diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index e3dc7b4..2baa658 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/alecthomas/chroma/v2 v2.24.1
 	github.com/andybalholm/brotli v1.2.1
 	github.com/ayn2op/clipboard v0.0.0-20260308203959-c5ad7df3fc97
-	github.com/ayn2op/tview v0.0.0-20260505203159-135c30590e98
+	github.com/ayn2op/tview v0.0.0-20260518023109-03ba9fc985b3
 	github.com/deckarep/gosx-notifier v0.0.0-20180201035817-e127226297fb
 	github.com/diamondburned/arikawa/v3 v3.6.1-0.20260311205148-176ad9b9440f
 	github.com/diamondburned/ningen/v3 v3.0.1-0.20260306213430-5a08d3a709b4
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 4e9980f..8e75d8c 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@ github.com/andybalholm/brotli v1.2.1 h1:R+f5xP285VArJDRgowrfb9DqL18yVK0gKAW/F+eT
 github.com/andybalholm/brotli v1.2.1/go.mod h1:rzTDkvFWvIrjDXZHkuS16NPggd91W3kUSvPlQ1pLaKY=
 github.com/ayn2op/clipboard v0.0.0-20260308203959-c5ad7df3fc97 h1:WujETUV+v0DEJyZgjeLzQvihWyL80c0Tg4qf0dDo+Io=
 github.com/ayn2op/clipboard v0.0.0-20260308203959-c5ad7df3fc97/go.mod h1:3kFnpNCa3dF6WryzOMCDao7PfZ7DTCh+pievlfuwV80=
-github.com/ayn2op/tview v0.0.0-20260505203159-135c30590e98 h1:C1b9nZC/O5v1pg46NAQJaudWA9xKk7FWGcylfxaDL7s=
-github.com/ayn2op/tview v0.0.0-20260505203159-135c30590e98/go.mod h1:K4qMjKIPIYbOM7aP7dXFRdTrAtVbpWPPT8Q93+DBfKI=
+github.com/ayn2op/tview v0.0.0-20260518023109-03ba9fc985b3 h1:C0TqOk1z+HozivyiXEvZsD1mpztI15thXFZzxHumTEo=
+github.com/ayn2op/tview v0.0.0-20260518023109-03ba9fc985b3/go.mod h1:iOI0nEHAzgBFbED6yCJ5k8ID1Zd2R9QSXW6S2JE27Nk=
 github.com/clipperhouse/displaywidth v0.11.0 h1:lBc6kY44VFw+TDx4I8opi/EtL9m20WSEFgwIwO+UVM8=
 github.com/clipperhouse/displaywidth v0.11.0/go.mod h1:bkrFNkf81G8HyVqmKGxsPufD3JhNl3dSqnGhOoSD/o0=
 github.com/clipperhouse/uax29/v2 v2.7.0 h1:+gs4oBZ2gPfVrKPthwbMzWZDaAFPGYK72F0NJv2v7Vk=
diff --git a/internal/ui/chat/mentions_list.go b/internal/ui/chat/mentions_list.go
index 788a916..ac31749 100644
--- a/internal/ui/chat/mentions_list.go
+++ b/internal/ui/chat/mentions_list.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ func newMentionsList(cfg *config.Config) *mentionsList {
 	m := &mentionsList{
 		Model: list.NewModel(),
 	}
+	m.SetSelectedStyle(tcell.StyleDefault.Reverse(true))
 	m.SetKeybinds(list.Keybinds{
 		SelectUp:     cfg.Keybinds.MentionsList.Up.Keybind,
 		SelectDown:   cfg.Keybinds.MentionsList.Down.Keybind,
@@ -50,16 +51,13 @@ func (m *mentionsList) clear() {
 }
 
 func (m *mentionsList) rebuild() {
-	m.SetBuilder(func(index int, cursor int) list.Item {
+	m.SetBuilder(func(index int) list.Item {
 		if index < 0 || index >= len(m.items) {
 			return nil
 		}
 
 		item := m.items[index]
 		style := item.style
-		if index == cursor {
-			style = style.Reverse(true)
-		}
 		line := tview.NewLine(tview.NewSegment(item.displayText, style))
 
 		return tview.NewTextView().
diff --git a/internal/ui/chat/messages_list.go b/internal/ui/chat/messages_list.go
index f0ff7a2..79d0ce8 100644
--- a/internal/ui/chat/messages_list.go
+++ b/internal/ui/chat/messages_list.go
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ type messagesList struct {
 	rowsDirty bool
 
 	renderer *markdown.Renderer
-	// itemByID caches unselected message TextViews.
+	// itemByID caches rendered message TextViews.
 	itemByID map[discord.MessageID]*tview.TextView
 
 	attachmentsPicker *attachmentsPicker
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ func newMessagesList(cfg *config.Config, chat *Model) *messagesList {
 	ml.SetBuilder(ml.buildItem)
 	ml.SetChangedFunc(ml.onRowCursorChanged)
 	ml.SetTrackEnd(true)
+	ml.SetSelectedStyle(cfg.Theme.MessagesList.SelectedMessageStyle.Style)
 	ml.SetKeybinds(list.Keybinds{
 		ScrollUp:     cfg.Keybinds.MessagesList.ScrollUp.Keybind,
 		ScrollDown:   cfg.Keybinds.MessagesList.ScrollDown.Keybind,
@@ -169,7 +170,7 @@ func (ml *messagesList) clearSelection() {
 	ml.SetCursor(-1)
 }
 
-func (ml *messagesList) buildItem(index int, cursor int) list.Item {
+func (ml *messagesList) buildItem(index int) list.Item {
 	ml.ensureRows()
 
 	if index < 0 || index >= len(ml.rows) {
@@ -181,14 +182,10 @@ func (ml *messagesList) buildItem(index int, cursor int) list.Item {
 		return ml.buildSeparatorItem(row.timestamp)
 	}
 
+	// The list applies the selection style at draw time, so a message is
+	// rendered once and reused for every cursor position. Cursor moves no
+	// longer re-parse markdown or re-run syntax highlighting.
 	message := ml.messages[row.messageIndex]
-	if index == cursor {
-		return tview.NewTextView().
-			SetWrap(true).
-			SetWordWrap(true).
-			SetLines(ml.renderMessage(message, ml.cfg.Theme.MessagesList.SelectedMessageStyle.Style))
-	}
-
 	item, ok := ml.itemByID[message.ID]
 	if !ok {
 		item = tview.NewTextView().
@@ -416,8 +413,12 @@ func (ml *messagesList) memberForMessage(message discord.Message) *discord.Membe
 	return member
 }
 
-func (ml *messagesList) drawContent(builder *tview.LineBuilder, message discord.Message, baseStyle tcell.Style) {
-	lines, root := ml.renderContentLines(message, baseStyle)
+// drawContent renders the message body and returns the parsed markdown AST
+// together with the source bytes it indexes into, so callers can reuse them
+// instead of re-parsing the same content (see drawEmbeds). root is nil when
+// markdown rendering is disabled.
+func (ml *messagesList) drawContent(builder *tview.LineBuilder, message discord.Message, baseStyle tcell.Style) (ast.Node, []byte) {
+	lines, root, source := ml.renderContentLines(message, baseStyle)
 	if ml.cfg.Markdown.Enabled && builder.HasCurrentLine() {
 		startsWithCodeBlock := false
 		if root != nil {
@@ -439,23 +440,24 @@ func (ml *messagesList) drawContent(builder *tview.LineBuilder, message discord.
 		}
 	}
 	builder.AppendLines(lines)
+	return root, source
 }
 
-func (ml *messagesList) renderContentLines(message discord.Message, baseStyle tcell.Style) ([]tview.Line, ast.Node) {
+func (ml *messagesList) renderContentLines(message discord.Message, baseStyle tcell.Style) ([]tview.Line, ast.Node, []byte) {
 	return ml.renderContentLinesWithMarkdown(message, baseStyle, false)
 }
 
-func (ml *messagesList) renderContentLinesWithMarkdown(message discord.Message, baseStyle tcell.Style, forceMarkdown bool) ([]tview.Line, ast.Node) {
+func (ml *messagesList) renderContentLinesWithMarkdown(message discord.Message, baseStyle tcell.Style, forceMarkdown bool) ([]tview.Line, ast.Node, []byte) {
 	// Keep one rendering path for both normal messages and embed fragments so we preserve mention/link parsing behavior consistently across both.
 	if forceMarkdown || ml.cfg.Markdown.Enabled {
 		c := []byte(message.Content)
 		root := discordmd.ParseWithMessage(c, *ml.chat.state.Cabinet, &message, false)
-		return ml.renderer.RenderLines(c, root, baseStyle), root
+		return ml.renderer.RenderLines(c, root, baseStyle), root, c
 	}
 
 	b := tview.NewLineBuilder()
 	b.Write(message.Content, baseStyle)
-	return b.Finish(), nil
+	return b.Finish(), nil, nil
 }
 
 func (ml *messagesList) drawSnapshotContent(builder *tview.LineBuilder, parent discord.Message, snapshot discord.MessageSnapshotMessage, baseStyle tcell.Style) {
@@ -484,14 +486,14 @@ func (ml *messagesList) drawDefaultMessage(builder *tview.LineBuilder, message d
 	}
 
 	ml.drawAuthor(builder, message, baseStyle)
-	ml.drawContent(builder, message, baseStyle)
+	contentRoot, contentSource := ml.drawContent(builder, message, baseStyle)
 
 	if message.EditedTimestamp.IsValid() {
 		dimStyle := baseStyle.Dim(true)
 		builder.Write(" (edited)", dimStyle)
 	}
 
-	ml.drawEmbeds(builder, message, baseStyle)
+	ml.drawEmbeds(builder, message, baseStyle, contentRoot, contentSource)
 
 	attachmentStyle := ui.MergeStyle(baseStyle, ml.cfg.Theme.MessagesList.AttachmentStyle.Style)
 	for _, a := range message.Attachments {
@@ -504,12 +506,20 @@ func (ml *messagesList) drawDefaultMessage(builder *tview.LineBuilder, message d
 	}
 }
 
-func (ml *messagesList) drawEmbeds(builder *tview.LineBuilder, message discord.Message, baseStyle tcell.Style) {
+func (ml *messagesList) drawEmbeds(builder *tview.LineBuilder, message discord.Message, baseStyle tcell.Style, contentRoot ast.Node, contentSource []byte) {
 	if len(message.Embeds) == 0 {
 		return
 	}
 
-	contentListURLs := extractURLs(message.Content)
+	// Embed URLs are deduplicated against links already shown in the message
+	// body. Reuse the body's parsed AST when markdown is enabled; only the
+	// markdown-disabled path (no AST) has to parse the content here.
+	var contentListURLs []string
+	if contentRoot != nil {
+		contentListURLs = urlsFromAST(contentRoot, contentSource)
+	} else {
+		contentListURLs = extractURLs(message.Content)
+	}
 	contentURLs := make(map[string]struct{}, len(contentListURLs))
 	for _, u := range contentListURLs {
 		contentURLs[u] = struct{}{}
@@ -544,7 +554,7 @@ func (ml *messagesList) drawEmbeds(builder *tview.LineBuilder, message discord.M
 			msg.Content = line.Text
 			lineStyle := lineStyles[line.Kind]
 			// Embed descriptions are always markdown-rendered to match Discord's rich embed semantics, even when message markdown is globally disabled.
-			rendered, _ := ml.renderContentLinesWithMarkdown(msg, lineStyle, line.Kind == embedLineDescription)
+			rendered, _, _ := ml.renderContentLinesWithMarkdown(msg, lineStyle, line.Kind == embedLineDescription)
 			for _, renderedLine := range rendered {
 				if line.URL != "" {
 					renderedLine = lineWithURL(renderedLine, line.URL)
@@ -1096,7 +1106,13 @@ func extractURLs(content string) []string {
 		parser.WithBlockParsers(discordmd.BlockParsers()...),
 		parser.WithInlineParsers(discordmd.InlineParserWithLink()...),
 	).Parse(text.NewReader(src))
+	return urlsFromAST(node, src)
+}
 
+// urlsFromAST collects link destinations from an already-parsed markdown AST.
+// src must be the byte slice the node was parsed from (AutoLink resolves its
+// URL against it).
+func urlsFromAST(node ast.Node, src []byte) []string {
 	var urls []string
 	ast.Walk(node, func(n ast.Node, entering bool) (ast.WalkStatus, error) {
 		if entering {