chore: update changelog, add CV2 post

docs/content/posts/2025-09-08-components-v2.md

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+---
+title: on the switch to Components V2
+permalink: /posts/2025-09-08-components-v2/
+---
+
+## on the switch to Components V2
+
+you probably will have noticed the new design of system/member/group cards
+in PluralKit. we know that a lot of people will have questions as to why
+we've suddenly changed the layout & design of the cards, so we hope this
+post can explain some of the decisions that went into these.
+
+### why change the cards at all?
+
+the old cards used something Discord calls "embeds." embeds were initially
+only meant for showing details about a link posted in chat, but were later
+also used by Discord bots for displaying information in a structured way.
+
+embeds are extremely limited in their layout, and bots have very little
+control over how things are displayed in them. in addition, a lot of newer
+Discord features (things like the Markdown headers, or small text) either
+don't display in embeds at all, or only display on some platforms - making
+them very inconsistent in how they display.
+
+the new cards use Discord's "Components V2" - which has been designed by
+Discord from the ground up specifically for bots to use for custom content.
+Components V2 is much more flexible, and fixes a lot of the issues with the
+old embeds (the Markdown headers / small text being one example), letting us
+have a lot more control over the display of the cards.
+
+Components V2 is the way forward, as far as Discord is concerned - meaning
+that some of the issues with embeds will never be fixed in embeds themselves,
+necessitating a move to Components V2.
+
+### continual improvement (also: "where'd my proxy avatar go?")
+
+currently, the only thing missing from PluralKit's new Components V2 cards
+(compared to the previous embed-based cards) is member proxy avatars. on
+the old member cards, proxy avatars would display as a tiny circle at the
+top left. there is not currently a way to display an image of that size/
+position in Components V2... but from what we understand, that is on the
+list of things Discord will be adding in the future. which leads into the
+next point:
+
+unlike embeds, which have remained stagnant for years, Discord are actively
+working on adding *new functionality* to Components V2, as well as fixing
+whatever issues arise - in order to take advantage of new functionality as
+Discord release it, we would have needed to move to Components V2 at some
+point. we figured that with the state Components V2 is currently in, now
+was a good time to make that switch!
+
+### character limits
+
+another advantage of Components V2 over embeds is the character limit for
+cards. the old embeds had a hard limit of 1024 characters in a single field,
+with a limit of 2000 characters for the entire embed. this is the reason that
+PK descriptions are capped at 1000 characters.
+
+Components V2, however, has a character limit of *6000* characters across
+the entire card, which can be split however we like. this means that once the
+old embed-based cards are removed, we will be able to raise the description
+character limit!
+
+### other small improvements
+
+- Components V2 allows us to use real code blocks in the card footers for
+  things like system/member/group IDs. on mobile Discord clients, this makes
+  copying IDs a lot easier - you can copy an individual code block's content
+  by tapping on it
+- having a banner image set no longer makes the description width smaller
+- on mobile clients, it is now a lot easier to view any images larger, just
+  by tapping on them
+- some PluralKit users who use screen readers have reported that the new
+  Components V2 cards are read by their screen readers in a much more easily
+  understood way
+
+### the new cards don't show up! / is there a way to see the old cards?
+
+Components V2 is not supported on older Discord clients. there is nothing
+we can do about this, other than encourage you to update your Discord
+client.
+
+however - for now, using the `-show-embed` (or `-se`) flag to the
+`pk;system`, `pk;member`, and `pk;group` commands will show the old
+embed-based cards.
+
+the old cards will still show in some places in the bot (the most prominent
+example being when querying message info with the ❓ reaction) also,
+until we migrate those parts of the bot to use Components V2. 
+
+the old embed-based cards will be removed from the bot in future - although
+we do not have any specific timeframe in mind for this yet.
+
+### in closing
+
+we hope that this gives you a bit more context as to why we've made this
+change - although there are some new design choices here, this was not
+a change made just for the sake of changing.
+
+a lot of the decisions that went into the new versions of the cards were
+iterated on with feedback from members of the community who help beta test
+new PluralKit features - i want to thank those people immensely for their
+input!
+
+if you have any questions, please let us know in [the support server](https://discord.gg/PczBt78).