TavernAI vs SillyTavern: the fork explained, and which to run
Updated
SillyTavern began in 2023 as a fork of TavernAI and has grown as its own project since, so most current guides, presets and extensions are written for SillyTavern. Both read the same PNG character cards. Starting fresh, install SillyTavern; already happy on TavernAI, keep it, knowing your cards move across whenever you decide to switch.
Try it now, free, no account neededStart a story with Mara VellSharp-tongued innkeeper with a secretHow the two are related
TavernAI is an earlier open-source chat front end for AI characters. In 2023 a group of developers copied its code into a new project, a fork, and called it SillyTavern. From that point the two codebases went their own ways, with separate developers, releases and documentation. That is why the menus differ even though the idea is the same: a page you run yourself, where characters and chats are stored, connected to a model hosted somewhere else.
Neither one includes a model. Whichever you pick, you still connect an API or a local backend; SillyTavern for beginners covers what that means for a first setup.
Why the cards are called Tavern cards
The shared ancestry is why the community still calls character cards "Tavern cards". The format, a PNG portrait with the character's data hidden inside, spread from these apps to most of the roleplay world. Character Card V2 later added fields such as alternate greetings, a card's own system prompt and an embedded lorebook, while keeping the original fields where they were; what Character Card V2 is lists them.
In practice that means a card does not belong to either app. The same PNG opens in SillyTavern, in other front ends and on sites that import cards.
Which one to run
| If you want | Run | Why |
|---|---|---|
| To follow a guide or preset you found this year | SillyTavern | Current guides name its menus, such as AI Response Configuration and the Prompt Manager |
| Extensions for long memory, expressions or group chats | SillyTavern | These are SillyTavern features and extensions |
| To keep a TavernAI setup that already works for you | TavernAI, for now | Your cards will import into SillyTavern whenever you change your mind |
| To connect an OpenAI-compatible API such as UnsavedAI | SillyTavern | The UnsavedAI guide is written for its custom OpenAI-compatible source |
| No install at all | A hosted site | Both are programs you run and maintain yourself |
For most people arriving now, the table points one way. The deciding question is not which is better in the abstract but which one the help you will read is written for.
Moving from TavernAI to SillyTavern
- Install SillyTavern on its release branch and connect a model first, so you can test as you go.
- Import your character PNGs through Character Management. They arrive with name, description, greeting and examples intact.
- Bring chats you care about through SillyTavern's chat import, which reads .jsonl chat files. Try one first and keep the originals, because older files may not carry everything across.
- Re-create settings by hand. Sampler values, prompts and lorebooks are stored differently, so copy the numbers rather than the files.
Once you are moved, read the Prompt Manager guide: it is the panel with no counterpart you will recognise, and it decides how every reply is built.
Where UnsavedAI fits
If you go with SillyTavern, a key from Setup connects it to gemma-4-12b for free, and the SillyTavern guide walks the fields. If what drew you to Tavern-style apps was the characters more than the tinkering, UnsavedAI runs the same idea in the browser with nothing to install, from Mara's storm-bound inn to Cormac's lighthouse, and characters you build there export as V2 cards for SillyTavern later.
Questions people ask
Is SillyTavern just a renamed TavernAI?
No. It started from TavernAI's code in 2023 and has been developed separately since, so they are now different programs that share a card format.
Can I run TavernAI and SillyTavern on the same computer?
Yes. They live in separate folders. If both use the same port, run one at a time or change the port in one of them.
Do TavernAI cards work in SillyTavern?
Yes. PNG and JSON cards in the original format import directly, and SillyTavern also reads the newer V2 fields.
