What should you know before installing SillyTavern?

SillyTavern is not a traditional mobile app or an .exe installer—it is a lightweight local web server written in Node.js. When you start it, a small console window runs in the background and opens the chat interface in your web browser at http://localhost:8000.

Because SillyTavern only manages the interface, prompts, and chat history while your connected API runs the actual AI model, you do not need a gaming PC or a graphics card. Any laptop, desktop, or modern Android phone can run it smoothly. All commands and configuration keys below are verified against the official SillyTavern documentation as of November 2026.

How do you install SillyTavern on Windows?

On Windows 10 or Windows 11, the cleanest way to install SillyTavern is with Node.js and Git on the stable release branch.

Note: Per the official Windows installation docs, never install SillyTavern inside a Windows-controlled folder (C:\Program Files, C:\Windows\System32, or a folder synced by OneDrive), and never right-click Start.bat to "Run as administrator." Doing either will break file permissions when Node.js installs packages. (Windows 7 is also unsupported because it cannot run modern Node.js.)

Step-by-step Windows setup

  1. Install Node.js LTS: Go to nodejs.org and download the LTS (Long Term Support) installer. Run it with default settings.
  2. Install Git for Windows: Go to gitforwindows.org, download the installer, and click Next through the defaults.
  3. Pick a clean folder: Open File Explorer (Win + E) and go to a normal folder like C:\Games or C:\AI (or your user folder).
  4. Open Command Prompt in that folder: Click directly into the File Explorer address bar at the top, type cmd, and press Enter. A black Command Prompt window will open at that exact path.
  5. Clone the stable release branch: Paste the following command and press Enter:
bash
git clone https://github.com/SillyTavern/SillyTavern -b release
  1. Launch SillyTavern: Open the newly created SillyTavern folder in File Explorer and double-click Start.bat (it may appear simply as Start if file extensions are hidden).

On the first launch, the console window will download the required npm packages for a minute or two, then automatically open http://127.0.0.1:8000 in your default browser.

Tip: Prefer a graphical menu for updates and backups? The official team also maintains SillyTavern-Launcher, which you can clone and run via installer.bat to manage SillyTavern with one-click buttons.

How do you install SillyTavern on Android using Termux?

There is no standalone SillyTavern APK. Instead, Android runs the exact same Node.js server as a PC inside Termux, a free Linux terminal environment, and you open the interface in Chrome, Firefox, or Brave on your phone.

Note: Do not install Termux from the Google Play Store. As warned in the official SillyTavern Android guide, the Play Store build is deprecated and ships broken, outdated repositories. If you have the Play Store version installed, uninstall it first.

Step-by-step Android (Termux) setup

  1. Install Termux from F-Droid or GitHub: Download and install the Termux APK from F-Droid (recommended) or from the official Termux GitHub Releases.
  2. Select a package mirror and update Termux: Open Termux, run the mirror selector, and then upgrade all base packages (press Y and Enter whenever prompted):
bash
termux-change-repo
pkg update && pkg upgrade
  1. Install Git, Node.js LTS, and Nano: Run this exact command to install the dependencies:
bash
pkg install git nodejs-lts nano
  1. Clone SillyTavern: Download the stable release branch into your Termux home folder:
bash
git clone https://github.com/SillyTavern/SillyTavern -b release
  1. Start the server: Move into the folder and run the startup script:
bash
cd ~/SillyTavern
bash start.sh

Once the console prints SillyTavern is listening on IPv4: 127.0.0.1:8000, open your phone's web browser and go to http://localhost:8000.

Two Android settings that prevent freezes and crashes

  • Turn on Termux Wakelock: Android aggressively kills background apps to save battery. Pull down your phone's notification shade, find the Termux notification, and tap Acquire wakelock so Android does not put the server to sleep while you are typing in your browser. Also set Termux's battery usage to "Unrestricted" in Android Settings.
  • Enable lazy loading for large card libraries: If you keep hundreds of character cards on your phone, open Termux and run nano ~/SillyTavern/config.yaml to set lazyLoadCharacters: true and useDiskCache: false under the performance: section (press Ctrl + X, then Y, then Enter to save).

How do you use SillyTavern on an iPhone or iPad?

Apple's iOS does not allow apps to run a local Node.js server in the background, so SillyTavern cannot be installed directly onto an iPhone or iPad. Instead, you run SillyTavern somewhere else and open it in Safari on your iPhone—the interface adapts automatically to mobile screens.

You have three ways to do this, depending on where you play.

Option 1: Run on your PC, play on your iPhone over home Wi-Fi (Free & private)

If you play at home with your computer turned on, your iPhone can connect directly to your PC's SillyTavern server over Wi-Fi.

  1. Run SillyTavern on your PC at least once so it generates its configuration file, then close the server window.
  2. Open /SillyTavern/config.yaml in the root of your SillyTavern folder using Notepad or any text editor. (Make sure you edit /SillyTavern/config.yaml, not /SillyTavern/default/config.yaml.)
  3. Per the official Remote Connections guide, change listen: false to listen: true.
  4. Configure access control (required): For your safety, SillyTavern refuses to start with listen: true unless you either whitelist your network IPs or require a password. For home Wi-Fi, find the whitelist: section in config.yaml and allow standard local network ranges:
yaml
listen: true
whitelistMode: true
whitelist:
  - ::1
  - 127.0.0.1
  - 192.168.0.0/16
  - 10.0.0.0/8
  - 172.16.0.0/12
  1. Find your PC's local IPv4 address: press Win + R, type cmd, run ipconfig, and look for IPv4 Address (for example, 192.168.1.25).
  2. Start SillyTavern on your PC (allow Node.js through Windows Firewall on Private networks if prompted). On your iPhone, open Safari and go to http://192.168.1.25:8000 (use http://, not https://).

Option 2: Play from anywhere outside home Wi-Fi using Tailscale (Free & secure)

Never open port 8000 on your home router to the public internet. If you want to play on cellular data away from home, the official SillyTavern tunneling guide recommends Tailscale, a free private mesh VPN.

  1. Install Tailscale on your PC and from the App Store on your iPhone, and sign into both with the same account.
  2. In /SillyTavern/config.yaml, set listen: true, set whitelistMode: false, and enable HTTP password protection (basicAuthMode: true):
yaml
listen: true
whitelistMode: false
basicAuthMode: true
basicAuthUser:
  username: "yourname"
  password: "a-strong-password"
  1. Restart SillyTavern on your PC. Turn on Tailscale on your iPhone, copy your PC's Tailscale IP (100.x.y.z) or machine name from the Tailscale app, and open http://100.x.y.z:8000 in Safari.

Option 3: Cloud-hosted SillyTavern ("Cloud Tavern")

If you don't own a computer or don't want to leave one running, you can run SillyTavern on a small cloud VPS (or use a managed cloud-hosting service, often called a "cloud tavern" in the community).

  • The upside: Your SillyTavern page is online 24/7 from any iPhone or tablet without keeping a PC awake.
  • The trade-off (cost & privacy): A private VPS costs a few dollars a month and requires basic Linux setup. Meanwhile, be very careful with cheap third-party "shared cloud taverns" run by strangers: whoever controls the server has direct access to your data/ folder, including your private chat logs, character cards, and saved API keys. If you go the cloud route, rent your own private VPS and always turn on basicAuthMode: true over HTTPS.

What do the 9 icons at the top of SillyTavern do?

When you open http://localhost:8000 for the first time, you will see a row of nine icons across the top bar. Here is what each icon does, from left to right:

OrderOfficial Panel NameIcon LookWhat It Does in Plain English
1AI Response ConfigurationThree horizontal slidersControls generation length, temperature, and the Chat Completion Prompt Manager (where you import presets and toggle prompt blocks).
2API ConnectionsElectric plugConnects SillyTavern to your AI model provider—this is where you pick Chat Completion, paste your API endpoint URL and key, and select a model.
3Advanced FormattingCapital letter AControls Context and Instruct templates for local Text Completion backends; if you use Chat Completion APIs (Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek), you can ignore this tab.
4World InfoGlobe over a bookCreates and imports Lorebooks—keyword-triggered world-building entries that only get inserted into the prompt when mentioned in the chat.
5User SettingsPerson with a gearCustomizes the visual theme, font size, chat bubble layout, and message behavior.
6BackgroundsFramed landscape pictureChanges the wallpaper behind your chat window.
7ExtensionsThree 3D cubesManages built-in tools (like Regex scripts, chat summarization, and image/voice attachments) and installs third-party GitHub plugins.
8Persona ManagementSmiling faceDefines who {{user}} is—your name, avatar, and character description—and lets you bind different personas to different chats.
9CharactersAddress card (far right)Opens your character list where you import .png or .json character cards, start new chats, or create multi-character group chats.

How do you connect an API and start your first roleplay chat?

Because SillyTavern does not come with a built-in AI model, the plug icon (API Connections) is your first stop before sending a message. Here is how to connect TavernAPI and load our roleplay preset in under two minutes:

  1. Open API Connections (the plug icon): Set API to Chat Completion, and set Chat Completion Source to Custom (OpenAI-compatible).
  2. Enter the endpoint and your key:
    • Custom Endpoint (Base URL): https://tavernapi.com/v1 (do not add /chat/completions at the end)
    • Custom API Key: Paste your sk-tav-... key from the TavernAPI console.
  3. Connect and pick a model: Click Connect, then open the Available Models dropdown and choose one of our five official 1M-context models—such as gemini-4-argon, claude-opus-5.5, or deepseek-v4-pro (see our in-depth guide to the best roleplay models if you aren't sure which one fits your style).
  4. Import the TavernAPI preset: Download the preset JSON from your console, open AI Response Configuration (the sliders icon on the far left), and click the Import button next to Chat Completion Presets. You can freely toggle word count, output language, and anti-impersonation rules in SillyTavern's prompt list, while the locked core writing blocks ([[tav:...]]) expand automatically on our server alongside automatic prompt caching.

If you run into any connection errors (401, 402, or 429) or want a closer look at how server-locked presets work, check our detailed SillyTavern API setup & troubleshooting guide, read how our roleplay presets work, compare other AI roleplay tools, or visit our pricing page and FAQ.