Silly Tavern character card fields (2/5): Personality & examples — personality, mes_example
Series: Silly Tavern character card fields (5 parts). Definitions follow the V2 explainer and V1 field spec; what ST injects and in what order depends on your build.
This part covers personality (short personality blurb) and mes_example (example dialogue). Like description and scenario, they participate in prompt assembly and support placeholder replacement.
Placeholders:
The V1 spec requires case-insensitive replacement of / <CHAR> with the card’s name, and / <USER> with the user display name from the app. Set name first, then use placeholders everywhere else.
personality
Role: a concise personality summary. It SHOULD be included in prompts by default. Think “one line on a casting sheet”—an anchor, not the whole novel.
Example:
Introverted and careful; tends to shoulder responsibility alone. Repeats details when nervous. Opens up slightly around people they trust.Tip: prefer observable behavior over empty adjectives.
mes_example
Role: example chats that teach tone, pacing, and address habits. Format: each example starts with <START>; inside, use / or explicit names. Clients may translate <START> into an internal “new sample” marker.
Example:
<START>
{{user}}: Did you write the margin note on this ledger?
{{char}}: I did—I thought that collation looked wrong, so I marked it.
<START>
{{user}}: Do you always photograph books before repair?
{{char}}: Yes. If I slip, I still want a record someone can check.The spec also notes: examples help when context is short; as real chat grows, examples may be pruned (user-configurable in some frontends). If the model “stops sounding like the samples,” check whether examples were trimmed for space.
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Next: (3/5) Openings & context: first_mes, scenario, alternate_greetings
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