Custom emoji aliases are not searchable in the emoji picker

[VKS0104]

Description

Searching for a custom emoji by its alias does not return results in the emoji picker. While searching by the primary name works correctly, aliases are ignored, which reduces discoverability of custom emojis.

Environment

• Rocket.Chat version: develop branch
• Browser: Chrome
• OS: macOS

Steps to Reproduce

1. Navigate to Administration → Custom Emojis
2. Create a custom emoji with the name cat
3. Add the alias meow
4. Open the emoji picker in any chat
5. Search for cat → the emoji appears
6. Search for meow → no results are returned

Expected Behavior

Searching for any defined alias of a custom emoji should return that emoji in the emoji picker.

Actual Behavior

The search logic only considers the primary name of the emoji and ignores defined aliases.

Technical Context

The getEmojisBySearchTerm function in:

apps/meteor/app/emoji/client/helpers.ts

filters emojis based on the primary name but does not account for:

• the aliasOf property
• the aliases array for custom emojis

Proposed Fix

Update the getEmojisBySearchTerm filtering logic to include alias matching when searching for emojis, ensuring that both primary names and aliases are considered during search.

Attachments

Video demonstrating the issue and reproduction steps.

Screen.Recording.2026-03-06.at.12.57.37.AM.mov

[coderabbitai]

⚠️ Possible Duplicate Issue(s)

• Aliases of custom emojis are not searchable in emoji picker #18266

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