---
url: https://lettuceai.app/docs/characters
title: "Characters — LettuceAI"
description: "Create AI characters with personality, memory behavior, starting scenes, and support for Chara Card and UEC formats."
---

Menu 

# Characters

Characters define who you are talking to. Each one has its own personality, memory behavior, and default setup.

Creating a character happens across a few simple screens. You can edit everything later, so don't worry about getting it perfect the first time.

## Step 1: Identity

![Character identity screen](https://lhdgeo5fms.ufs.sh/f/m0TBUtMLsaiEN4bBGjA3hVcAIWJ9gtzT0D1KL6vpeBY7XZfR)

The first screen is where you define the character's basic identity. This is what you'll see when selecting or chatting with them.

-   **Name**: The character's display name
-   **Nickname (optional)**: Short form used in chat
-   **Avatar (optional)**: Portrait image shown in chat, with an in-app crop tool
-   **Card type**: choose how this character appears in your lists. **Circle** is the classic round avatar. **Banner** shows a wide banner image with the name on top. When you pick Banner, a separate **Banner image** picker appears with its own crop tool. If you leave the banner image empty, the banner card falls back to the base avatar.
-   **Chat background (optional)**: Background image for this character's conversations
-   **Interaction mode**: choose **Roleplay** for scene-driven storytelling or **Companion** for relationship-oriented chats with a live emotional and relational state. See the Companion Mode page for details.

All of these can be changed later.

## Step 2: Description and behavior

![Character description and behavior screen](https://lhdgeo5fms.ufs.sh/f/m0TBUtMLsaiEDWVdcoLk6KQEIaUv3RMC80pwfLYbPBhuTci9)

This screen controls who the character is and how they behave in conversations.

-   **Description**: who this character is
-   **Definition**: extended character sheet, examples, and lore that should always be in scope
-   **Design references**: an optional set of reference images plus one short visual note. These keep generated avatars and scene images on-model, so the same face, proportions, outfit cues, and style carry across pictures.
-   **Prompt template overrides**: instructions that guide responses. You can leave these on the app default, or point the character at a specific template. There are separate optional overrides for direct chat, for group conversation, and for group roleplay. In Companion mode you can also set a standalone **Companion Prompt**, which is stored on its own and does not change the normal roleplay system prompt.
-   **Memory mode**
    -   **Manual**: only memories you save are kept
    -   **Dynamic**: important details are extracted and remembered automatically
-   **Default model**: the model used when starting new chats with this character
-   **Voice config** with optional auto-play for TTS

## Step 3: Companion soul (companion mode only)

If you picked Companion in Step 1, an extra step lets you author the companion's soul: identity, baseline affect, regulation style, and relationship defaults. You can fill these in by hand, or use **Generate from character** to have the app draft a soul from the character's description. A **Direction** bottom menu lets you add optional steering notes that shape how the soul is drafted; leave it empty to let the model decide from the character alone. You can skip this step and edit the soul later from inside the chat. Roleplay characters bypass this step entirely. For the full picture, see the Companion Mode page.

## Step 4: Starting scenes

![Starting scenes screen](https://lhdgeo5fms.ufs.sh/f/m0TBUtMLsaiEzzTntk5CgsDQbf3mrGI2U5jA9RHS8i0x1naJ)

Starting scenes define how a conversation begins. They set the situation, mood, or relationship at the start of a chat.

-   You can create multiple starting scenes
-   One scene can be selected as the default
-   Each scene can have its own background image, set from your library or uploaded from the device
-   You can insert inline images or GIFs into the scene text, using **Upload** or **From library**. These show in the scene for atmosphere but are not sent to the AI.
-   Scenes only affect the beginning, not the character's personality

## Step 5: Extras

The final step is for everything that does not need to be set up front: lorebook assignments, default chat template, chat appearance overrides (bubble style, gradient, text color), creator notes, tags, and source info. Lorebooks attached here activate automatically in this character's chats.

## Import and export

LettuceAI supports multiple character card formats so you can move your characters between apps and share them easily.

-   **UEC (Unified Entity Card)**: the recommended export format
-   **Chara Card v1 / v2 / v3**: fully supported for import
-   **Export**: characters can be exported as UEC or Chara Card v2

You can also import characters directly from the Discovery page when browsing Character Tavern cards.

## Convert formats

Settings includes a Convert page for migrating between character file formats. Drop in an existing file and LettuceAI detects what it is, then offers compatible output formats:

-   **Legacy JSON**: older character or persona exports. Recommended target is UEC.
-   **Chara Card V1, V2, V3**: imported and convertible to UEC or Chara Card V2.
-   **UEC (Unified Entity Card)**: the current recommended portable format. UEC files are already canonical and only need conversion if you want to export to an older format.

The detected format and file size are shown after you pick a file, and the converted result is saved as a new file you can share or import back into another LettuceAI install.

Roleplay tips

-   Treat the starting scene like the opening of a book. It sets expectations for tone, pacing, and how the character sees you.
-   You don’t need long prompts. Clear personality rules beat walls of text for keeping a character consistent.
-   If a character starts drifting, rewrite how they speak, not what they know. Tone matters more than lore.
-   Use multiple starting scenes for the same character to explore different timelines or moods without creating duplicates.
-   Let conversations build the character. Over-defining everything upfront can make interactions feel stiff.

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