diff --git a/.github/workflows/appimage-build.yml b/.github/workflows/appimage-build.yml
index fde6780b..18d47a5c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/appimage-build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/appimage-build.yml
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ jobs:
             libxkbcommon0 \
             libgtk-3-bin libglib2.0-bin shared-mime-info gsettings-desktop-schemas \
             libluajit-5.1-dev libpci-dev libperl-dev libssl-dev libayatana-appindicator3-dev \
-            python3-dev python3-cffi mono-devel desktop-file-utils \
+            perl python3 python3-minimal python3-dev python3-cffi mono-devel desktop-file-utils \
             patchelf file curl
 
       - name: Configure
@@ -61,6 +61,60 @@ jobs:
           rm -rf AppDir
           DESTDIR="${PWD}/AppDir" ninja -C build install
 
+      - name: Bundle scripting runtimes in AppDir
+        run: |
+          set -eux
+
+          python3_version="$(python3 -c 'import sys; print(f"{sys.version_info.major}.{sys.version_info.minor}")')"
+
+          install -Dm755 "$(command -v python3)" "AppDir/usr/bin/python3"
+          if [ -x "/usr/bin/perl" ]; then
+            install -Dm755 /usr/bin/perl AppDir/usr/bin/perl
+          fi
+
+          install -d AppDir/usr/lib
+          cp -a "/usr/lib/python${python3_version}" "AppDir/usr/lib/"
+
+          if [ -d "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages" ]; then
+            install -d AppDir/usr/lib/python3
+            cp -a /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages AppDir/usr/lib/python3/
+          fi
+
+          if [ -d "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/python3/dist-packages" ]; then
+            install -d AppDir/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/python3
+            cp -a /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/python3/dist-packages AppDir/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/python3/
+          fi
+
+          if [ -d "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/perl" ]; then
+            install -d AppDir/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu
+            cp -a /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/perl AppDir/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/
+          fi
+
+          if [ -d "/usr/share/perl" ]; then
+            install -d AppDir/usr/share
+            cp -a /usr/share/perl AppDir/usr/share/
+          fi
+
+          if [ -d "/usr/share/perl5" ]; then
+            install -d AppDir/usr/share
+            cp -a /usr/share/perl5 AppDir/usr/share/
+          fi
+          if compgen -G '/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpython3*.so*' > /dev/null; then
+            install -d AppDir/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu
+            cp -a /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpython3*.so* AppDir/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/
+          fi
+
+      - name: Verify bundled plugins
+        run: |
+          set -eux
+
+          # Include every built-in plugin except the Windows-only update plugin.
+          find AppDir/usr/lib -maxdepth 4 -type f -name '*.so' -path '*/zoitechat/plugins/*' -print | sort
+
+          for plugin in checksum fishlim lua perl python sysinfo; do
+            find "AppDir/usr/lib" -maxdepth 4 -type f -name "${plugin}.so" -path '*/zoitechat/plugins/*' -print -quit | grep -q .
+          done
+
       - name: Build AppImage
         env:
           APPIMAGE_EXTRACT_AND_RUN: 1
@@ -87,10 +141,16 @@ jobs:
 
           APPDIR="${APPDIR:-$(dirname "$(readlink -f "$0")")}"
 
-          export PATH="$APPDIR/usr/bin:${PATH:-/usr/bin:/bin}"
+          export PATH="${PATH:-/usr/bin:/bin}:$APPDIR/usr/bin"
           export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$APPDIR/usr/lib:$APPDIR/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH:-}"
           export XDG_DATA_DIRS="$APPDIR/usr/share:${XDG_DATA_DIRS:-/usr/local/share:/usr/share}"
 
+          if [ -d "$APPDIR/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/zoitechat/plugins" ]; then
+            export ZOITECHAT_LIBDIR="$APPDIR/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/zoitechat/plugins"
+          elif [ -d "$APPDIR/usr/lib/zoitechat/plugins" ]; then
+            export ZOITECHAT_LIBDIR="$APPDIR/usr/lib/zoitechat/plugins"
+          fi
+
           if [ -d "$APPDIR/usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas" ]; then
             export GSETTINGS_SCHEMA_DIR="$APPDIR/usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas${GSETTINGS_SCHEMA_DIR:+:$GSETTINGS_SCHEMA_DIR}"
           fi
@@ -101,6 +161,22 @@ jobs:
             export GIO_EXTRA_MODULES="$APPDIR/usr/lib/gio/modules${GIO_EXTRA_MODULES:+:$GIO_EXTRA_MODULES}"
           fi
 
+          export PYTHONHOME="$APPDIR/usr"
+          python_stdlib_dir="$(find "$APPDIR/usr/lib" -maxdepth 1 -type d -name 'python3.*' | head -n 1 || true)"
+          pythonpath_entries=""
+          if [ -n "$python_stdlib_dir" ] && [ -d "$python_stdlib_dir/dist-packages" ]; then
+            pythonpath_entries="$python_stdlib_dir/dist-packages"
+          fi
+          if [ -d "$APPDIR/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages" ]; then
+            pythonpath_entries="${pythonpath_entries:+$pythonpath_entries:}$APPDIR/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages"
+          fi
+          if [ -d "$APPDIR/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/python3/dist-packages" ]; then
+            pythonpath_entries="${pythonpath_entries:+$pythonpath_entries:}$APPDIR/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/python3/dist-packages"
+          fi
+          if [ -n "$pythonpath_entries" ]; then
+            export PYTHONPATH="$pythonpath_entries${PYTHONPATH:+:$PYTHONPATH}"
+          fi
+
           # OpenSSL trust store override
           export SSL_CERT_FILE="${SSL_CERT_FILE:-$APPDIR/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt}"
           export SSL_CERT_DIR="${SSL_CERT_DIR:-$APPDIR/etc/ssl/certs}"
diff --git a/plugins/python/python.py b/plugins/python/python.py
index bab732f7..b8767a8e 100644
--- a/plugins/python/python.py
+++ b/plugins/python/python.py
@@ -538,8 +538,28 @@ def _on_plugin_init(plugin_name, plugin_desc, plugin_version, arg, libdir):
 
     try:
         libdir = __decode(_cstr(libdir))
-        modpath = os.path.join(libdir, '..', 'python')
-        sys.path.append(os.path.abspath(modpath))
+        modpaths = [
+            os.path.abspath(os.path.join(libdir, '..', 'python')),
+            os.path.abspath(os.path.join(libdir, 'python')),
+        ]
+
+        appdir = os.getenv('APPDIR')
+        if appdir:
+            modpaths.extend([
+                os.path.join(appdir, 'usr', 'lib', 'zoitechat', 'python'),
+                os.path.join(appdir, 'usr', 'lib', 'x86_64-linux-gnu', 'zoitechat', 'python'),
+            ])
+
+        if os.getenv('FLATPAK_ID'):
+            modpaths.extend([
+                '/app/lib/zoitechat/python',
+                '/app/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/zoitechat/python',
+            ])
+
+        for modpath in modpaths:
+            if os.path.isdir(modpath) and modpath not in sys.path:
+                sys.path.append(modpath)
+
         zoitechat = importlib.import_module('zoitechat')
 
     except (UnicodeDecodeError, ImportError) as e:
diff --git a/src/common/server.c b/src/common/server.c
index aa5b8ff4..38759d7c 100644
--- a/src/common/server.c
+++ b/src/common/server.c
@@ -1447,6 +1447,16 @@ server_child (server * serv)
 			GProxyResolver *resolver;
 			GError *error = NULL;
 
+			/*
+			 * In Flatpak, auto proxy resolution may block indefinitely when
+			 * proxy backends are unavailable in the sandbox. If this happens,
+			 * the connection attempt appears to hang after pressing Connect.
+			 * Prefer direct connections there unless the user configured a
+			 * specific proxy manually.
+			 */
+			if (g_file_test ("/.flatpak-info", G_FILE_TEST_EXISTS))
+				goto proxy_lookup_done;
+
 			resolver = g_proxy_resolver_get_default ();
 			url = g_strdup_printf ("irc://%s:%d", hostname, port);
 			proxy_list = g_proxy_resolver_lookup (resolver, url, NULL, &error);
@@ -1477,6 +1487,8 @@ server_child (server * serv)
 
 			g_strfreev (proxy_list);
 			g_free (url);
+
+		proxy_lookup_done:;
 		}
 
 		if (prefs.hex_net_proxy_host[0] &&