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SillyTavern

SillyTavern is a local chat frontend popular for creative fiction, character roleplay, and long-form conversations. It connects to Openference through the Custom (OpenAI-compatible) Chat Completions backend.

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Connect to Openference

  1. In SillyTavern, open API Connections (plug icon).
  2. Set API Type to Chat Completion.
  3. Set Chat Completion Source to Custom (OpenAI-compatible).
  4. Configure the connection:
  1. Pick a Model ID that matches an entry from openference.com/models or from GET /v1/models (for example GLM-5.2, DeepSeek-V4-Flash, or Kimi K2.6).
  2. Click Connect and use Test Message to confirm the connection works.
Note: Do not append /chat/completions to the base URL — only /v1.

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Cap your context size (fixes most “Blocked” responses)

This is the most important setting for SillyTavern users. SillyTavern defaults to a very large context budget when Unlocked Context Size is enabled — often hundreds of thousands or millions of tokens. With detailed character cards, world info, and long chat histories (typical for roleplay), the app may send prompts far larger than you expect. Oversized prompts are much more likely to fail or return a Blocked status in SillyTavern (empty reply, content_filter finish reason, or a generic rejection). Capping context resolves this for most users. Open AI Response Configuration for your preset (or the connection’s response settings):
  1. Uncheck Unlocked Context Size.
  2. Set Context (tokens) to one of:
  1. Set Max Response Length (tokens) to what you want for replies (for example 512–4096). SillyTavern subtracts this from the context budget when building the prompt — leave enough headroom so prompt + response stay under the cap.
  2. Click the save icon next to the preset name in AI Response Configuration (not only the connection profile — the preset is what controls context size).
After saving, switch to another preset and back to confirm Unlocked Context Size stays off and your cap is still applied.
Important: Even when a model advertises a 500K+ context window, do not leave context unlocked or set it to the model maximum. For SillyTavern workloads, 128K or 200K is the reliable range. Higher values increase Blocked responses without improving roleplay quality.

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Why this works

Context in SillyTavern includes character definitions, system prompts, world info, and chat history. Roleplay setups often accumulate far more text than a single coding session. When SillyTavern sends the full unlocked budget, each request carries the entire card stack and history — and providers are more likely to reject or filter those large prompts. A fixed cap makes SillyTavern trim older messages (the dotted line in the chat shows what is included). Smaller, focused prompts succeed far more often. To inspect what was actually sent after a generation, use Prompt Itemization on the message (expand ... → lined square icon).

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Model suggestions

Any model on your key works. For creative chat and roleplay, users commonly pick:
  • GLM-5.2 — strong general roleplay, large output budget
  • DeepSeek-V4-Flash — fast, good for long sessions
  • Kimi K2.6 — solid dialogue; pair with the 128K context cap
  • MiniMax M3 — expressive prose
Check Models for current availability and pricing on your plan.

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Troubleshooting

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Blocked or empty responses

  1. Set context to 128K or 200K as described above — this fixes the majority of cases.
  2. Shorten character cards or world info if the prompt itemization shows definitions eating most of the budget.
  3. Try a fresh chat after changing context settings so old oversized state is not reused.
  4. If the reply is still blocked, the scene may have tripped a provider content policy. Adjust the prompt or scenario and retry — we cannot override upstream moderation.

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context_length_exceeded or prompt-too-long errors

Your effective prompt (card + history + response headroom) still exceeds the cap or the model limit. Lower Context (tokens), reduce Max Response Length, or trim world info.

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429 rate limit

Interactive roleplay stays within normal plan limits for most users. If you run SillyTavern unattended 24/7 or fire requests as fast as the UI allows, you may hit per-minute burst limits or need an Auto Agent plan. See Rate Limits.

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402 quota exhausted

Top up credits or wait for your plan window to reset. See Credits.

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Models not listed

Confirm your API key is valid and the model is not restricted on that key. GET /v1/models returns only models your key may call.

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See also