diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/app/widgets/post-small-action.js b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/app/widgets/post-small-action.js
index f90ec6db284..ddc56a676a7 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/app/widgets/post-small-action.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/app/widgets/post-small-action.js
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import { h } from "virtual-dom";
 import { iconNode } from "discourse-common/lib/icon-library";
 import { userPath } from "discourse/lib/url";
 import { htmlSafe } from "@ember/template";
+import { decorateHashtags } from "discourse/lib/hashtag-autocomplete";
 
 export function actionDescriptionHtml(actionCode, createdAt, username, path) {
   const dt = new Date(createdAt);
@@ -178,9 +179,12 @@ export default createWidget("post-small-action", {
     }
 
     if (!attrs.actionDescriptionWidget && attrs.cooked) {
+      const fragment = document.createElement("div");
+      fragment.innerHTML = attrs.cooked;
+      decorateHashtags(fragment, this.site);
       customMessage.push(
         new RawHtml({
-          html: `<div class='small-action-custom-message'>${attrs.cooked}</div>`,
+          html: `<div class='small-action-custom-message'>${fragment.innerHTML}</div>`,
         })
       );
     }
diff --git a/spec/system/hashtag_autocomplete_spec.rb b/spec/system/hashtag_autocomplete_spec.rb
index ef79c2d13e0..61b0ee1f571 100644
--- a/spec/system/hashtag_autocomplete_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/system/hashtag_autocomplete_spec.rb
@@ -149,6 +149,49 @@ describe "Using #hashtag autocompletion to search for and lookup categories and
     end
   end
 
+  it "decorates post small actions with hashtags in the custom message" do
+    post =
+      Fabricate(:small_action, raw: "this is a #cool-cat category and a #cooltag tag", topic: topic)
+    topic_page.visit_topic(topic)
+    expect(topic_page).to have_post_number(post.post_number)
+    expect(find(".small-action-custom-message")["innerHTML"]).to have_tag(
+      "a",
+      with: {
+        class: "hashtag-cooked",
+        href: tag.url,
+        "data-type": "tag",
+        "data-slug": tag.name,
+        "data-id": tag.id,
+        "aria-label": tag.name,
+      },
+    ) do
+      with_tag(
+        "svg",
+        with: {
+          class: "fa d-icon d-icon-tag svg-icon hashtag-color--tag-#{tag.id} svg-string",
+        },
+      ) { with_tag("use", with: { href: "#tag" }) }
+    end
+    expect(find(".small-action-custom-message")["innerHTML"]).to have_tag(
+      "a",
+      with: {
+        class: "hashtag-cooked",
+        href: category.url,
+        "data-type": "category",
+        "data-slug": category.slug,
+        "data-id": category.id,
+        "aria-label": category.name,
+      },
+    ) do
+      with_tag(
+        "span",
+        with: {
+          class: "hashtag-category-badge hashtag-color--category-#{category.id}",
+        },
+      )
+    end
+  end
+
   context "when a user cannot access the category for a hashtag cooked in another post" do
     fab!(:admin) { Fabricate(:admin) }
     fab!(:manager_group) { Fabricate(:group, name: "Managers") }