This makes use of the emoji_aliases library when installed

wee_slack.py

@@ -68,6 +68,11 @@
 except AttributeError:
     JSONDecodeError = ValueError
 
+try:
+    from emoji_aliases import convert_aliases_to_emoji
+except:
+    convert_aliases_to_emoji = None
+
 # hack to make tests possible.. better way?
 try:
     import weechat
@@ -5255,6 +5260,12 @@ def modify_buffer_line(buffer_pointer, ts, new_text):
 
     for pointer, line in zip(pointers, lines):
         data = w.hdata_pointer(hdata.line, pointer, "data")
+        if convert_aliases_to_emoji is not None:
+            try:
+                line = convert_aliases_to_emoji(None, None, None, line)
+            except:
+                dbg("emoji issue: {}\n".format(traceback.format_exc()), level=2)
+                pass
         w.hdata_update(hdata.line_data, data, {"message": line})
 
     return w.WEECHAT_RC_OK