diff --git a/src/components/compose.css b/src/components/compose.css
index 4870063..5ae798c 100644
--- a/src/components/compose.css
+++ b/src/components/compose.css
@@ -619,3 +619,86 @@
 #custom-emojis-sheet .custom-emojis-list button:is(:hover, :focus) img {
   transform: scale(1.5);
 }
+
+.compose-field-container {
+  display: grid !important;
+
+  &.debug {
+    grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr;
+  }
+
+  > * {
+    grid-area: 1 / 1 / 2 / 2;
+  }
+
+  .compose-highlight {
+    user-drag: none;
+    user-select: none;
+    pointer-events: none;
+    touch-action: none;
+    padding: 8px;
+    color: transparent;
+    background-color: transparent;
+    border: 2px solid transparent;
+    line-height: 1.4;
+    overflow: auto;
+    unicode-bidi: plaintext;
+    -webkit-rtl-ordering: logical;
+    rtl-ordering: logical;
+    overflow-wrap: break-word;
+    white-space: pre-wrap;
+    min-height: 5em;
+    max-height: 50vh;
+
+    /* Follow textarea styles */
+    @media (min-width: 40em) {
+      max-height: 65vh;
+    }
+    @media (width < 30em) {
+      margin-inline: calc(-1 * var(--form-padding-inline));
+      width: 100vw !important;
+      max-width: 100vw;
+      border: 0;
+    }
+
+    mark {
+      color: inherit;
+    }
+
+    .compose-highlight-url,
+    .compose-highlight-hashtag {
+      background-color: transparent;
+      text-decoration: underline;
+      text-decoration-color: var(--link-faded-color);
+      text-decoration-thickness: 2px;
+      text-underline-offset: 2px;
+    }
+    .compose-highlight-mention,
+    .compose-highlight-emoji-shortcode,
+    .compose-highlight-exceeded {
+      mix-blend-mode: multiply;
+      border-radius: 4px;
+      box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px;
+    }
+    .compose-highlight-mention {
+      background-color: var(--orange-light-bg-color);
+      box-shadow-color: var(--orange-light-bg-color);
+    }
+    .compose-highlight-emoji-shortcode {
+      background-color: var(--bg-faded-color);
+      box-shadow-color: var(--bg-faded-color);
+    }
+    .compose-highlight-exceeded {
+      background-color: var(--red-bg-color);
+      box-shadow-color: var(--red-bg-color);
+    }
+
+    @media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
+      .compose-highlight-mention,
+      .compose-highlight-emoji-shortcode,
+      .compose-highlight-exceeded {
+        mix-blend-mode: screen;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/components/compose.jsx b/src/components/compose.jsx
index 18480db..0fe0610 100644
--- a/src/components/compose.jsx
+++ b/src/components/compose.jsx
@@ -104,6 +104,55 @@ function countableText(inputText) {
     .replace(usernameRegex, '$1@$3');
 }
 
+// https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/blob/c03bd2a238741a012aa4b98dc4902d6cf948ab63/app/models/account.rb#L69
+const USERNAME_RE = /[a-z0-9_]+([a-z0-9_.-]+[a-z0-9_]+)?/i;
+const MENTION_RE = new RegExp(
+  `(?<![=\\/\\w])@((${USERNAME_RE.source})(?:@[\\w.-]+[\\w]+)?)`,
+  'ig',
+);
+
+// AI-generated, all other regexes are too complicated
+const HASHTAG_RE = new RegExp(
+  `(?<![=\\/\\w])#([a-z0-9_]+([a-z0-9_.-]+[a-z0-9_]+)?)(?![\\/\\w])`,
+  'ig',
+);
+
+// https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/blob/23e32a4b3031d1da8b911e0145d61b4dd47c4f96/app/models/custom_emoji.rb#L31
+const SHORTCODE_RE_FRAGMENT = '[a-zA-Z0-9_]{2,}';
+const SCAN_RE = new RegExp(
+  `(?<=[^A-Za-z0-9_:\\n]|^):(${SHORTCODE_RE_FRAGMENT}):(?=[^A-Za-z0-9_:]|$)`,
+  'g',
+);
+
+function highlightText(text, { maxCharacters = Infinity }) {
+  // Accept text string, return formatted HTML string
+  let html = text;
+  // Exceeded characters limit
+  const { composerCharacterCount } = states;
+  let leftoverHTML = '';
+  if (composerCharacterCount > maxCharacters) {
+    const leftoverCount = composerCharacterCount - maxCharacters;
+    leftoverHTML = html.slice(-leftoverCount);
+    html = html.slice(0, -leftoverCount);
+    // Highlight exceeded characters
+    leftoverHTML = leftoverHTML.replace(
+      new RegExp(`(.{${leftoverCount}})$`),
+      '<mark class="compose-highlight-exceeded">$1</mark>',
+    );
+  }
+
+  html = html
+    .replace(urlRegexObj, '$2<mark class="compose-highlight-url">$3</mark>') // URLs
+    .replace(MENTION_RE, '<mark class="compose-highlight-mention">$&</mark>') // Mentions
+    .replace(HASHTAG_RE, '<mark class="compose-highlight-hashtag">#$1</mark>') // Hashtags
+    .replace(
+      SCAN_RE,
+      '<mark class="compose-highlight-emoji-shortcode">$&</mark>',
+    ); // Emoji shortcodes
+
+  return html + leftoverHTML;
+}
+
 function Compose({
   onClose,
   replyToStatus,
@@ -1387,6 +1436,11 @@ const Textarea = forwardRef((props, ref) => {
       handleCommited = (e) => {
         const { input } = e.detail;
         setText(input.value);
+        // fire input event
+        if (ref.current) {
+          const event = new Event('input', { bubbles: true });
+          ref.current.dispatchEvent(event);
+        }
       };
 
       textExpanderRef.current.addEventListener(
@@ -1413,8 +1467,14 @@ const Textarea = forwardRef((props, ref) => {
     };
   }, []);
 
+  const composeHighlightRef = useRef();
+
   return (
-    <text-expander ref={textExpanderRef} keys="@ # :">
+    <text-expander
+      ref={textExpanderRef}
+      keys="@ # :"
+      class="compose-field-container"
+    >
       <textarea
         class="compose-field"
         autoCapitalize="sentences"
@@ -1466,15 +1526,30 @@ const Textarea = forwardRef((props, ref) => {
         }}
         onInput={(e) => {
           const { target } = e;
-          setText(target.value);
+          const text = target.value;
+          setText(text);
           autoResizeTextarea(target);
           props.onInput?.(e);
+          composeHighlightRef.current.innerHTML =
+            highlightText(text, {
+              maxCharacters,
+            }) + '\n';
+          // Newline to prevent multiple line breaks at the end from being collapsed, no idea why
         }}
         style={{
           width: '100%',
           height: '4em',
           // '--text-weight': (1 + charCount / 140).toFixed(1) || 1,
         }}
+        onScroll={(e) => {
+          const { scrollTop } = e.target;
+          composeHighlightRef.current.scrollTop = scrollTop;
+        }}
+      />
+      <div
+        ref={composeHighlightRef}
+        class="compose-highlight"
+        aria-hidden="true"
       />
     </text-expander>
   );
diff --git a/src/index.css b/src/index.css
index ab41185..b6cdb5c 100644
--- a/src/index.css
+++ b/src/index.css
@@ -18,7 +18,13 @@
   --purple-color: blueviolet;
   --green-color: darkgreen;
   --orange-color: darkorange;
+  --orange-light-bg-color: color-mix(
+    in srgb,
+    var(--orange-color) 20%,
+    transparent
+  );
   --red-color: orangered;
+  --red-bg-color: color-mix(in lch, var(--red-color) 40%, transparent);
   --bg-color: #fff;
   --bg-faded-color: #f0f2f5;
   --bg-blur-color: #fff9;