Chub AI alternative: keep your card collection portable
Updated
Chub is a site where people share and download AI character cards. If your collection is what you care about, the test for any alternative is the round trip: can it read the cards you already have, and hand them back in a standard format? UnsavedAI imports V1, V2 and V3 cards as PNG or JSON, and exports Character Card V2 for SillyTavern.
Try it now, free, no account neededStart a story with Robin PenhallowSome antiques return to the auction house on their own. Robin keeps them locked in the basement.In: what happens when you import a card
Open /chat/custom, choose Import a card and pick the file. For a PNG, the character is read from the text stored inside the image (the newer ccv3 chunk if there is one, otherwise the older chara chunk), and the image itself becomes the character's picture. A JSON file brings the text only. {{char}} and {{user}} placeholders are filled in while you chat but stay as placeholders in the saved character, so they still work when the card goes back out.
The site also guesses a setting, the scene and theme around the chat, from the card's tags and description. If it guesses wrong, change it before you save.
Field by field: what survives the trip
| Card field | After import | In the exported V2 card |
|---|---|---|
| name | Name | name |
| description | Who they are | description |
| personality | Personality and voice | personality |
| scenario | Where it starts | scenario |
| first_mes | Their first message | first_mes |
| mes_example | Example lines | mes_example |
| alternate_greetings | First five kept | alternate_greetings |
| tags | Kept | tags |
| creator_notes | First line becomes the one-line hook | The hook |
| character_book | Left behind | Not included |
| system_prompt, post_history_instructions | Left behind | Empty |
Three things to notice. A lorebook does not come along. Neither do a card author's custom system prompt or post-history instructions. And long creator notes shrink to their first line. If a character depends on one or two lore entries, paste those facts into Who they are before you save.
Out: back to SillyTavern or JanitorAI
A character can leave as a Character Card V2 JSON file, which SillyTavern and most card apps read, or as plain text laid out as name, personality, scenario and first message, ready to paste into a JanitorAI bot form. The V2 file says chara_card_v2 in its spec line, so the receiving app knows which rules to read it by. What Character Card V2 is explains every field.
Edits travel with the export. A card you tightened up here, with a better greeting or cleaner example lines, goes back to SillyTavern improved rather than as the version you first downloaded.
Keep a master folder
Characters you import or make on UnsavedAI are kept in this browser rather than on our servers. That is good for privacy, and it also means clearing site data or playing in a private window can remove them. So the collector's habit applies here as everywhere: keep every original file in a folder you own, and save a fresh copy after any edit worth keeping.
- One folder per collection, originals untouched.
- A second folder for edited exports, with the date in the file name.
- A short text file listing each card's source and creator, so credit is never lost.
One warning worth repeating: opening a PNG card in an image editor and saving it usually strips the character text out. Edit in an app, then export again.
Whose cards you can share
Downloading a public card to play privately is what card sites are for. Republishing it is a different matter. On UnsavedAI, only characters made here can be published to the gallery through /creators; an imported card stays private to you, so someone else's work never goes public under your name.
Want to see how a fully filled card plays? Try Robin Penhallow, whose auction house keeps receiving antiques that came back on their own, or Tamsin Rook, a cartographer of drifting islands whose own island is drifting toward the edge of the world.
Questions people ask
Can I import a whole collection at once?
Cards import one at a time, from a PNG or JSON file. For a big collection, start with the handful you actually play.
Does the lorebook inside a card work?
No. Character books are not imported, so move any facts the character truly needs into the Who they are field.
Will an exported card open in SillyTavern?
Yes. It is a standard chara_card_v2 JSON file with the core fields, alternate greetings and tags filled in.
Characters for this story
Robin PenhallowSome antiques return to the auction house on their own. Robin keeps them locked in the basement.
Tamsin RookA cartographer of islands that drift. Yours is drifting toward the Edge of the world, and they're thrilled.
Hazel QuintEvery plant in her shop has a name and a say in who buys it. Your succulent is still deciding.