AI Character Cards & Personas: How to Write One (Free Template)

Key takeaways

• A card = name + description/personality + scenario + first message + example dialogue.
• A persona describes you (the user), so the AI treats you consistently.
• Shorter is stronger: 150–400 words of definition usually beats 2,000 words of lore.
• Write behaviour, not biography: how they talk, want, react.
• Build original characters; fan characters belong to their creators.

What is a character card?

"Character cards" became popular with open-source chat front ends like SillyTavern. A widely used community format, Character Card V2 (and its later V3 revision), stores a character as structured fields, often embedded inside a PNG image. The image is the card: import it and the character's details come with it.

Typical fields in the V2 format include:

Field	What it does
name	The character's name
description	Who they are: appearance, background, key facts
personality	A short summary of traits
scenario	The situation the chat starts in
first_mes	The opening message (greeting)
mes_example	Example dialogue showing how they talk
alternate_greetings	Extra opening messages to choose from
system_prompt / post_history_instructions	Optional instructions for the model
character_book	An optional "lorebook" of world facts
tags, creator, creator_notes	Metadata for sharing

Platforms like Janitor AI and Character.AI use their own editors, but the ideas are the same: personality, scenario, greeting and example chats. Our Janitor AI review covers how Janitor's bots work.

What is a persona (persona AI)?

Searches for "persona ai" usually mean one of two things:

1. Your user persona. Many apps let you describe yourself: "Aarav, 24, junior architect in Pune, sarcastic, loves cricket." The AI then treats you consistently, remembering your name, job and vibe.
2. An AI persona in general: any AI given a defined character (a tutor, a detective, a desi mom).

Both follow the same rule: describe behaviour clearly and briefly.

Anatomy of a great card (with word budgets)

1. Name

Memorable and specific. "Inspector Meera Rathore" beats "Detective". Add a title if it helps: Kaalu, the Haunted Autorickshaw.

2. Description / personality (100–250 words)

Cover six things:

• Who: age (always an adult for any romantic or companion character), role, setting.
• Voice: how they speak (formal, Hinglish, short sentences, emojis or not).
• Want: a goal that drives the story.
• Flaw or secret: gives depth and conflict.
• Relationship to the user: mentor, rival, partner-in-crime, sibling.
• Rules: tone, boundaries, "never speak for the user", "stay SFW".

3. Scenario (30–80 words)

Where and when the chat begins, and what just happened. "It's 2 a.m. in a Delhi hospital; the power just went out on your first night shift."

4. First message / greeting (40–120 words)

Drop the user into a moment and end with a hook: a question, a choice or an action. Never open in an empty room.

5. Example dialogue (2–4 short exchanges)

The fastest way to lock in a voice. Show, don't tell: two lines of their real speech teach the model more than "she is witty".

Token-saving tips

• Cut adjectives that don't change behaviour. "Beautiful, kind, amazing" does nothing; "teases you when you're nervous" does.
• One idea per sentence. Models follow short, direct lines better.
• Don't repeat the name 20 times. Once or twice is enough.
• Put world lore in a lorebook (if your app has one), not the personality.
• On free API models with small limits, lean cards also mean fewer wasted requests. See OpenRouter free models.

7 common character-card mistakes

1. Novel-length backstory, no behaviour. The model reads it all and still doesn't know how to talk.
2. Contradictions. "Shy and loud." Pick one, or explain when each happens.
3. No goal. Characters without wants make flat stories.
4. Writing the user's actions. Add "never write the user's dialogue or actions".
5. A greeting with no hook. "Hi, how are you?" gives the AI nothing to build on.
6. Copying copyrighted characters wholesale. Fan bots of famous characters are unofficial and can be removed. Build original characters from archetypes (see our anime AI chat guide).
7. Using real people. Don't build cards around real, living individuals' names or likeness; it raises legal and ethical problems.

Three complete SFW templates

Template 1: Kabir Bhaiya, the Hinglish college senior

Name: Kabir Bhaiya (Final-year Senior)

Description / personality:

Kabir, 22, final-year engineering student at a college in Indore. Everyone's go-to senior.
Voice: relaxed Hinglish, short sentences, calls the user "chhote" or "boss", light emojis.
Wants: to help juniors survive first year without the panic he went through.
Secret: he failed two subjects in second year and bounced back; shares this only when the user is struggling.
Relationship: protective, teasing big-brother mentor.
Rules: gives practical advice (exams, hostel, placements, friendships). Stays SFW. Never writes the user's dialogue or actions.

Scenario: First week of college. The user is lost outside the canteen, holding a crumpled timetable.

First message: "Oye chhote, timetable ulta pakda hai tune 😄 Chal, canteen mein chai pe baithte hain. Bata, sabse zyada kis cheez ka darr lag raha hai: ragging, maths, ya hostel ka khana?"

Example dialogue:

User: Bhaiya, M1 bilkul samajh nahi aa raha.
Kabir: Relax boss, M1 sabka lete hai 😅 Ek kaam kar, aaj raat sirf limits ke 10 sawaal. Kal subah mujhe dikhana.

Template 2: Inspector Meera Rathore, the Mumbai detective

Name: Inspector Meera Rathore

Description / personality:

Meera, 34, sharp CID inspector in 1990s Bombay. Dry humour, clipped sentences, mixes English and Hindi.
Wants: to solve the Colaba jewel case before her transfer.
Flaw: once let a suspect go and still regrets it; hates being wrong.
Relationship: treats the user as her new junior partner, tough but fair.
Rules: grounded, realistic mysteries. Vivid city details (rain, trains, chai stalls). Reveals clues gradually. Stays SFW. Never writes the user's actions.

Scenario: Monsoon night. A necklace has vanished from a locked flat in Colaba.

First message: "Rain hammers the tin roof of the chowki. Meera tosses a soggy file onto your desk. Welcome to the team, junior. Chai later. First, tell me what's wrong with this photo."

Example dialogue:

User: The window latch looks untouched.
Meera: *raises an eyebrow* Good. Most juniors look at the safe first. So how did the thief get in, hmm?

Template 3: Acharya Neeti, the Chanakya-style strategist

Name: Acharya Neeti (AI Strategist)

Description / personality:

A calm, sharp strategist inspired by the style of classical Indian statecraft (Chanakya Niti). Addresses the user as "Vatsa".
Gives practical advice on career, leadership, negotiation and discipline, usually as three clear steps.
Never invents "exact quotes"; says "in the spirit of" when paraphrasing.
Never gives medical, legal or financial guarantees. Encourages ethical choices.
Speaks Hinglish by default; switches to Hindi or English if asked.

Scenario: The user comes with a real problem at work or college.

First message: "Pranam, Vatsa. Samasya chhoti ho ya badi, uska hal neeti mein hai. Batao, aaj kis yuddh ki taiyaari hai?"

Example dialogue:

User: Mera colleague meri ideas apne naam se present karta hai.
Acharya Neeti: Krodh se nahi, neeti se jeeto. Pehla, apne vichaar likhit mein rakho. Doosra, meeting mein pehle bolo. Teesra, usse shatru mat banao jab tak zaroori na ho.

More respectful spiritual and strategist characters are in our Krishna AI and Chanakya AI guide, or chat with the ready-made Chanakya AI.

How to use a character card on Kirdaar AI

Kirdaar keeps character creation simple: name, personality and greeting. There's no card-file import, so you map the fields by hand:

Card field	Where it goes on Kirdaar
name	Name
description + personality	Personality (condense to the six points above)
scenario	Add one line at the end of Personality ("The chat starts: …"), or open the greeting with it
first_mes	Greeting
mes_example	Add one or two short example lines in Personality ("Example of how they talk: …")
user persona	Tell the character in your first message, e.g. "(OOC: I'm Aarav, 24, a junior architect.)"

Then pick a mode (Roleplay for scenes, Storytelling for long chapters, Deep talk for mentor chats, Quick chat for banter) and a language: English, Hindi or Hinglish, switchable per chat. See our Hindi AI chatbot guide.

Moving from Janitor AI? This is the easiest way to bring a favourite original bot with you. More options in Janitor AI alternatives.

Want an "AI character generator"?

Ask any AI assistant:

"Create an original character card for a [genre] roleplay. Include: name; personality in 6 short lines (who, voice, want, flaw, relationship to me, rules); a one-line scenario; a first message that ends with a question; and 2 lines of example dialogue. Keep it SFW."

Then edit it. The best cards always have a human's final touch. Quick one-minute bot ideas are in 25 fun AI chatbots.

How to get started on Kirdaar AI

1. Go to kirdaarai.com and sign up for free starter credits.
2. Open create-your-own and paste a template above.
3. Set the language and mode.
4. Chat for 5–10 turns, then tweak the personality where the character drifts.
5. Browse ready-made characters for inspiration.

Final tip

The best character cards read like stage directions for an actor: who you are, what you want, how you talk, and what just happened. Write that in a few crisp lines and the AI will do the rest. Build your first character on Kirdaar AI →

18+. Characters are AI. Everything they say is made up.