diff --git a/server/utils/changelog/markdown.ts b/server/utils/changelog/markdown.ts
index aa11c19f88..abfb76bd4d 100644
--- a/server/utils/changelog/markdown.ts
+++ b/server/utils/changelog/markdown.ts
@@ -14,11 +14,11 @@ import {
   createMarkedHeadingExtension,
   renderToRawHtml,
   sanitizeRawHTML,
+  emojiText,
 } from '../mdKit'
 import { slugify } from '#shared/utils/html'
 import { Marked } from 'marked'
 import { hasProtocol, joinRelativeURL, parseFilename } from 'ufo'
-import { convertToEmoji } from '#shared/utils/emoji'
 
 // cl = ChangeLog
 const clMarked = new Marked()
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ export async function changelogRenderer(mdRepoInfo: MarkdownRepoInfo) {
   const renderer = new clMarked.Renderer({
     gfm: true,
   })
+  renderer.text = emojiText
 
   // GitHub-style callouts: > [!NOTE], > [!TIP], etc.
   renderer.blockquote = blockquote
@@ -89,7 +90,7 @@ export async function changelogRenderer(mdRepoInfo: MarkdownRepoInfo) {
     const rawHtml = renderToRawHtml({ renderer, markdownBody, markedInstance: clMarked })
 
     return {
-      html: sanitizeRawHTML(convertToEmoji(rawHtml), {
+      html: sanitizeRawHTML(rawHtml, {
         processImageUrl,
         processLink,
         toUserContentId,
diff --git a/server/utils/mdKit.ts b/server/utils/mdKit.ts
index 3ebe367d95..5845791628 100644
--- a/server/utils/mdKit.ts
+++ b/server/utils/mdKit.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import {
   type Tokens,
+  type Token,
   type RendererApi,
   type Renderer,
   type TokenizerObject,
@@ -8,6 +9,7 @@ import {
 } from 'marked'
 import { highlightCodeSync } from './shiki'
 import { decodeHtmlEntities, stripHtmlTags, slugify } from '#shared/utils/html'
+import { convertToEmoji } from '#shared/utils/emoji'
 import { escapeHtml } from './docs/text'
 import sanitizeHtml from 'sanitize-html'
 import { hasProtocol } from 'ufo'
@@ -51,6 +53,12 @@ export const blockquote: RendererApi['blockquote'] = function (
   return `<blockquote>${body}</blockquote>\n`
 }
 
+/** Convert emoji shortcodes only in Markdown text tokens. */
+export const emojiText: RendererApi['text'] = function (this: Renderer<string, string>, token) {
+  if (token.type === 'escape') return token.text
+  return token.tokens ? this.parser.parseInline(token.tokens) : convertToEmoji(token.text)
+}
+
 /**
  * created code highlighter with Shiki for Marked
  */
@@ -214,6 +222,20 @@ export function getHeadingSlugSource(text: string): string {
   return stripHtmlTags(text).trim()
 }
 
+function getHeadingSlugSourceFromTokens(tokens: Token[]): string {
+  return tokens
+    .map(token => {
+      if (token.type === 'image' || token.type === 'br') return ''
+      if (token.type === 'codespan') return escapeHtml(token.text)
+      if ('tokens' in token && token.tokens) return getHeadingSlugSourceFromTokens(token.tokens)
+      if (token.type === 'html') return stripHtmlTags(token.text)
+      if ('text' in token && typeof token.text === 'string') return token.text
+      return ''
+    })
+    .join('')
+    .trim()
+}
+
 const htmlAnchorRe = /<a(\s[^>]*?)href=(["'])([^"']*)\2([^>]*)>([\s\S]*?)<\/a>/gi
 
 export type ToUserContentIdFn = (id: string) => string
@@ -241,7 +263,7 @@ export function createHeading(options: {
   ) {
     const displayHtml = this.parser.parseInline(tokens)
     const plainText = getHeadingPlainText(displayHtml)
-    const slugSource = getHeadingSlugSource(displayHtml)
+    const slugSource = getHeadingSlugSourceFromTokens(tokens)
     return processHeading(depth, displayHtml, plainText, slugSource)
   }
 
diff --git a/server/utils/readme.ts b/server/utils/readme.ts
index 717136f981..13ef15a7df 100644
--- a/server/utils/readme.ts
+++ b/server/utils/readme.ts
@@ -13,13 +13,13 @@ import {
   createImage,
   sanitizeRawHTML,
   decodeHashFragment,
+  emojiText,
 } from './mdKit'
 import matter from 'gray-matter'
 import { marked } from 'marked'
 import { hasProtocol } from 'ufo'
 import { convertBlobOrFileToRawUrl, type RepositoryInfo } from '#shared/utils/git-providers'
 import { decodeHtmlEntities, slugify } from '#shared/utils/html'
-import { convertToEmoji } from '#shared/utils/emoji'
 import { toProxiedImageUrl } from '#server/utils/image-proxy'
 import { escapeHtml } from './docs/text'
 
@@ -318,6 +318,7 @@ export async function renderReadmeHtml(
   }
 
   const renderer = new marked.Renderer()
+  renderer.text = emojiText
 
   // Collect playground links during parsing
   const collectedLinks: PlaygroundLink[] = []
@@ -378,7 +379,7 @@ export async function renderReadmeHtml(
   })
 
   return {
-    html: convertToEmoji(sanitized),
+    html: sanitized,
     mdExists: Boolean(content),
     playgroundLinks: collectedLinks,
     toc,
diff --git a/shared/utils/emoji.ts b/shared/utils/emoji.ts
index 1a647236f8..df94dd66bb 100644
--- a/shared/utils/emoji.ts
+++ b/shared/utils/emoji.ts
@@ -1905,16 +1905,6 @@ const emojis: Record<string, string> = {
   'wales': '🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿',
 }
 
-export function convertToEmoji(html: string): string {
-  return html.replace(
-    /(<code[\s>][\s\S]*?<\/code>|<pre[\s>][\s\S]*?<\/pre>)|(:[\w+-]+:)/gi,
-    (match, codeBlock: string | undefined, shortcode: string | undefined) => {
-      if (codeBlock) return codeBlock
-      if (shortcode) {
-        const key = shortcode.slice(1, -1)
-        return emojis[key] ?? shortcode
-      }
-      return match
-    },
-  )
+export function convertToEmoji(text: string): string {
+  return text.replace(/:([\w+-]+):/g, (shortcode, key: string) => emojis[key] ?? shortcode)
 }
diff --git a/test/unit/server/utils/changelog/markdown.spec.ts b/test/unit/server/utils/changelog/markdown.spec.ts
index 05302f3277..834fd1cf6d 100644
--- a/test/unit/server/utils/changelog/markdown.spec.ts
+++ b/test/unit/server/utils/changelog/markdown.spec.ts
@@ -36,6 +36,15 @@ function changelogMdInfoWithPath() {
   }
 }
 
+describe('Emoji rendering', () => {
+  it('converts shortcodes in text but not in inline code', async () => {
+    const renderer = await changelogRenderer(changelogMdinfo())
+    const result = renderer(':1234: `:1234:`')
+
+    expect(result.html).toContain('<p>🔢 <code>:1234:</code></p>')
+  })
+})
+
 describe('URL Resolution', () => {
   describe('resolves from /markdown.md & releases', () => {
     it('resolves relative .md links to blob URL for rendered viewing', async () => {
diff --git a/test/unit/server/utils/readme.spec.ts b/test/unit/server/utils/readme.spec.ts
index d24158d777..674c5b0f41 100644
--- a/test/unit/server/utils/readme.spec.ts
+++ b/test/unit/server/utils/readme.spec.ts
@@ -33,6 +33,33 @@ function createRepoInfo(overrides?: Partial<RepositoryInfo>): RepositoryInfo {
   }
 }
 
+describe('Emoji rendering', () => {
+  it('converts shortcodes in text but not in code', async () => {
+    const markdown = ':1234: `:1234:` \\:1234:\n\n```text\n:1234:\n```'
+    const result = await renderReadmeHtml(markdown, 'test-pkg')
+
+    expect(result.html).toContain('<p>🔢 <code>:1234:</code> :1234:</p>')
+    expect(result.html).toContain('<code class="language-text">:1234:</code>')
+  })
+
+  it('preserves shortcode-based heading anchors', async () => {
+    const result = await renderReadmeHtml('# :rocket: Install', 'test-pkg')
+
+    expect(result.html).toContain('id="user-content-rocket-install"')
+    expect(result.html).toContain('🚀 Install')
+  })
+
+  it('builds heading anchors from Markdown tokens before rendering emoji', async () => {
+    const markdown =
+      '# :rocket: [Install](https://example.com) `pkg&cli` <span>now</span> ![badge](badge.svg)'
+    const result = await renderReadmeHtml(markdown, 'test-pkg')
+
+    expect(result.html).toContain('id="user-content-rocket-install-pkgcli-now"')
+    expect(result.html).toContain('🚀')
+    expect(result.html).not.toContain('user-content-rocket-install-pkgcli-now-badge')
+  })
+})
+
 describe('Playground Link Extraction', () => {
   describe('StackBlitz', () => {
     it('extracts stackblitz.com links', async () => {
diff --git a/test/unit/shared/utils/emoji.spec.ts b/test/unit/shared/utils/emoji.spec.ts
index 846860f1b9..22bfbd6f43 100644
--- a/test/unit/shared/utils/emoji.spec.ts
+++ b/test/unit/shared/utils/emoji.spec.ts
@@ -3,15 +3,10 @@ import { convertToEmoji } from '#shared/utils/emoji'
 
 describe('convertToEmoji', () => {
   it('converts :1234: to emoji', () => {
-    expect(convertToEmoji('<p>:1234:</p>')).toBe('<p>🔢</p>')
+    expect(convertToEmoji('Count :1234:')).toBe('Count 🔢')
   })
 
-  it('leaves :1234: in codeblocks untouched', () => {
-    expect(convertToEmoji('<code>:1234:</code>')).toBe('<code>:1234:</code>')
-  })
-
-  it('converts :1234: to emoji outside of codeblock', () => {
-    expect(convertToEmoji('<p>:1234:</p><code>:1234:</code>')).toBe('<p>🔢</p><code>:1234:</code>')
-    expect(convertToEmoji('<code>:1234:</code><p>:1234:</p>')).toBe('<code>:1234:</code><p>🔢</p>')
+  it('leaves unknown shortcodes untouched', () => {
+    expect(convertToEmoji(':not-an-emoji:')).toBe(':not-an-emoji:')
   })
 })