        out
+    }
+
+    /// Parse text for emojis.
+    ///
+    /// Another "great" parser, just like the mentions parser.
+    ///
+    /// # Returns
+    /// `(capture, community id, emoji name)`
+    pub fn parse(input: &str) -> EmojiParserResult {
+        let mut out = Vec::new();
+        let mut buffer: String = String::new();
+
+        let mut escape: bool = false;
+        let mut in_emoji: bool = false;
+
+        let mut chars = input.chars();
+        while let Some(char) = chars.next() {
+            if escape == true {
+                buffer.push(char);
+                continue;
+            }
+
+            if char == '\\' && escape == false {
+                escape = true;
+                continue;
+            } else if char == ':' {
+                let mut community_id: String = String::new();
+                let mut accepting_community_id_chars: bool = true;
+                let mut emoji_name: String = String::new();
+
+                let mut char_count: u32 = 0; // if we're past the first 4 characters and we haven't hit a digit, stop accepting community id
+                while let Some(char) = chars.next() {
+                    if (char == ':') | (char == ' ') {
+                        in_emoji = false;
+                        break;
+                    }
+
+                    if char.is_digit(10) && accepting_community_id_chars {
+                        community_id.push(char);
+                    } else if char == '.' {
+                        // the period closes the community id
+                        accepting_community_id_chars = false;
+                    } else {
+                        emoji_name.push(char);
+                    }
+
+                    if char_count >= 4 && community_id.is_empty() {
+                        accepting_community_id_chars = false;
+                    }
+
+                    char_count += 1;
+                }
+
+                out.push((
+                    format!(
+                        ":{}{emoji_name}:",
+                        if !community_id.is_empty() {
+                            format!("{community_id}.")
+                        } else {
+                            String::new()
+                        }
+                    ),
+                    community_id.parse::<usize>().unwrap_or(0),
+                    emoji_name,
+                ));
+
+                continue;
+            } else if in_emoji {
+                buffer.push(char);
+            }
+        }
+
+        out
+    }
 }