diff --git a/src/activitypub/actors.js b/src/activitypub/actors.js
index 9281a28608..d8726c8b9f 100644
--- a/src/activitypub/actors.js
+++ b/src/activitypub/actors.js
@@ -93,30 +93,39 @@ Actors.assert = async (ids, options = {}) => {
 	const exists = await db.isSortedSetMembers('usersRemote:lastCrawled', profiles.map(p => p.uid));
 	const uidsForCurrent = profiles.map((p, idx) => (exists[idx] ? p.uid : 0));
 	const current = await user.getUsersFields(uidsForCurrent, ['username', 'fullname']);
-	const searchQueries = profiles.reduce((memo, profile, idx) => {
+	const queries = profiles.reduce((memo, profile, idx) => {
 		if (profile) {
 			const { username, fullname } = current[idx];
 
 			if (username !== profile.username) {
-				memo.remove.push(['ap.preferredUsername:sorted', `${username.toLowerCase()}:${profile.uid}`]);
-				memo.add.push(['ap.preferredUsername:sorted', 0, `${profile.username.toLowerCase()}:${profile.uid}`]);
+				if (uidsForCurrent[idx] !== 0) {
+					memo.searchRemove.push(['ap.preferredUsername:sorted', `${username.toLowerCase()}:${profile.uid}`]);
+					memo.handleRemove.push(username.toLowerCase());
+				}
+
+				memo.searchAdd.push(['ap.preferredUsername:sorted', 0, `${profile.username.toLowerCase()}:${profile.uid}`]);
+				memo.handleAdd[profile.username.toLowerCase()] = profile.uid;
 			}
 
 			if (fullname !== profile.fullname) {
-				memo.remove.push(['ap.name:sorted', `${fullname.toLowerCase()}:${profile.uid}`]);
-				memo.add.push(['ap.name:sorted', 0, `${profile.fullname.toLowerCase()}:${profile.uid}`]);
+				if (uidsForCurrent[idx] !== 0) {
+					memo.searchRemove.push(['ap.name:sorted', `${fullname.toLowerCase()}:${profile.uid}`]);
+				}
+
+				memo.searchAdd.push(['ap.name:sorted', 0, `${profile.fullname.toLowerCase()}:${profile.uid}`]);
 			}
 		}
 
 		return memo;
-	}, { remove: [], add: [] });
+	}, { searchRemove: [], searchAdd: [], handleRemove: [], handleAdd: {} });
 
 	await Promise.all([
 		db.setObjectBulk(bulkSet),
-		db.sortedSetAdd('usersRemote:lastCrawled', ids.map((id, idx) => (profiles[idx] ? now : null)).filter(Boolean), ids.filter((id, idx) => profiles[idx])),
-		db.sortedSetRemove('ap.preferredUsername:sorted', searchQueries.remove),
-		db.sortedSetRemoveBulk(searchQueries.remove),
-		db.sortedSetAddBulk(searchQueries.add),
+		db.sortedSetAdd('usersRemote:lastCrawled', profiles.map(p => now), profiles.map(p => p.uid)),
+		db.sortedSetRemoveBulk(queries.searchRemove),
+		db.sortedSetAddBulk(queries.searchAdd),
+		db.deleteObjectFields('handle:uid', queries.handleRemove),
+		db.setObject('handle:uid', queries.handleAdd),
 	]);
 
 	return actors.every(Boolean);
diff --git a/src/activitypub/mocks.js b/src/activitypub/mocks.js
index 5f90fce425..50476a93cf 100644
--- a/src/activitypub/mocks.js
+++ b/src/activitypub/mocks.js
@@ -235,9 +235,17 @@ Mocks.note = async (post) => {
 
 		if (matches.size) {
 			tag = tag || [];
-			Array.from(matches).map(match => ({
-				type: 'Mention',
-				name: match,
+			tag.push(...Array.from(matches).map(({ id: href, slug: name }) => {
+				if (utils.isNumber(href)) { // local ref
+					href = `${nconf.get('url')}/user/${name.slice(1)}`;
+					name = `${name}@${nconf.get('url_parsed').hostname}`;
+				}
+
+				return {
+					type: 'Mention',
+					href,
+					name,
+				};
 			}));
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/src/activitypub/notes.js b/src/activitypub/notes.js
index c2beef2055..f513043e7e 100644
--- a/src/activitypub/notes.js
+++ b/src/activitypub/notes.js
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ const privileges = require('../privileges');
 const user = require('../user');
 const topics = require('../topics');
 const posts = require('../posts');
+const plugins = require('../plugins');
 const utils = require('../utils');
 
 const activitypub = module.parent.exports;
@@ -59,6 +60,9 @@ Notes.assert = async (uid, input, options = {}) => {
 			delete hash._activitypub;
 			// should call internal method here to create/edit post
 			await db.setObject(key, hash);
+			const post = await posts.getPostData(id);
+			post._activitypub = postData._activitypub;
+			plugins.hooks.fire(`action:post.${(exists && options.update) ? 'edit' : 'save'}`, { post });
 			winston.verbose(`[activitypub/notes.assert] Note ${id} saved.`);
 		}
 	}));
@@ -176,17 +180,14 @@ Notes.getParentChain = async (uid, input) => {
 	return chain;
 };
 
-Notes.assertParentChain = async (chain, tid) => {
+Notes.assertParentChain = async (chain) => {
 	const data = [];
 	chain.reduce((child, parent) => {
 		data.push([`pid:${parent.pid}:replies`, child.timestamp, child.pid]);
 		return parent;
 	});
 
-	await Promise.all([
-		db.sortedSetAddBulk(data),
-		db.setObjectBulk(chain.map(post => [`post:${post.pid}`, { tid }])),
-	]);
+	await db.sortedSetAddBulk(data);
 };
 
 Notes.assertTopic = async (uid, id) => {
@@ -238,7 +239,10 @@ Notes.assertTopic = async (uid, id) => {
 	tid = tid || utils.generateUUID();
 	mainPost.tid = tid;
 
-	const unprocessed = chain.filter((p, idx) => !members[idx]);
+	const unprocessed = chain.map((post) => {
+		post.tid = tid; // add tid to post hash
+		return post;
+	}).filter((p, idx) => !members[idx]);
 	winston.verbose(`[notes/assertTopic] ${unprocessed.length} new note(s) found.`);
 
 	const [ids, timestamps] = [
@@ -275,7 +279,7 @@ Notes.assertTopic = async (uid, id) => {
 		Notes.assert(uid, unprocessed),
 	]);
 	await Promise.all([ // must be done after .assert()
-		Notes.assertParentChain(chain, tid),
+		Notes.assertParentChain(chain),
 		Notes.updateTopicCounts(tid),
 		Notes.syncUserInboxes(tid),
 		topics.updateLastPostTimeFromLastPid(tid),
diff --git a/src/controllers/posts.js b/src/controllers/posts.js
index 7865ba0af7..24e8bdfbb7 100644
--- a/src/controllers/posts.js
+++ b/src/controllers/posts.js
@@ -4,12 +4,14 @@ const querystring = require('querystring');
 
 const posts = require('../posts');
 const privileges = require('../privileges');
+const utils = require('../utils');
+
 const helpers = require('./helpers');
 
 const postsController = module.exports;
 
 postsController.redirectToPost = async function (req, res, next) {
-	const pid = parseInt(req.params.pid, 10);
+	const pid = utils.isNumber(req.params.pid) ? parseInt(req.params.pid, 10) : req.params.pid;
 	if (!pid) {
 		return next();
 	}
diff --git a/src/upgrades/4.0.0/searchable_remote_users.js b/src/upgrades/4.0.0/searchable_remote_users.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..65b9fceed0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/upgrades/4.0.0/searchable_remote_users.js
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+'use strict';
+
+const db = require('../../database');
+
+module.exports = {
+	name: 'Allow remote user profiles to be searched',
+	// remember, month is zero-indexed (so January is 0, December is 11)
+	timestamp: Date.UTC(2024, 2, 1),
+	method: async () => {
+		const ids = await db.getSortedSetMembers('usersRemote:lastCrawled');
+		const data = await db.getObjectsFields(ids.map(id => `userRemote:${id}`), ['username', 'fullname']);
+
+		const queries = data.reduce((memo, profile, idx) => {
+			if (profile && profile.username && profile.fullname) {
+				memo.zset.push(['ap.preferredUsername:sorted', 0, `${profile.username.toLowerCase()}:${ids[idx]}`]);
+				memo.zset.push(['ap.name:sorted', 0, `${profile.fullname.toLowerCase()}:${ids[idx]}`]);
+				memo.hash[profile.username.toLowerCase()] = ids[idx];
+			}
+
+			return memo;
+		}, { zset: [], hash: {} });
+
+		await Promise.all([
+			db.sortedSetAddBulk(queries.zset),
+			db.setObject('handle:uid', queries.hash),
+		]);
+	},
+};
diff --git a/src/user/index.js b/src/user/index.js
index 7a48c2d08b..40beaf069a 100644
--- a/src/user/index.js
+++ b/src/user/index.js
@@ -111,11 +111,8 @@ User.getUidByUserslug = async function (userslug) {
 		return 0;
 	}
 
-	// fix this! Forces a remote call, this is bad. Should be done in actors.assert
-	// then mentions. should return actor uri or url or something to parsePost.
 	if (userslug.includes('@')) {
-		const { actorUri } = await activitypub.helpers.query(userslug);
-		return actorUri;
+		return (await db.getObjectField('handle:uid', userslug)) || 0;
 	}
 
 	return await db.sortedSetScore('userslug:uid', userslug);