Add URL previews for chat messages (#43)

Slack/Discord-style link unfurling: the first http(s) URL in a message's
content gets a small preview card (title/description/image/site name)
fetched from the page's Open Graph tags.

Backend:
- Message.preview_url (extracted at create/edit time, cheap regex, no
  I/O) points at a link_previews cache row keyed by URL -- the same URL
  posted in different messages/rooms fetches once, and a failed fetch is
  cached too so a dead URL isn't retried on every reference.
- The actual fetch runs in a background asyncio.create_task from
  broadcast_new_message/broadcast_message_update, on its own DB session,
  so a slow third-party site never delays message delivery. A separate
  "link_preview" WS envelope carries the result once it resolves.
- SSRF protection reuses app/services/ssrf.py's validate_target_url
  (renamed from UnsafeWebhookUrlError to UnsafeUrlError now that it's
  shared with webhooks), but re-validates before every hop of a redirect
  chain rather than once up front -- redirects are followed manually so
  each intermediate URL is checked before it's ever connected to.
- Parsed with stdlib html.parser -- no new dependency.

Frontend: a LinkPreviewCard rendered under message content when present,
patched into state live via the new WS envelope and included in message
history for reloads.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

backend/README.md

@@ -572,6 +572,52 @@ unguessable expiring token is the actual protection once a request is made),
 no cleanup job for expired/used `password_resets` rows (same as
 `site_invites`, which has never had one either).
 
+## Link previews
+
+Slack/Discord-style unfurling: the first `http(s)://` URL found in a
+message's `content` (`link_preview_service.extract_first_url`) gets a small
+preview card fetched from that page's Open Graph tags (`og:title`,
+`og:description`, `og:image`, `og:site_name`, falling back to `<title>`).
+
+- **Never blocks the send.** `create_message` extracts and stores the URL
+  on `Message.preview_url` synchronously (cheap, no I/O), but the actual
+  fetch runs in a background `asyncio.create_task` from
+  `message_events.broadcast_new_message`/`broadcast_message_update`, on its
+  own DB session (`async_session_factory()`, never the caller's session —
+  see `push_service.send_push_to_user`'s docstring for why sharing a
+  session across a fire-and-forget task is unsafe). Once it resolves, a
+  separate `"link_preview"` WS envelope carries the result to the room;
+  the initial `"message"`/`"message_update"` broadcast always has
+  `link_preview: null`.
+- **SSRF protection is the real security boundary here**, more so than for
+  outgoing webhooks — a webhook's `target_url` is admin-configured, but a
+  link-preview URL comes from *any* room member's message content. Reuses
+  `app/services/ssrf.py`'s `validate_target_url` (originally webhook-only,
+  the exception renamed from `UnsafeWebhookUrlError` to `UnsafeUrlError`
+  now that it's shared), but re-validates before **every hop** of a
+  redirect chain instead of once up front — redirects are followed
+  manually (`httpx.AsyncClient(follow_redirects=False)`) specifically so
+  each intermediate URL is checked before it's ever connected to, not
+  after. Same accepted DNS-rebinding gap as the webhook case (see that
+  module's docstring); response body capped at 512 KB and only fetched if
+  `Content-Type` is `text/html`.
+- **Cached by URL, not by message** (`link_previews` table, unique on
+  `url`) — a URL posted by five different people in five different rooms
+  fetches once. A row also gets written on a *failed* fetch
+  (`fetch_failed=True`) so a URL that genuinely doesn't unfurl (SSRF
+  rejection, timeout, no usable title) isn't re-attempted on every message
+  that references it; both kinds expire after 7 days (`_CACHE_TTL`).
+- Parsed with stdlib `html.parser.HTMLParser`, not a new dependency — only
+  meta-tag scraping is needed, not general HTML parsing.
+- Editing a message re-extracts the URL; if it changed or was removed, the
+  frontend clears the now-stale preview immediately (`preview_url` on the
+  `message_update` envelope) rather than leaving the old one showing while
+  a new fetch (if any) is in flight.
+- Scope cuts: one preview per message (the first URL only, matching the
+  issue's "a small preview" framing), no way to dismiss/suppress a preview
+  before sending, no re-fetch-on-demand if a cached preview goes stale
+  mid-TTL.
+
 ## Notes / scope decisions
 
 - Invite-only site registration: no `POST /api/auth/register`. Accounts are

backend/alembic/versions/d00f93766fa5_link_previews_for_url_unfurling_in_chat_.py

@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+"""link previews for URL unfurling in chat messages
+
+Revision ID: d00f93766fa5
+Revises: ffdd409227bb
+Create Date: 2026-08-17 17:31:13.598917
+
+"""
+from typing import Sequence, Union
+
+from alembic import op
+import sqlalchemy as sa
+
+
+# revision identifiers, used by Alembic.
+revision: str = 'd00f93766fa5'
+down_revision: Union[str, Sequence[str], None] = 'ffdd409227bb'
+branch_labels: Union[str, Sequence[str], None] = None
+depends_on: Union[str, Sequence[str], None] = None
+
+
+def upgrade() -> None:
+    """Upgrade schema."""
+    op.create_table(
+        "link_previews",
+        sa.Column("id", sa.Uuid(), nullable=False),
+        sa.Column("url", sa.String(length=2048), nullable=False),
+        sa.Column("title", sa.String(length=500), nullable=True),
+        sa.Column("description", sa.String(length=1000), nullable=True),
+        sa.Column("image_url", sa.String(length=2048), nullable=True),
+        sa.Column("site_name", sa.String(length=200), nullable=True),
+        sa.Column("fetch_failed", sa.Boolean(), nullable=False),
+        sa.Column(
+            "fetched_at",
+            sa.DateTime(timezone=True),
+            server_default=sa.text("clock_timestamp()"),
+            nullable=False,
+        ),
+        sa.PrimaryKeyConstraint("id"),
+    )
+    op.create_index(
+        op.f("ix_link_previews_url"), "link_previews", ["url"], unique=True
+    )
+    # Nullable, no default -- just adds a column to the catalog, no table
+    # rewrite, no lock beyond the instant one ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN always
+    # takes for a nullable column with no default.
+    op.add_column("messages", sa.Column("preview_url", sa.String(length=2048), nullable=True))
+
+
+def downgrade() -> None:
+    """Downgrade schema."""
+    op.drop_column("messages", "preview_url")
+    op.drop_index(op.f("ix_link_previews_url"), table_name="link_previews")
+    op.drop_table("link_previews")

backend/app/models/__init__.py

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ from app.models.base import Base
 from app.models.custom_theme import CustomTheme
 from app.models.event_subscription import EventSubscription
 from app.models.invite import InviteStatus
+from app.models.link_preview import LinkPreview
 from app.models.membership import RoomMembership, RoomRole
 from app.models.message import Message
 from app.models.message_file import MessageFile
@@ -41,4 +42,5 @@ __all__ = [
     "WebhookIncoming",
     "EventSubscription",
     "CustomTheme",
+    "LinkPreview",
 ]

backend/app/models/link_preview.py

@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+import uuid
+from datetime import datetime
+
+from sqlalchemy import Boolean, DateTime, String, func
+from sqlalchemy.orm import Mapped, mapped_column
+
+from app.models.base import Base
+
+
+class LinkPreview(Base):
+    """A cache keyed by URL, not by message -- multiple messages (in the
+    same room or different ones) linking the same URL share one fetch
+    instead of each triggering their own. link_preview_service is the only
+    writer; Message.preview_url (the first URL found in a message's
+    content, set at creation time) is the join key a caller looks this up
+    by."""
+
+    __tablename__ = "link_previews"
+
+    id: Mapped[uuid.UUID] = mapped_column(primary_key=True, default=uuid.uuid4)
+    url: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(2048), unique=True, index=True, nullable=False)
+    title: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(String(500))
+    description: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(String(1000))
+    image_url: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(String(2048))
+    site_name: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(String(200))
+    # Cached separately from a "no row yet" state so a URL that genuinely
+    # doesn't unfurl (no title, fetch error, blocked by SSRF checks) isn't
+    # re-fetched on every message that references it within the TTL.
+    fetch_failed: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(Boolean, default=False, nullable=False)
+    fetched_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(
+        DateTime(timezone=True), server_default=func.clock_timestamp(), nullable=False
+    )

backend/app/models/message.py

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import uuid
 from datetime import datetime
 
-from sqlalchemy import CheckConstraint, DateTime, ForeignKey, Text, func
+from sqlalchemy import CheckConstraint, DateTime, ForeignKey, String, Text, func
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Mapped, mapped_column, relationship
 
 from app.models.base import Base
@@ -25,6 +25,12 @@ class Message(Base):
     content: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(Text)
     image_id: Mapped[uuid.UUID | None] = mapped_column(ForeignKey("message_images.id"))
     file_id: Mapped[uuid.UUID | None] = mapped_column(ForeignKey("message_files.id"))
+    # First http(s) URL found in content at creation time (see
+    # link_preview_service.extract_first_url), if any -- a plain string, not
+    # a FK, since the actual preview data lives in link_previews cached by
+    # URL and is looked up separately (see message_service.list_recent_
+    # messages), not eager-loaded as an ORM relationship.
+    preview_url: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(String(2048))
     # clock_timestamp(), not now()/func.now() -- the WS handler (ws/chat.py)
     # shares one AsyncSession for a whole connection's lifetime, and a
     # read-only op (e.g. a "join" frame's membership check) can leave a

backend/app/routers/rooms.py

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ from app.dependencies import (
     require_scope,
 )
 from app.models import MessageFile, MessageImage, RoomRole, User
-from app.schemas.message import MessageFileInfo, MessageRead
+from app.schemas.message import LinkPreviewInfo, MessageFileInfo, MessageRead
 from app.schemas.message_file import MessageFileCreated
 from app.schemas.message_image import MessageImageCreated
 from app.schemas.room import (
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ from app.schemas.webhook import (
     WebhookIncomingCreate,
     WebhookIncomingRead,
 )
+from app.services.link_preview_service import get_link_previews_for_urls
 from app.services.message_events import broadcast_room_added
 from app.services.message_service import (
     get_reactions_for_messages,
@@ -78,7 +79,7 @@ from app.services.webhook_service import (
     revoke_event_subscription,
     revoke_incoming_webhook,
 )
-from app.services.ssrf import UnsafeWebhookUrlError
+from app.services.ssrf import UnsafeUrlError
 from app.storage import (
     ALLOWED_IMAGE_CONTENT_TYPES,
     UPLOADS_DIR,
@@ -341,6 +342,8 @@ async def get_room_messages_endpoint(
     await require_room_member(room_id, current_user, db)
     messages = await list_recent_messages(db, room_id, limit)
     reactions_by_message = await get_reactions_for_messages(db, [m.id for m in messages])
+    preview_urls = {m.preview_url for m in messages if m.preview_url}
+    previews_by_url = await get_link_previews_for_urls(db, list(preview_urls))
     return [
         MessageRead(
             id=m.id,
@@ -350,6 +353,11 @@ async def get_room_messages_endpoint(
             content=m.content,
             image_id=m.image_id,
             file=_to_message_file_info(m.file) if m.file else None,
+            link_preview=(
+                LinkPreviewInfo.model_validate(previews_by_url[m.preview_url])
+                if m.preview_url and m.preview_url in previews_by_url
+                else None
+            ),
             reactions=reactions_by_message.get(m.id, []),
             created_at=m.created_at,
             edited_at=m.edited_at,
@@ -607,7 +615,7 @@ async def create_event_subscription_endpoint(
         )
     except InvalidEventTypeError:
         raise HTTPException(status_code=400, detail="Unrecognized event type")
-    except UnsafeWebhookUrlError:
+    except UnsafeUrlError:
         raise HTTPException(
             status_code=400, detail="target_url is not allowed (internal/private address)"
         )

backend/app/schemas/message.py

@@ -19,6 +19,16 @@ class MessageFileInfo(BaseModel):
     content_type: str
 
 
+class LinkPreviewInfo(BaseModel):
+    model_config = ConfigDict(from_attributes=True)
+
+    url: str
+    title: str | None
+    description: str | None
+    image_url: str | None
+    site_name: str | None
+
+
 class MessageRead(BaseModel):
     model_config = ConfigDict(from_attributes=True)
 
@@ -29,6 +39,7 @@ class MessageRead(BaseModel):
     content: str | None
     image_id: uuid.UUID | None
     file: MessageFileInfo | None
+    link_preview: LinkPreviewInfo | None
     reactions: list[ReactionSummary]
     created_at: datetime
     edited_at: datetime | None

backend/app/services/link_preview_service.py

@@ -0,0 +1,207 @@
+import logging
+import re
+import uuid
+from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone
+from html.parser import HTMLParser
+
+import httpx
+from sqlalchemy import select
+from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import AsyncSession
+
+from app.database import async_session_factory
+from app.models import LinkPreview
+from app.services.ssrf import UnsafeUrlError, validate_target_url
+from app.ws.broadcaster import Broadcaster
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+# Deliberately not a full URL regex (e.g. no IPv6-literal-host support) --
+# just enough to find "a URL-shaped thing" in a chat message the same way
+# the frontend's Markdown renderer autolinks bare URLs. Trailing punctuation
+# a sentence would naturally have after a URL (a period, closing paren from
+# "(see https://example.com)", etc.) is trimmed off separately below.
+_URL_RE = re.compile(r"https?://[^\s<>\"]+")
+_TRAILING_PUNCTUATION = ".,;:!?)'\">"
+
+_FETCH_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 5.0
+_MAX_BYTES = 512 * 1024
+_MAX_REDIRECTS = 3
+_USER_AGENT = "ds-chat-link-preview/1.0"
+_CACHE_TTL = timedelta(days=7)
+
+
+def extract_first_url(content: str | None) -> str | None:
+    if not content:
+        return None
+    match = _URL_RE.search(content)
+    if not match:
+        return None
+    return match.group(0).rstrip(_TRAILING_PUNCTUATION) or None
+
+
+class _OpenGraphParser(HTMLParser):
+    """Pulls og:title/og:description/og:image/og:site_name meta tags,
+    falling back to <title> -- stdlib html.parser is enough for meta-tag
+    scraping, no reason to add a full HTML parsing dependency (e.g.
+    BeautifulSoup) just for this."""
+
+    def __init__(self) -> None:
+        super().__init__(convert_charrefs=True)
+        self.og: dict[str, str] = {}
+        self.title: str | None = None
+        self._in_title = False
+
+    def handle_starttag(self, tag: str, attrs: list[tuple[str, str | None]]) -> None:
+        if tag == "meta":
+            attr_dict = dict(attrs)
+            prop = attr_dict.get("property") or attr_dict.get("name")
+            content = attr_dict.get("content")
+            if prop and content and prop.startswith("og:"):
+                self.og.setdefault(prop, content)
+        elif tag == "title":
+            self._in_title = True
+
+    def handle_endtag(self, tag: str) -> None:
+        if tag == "title":
+            self._in_title = False
+
+    def handle_data(self, data: str) -> None:
+        if self._in_title and self.title is None:
+            self.title = data.strip()
+
+
+async def _fetch_preview_data(url: str) -> dict | None:
+    """SSRF-safe fetch: validates (scheme + resolved-IP allowlist check,
+    see ssrf.py) before *every* hop, following redirects manually rather
+    than via httpx's own follow_redirects -- that would connect to each
+    intermediate hop before any of them got validated, defeating the point.
+    Still subject to the DNS-rebinding gap documented in ssrf.py (a window
+    between validating a hostname and httpx independently resolving it to
+    connect); accepted for the same reason it's accepted there.
+    """
+    current_url = url
+    async with httpx.AsyncClient(timeout=_FETCH_TIMEOUT_SECONDS, follow_redirects=False) as client:
+        for _ in range(_MAX_REDIRECTS + 1):
+            try:
+                validate_target_url(current_url)
+            except UnsafeUrlError:
+                return None
+
+            try:
+                async with client.stream(
+                    "GET", current_url, headers={"User-Agent": _USER_AGENT}
+                ) as response:
+                    if response.is_redirect:
+                        location = response.headers.get("location")
+                        if not location:
+                            return None
+                        current_url = str(httpx.URL(current_url).join(location))
+                        continue
+                    if response.status_code >= 400:
+                        return None
+                    content_type = response.headers.get("content-type", "")
+                    if "text/html" not in content_type:
+                        return None
+                    body = b""
+                    async for chunk in response.aiter_bytes():
+                        body += chunk
+                        if len(body) >= _MAX_BYTES:
+                            break
+                    break
+            except httpx.HTTPError:
+                return None
+        else:
+            return None
+
+    parser = _OpenGraphParser()
+    try:
+        parser.feed(body.decode("utf-8", errors="replace"))
+    except Exception:
+        return None
+
+    title = parser.og.get("og:title") or parser.title
+    if not title:
+        return None
+
+    return {
+        "title": title.strip()[:500],
+        "description": (parser.og.get("og:description") or "").strip()[:1000] or None,
+        "image_url": parser.og.get("og:image") or None,
+        "site_name": (parser.og.get("og:site_name") or "").strip()[:200] or None,
+    }
+
+
+async def _get_or_fetch(db: AsyncSession, url: str) -> LinkPreview | None:
+    """Returns None only when there's genuinely nothing to show (a fresh
+    fetch failed, or a cached row says an earlier one did) -- callers don't
+    need to distinguish "still fetching" from "never going to have one"."""
+    existing = (await db.execute(select(LinkPreview).where(LinkPreview.url == url))).scalar_one_or_none()
+
+    if existing is not None and datetime.now(timezone.utc) - existing.fetched_at < _CACHE_TTL:
+        return None if existing.fetch_failed else existing
+
+    data = await _fetch_preview_data(url)
+    if existing is not None:
+        existing.fetch_failed = data is None
+        if data:
+            existing.title = data["title"]
+            existing.description = data["description"]
+            existing.image_url = data["image_url"]
+            existing.site_name = data["site_name"]
+        existing.fetched_at = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
+        await db.commit()
+        return None if data is None else existing
+
+    row = LinkPreview(
+        url=url,
+        fetch_failed=data is None,
+        **(data or {"title": None, "description": None, "image_url": None, "site_name": None}),
+    )
+    db.add(row)
+    await db.commit()
+    return None if data is None else row
+
+
+async def fetch_and_broadcast_link_preview(
+    broadcaster: Broadcaster, room_id: uuid.UUID, message_id: uuid.UUID, url: str
+) -> None:
+    """Entry point for a fire-and-forget asyncio.create_task from
+    broadcast_new_message -- runs on its own DB session (see push_service.py's
+    send_push_to_user docstring for why a background task must never share
+    the caller's session) so a slow/hanging fetch can never delay message
+    delivery to anyone actually online.
+    """
+    try:
+        async with async_session_factory() as db:
+            preview = await _get_or_fetch(db, url)
+    except Exception:
+        logger.warning("Link preview fetch failed for %s", url, exc_info=True)
+        return
+
+    if preview is None:
+        return
+
+    await broadcaster.publish(
+        room_id,
+        {
+            "type": "link_preview",
+            "room_id": str(room_id),
+            "id": str(message_id),
+            "url": preview.url,
+            "title": preview.title,
+            "description": preview.description,
+            "image_url": preview.image_url,
+            "site_name": preview.site_name,
+        },
+    )
+
+
+async def get_link_previews_for_urls(db: AsyncSession, urls: list[str]) -> dict[str, LinkPreview]:
+    """Batch lookup for message history -- mirrors message_service.
+    get_reactions_for_messages's shape (one query, zipped back onto results
+    by the caller) rather than an ORM relationship, since the join key is a
+    plain string column, not a FK."""
+    if not urls:
+        return {}
+    result = await db.execute(select(LinkPreview).where(LinkPreview.url.in_(urls), LinkPreview.fetch_failed.is_(False)))
+    return {row.url: row for row in result.scalars().all()}

backend/app/services/message_events.py

@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import asyncio
 import uuid
 
 from sqlalchemy import select
@@ -5,6 +6,7 @@ from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import AsyncSession
 
 from app.models import Message, MessageFile, MessageMention, Room, RoomMembership, User
 from app.schemas.message import ReactionSummary
+from app.services.link_preview_service import fetch_and_broadcast_link_preview
 from app.services.push_service import send_push_to_user
 from app.services.webhook_service import dispatch_event
 from app.ws.broadcaster import Broadcaster
@@ -90,12 +92,24 @@ async def _message_payload(db: AsyncSession, message: Message, username: str) ->
         "content": message.content,
         "image_id": str(message.image_id) if message.image_id else None,
         "file": file_payload,
+        # Never populated here -- fetching it is a network call to a
+        # third-party URL, which has no business delaying message delivery.
+        # A separate "link_preview" envelope arrives shortly after (see
+        # _maybe_fetch_link_preview) once/if the fetch succeeds.
+        "link_preview": None,
         "reactions": [],
         "created_at": message.created_at.isoformat(),
         "edited_at": message.edited_at.isoformat() if message.edited_at else None,
     }
 
 
+def _maybe_fetch_link_preview(broadcaster: Broadcaster, room_id: uuid.UUID, message: Message) -> None:
+    if message.preview_url:
+        asyncio.create_task(
+            fetch_and_broadcast_link_preview(broadcaster, room_id, message.id, message.preview_url)
+        )
+
+
 async def broadcast_new_message(
     db: AsyncSession,
     broadcaster: Broadcaster,
@@ -111,6 +125,7 @@ async def broadcast_new_message(
     await broadcaster.publish(room_id, payload)
     await _notify_offline_members(db, broadcaster, presence, room_id, sender, message)
     await dispatch_event(db, "message.created", room_id, payload)
+    _maybe_fetch_link_preview(broadcaster, room_id, message)
 
 
 async def broadcast_message_update(
@@ -122,9 +137,15 @@ async def broadcast_message_update(
         "room_id": str(room_id),
         "content": message.content,
         "edited_at": message.edited_at.isoformat() if message.edited_at else None,
+        # Lets the frontend clear a stale preview when an edit changes or
+        # removes the URL it came from -- it compares this against the
+        # link_preview it already has for the message rather than blindly
+        # keeping whatever was there before the edit.
+        "preview_url": message.preview_url,
     }
     await broadcaster.publish(room_id, payload)
     await dispatch_event(db, "message.updated", room_id, payload)
+    _maybe_fetch_link_preview(broadcaster, room_id, message)
 
 
 async def broadcast_reaction_update(

backend/app/services/message_service.py

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ from sqlalchemy.orm import selectinload
 
 from app.models import Message, MessageMention, MessageReaction
 from app.schemas.message import ReactionSummary
+from app.services.link_preview_service import extract_first_url
 from app.services.mention_service import extract_mentioned_user_ids
 
 
@@ -28,7 +29,12 @@ async def create_message(
     file_id: uuid.UUID | None = None,
 ) -> Message:
     message = Message(
-        room_id=room_id, user_id=user_id, content=content, image_id=image_id, file_id=file_id
+        room_id=room_id,
+        user_id=user_id,
+        content=content,
+        image_id=image_id,
+        file_id=file_id,
+        preview_url=extract_first_url(content),
     )
     db.add(message)
     # message.id is available immediately (a Python-side uuid4 default, not
@@ -52,6 +58,7 @@ async def edit_message(
         raise NotMessageAuthorError()
 
     message.content = content
+    message.preview_url = extract_first_url(content)
     message.edited_at = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
     await db.commit()
     await db.refresh(message)

backend/app/services/ssrf.py

@@ -3,27 +3,30 @@ import socket
 from urllib.parse import urlparse
 
 
-class UnsafeWebhookUrlError(Exception):
+class UnsafeUrlError(Exception):
     pass
 
 
 def validate_target_url(url: str) -> None:
-    """Creation-time-only SSRF check: rejects non-http(s) schemes and any
+    """One-shot SSRF check: rejects non-http(s) schemes and any target whose
-    target whose hostname resolves to a private/loopback/link-local/
+    hostname resolves to a private/loopback/link-local/reserved/multicast
-    reserved/multicast address. Not re-checked per delivery, so this doesn't
+    address. Shared by two callers with different re-check needs: webhook
-    defend against DNS rebinding between creation and a later send -- a
+    subscriptions validate once at creation time and reuse the URL for many
-    documented known limitation, not an oversight.
+    future deliveries (a real but accepted DNS-rebinding gap, documented
+    here), while link_preview_service calls this fresh before *every* hop of
+    a redirect chain for a one-shot fetch, which closes that gap for its own
+    use case.
     """
     parsed = urlparse(url)
     if parsed.scheme not in ("http", "https"):
-        raise UnsafeWebhookUrlError()
+        raise UnsafeUrlError()
     if not parsed.hostname:
-        raise UnsafeWebhookUrlError()
+        raise UnsafeUrlError()
 
     try:
         addrinfo = socket.getaddrinfo(parsed.hostname, None)
     except socket.gaierror as exc:
-        raise UnsafeWebhookUrlError() from exc
+        raise UnsafeUrlError() from exc
 
     for *_rest, sockaddr in addrinfo:
         ip = ipaddress.ip_address(sockaddr[0])
@@ -35,4 +38,4 @@ def validate_target_url(url: str) -> None:
             or ip.is_multicast
             or ip.is_unspecified
         ):
-            raise UnsafeWebhookUrlError()
+            raise UnsafeUrlError()

backend/tests/test_link_previews.py

@@ -0,0 +1,266 @@
+import asyncio
+import uuid
+
+import pytest_asyncio
+
+from app.database import engine as _link_preview_engine
+from app.schemas.user import UserCreate
+from app.services.auth_service import register_user
+from app.services.link_preview_service import extract_first_url
+from tests.conftest import register_and_login
+
+
+@pytest_asyncio.fixture(autouse=True)
+async def _dispose_engine_between_tests():
+    # link_preview_service's background task uses app.database's module-
+    # level engine directly (see test_cli.py's identical fixture for why:
+    # pytest-asyncio's per-test event loops make a stale pooled connection
+    # from an earlier test's loop fail with asyncpg "another operation is
+    # in progress" -- silently, in this file's case, since
+    # fetch_and_broadcast_link_preview catches and logs rather than raises).
+    yield
+    await _link_preview_engine.dispose()
+
+
+def _unique(prefix: str) -> str:
+    return f"{prefix}-{uuid.uuid4().hex[:8]}"
+
+
+def _unique_url() -> str:
+    # link_previews rows are written via the background task's own,
+    # separately-committed DB session (see link_preview_service.py), not
+    # the db_session fixture's rollback-at-teardown transaction -- they're
+    # real, permanent rows that persist across test runs. A literal URL
+    # shared between tests (or repeated suite runs) would silently hit an
+    # earlier run's cached row instead of exercising a fresh fetch.
+    return f"http://8.8.8.8/{uuid.uuid4().hex}"
+
+
+def _recv(ws) -> dict:
+    """Reads the next frame, discarding member_updated presence-change
+    broadcasts -- same convention as test_message_edit.py."""
+    while True:
+        msg = ws.receive_json()
+        if msg.get("type") != "member_updated":
+            return msg
+
+
+def _register_ws(ws_client, username: str) -> dict:
+    async def _seed():
+        async with ws_client.session_factory() as session:
+            await register_user(
+                session,
+                UserCreate(username=username, email=f"{username}@example.com", password="password123"),
+            )
+
+    ws_client.portal.call(_seed)
+    resp = ws_client.post(
+        "/api/auth/login", json={"username_or_email": username, "password": "password123"}
+    )
+    assert resp.status_code == 200, resp.text
+    return resp.json()
+
+
+class _FakeResponse:
+    def __init__(self, status_code=200, headers=None, body=b""):
+        self.status_code = status_code
+        self.headers = headers or {}
+        self.is_redirect = status_code in (301, 302, 303, 307, 308)
+        self._body = body
+
+    async def aiter_bytes(self):
+        yield self._body
+
+
+class _FakeStreamCtx:
+    def __init__(self, response):
+        self._response = response
+
+    async def __aenter__(self):
+        return self._response
+
+    async def __aexit__(self, *args):
+        return False
+
+
+_OG_HTML = (
+    b"<html><head>"
+    b'<meta property="og:title" content="Example Article">'
+    b'<meta property="og:description" content="A description of the article.">'
+    b'<meta property="og:image" content="https://8.8.8.8/image.png">'
+    b'<meta property="og:site_name" content="Example">'
+    b"</head></html>"
+)
+
+
+def _fake_client_factory(html=_OG_HTML, status_code=200, call_log=None):
+    class _FakeAsyncClient:
+        def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+            pass
+
+        async def __aenter__(self):
+            return self
+
+        async def __aexit__(self, *args):
+            return False
+
+        def stream(self, method, url, headers=None):
+            if call_log is not None:
+                call_log.append(url)
+            return _FakeStreamCtx(_FakeResponse(status_code, {"content-type": "text/html"}, html))
+
+    return _FakeAsyncClient
+
+
+def test_extract_first_url_finds_url_in_content():
+    assert extract_first_url("check out https://example.com for more") == "https://example.com"
+
+
+def test_extract_first_url_strips_trailing_punctuation():
+    assert extract_first_url("see (https://example.com/page).") == "https://example.com/page"
+
+
+def test_extract_first_url_returns_none_without_url():
+    assert extract_first_url("no links here") is None
+
+
+def test_extract_first_url_returns_none_for_empty_content():
+    assert extract_first_url(None) is None
+    assert extract_first_url("") is None
+
+
+def test_ws_message_with_url_triggers_link_preview_broadcast(ws_client, monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setattr("app.services.link_preview_service.httpx.AsyncClient", _fake_client_factory())
+    url = _unique_url()
+
+    username = _unique("alice")
+    _register_ws(ws_client, username=username)
+    room = ws_client.post("/api/rooms", json={"name": _unique("general")}).json()
+
+    with ws_client.websocket_connect("/ws/chat") as ws:
+        ws.send_json({"type": "join", "room_id": room["id"]})
+        assert _recv(ws)["type"] == "joined"
+
+        ws.send_json({"type": "message", "room_id": room["id"], "content": f"check this out {url}"})
+        message = _recv(ws)
+        assert message["type"] == "message"
+        # Never populated on the initial broadcast -- fetching is async.
+        assert message["link_preview"] is None
+
+        preview = _recv(ws)
+        assert preview["type"] == "link_preview"
+        assert preview["id"] == message["id"]
+        assert preview["url"] == url
+        assert preview["title"] == "Example Article"
+        assert preview["description"] == "A description of the article."
+        assert preview["image_url"] == "https://8.8.8.8/image.png"
+        assert preview["site_name"] == "Example"
+
+
+def test_ws_message_with_private_url_gets_no_preview(ws_client, monkeypatch):
+    calls: list[str] = []
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        "app.services.link_preview_service.httpx.AsyncClient",
+        _fake_client_factory(call_log=calls),
+    )
+
+    username = _unique("alice")
+    _register_ws(ws_client, username=username)
+    room = ws_client.post("/api/rooms", json={"name": _unique("general")}).json()
+
+    with ws_client.websocket_connect("/ws/chat") as ws:
+        ws.send_json({"type": "join", "room_id": room["id"]})
+        assert _recv(ws)["type"] == "joined"
+
+        ws.send_json(
+            {
+                "type": "message",
+                "room_id": room["id"],
+                "content": "internal link http://127.0.0.1/secret",
+            }
+        )
+        message = _recv(ws)
+        assert message["link_preview"] is None
+
+        # Sync barrier: an idempotent second frame's ack proves the first
+        # message's entire async handling (including the spawned link-
+        # preview task, which is rejected before any real I/O) has settled
+        # without ever publishing a link_preview envelope.
+        ws.send_json({"type": "join", "room_id": room["id"]})
+        assert _recv(ws)["type"] == "joined"
+
+    assert calls == []
+
+
+async def test_message_history_includes_cached_link_preview(client, db_session, monkeypatch):
+    captured_tasks: list[asyncio.Task] = []
+    real_create_task = asyncio.create_task
+
+    def fake_create_task(coro):
+        task = real_create_task(coro)
+        captured_tasks.append(task)
+        return task
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr("app.services.message_events.asyncio.create_task", fake_create_task)
+    monkeypatch.setattr("app.services.link_preview_service.httpx.AsyncClient", _fake_client_factory())
+    url = _unique_url()
+
+    await register_and_login(client, db_session, username="alice")
+    room = (await client.post("/api/rooms", json={"name": "general"})).json()
+    webhook = (await client.post(f"/api/rooms/{room['id']}/webhooks/incoming", json={})).json()
+
+    resp = await client.post(
+        f"/api/webhooks/incoming/{webhook['token']}",
+        json={"content": f"see {url}"},
+    )
+    assert resp.status_code == 204
+    await asyncio.gather(*captured_tasks)
+
+    history = (await client.get(f"/api/rooms/{room['id']}/messages")).json()
+    assert len(history) == 1
+    assert history[0]["link_preview"]["title"] == "Example Article"
+    assert history[0]["link_preview"]["url"] == url
+
+
+async def test_link_preview_reused_across_messages_with_same_url(client, db_session, monkeypatch):
+    captured_tasks: list[asyncio.Task] = []
+    real_create_task = asyncio.create_task
+
+    def fake_create_task(coro):
+        task = real_create_task(coro)
+        captured_tasks.append(task)
+        return task
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr("app.services.message_events.asyncio.create_task", fake_create_task)
+    calls: list[str] = []
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        "app.services.link_preview_service.httpx.AsyncClient",
+        _fake_client_factory(call_log=calls),
+    )
+    url = _unique_url()
+
+    await register_and_login(client, db_session, username="alice")
+    room = (await client.post("/api/rooms", json={"name": "general"})).json()
+    webhook = (await client.post(f"/api/rooms/{room['id']}/webhooks/incoming", json={})).json()
+
+    # Awaited one at a time so the second send's cache check happens after
+    # the first's fetch has actually committed -- otherwise both could race
+    # past the "not cached yet" check concurrently and this would flake.
+    resp1 = await client.post(
+        f"/api/webhooks/incoming/{webhook['token']}", json={"content": f"see {url}"}
+    )
+    assert resp1.status_code == 204
+    await asyncio.gather(*captured_tasks)
+    captured_tasks.clear()
+
+    resp2 = await client.post(
+        f"/api/webhooks/incoming/{webhook['token']}", json={"content": f"again: {url}"}
+    )
+    assert resp2.status_code == 204
+    await asyncio.gather(*captured_tasks)
+
+    assert len(calls) == 1
+
+    history = (await client.get(f"/api/rooms/{room['id']}/messages")).json()
+    assert len(history) == 2
+    assert all(m["link_preview"]["title"] == "Example Article" for m in history)

backend/tests/test_webhooks.py

@@ -10,22 +10,22 @@ from app.models import PushSubscription
 from app.schemas.user import UserCreate
 from app.services.auth_service import register_user
 from app.services.room_service import join_room
-from app.services.ssrf import UnsafeWebhookUrlError, validate_target_url
+from app.services.ssrf import UnsafeUrlError, validate_target_url
 from tests.conftest import register_and_login
 
 
 def test_validate_target_url_rejects_loopback():
-    with pytest.raises(UnsafeWebhookUrlError):
+    with pytest.raises(UnsafeUrlError):
         validate_target_url("http://127.0.0.1/hook")
 
 
 def test_validate_target_url_rejects_private_range():
-    with pytest.raises(UnsafeWebhookUrlError):
+    with pytest.raises(UnsafeUrlError):
         validate_target_url("http://10.0.0.5/hook")
 
 
 def test_validate_target_url_rejects_non_http_scheme():
-    with pytest.raises(UnsafeWebhookUrlError):
+    with pytest.raises(UnsafeUrlError):
         validate_target_url("ftp://8.8.8.8/hook")
 
 

frontend/src/components/ChatPane.tsx

@@ -122,16 +122,45 @@ export function ChatPane({
           setLive((prev) => [...prev, envelope])
           markRead()
         } else if (envelope.type === 'message_update' && envelope.room_id === room.id) {
+          // link_preview only survives the edit if the URL it came from is
+          // still there -- an edit that changed or removed it clears the
+          // stale preview instead of leaving the old one showing. A new one
+          // (if the new URL has any) arrives via its own 'link_preview'
+          // envelope shortly after, same as a fresh send.
           setHistory((prev) =>
             prev.map((m) =>
-              m.id === envelope.id ? { ...m, content: envelope.content, edited_at: envelope.edited_at } : m,
+              m.id === envelope.id
+                ? {
+                    ...m,
+                    content: envelope.content,
+                    edited_at: envelope.edited_at,
+                    link_preview: m.link_preview?.url === envelope.preview_url ? m.link_preview : null,
+                  }
+                : m,
             ),
           )
           setLive((prev) =>
             prev.map((m) =>
-              m.id === envelope.id ? { ...m, content: envelope.content, edited_at: envelope.edited_at } : m,
+              m.id === envelope.id
+                ? {
+                    ...m,
+                    content: envelope.content,
+                    edited_at: envelope.edited_at,
+                    link_preview: m.link_preview?.url === envelope.preview_url ? m.link_preview : null,
+                  }
+                : m,
             ),
           )
+        } else if (envelope.type === 'link_preview' && envelope.room_id === room.id) {
+          const linkPreview = {
+            url: envelope.url,
+            title: envelope.title,
+            description: envelope.description,
+            image_url: envelope.image_url,
+            site_name: envelope.site_name,
+          }
+          setHistory((prev) => prev.map((m) => (m.id === envelope.id ? { ...m, link_preview: linkPreview } : m)))
+          setLive((prev) => prev.map((m) => (m.id === envelope.id ? { ...m, link_preview: linkPreview } : m)))
         } else if (envelope.type === 'reaction_update' && envelope.room_id === room.id) {
           setHistory((prev) =>
             prev.map((m) => (m.id === envelope.id ? { ...m, reactions: envelope.reactions } : m)),

frontend/src/components/LinkPreviewCard.css

@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+.link-preview-card {
+  display: flex;
+  gap: 10px;
+  align-items: stretch;
+  background: var(--ds-surface-2);
+  border: 1px solid var(--ds-border);
+  border-left: 3px solid var(--ds-accent);
+  border-radius: var(--radius);
+  padding: 10px 12px;
+  margin-bottom: 4px;
+  max-width: min(420px, 100%);
+  text-decoration: none;
+  color: var(--ds-text);
+}
+
+.link-preview-card:hover {
+  border-color: var(--ds-accent);
+  border-left-color: var(--ds-accent);
+}
+
+.link-preview-image {
+  flex: none;
+  width: 64px;
+  height: 64px;
+  object-fit: cover;
+  border-radius: 6px;
+  background: var(--ds-void);
+}
+
+.link-preview-body {
+  display: flex;
+  flex-direction: column;
+  gap: 2px;
+  min-width: 0;
+  justify-content: center;
+}
+
+.link-preview-site {
+  font-size: 0.72rem;
+  font-weight: 700;
+  text-transform: uppercase;
+  letter-spacing: 0.03em;
+  color: var(--ds-muted);
+}
+
+.link-preview-title {
+  font-size: 0.86rem;
+  font-weight: 700;
+  color: var(--ds-accent-2, var(--ds-accent));
+  overflow: hidden;
+  text-overflow: ellipsis;
+  display: -webkit-box;
+  -webkit-line-clamp: 2;
+  -webkit-box-orient: vertical;
+}
+
+.link-preview-description {
+  font-size: 0.8rem;
+  color: var(--ds-muted);
+  overflow: hidden;
+  text-overflow: ellipsis;
+  display: -webkit-box;
+  -webkit-line-clamp: 2;
+  -webkit-box-orient: vertical;
+}

frontend/src/components/LinkPreviewCard.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+import type { LinkPreviewInfo } from '../types'
+import './LinkPreviewCard.css'
+
+interface LinkPreviewCardProps {
+  preview: LinkPreviewInfo
+}
+
+// Slack/Discord-style unfurl card, rendered under a message's text when the
+// backend found a URL in it and successfully fetched Open Graph data for it
+// (see link_preview_service.py -- title/description/image_url/site_name are
+// all independently optional, since not every page sets every og: tag).
+export function LinkPreviewCard({ preview }: LinkPreviewCardProps) {
+  return (
+    <a
+      href={preview.url}
+      target="_blank"
+      rel="noopener noreferrer"
+      className="link-preview-card"
+    >
+      {preview.image_url && (
+        <img src={preview.image_url} alt="" className="link-preview-image" loading="lazy" />
+      )}
+      <div className="link-preview-body">
+        {preview.site_name && <span className="link-preview-site">{preview.site_name}</span>}
+        {preview.title && <span className="link-preview-title">{preview.title}</span>}
+        {preview.description && <span className="link-preview-description">{preview.description}</span>}
+      </div>
+    </a>
+  )
+}

frontend/src/components/MessageList.tsx

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import type { ChatMessageEnvelope, Message, MessageFileInfo, RoomMember } from '
 import { EMOJI_PICKER_MAX_HEIGHT, EmojiPicker } from './EmojiPicker'
 import { FilePreviewModal, getPreviewKind } from './FilePreviewModal'
 import { ImageLightbox } from './ImageLightbox'
+import { LinkPreviewCard } from './LinkPreviewCard'
 import { MessageContent } from './MessageContent'
 import { UserAvatar } from './UserAvatar'
 import './MessageList.css'
@@ -171,6 +172,7 @@ export function MessageList({ roomId, messages, members, onEdit, onReact }: Mess
                       {msg.edited_at && <span className="message-edited"> (edited)</span>}
                     </div>
                   )}
+                  {msg.link_preview && <LinkPreviewCard preview={msg.link_preview} />}
                   {msg.reactions.length > 0 && (
                     <div className="message-reaction-pills">
                       {msg.reactions.map((r) => {

frontend/src/types.ts

@@ -108,6 +108,14 @@ export interface MessageFileInfo {
   content_type: string
 }
 
+export interface LinkPreviewInfo {
+  url: string
+  title: string | null
+  description: string | null
+  image_url: string | null
+  site_name: string | null
+}
+
 export interface Message {
   id: string
   room_id: string
@@ -116,6 +124,7 @@ export interface Message {
   content: string | null
   image_id: string | null
   file: MessageFileInfo | null
+  link_preview: LinkPreviewInfo | null
   reactions: ReactionSummary[]
   created_at: string
   edited_at: string | null
@@ -130,6 +139,7 @@ export interface ChatMessageEnvelope {
   content: string | null
   image_id: string | null
   file: MessageFileInfo | null
+  link_preview: LinkPreviewInfo | null
   reactions: ReactionSummary[]
   created_at: string
   edited_at: string | null
@@ -141,6 +151,21 @@ export interface ChatMessageUpdateEnvelope {
   room_id: string
   content: string
   edited_at: string | null
+  // Lets the frontend clear a stale preview when an edit changes/removes
+  // the URL it came from -- compare against whatever link_preview.url the
+  // message currently has rather than assuming it's still valid.
+  preview_url: string | null
+}
+
+export interface ChatLinkPreviewEnvelope {
+  type: 'link_preview'
+  id: string
+  room_id: string
+  url: string
+  title: string | null
+  description: string | null
+  image_url: string | null
+  site_name: string | null
 }
 
 export interface ChatReactionUpdateEnvelope {
@@ -181,6 +206,7 @@ export type ServerEnvelope =
   | ChatMessageEnvelope
   | ChatMessageUpdateEnvelope
   | ChatReactionUpdateEnvelope
+  | ChatLinkPreviewEnvelope
   | ChatJoinedEnvelope
   | ChatErrorEnvelope
   | ChatRoomAddedEnvelope