4.1 What is a Character Card
This tutorial will detail the concept, structure, creation, and usage of character cards, helping you fully utilize MiniTavern's role-playing features.
Basic Concepts
A Character Card is a data file containing complete AI character information, which defines:
- Character Identity - Name, title, appearance
- Personality Traits - Personality, speaking style, behavioral habits
- Backstory - Character's experiences and worldview
- Conversation Style - Dialogue examples, opening lines
Purpose of Character Cards
A character card is like a "script" for AI, integrating more prompt content into a specific carrier file, making it more convenient for circulation and sharing.
Core Field Descriptions
Basic Information
Name (Required)
- Character's name
- Examples: "Aria", "John", "Emma"
Description
- Brief introduction to the character
- 1-2 sentences summarizing character traits
- Example: "An elf from the forest, kind and mysterious"
Avatar
- Character's image
- Supported formats: PNG, JPEG, WEBP
Character Settings
Personality (Important)
- Describes character's personality traits
- Affects AI's response style
- Example: "Gentle, curious, slightly shy, very interested in the human world"
Scenario (Important)
- Character's worldview and background
- Current scenario setting
- Example: "Lives deep in the magic forest, first time visiting human city"
First Message (Important)
- Character's opening line
- First sentence of conversation
- Sets initial scene and atmosphere
Supported Formats
MiniTavern supports two character card formats:
1. PNG/WEBP/JPEG/JPG Image Format (Most Common)
Features:
- Most popular character card format
- Image itself is the character avatar
- Data embedded in image metadata
Technical Principle:
- Uses PNG's tEXt or iTXt data chunks to store data
- Data encoded in JSON format
- Does not affect normal image display
Note:
- Do not transfer character card images to photo album, it will directly damage the character card metadata
- Save and share character cards uniformly using cloud storage like iCloud Drive
2. JSON Text Format
Features:
- Plain text, easy to edit
- Small file size
- Suitable for programmatic generation
- Easy version control