SillyTavern

Give your SillyTavern characters long-term memory. Honcho remembers who you are, what you’ve talked about, and how to talk to you — across sessions, characters, and restarts. The extension has two parts: a client extension (browser) that hooks into SillyTavern events, and a server plugin (Node.js) that proxies requests to the Honcho API.

Prerequisites

SillyTavern running locally (Node ≥ 18). New to it? See the SillyTavern installation docs.
A Honcho API key from app.honcho.dev.
An LLM backend (OpenAI, Claude, OpenRouter, local llama.cpp, etc.) connected via SillyTavern’s plug icon in the top nav. Honcho stores memory; it doesn’t generate text.

Quick Start

Step 1: Install

From your SillyTavern directory: macOS / Linux:

bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plastic-labs/sillytavern-honcho/main/install.sh)

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/plastic-labs/sillytavern-honcho/main/install.ps1 | iex

The installer (macOS / Linux):

Clones the extension into public/scripts/extensions/third-party/sillytavern-honcho
Symlinks the server plugin to plugins/honcho-proxy
Installs the @honcho-ai/sdk dependency
Bootstraps config.yaml if it doesn’t exist (briefly runs npm start to generate defaults)
Sets enableServerPlugins: true in config.yaml
Detects your ~/.honcho/config.json and warns if no resolvable apiKey

The Windows installer does steps 1–3 (using a directory junction via mklink /J instead of a symlink) and checks for ~/.honcho/config.json, but does not bootstrap config.yaml or flip enableServerPlugins. If config.yaml is missing, start SillyTavern once to generate it; then set enableServerPlugins: true manually before restarting.

Step 2: Restart SillyTavern

Restart is required. SillyTavern loads server plugins at startup only. After running install.sh, stop SillyTavern (⌃C) and start it again. You’ll need to restart again whenever plugin/index.js changes. Client-side (browser) updates pick up on a hard refresh — no restart needed for those.

Step 3: Configure

Open Extensions (puzzle blocks icon) and expand Honcho Memory:

Check Enable Honcho Memory
Click the API key field to set your key. The plugin falls back to ~/.honcho/config.json at request time if no panel key is set; a panel value always wins.
Enter your Workspace ID (saves to hosts.sillytavern.workspace)
Enter Your peer name (saves to hosts.sillytavern.peerName; auto-synced from your SillyTavern persona on first boot)
Status indicator should show Ready

How It Works

Context Architecture

Every generation injects a base context layer from session.context() — the peer representation (what Honcho knows about you) and session summary. This uses stale-while-revalidate caching: the first turn blocks to populate the cache, then every subsequent turn serves the cached result instantly while refreshing in the background. The enrichment mode controls what layers on top of the base context:

Mode	Behavior
Context only	Base layer only — peer representation + session summary
Reasoning (default)	Base layer + dialectic `peer.chat()` queries on a configurable per-turn cadence
Tool call	Base layer + function tools the LLM can call on demand

Both the context and reasoning layers use stale-while-revalidate with a configurable cadence (“Refresh every N turns” and “Reason every N turns”). After the first turn of a session, there is zero added latency.

Context only mode relies on session.context(), which is session-scoped — it returns empty output until the session has enough messages for Honcho to derive a representation and summary. For fresh sessions or peers with little history, Reasoning mode is a better default: it queries peer.chat() across all of the peer’s history, not just the current session.

Tool Call Mode

In tool call mode, the extension registers three function tools that the LLM can invoke:

Tool	Description
`honcho_query_memory`	Dialectic chat query — ask Honcho what it knows
`honcho_save_conclusion`	Save a key insight or biographical detail about the user to persistent memory
`honcho_search_history`	Semantic search across session messages

This mode works best with models that support function calling. The LLM decides when to query memory rather than firing on every turn.

Other Panel Knobs

The Extensions panel also exposes: Context settings (token budget, refresh cadence in turns, include session summary), Injection position (After/Before main prompt, or In-chat @ Depth with a numeric depth field), a Prompt Template textarea that wraps Honcho output via a {{text}} placeholder, and a Reasoning queries textarea ({{message}} placeholder) for customizing the dialectic prompts used in Reasoning mode.

Peer Observability

By default, only the user peer accumulates derived memory — Honcho observes the user’s messages and derives conclusions across sessions. The AI character’s persona comes from its character card, not from peer derivation.

Peer Modes and Session Naming

Peer mode controls memory partitioning; session naming controls conversation partitioning. Pair them to get the isolation you want.

Peer Mode	Behavior
Single peer for all personas	One user peer shared across all personas
Separate peer per persona	Each persona gets its own isolated memory

Session Naming	Behavior
Auto	Per-chat hash (unique per conversation)
Per character	One session per character (persistent)
Custom	User-defined session name

Session IDs are frozen once assigned. Changing the naming mode, the custom session name, or the character name only affects new chats — existing chats stay linked to their original Honcho session so history, summaries, and derivations don’t fragment. The Active session field in the panel is read-only. To start fresh, hit Reset next to it — the current session gets orphaned (messages stay in Honcho, the chat unlinks) and a new session starts on the next message.

Group Chats

Group chats register one peer per character, not a single collapsed group-<id> peer. Each character’s messages land under their own peer, so their derived representations stay distinct. Characters who join mid-chat get lazy-added to the session on their first message.

Global Config (Multi-Tool Setups)

If you already use Honcho with other tools (Claude Code, Cursor, Hermes), the extension reads from ~/.honcho/config.json on startup. Resolution order for apiKey, workspace, and peerName:

hosts.sillytavern.<field> (host-specific override)
Root-level <field> (shared default across tools)
For apiKey only: fall through to the Extensions-panel key (SillyTavern’s secret manager), which takes priority at request time — entering one in the UI overrides the file without touching it.

Writes are scoped to hosts.sillytavern.*. The extension never mutates other tools’ entries. Panel edits for Workspace ID and peer name save back to hosts.sillytavern.workspace and hosts.sillytavern.peerName respectively (debounced). Empty values clear the host override and fall through to the root value. Flat form (single-tool setup):

{
  "apiKey": "your-honcho-api-key",
  "peerName": "your-name",
  "workspace": "sillytavern",
  "enabled": true
}

Nested form (multiple tools sharing the file):

{
  "apiKey": "hch-v2-...",
  "peerName": "alice",
  "workspace": "default",
  "hosts": {
    "sillytavern": {
      "workspace": "sillytavern",
      "peerName": "alice-rp"
    },
    "claude_code": { "...": "..." },
    "cursor": { "...": "..." }
  }
}

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
No “Honcho Memory” in Extensions	Check symlink exists: `ls public/scripts/extensions/third-party/sillytavern-honcho/manifest.json`
Plugin not initializing	Ensure `enableServerPlugins: true` in `config.yaml`, then restart ST
403 on plugin requests	Set Honcho API key in extension settings or `~/.honcho/config.json`
SDK import error	Run `cd plugins/honcho-proxy && npm install`
Extension loads but nothing happens	Enable the checkbox and ensure workspace ID is set
Plugin on disk but “Honcho Memory” drawer doesn’t appear at all	Set `enableServerPlugins: true` in `config.yaml`; the panel can’t show plugins the server never loaded
Peer name on a new chat still shows an old value	Clear the panel override field (falls back to root / ST persona) or set a new value
Re-enabling global config didn’t populate the UI	You canceled on the diff dialog — click Enable again and choose Inherit

Next Steps

Install SillyTavern

New to SillyTavern? Start here — install guide for macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker.

Agent Skill for Setup

Agent-assisted install — idempotent, structural patches, end-to-end verification.

GitHub Repository

Source code, issues, and install scripts.

Honcho Architecture

Learn about peers, sessions, and dialectic reasoning.

Overview

Integrations

Tutorials

Community Integrations

Migrations

Prerequisites

Quick Start

Step 1: Install

Step 2: Restart SillyTavern

Step 3: Configure

How It Works

Context Architecture

Tool Call Mode

Other Panel Knobs

Peer Observability

Peer Modes and Session Naming

Group Chats

Global Config (Multi-Tool Setups)

Troubleshooting

Next Steps

Install SillyTavern

Agent Skill for Setup

GitHub Repository

Honcho Architecture

Overview

Integrations

Tutorials

Community Integrations

Migrations

​Prerequisites

​Quick Start

​Step 1: Install

​Step 2: Restart SillyTavern

​Step 3: Configure

​How It Works

​Context Architecture

​Tool Call Mode

​Other Panel Knobs

​Peer Observability

​Peer Modes and Session Naming

​Group Chats

​Global Config (Multi-Tool Setups)

​Troubleshooting

​Next Steps

Install SillyTavern

Agent Skill for Setup

GitHub Repository

Honcho Architecture

Prerequisites

Quick Start

Step 1: Install

Step 2: Restart SillyTavern

Step 3: Configure

How It Works

Context Architecture

Tool Call Mode

Other Panel Knobs

Peer Observability

Peer Modes and Session Naming

Group Chats

Global Config (Multi-Tool Setups)

Troubleshooting

Next Steps