How to import character cards into SillyTavern

Three ways in

The file picker accepts several files at once on most systems, which saves time when you bring a whole folder of cards across. Each card arrives as a new character in your list; importing the same card twice gives you two copies rather than replacing the first.

What SillyTavern asks during import

Two prompts can appear. If the card has an embedded lorebook, SillyTavern offers to import it as a World Info file and link it to the character. Saying yes is usually right: card makers embed lore because the character depends on it. You can find it later among your lorebooks and see what each entry does; what a lorebook is explains how the entries trigger.

The second is about tags. Cards often carry genre tags, and a setting decides whether they come along, never come along, or whether SillyTavern asks each time. If your tag list fills up with near-duplicates, that setting is why.

Check these four things after import

A card can bring more than a name and a greeting. Open the character and look at:

• Alternate greetings: they appear as swipes on the first message, so swipe before you reply. Alternate greetings explains the idea.
• Advanced Definitions: a card can include its own system prompt, post-history instructions and a character's note injected at a depth. These can override your Main Prompt, which is why one card suddenly writes in a different style. The Prompt Manager page covers how overrides work.
• Creator's notes: suggested settings, content warnings and the intended scenario, worth a read before you start.
• The token count: SillyTavern shows how many tokens the card uses. A card past a couple of thousand tokens is read on every reply and eats into your story's room.

When the import fails

• "No character data" or a plain picture: the PNG was re-saved somewhere along the way. Messaging apps and social sites often recompress images and strip the hidden data; get the original file from where it was published.
• A WEBP or JPG: not a card. Cards are PNG or JSON.
• A screenshot of a card: just a picture, for the same reason.
• A JSON file that will not load: open it in a text editor. A card has fields such as name, description and first_mes, and V2 cards say "spec": "chara_card_v2". A file without those came from an app with its own format and needs copying field by field.
• Odd characters in the greeting: the card was written for a different macro style. Replace them with {{char}} and {{user}}.

What Character Card V2 is lists every field if you need to repair a card by hand.

Moving cards between UnsavedAI and SillyTavern

Cards travel both ways. A character you build at /chat/custom exports as a Character Card V2 file, which imports into SillyTavern exactly like a card from anywhere else, greeting and example dialogue included. In the other direction, the UnsavedAI character editor accepts SillyTavern and Chub cards as PNG or JSON, so your collection can live in both places.

If you want to see what a well-built card feels like before importing your own, Sylvara and Lilith are good examples of scenario and voice doing the work. Only bring over cards you made or whose creators are happy for them to be shared.

Questions people ask