Pygmalion to Backyard AI Character Conversion

The migration from **Pygmalion** to **Backyard AI** (formerly Faraday) represents a move from the foundational JSON standards of the AI community to a modern, model-orchestration platform. Pygmalion's schema, while pioneering, is relatively flat and lacks the metadata required by today's complex local applications. Our tool acts as a bridge, enriching your legacy characters for modern use.

1. Schema Mapping

Pygmalion characters typically use keys like char_name, char_persona, and world_scenario. Backyard AI, while flexible, performs best when these are mapped to its specific personality, description, and scenario fields. Our converter reads the fields it recognizes in the Pygmalion data and copies each one to the matching Backyard AI field, so your text arrives as written.

2. Working with Modern Context Windows

Legacy Pygmalion files were often authored for smaller models with limited context. Modern local applications like Backyard AI can handle much more detail. The converter does not shorten or summarize your character, so long definitions are carried over in full; trim them yourself if your Backyard AI setup has a length limit. Beyond the changes listed under "What this converter changes", your descriptions and dialogue are carried over exactly as written.

3. Dialogue and Greeting Migration

We map the char_greeting directly to the Backyard first_mes field. This normalization is critical because different model frontends interpret dialogue cues differently.

4. Privacy and the "Zero-Server" Mandate

As with all tools on our platform, this conversion happens entirely in your browser. We understand that your characters represent hundreds of hours of creative writing. By using local JavaScript to handle the JSON transformation, we guarantee that your proprietary data is never transmitted across the open web. This ensures absolute privacy and data sovereignty for the creative community.

5. Identity and Metadata Fields

Backyard AI benefits from characters that include rich metadata. The name, description, personality, scenario, first message and example dialogue are written to the Backyard AI JSON; tags and version metadata are not generated. This facilitates better character management and ensures that your legacy creations are ready for the next generation of local AI roleplay.