diff --git a/app/editor/components/EmojiMenu.tsx b/app/editor/components/EmojiMenu.tsx
index d6cd4f8967..524f5c96af 100644
--- a/app/editor/components/EmojiMenu.tsx
+++ b/app/editor/components/EmojiMenu.tsx
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import SuggestionsMenu, {
   Props as SuggestionsMenuProps,
 } from "./SuggestionsMenu";
 import { isInternalUrl } from "@shared/utils/urls";
+import useStores from "~/hooks/useStores";
 
 type Emoji = {
   name: string;
@@ -25,37 +26,36 @@ type Props = Omit<
 const EmojiMenu = (props: Props) => {
   const { search = "" } = props;
   const [items, setItems] = useState<Emoji[]>([]);
+  const { emojis } = useStores();
 
   useEffect(() => {
-    const setEmojiItems = (results: ShortEmojiType[]) => {
-      const mappedItems = results
-        .map((item) => {
-          // We snake_case the shortcode for backwards compatability with gemoji to
-          // avoid multiple formats being written into documents.
-          // @ts-expect-error emojiMartToGemoji key
-          const shortcode = snakeCase(emojiMartToGemoji[item.id] || item.id);
-          const emoji = item.value;
-
-          return {
-            name: "emoji",
-            title: emoji,
-            description: capitalize(item.name.toLowerCase()),
-            emoji,
-            attrs: {
-              markup: shortcode,
-              "data-name": !isInternalUrl(emoji) ? shortcode : item.name,
-              "data-url": isInternalUrl(emoji) ? emoji : undefined,
-            },
-          };
-        })
-        .slice(0, 15);
-
-      setItems(mappedItems);
+    const updateItems = (results: ShortEmojiType[]) => {
+      setItems(results.map(toMenuItem).slice(0, 15));
     };
 
-    const results = emojiSearch({ query: search, onUpdate: setEmojiItems });
-    setEmojiItems(results);
-  }, [search]);
+    // search through regular emojis
+    const localResults = emojiSearch({ query: search });
+    updateItems(localResults);
+
+    // Fetch and merge custom emojis
+    emojis.fetchPage({ query: search }).then((serverData) => {
+      if (!serverData.length) {return;}
+
+      const customEmojis = serverData.map((e) => ({
+        id: e.id,
+        name: e.name,
+        search: e.name,
+        value: e.url,
+      }));
+
+      const mergedResults = emojiSearch({
+        query: search,
+        emojis: customEmojis,
+      });
+
+      updateItems(mergedResults);
+    });
+  }, [search, emojis]);
 
   const renderMenuItem = useCallback(
     (item, _index, options) => (
@@ -79,4 +79,25 @@ const EmojiMenu = (props: Props) => {
   );
 };
 
+const toMenuItem = (item: ShortEmojiType): Emoji => {
+  // We snake_case the shortcode for backwards compatability with gemoji to
+  // avoid multiple formats being written into documents.
+  // @ts-expect-error emojiMartToGemoji key
+  const shortcode = snakeCase(emojiMartToGemoji[item.id] || item.id);
+  const emoji = item.value;
+  const isCustom = isInternalUrl(emoji);
+
+  return {
+    name: "emoji",
+    title: emoji,
+    description: capitalize(item.name.toLowerCase()),
+    emoji,
+    attrs: {
+      markup: shortcode,
+      "data-name": isCustom ? item.name : shortcode,
+      "data-url": isCustom ? emoji : undefined,
+    },
+  };
+};
+
 export default EmojiMenu;
diff --git a/shared/utils/emoji.ts b/shared/utils/emoji.ts
index 2a3bdc82f7..16e9a5ed25 100644
--- a/shared/utils/emoji.ts
+++ b/shared/utils/emoji.ts
@@ -1,16 +1,10 @@
 import RawData from "@emoji-mart/data";
-import type {
-  EmojiMartData,
-  Skin,
-  Emoji as EmojiMartType,
-} from "@emoji-mart/data";
+import type { EmojiMartData, Skin } from "@emoji-mart/data";
 import { init, Data } from "emoji-mart";
 import FuzzySearch from "fuzzy-search";
 import capitalize from "lodash/capitalize";
 import sortBy from "lodash/sortBy";
 import { Emoji, EmojiCategory, EmojiSkinTone, EmojiVariants } from "../types";
-import { client } from "~/utils/ApiClient";
-import Logger from "~/utils/Logger";
 
 init({ data: RawData });
 
@@ -105,7 +99,7 @@ const Emojis = allowFlagEmoji
       )
     );
 
-const searcher = (emojis: EmojiMartType[]) =>
+const searcher = (emojis: searchEmojis[]) =>
   new FuzzySearch(emojis, ["search"], {
     caseSensitive: false,
     sort: true,
@@ -163,23 +157,6 @@ const CATEGORY_TO_EMOJI_IDS: Record<EmojiCategory, string[]> =
     {} as Record<EmojiCategory, string[]>
   );
 
-export const getCustomEmojis = async (
-  search: string
-): Promise<EmojiMartType[] | null> => {
-  try {
-    const response = await client.post("/emojis.list", { query: search });
-    return response.data.map((d: any) => ({
-      id: d.id,
-      name: d.name,
-      search: d.name,
-      value: d.url,
-    }));
-  } catch (error) {
-    Logger.error("Failed to fetch custom emojis:", error);
-    return null;
-  }
-};
-
 export const getEmojis = ({
   ids,
   skinTone,
@@ -215,57 +192,39 @@ export const getEmojisWithCategory = ({
 export const getEmojiVariants = ({ id }: { id: string }) =>
   EMOJI_ID_TO_VARIANTS[id];
 
+type searchEmojis = Emoji & {
+  search?: string;
+  skins?: Skin[];
+};
+
 export const search = ({
+  emojis = [],
   query,
   skinTone,
-  onUpdate,
 }: {
+  emojis?: searchEmojis[];
   query: string;
   skinTone?: EmojiSkinTone;
-  onUpdate?: (results: any[]) => void;
 }): Emoji[] => {
-  const queryLowercase = query.toLowerCase();
-  const emojiSkinTone = skinTone ?? EmojiSkinTone.Default;
-
-  const processEmojis = (emojis: EmojiMartType[]) => {
-    const matchedEmojis = searcher(emojis)
-      .search(queryLowercase)
-      .map((emoji) => {
-        if (!emoji.skins) {
-          return emoji;
-        }
-
-        return (
-          EMOJI_ID_TO_VARIANTS[emoji.id][emojiSkinTone] ??
-          EMOJI_ID_TO_VARIANTS[emoji.id][EmojiSkinTone.Default]
-        );
-      });
-
-    return sortBy(matchedEmojis, (emoji) => {
-      const nlc = emoji.name.toLowerCase();
-      return query === nlc ? -1 : nlc.startsWith(queryLowercase) ? 0 : 1;
-    });
-  };
-
-  // Return standard emojis immediately
-  const standardResults = processEmojis(Object.values(Emojis));
-
-  // Load custom emojis asynchronously and update results
-  getCustomEmojis(query)
-    .then((customEmojis) => {
-      if (customEmojis) {
-        const combinedResults = processEmojis([
-          ...Object.values(Emojis),
-          ...customEmojis,
-        ]);
-        onUpdate?.(combinedResults);
+  const matchedEmojis = searcher([...Object.values(Emojis), ...emojis])
+    .search(query.toLowerCase())
+    .map((emoji) => {
+      if (!emoji.skins) {
+        return emoji;
       }
-    })
-    .catch((error) => {
-      Logger.error("Failed to load custom emojis:", error);
+
+      const emojiSkinTone = skinTone ?? EmojiSkinTone.Default;
+
+      return (
+        EMOJI_ID_TO_VARIANTS[emoji.id][emojiSkinTone] ??
+        EMOJI_ID_TO_VARIANTS[emoji.id][EmojiSkinTone.Default]
+      );
     });
 
-  return standardResults as Emoji[];
+  return sortBy(matchedEmojis, (emoji) => {
+    const nlc = emoji.name.toLowerCase();
+    return query === nlc ? -1 : nlc.startsWith(query) ? 0 : 1;
+  }) as Emoji[];
 };
 
 /**