Import your Character.AI characters and chats into SillyTavern

SillyTavern imports both halves of your Character.AI history: the characters, as character cards, and the conversations, as chat files. Chatbound makes both from your Character.AI data export, in your browser, so you don’t need the Character.AI website or an extension. Import the card first, then the chats into that character.

What you need

• Your Character.AI data export: the ZIP from the email Character.AI sends. How to ask for it, and its password.
• SillyTavern installed and running. These steps match version 1.19.0.

1. The character

1. Open Chatbound and drop the export ZIP from the Character.AI email. When it asks, type the email address of your Character.AI account: that is the ZIP’s password.
2. Open the Move to another app tab and choose the character. Characters your account created come with their whole definition. For a character made by someone else, type the name you knew it by.
3. Click Save the card (PNG), or Card as JSON. SillyTavern takes either; the PNG also gives the character a picture.
4. In SillyTavern, click Character Management, the card icon at the right end of the top bar.
5. Click Import Character from File and choose the card. It accepts PNG and JSON files (and CHARX, YAML and BYAF), several at a time. The character appears in the list.

2. The chats

1. Back in Chatbound, under the same character, choose the chat. Look at the preview of who wrote which message (see below), then click Save this chat (JSONL).
2. In SillyTavern, open the character.
3. Click the menu button, the three lines to the left of the message box, and choose Manage chat files.
4. In the Chat History window, click Import Chat and choose the .jsonl file. You can choose several. Each one is added to the list as “name - date imported”; click it to open the chat.

Who wrote which message

A SillyTavern chat file marks every message as yours or the character’s. The Character.AI export doesn’t record that: each message has its text, its time and its chat, and nothing about the sender. So Chatbound starts from the way a Character.AI chat runs. The character’s greeting comes first, then you, then the character, in turns.

The preview in Chatbound shows the name that each message will carry. If a chat goes out of step, for example because you sent two messages in a row, press Swap from here on the first wrong message: it and every message after it change sides. You can also start the turns with yourself, or put every message under the character’s name. The text of each message is copied exactly, with its time.

Where each field lands

SillyTavern expects examples of dialogue to start with a <START> line. A Character.AI definition usually doesn’t, so SillyTavern treats the whole definition as one example. If yours is mostly a description of the character rather than sample dialogue, move it into Character Description.

Characters you didn’t create

The export only defines the characters your account made. For one made by someone else, you have your chats with it and nothing more: no description, no picture, not even its name. Chatbound puts the chats that open with the same greeting together, as one character. Its card holds the name you type, the greeting as the first message and, if you write one, a description. Add the rest in SillyTavern.

Moving everything at once

With Pro, Chatbound puts every character and every chat in one ZIP: the cards in cards/, each character’s chats in chats/ under its name, and a README with these steps. Select all the PNGs at once in Import Character from File, then import each character’s chat files from its folder.

What doesn’t come over

• Character pictures: the export has none. Cards get a plain lettered picture unless you choose your own.
• Pinned memories, chats you deleted before asking for the export, and voice. None of them are in the file.
• Pictures made in a chat travel only as a note with the file name in that message, as the export holds them separately.

Sources: SillyTavern 1.19.0, its interface and import code (github.com/SillyTavern/SillyTavern, release branch), and the Chat File Management page of its documentation (checked 22 October 2026); Character Card V2 specification; AIInsightsNews, “How to Export Character AI Chat in 2026”, a hands-on account with screenshots of the email and the ZIP (25 May 2026, checked 21 October 2026).

Questions

Is this the same as importing with CAI Tools?

It ends in the same place, from a different source. SillyTavern’s documentation points to the CAI Tools browser extension, which copies characters and chats from the Character.AI website while you are logged in. Chatbound reads the data export you downloaded, so it works from the file alone.

Why are all the messages under the character’s name?

The layout was set to put every message under the character’s name. Choose “Turns, starting with the character” in Chatbound and save the chat file again.

Can I import the JSON card instead of the PNG?

Yes. Import Character from File takes JSON as well as PNG. The PNG also carries a picture for the character.

Where does SillyTavern keep the imported chats?

In its data folder on the computer that runs SillyTavern, under the character’s chats. Chatbound sends nothing anywhere; it makes the files in your browser.

Is Chatbound made by SillyTavern or Character.AI?

No. Chatbound is an independent tool by Peak Apps Studio. It is not affiliated with Character Technologies, Janitor AI or SillyTavern.