diff --git a/src/ssb.db.c b/src/ssb.db.c
index c4af262b..e2864ada 100644
--- a/src/ssb.db.c
+++ b/src/ssb.db.c
@@ -142,12 +142,6 @@ void tf_ssb_db_init(tf_ssb_t* ssb)
 			"  ref TEXT, "
 			"  UNIQUE(message, ref)"
 			")");
-		_tf_ssb_db_exec(db, "CREATE TRIGGER IF NOT EXISTS messages_ai_refs AFTER INSERT ON messages BEGIN "
-			"INSERT INTO messages_refs(message, ref) "
-			"SELECT new.id, j.value FROM json_each(new.content) as j WHERE "
-			"j.value LIKE '&%.sha256' OR "
-			"j.value LIKE '%%%.sha256' OR "
-			"j.value LIKE '@%.ed25519'; END");
 		printf("Populating messages_refs...\n");
 		_tf_ssb_db_exec(db, "INSERT INTO messages_refs(message, ref) "
 			"SELECT messages.id, j.value FROM messages, json_each(messages.content) as j WHERE "
@@ -158,6 +152,14 @@ void tf_ssb_db_init(tf_ssb_t* ssb)
 		printf("Done.\n");
 	}
 
+	_tf_ssb_db_exec(db, "DROP TRIGGER IF EXISTS messages_ai_refs");
+	_tf_ssb_db_exec(db, "CREATE TRIGGER IF NOT EXISTS messages_ai_refs AFTER INSERT ON messages BEGIN "
+		"INSERT INTO messages_refs(message, ref) "
+		"SELECT DISTINCT new.id, j.value FROM json_each(new.content) as j WHERE "
+		"j.value LIKE '&%.sha256' OR "
+		"j.value LIKE '%%%.sha256' OR "
+		"j.value LIKE '@%.ed25519' "
+		"ON CONFLICT DO NOTHING; END");
 	_tf_ssb_db_exec(db, "DROP TRIGGER IF EXISTS messages_ad_refs");
 	_tf_ssb_db_exec(db, "CREATE TRIGGER IF NOT EXISTS messages_ad_refs AFTER DELETE ON messages BEGIN DELETE FROM messages_refs WHERE messages_refs.message = old.id; END");