diff --git a/modules/nixos/guests/mastodon/config/chars.patch b/modules/nixos/guests/mastodon/config/chars.patch
index e48a993..80b2c00 100755
--- a/modules/nixos/guests/mastodon/config/chars.patch
+++ b/modules/nixos/guests/mastodon/config/chars.patch
@@ -1,34 +1,20 @@
-diff --git a/app/javascript/mastodon/features/compose/components/compose_form.jsx b/app/javascript/mastodon/features/compose/components/compose_form.jsx
-index 9222b2dc8..962310a28 100644
---- a/app/javascript/mastodon/features/compose/components/compose_form.jsx
-+++ b/app/javascript/mastodon/features/compose/components/compose_form.jsx
-@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ class ComposeForm extends ImmutablePureComponent {
-     const fulltext = this.getFulltextForCharacterCounting();
-     const isOnlyWhitespace = fulltext.length !== 0 && fulltext.trim().length === 0;
+diff --git a/app/javascript/mastodon/features/compose/containers/compose_form_container.js b/app/javascript/mastodon/features/compose/containers/compose_form_container.js
+--- a/app/javascript/mastodon/features/compose/containers/compose_form_container.js
++++ b/app/javascript/mastodon/features/compose/containers/compose_form_container.js
+@@ -32,5 +32,5 @@
+   isInReply: state.getIn(['compose', 'in_reply_to']) !== null,
+   lang: state.getIn(['compose', 'language']),
+-  maxChars: state.getIn(['server', 'server', 'configuration', 'statuses', 'max_characters'], 500),
++  maxChars: state.getIn(['server', 'server', 'configuration', 'statuses', 'max_characters'], 5000),
+ });
 
--    return !(isSubmitting || isUploading || isChangingUpload || length(fulltext) > 500 || (isOnlyWhitespace && !anyMedia));
-+    return !(isSubmitting || isUploading || isChangingUpload || length(fulltext) > 5000 || (isOnlyWhitespace && !anyMedia));
-   };
-
-   handleSubmit = (e) => {
-@@ -297,7 +297,7 @@ class ComposeForm extends ImmutablePureComponent {
-             </div>
-
-             <div className='character-counter__wrapper'>
--              <CharacterCounter max={500} text={this.getFulltextForCharacterCounting()} />
-+              <CharacterCounter max={5000} text={this.getFulltextForCharacterCounting()} />
-             </div>
-           </div>
-         </div>
 diff --git a/app/validators/status_length_validator.rb b/app/validators/status_length_validator.rb
-index dc841ded3..9cb1ec94b 100644
 --- a/app/validators/status_length_validator.rb
 +++ b/app/validators/status_length_validator.rb
-@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
- # frozen_string_literal: true
+@@ -2,6 +2,6 @@
 
  class StatusLengthValidator < ActiveModel::Validator
 -  MAX_CHARS = 500
 +  MAX_CHARS = 5000
    URL_PLACEHOLDER_CHARS = 23
-   URL_PLACEHOLDER = 'x' * 23
\ No newline at end of file
+   URL_PLACEHOLDER = 'x' * 23
diff --git a/modules/nixos/guests/mastodon/default.nix b/modules/nixos/guests/mastodon/default.nix
index 98046dd..f0a3f76 100755
--- a/modules/nixos/guests/mastodon/default.nix
+++ b/modules/nixos/guests/mastodon/default.nix
@@ -57,6 +57,16 @@ in
   # If you really fuck up and name yourself wrong, use this shit
   # sudo mastodon-tootctl accounts modify username --remove-role
 
+  nixpkgs.overlays = [
+    (final: prev: {
+      mastodon = prev.mastodon.overrideAttrs (oldAttrs: {
+        patches = (oldAttrs.patches or [ ]) ++ [
+          ./config/chars.patch
+        ];
+      });
+    })
+  ];
+
   microvm.vms = {
     ${serviceCfg.name} = {
       autostart = true;
@@ -88,6 +98,15 @@ in
               SMTP_ENABLE_STARTTLS_AUTO = "true";
               SMTP_SSL = "false";
             };
+
+            # if you're starting from scratch, you gotta cd into /var/lib/mastodon and run:
+            # sudo -u mastodon mastodon-tootctl search deploy
+
+            elasticsearch = {
+              preset = "single_node_cluster";
+              host = hostCfg.localhost.address0;
+              port = 9200;
+            };
             mediaAutoRemove = {
               enable = true;
               olderThanDays = 14;
@@ -132,7 +151,7 @@ in
               user = smtpCfg.email.address1;
             };
           };
-
+          opensearch.enable = true;
           caddy = {
             enable = true;
             virtualHosts = {
@@ -354,8 +373,8 @@ in
         environment.systemPackages = [ fedifetcherPython ];
 
         microvm = {
-          vcpu = 2;
-          mem = 1024 * 3;
+          vcpu = 4;
+          mem = 1024 * 8;
           hypervisor = "qemu";
           interfaces = [
             {