# Set Up Your First Chat in SillyTavern: Persona, Characters and Memory

> Write a persona, import a character card, and turn on Summarize so the AI remembers long stories.

Once SillyTavern is [installed](/articles/install-sillytavern) and [connected to an AI](/articles/connect-sillytavern-ai), three settings make the biggest difference: your persona, your character, and how much the AI remembers.

## 1. Write your persona

Your persona tells the AI who you are. SillyTavern puts it wherever a character card says `{{user}}`.

Click the **Persona Management** icon in the top bar, click **Create**, give it a name, and write a short description. This template works well:

```text
[{{user}} = (your name)
Appearance = (hair, height, style)
Personality = (temperament, quirks, MBTI if you like)
Occupation = (job, school, role in the story)]
```

Keep it to a few lines. Short descriptions leave more room for the chat itself.

## 2. Get a character

Characters come as character cards: PNG images or JSON files with the description, personality and first message built in.

The [SillyTavern Bot Collection](https://bots.rolezy.com) has hundreds of cards shared by the SillyTavern TH community.

![The SillyTavern Bot Collection](/content/images/bots-rolezy-com.webp "bots.rolezy.com, run with SillyTavern TH")

To add one, click the **Character Management** icon (the ID card at the right of the top bar), click **Import Character from File**, and choose the card. Click the character to start chatting.

To make your own, click **Create New Character** and fill in the name, description and **first message**. The first message sets the tone more than anything else. Write it in the language you'll chat in, since a Thai description gets better Thai replies.

## 3. Turn on Summarize

A model can only read part of a long chat at once, so early events get forgotten. Summarize keeps a running summary that the AI always sees.

Open a chat, click the **Extensions** icon (stacked cubes), open **Summarize**, and choose **Main API** as the source. Leave it on automatic, or summarize every 20 to 30 messages. You can edit the summary there if the AI gets something wrong.

## Habits that help

- **Swipe** the last reply (the arrows) to see other versions.
- **Edit** a reply with the pencil icon to steer the story.
- Keep **Max Response Length** around 2,000 tokens for faster, cheaper replies.
- When a story gets very long, start a new chat and paste the summary into your first message.

A local SillyTavern keeps chats on one device. To continue the same story on your phone and computer, try [Rolezy Plus](https://plus.rolezy.com/). Questions go in the [SillyTavern TH Discord](https://discord.gg/sgVPM2du6m).