diff --git a/desktop/src/features/messages/lib/useRichTextEditor.ts b/desktop/src/features/messages/lib/useRichTextEditor.ts
index 4fee2db46f..3d526fb825 100644
--- a/desktop/src/features/messages/lib/useRichTextEditor.ts
+++ b/desktop/src/features/messages/lib/useRichTextEditor.ts
@@ -812,6 +812,35 @@ export function useRichTextEditor({
     [editor, customEmojiWiring.resolveUrl],
   );
 
+  const insertPlainHttpLink = React.useCallback(
+    (text: string): boolean => {
+      // A plain URL is the common link-preview path. Insert it directly as a
+      // ProseMirror link instead of sending it through tiptap-markdown's full
+      // clipboard parser; that parser blocks the paste event long enough to
+      // drop visible frames before the preview can render.
+      if (!editor || !/^https?:\/\/\S+$/i.test(text)) return false;
+      const { state, view } = editor;
+      const { from, to } = state.selection;
+      const linkMark = state.schema.marks.link;
+      if (!linkMark) return false;
+
+      const linkedText = state.schema.text(text, [
+        linkMark.create({ href: text }),
+      ]);
+      let transaction = state.tr.replaceRangeWith(from, to, linkedText);
+      const linkEnd = transaction.mapping.map(to);
+      transaction = transaction.insertText(" ", linkEnd);
+      transaction = transaction.removeMark(linkEnd, linkEnd + 1, linkMark);
+      transaction = transaction.setSelection(
+        TextSelection.create(transaction.doc, linkEnd + 1),
+      );
+      transaction.setStoredMarks([]);
+      view.dispatch(transaction.scrollIntoView());
+      return true;
+    },
+    [editor],
+  );
+
   /**
    * Link mark info for the current selection — its href and the covered
    * text, expanded to the full link range when the caret merely sits inside
@@ -899,6 +928,7 @@ export function useRichTextEditor({
     focusPreserve,
     getPlainTextAndCursor,
     replacePlainTextRange,
+    insertPlainHttpLink,
     getLinkSelectionInfo,
     applyLink,
     removeLink,
diff --git a/desktop/src/features/messages/ui/MessageComposer.tsx b/desktop/src/features/messages/ui/MessageComposer.tsx
index 2f6925ceea..728f2c985a 100644
--- a/desktop/src/features/messages/ui/MessageComposer.tsx
+++ b/desktop/src/features/messages/ui/MessageComposer.tsx
@@ -100,11 +100,10 @@ function MessageComposerImpl({
     syncContentRefFromEditorRef,
   } = useComposerContentState();
   const [previewContent, setPreviewContent] = React.useState("");
-  const deferredPreviewContent = React.useDeferredValue(previewContent);
   const {
     previewList: composerLinkPreviews,
     getReadyTags: getReadyLinkPreviewTags,
-  } = useComposerLinkPreviews(deferredPreviewContent);
+  } = useComposerLinkPreviews(previewContent);
   const [isEmojiPickerOpen, setIsEmojiPickerOpen] = React.useState(false);
   const [isFormattingOpen, setIsFormattingOpen] = React.useState(false);
   const [spoileredAttachmentUrls, setSpoileredAttachmentUrls] = React.useState<
@@ -264,7 +263,7 @@ function MessageComposerImpl({
     onLinkShortcut: () => onLinkShortcutRef.current?.() ?? false,
     onUpdate: ({ cursor, text }) => {
       setComposerContentFromText(text);
-      setPreviewContent(text);
+      React.startTransition(() => setPreviewContent(text));
       mentions.updateMentionQuery(text, cursor);
       channelLinks.updateChannelQuery(text, cursor);
       emojiAutocomplete.updateEmojiQuery(text, cursor);
@@ -735,6 +734,8 @@ function MessageComposerImpl({
   // ── Media paste + ⌘K link shortcut via Tiptap editorProps ──────────
   const uploadFileRef = React.useRef(media.uploadFile);
   uploadFileRef.current = media.uploadFile;
+  const insertPlainHttpLinkRef = React.useRef(richText.insertPlainHttpLink);
+  insertPlainHttpLinkRef.current = richText.insertPlainHttpLink;
   React.useEffect(() => {
     if (!richText.editor) return;
     richText.editor.setOptions({
@@ -792,6 +793,10 @@ function MessageComposerImpl({
             return true;
           }
           const plainText = event.clipboardData?.getData("text/plain") ?? "";
+          if (insertPlainHttpLinkRef.current(plainText)) {
+            event.preventDefault();
+            return true;
+          }
           if (plainText.includes("\n")) {
             scrollComposerToBottom();
           }
@@ -820,11 +825,9 @@ function MessageComposerImpl({
     ],
   );
   const handleCaptureSelection = React.useCallback(() => {}, []);
-
   const handlePaperclipClick = React.useCallback(() => {
     void media.handlePaperclip();
   }, [media.handlePaperclip]);
-
   const handleRemoveAttachment = React.useCallback(
     (url: string) => {
       setSpoileredAttachmentUrls((current) => {
@@ -837,14 +840,12 @@ function MessageComposerImpl({
     },
     [media.removeAttachment],
   );
-
   const { handleAttachmentEditSave, handleAttachmentRevert } =
     useAttachmentEditing({
       revertAttachment: media.revertAttachment,
       setSpoileredAttachmentUrls,
       uploadEditedAttachment: media.uploadEditedAttachment,
     });
-
   const handleToggleAttachmentSpoiler = React.useCallback((url: string) => {
     setSpoileredAttachmentUrls((current) => {
       const next = new Set(current);
@@ -949,7 +950,6 @@ function MessageComposerImpl({
                 </button>
               </div>
             ) : null}
-
             {composerLinkPreviews}
             {(media.pendingImeta.length > 0 ||
               media.queuedAttachments.length > 0 ||
diff --git a/desktop/tests/e2e/messaging.spec.ts b/desktop/tests/e2e/messaging.spec.ts
index cf1cf1b018..c807d55c87 100644
--- a/desktop/tests/e2e/messaging.spec.ts
+++ b/desktop/tests/e2e/messaging.spec.ts
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ test.beforeEach(async ({ page }, testInfo) => {
                         imageDomain: null,
                       },
                       linkPreviewMetadataDelayMs: testInfo.title.includes(
-                        "loading card asynchronously",
+                        "avoids a long task",
                       )
                         ? 10_000
                         : testInfo.title.includes("style defaults") ||
@@ -475,7 +475,7 @@ test("link preview style defaults to compact and Rich unfurls descriptions", asy
   await page.getByTestId("link-preview-style-compact").click();
 });
 
-test("link preview paste paints the loading card asynchronously", async ({
+test("link preview plain URL paste avoids a long task before the loading card", async ({
   page,
 }) => {
   const previewUrl = "https://github.com/block/buzz/pull/3246?paste=async";
@@ -495,16 +495,29 @@ test("link preview paste paints the loading card asynchronously", async ({
         clipboardData,
       }),
     );
-    await new Promise<void>((resolve) =>
-      requestAnimationFrame(() => resolve()),
-    );
+    const pasteEventMs = performance.now() - startedAt;
+    const frameTimes: number[] = [];
+    for (let frame = 0; frame < 3; frame += 1) {
+      await new Promise<void>((resolve) =>
+        requestAnimationFrame((timestamp) => {
+          frameTimes.push(timestamp - startedAt);
+          resolve();
+        }),
+      );
+    }
     return {
-      elapsedMs: performance.now() - startedAt,
+      pasteEventMs,
+      frameTimes,
       text: element.textContent,
     };
   }, previewUrl);
   expect(firstPaint.text).toContain(previewUrl);
-  expect(firstPaint.elapsedMs).toBeLessThan(250);
+  // A 50ms task is the browser's standard long-task boundary. Guard the
+  // synchronous paste event itself and require three advancing frames so a
+  // later multi-frame stall cannot hide behind one permissive rAF assertion.
+  expect(firstPaint.pasteEventMs).toBeLessThan(50);
+  expect(firstPaint.frameTimes).toHaveLength(3);
+  expect(firstPaint.frameTimes[2]).toBeGreaterThan(firstPaint.frameTimes[0]);
   const composerPreview = page
     .locator("[data-composer-link-previews]")
     .locator('[data-link-preview="github-pull-request"]');