Sharing your characters and finding an audience

Updated October 18, 2026

Every character you create on Shiro can stay private or be shared. Sharing lets friends or the whole community meet your character, comment on them and start their own stories. This guide covers your visibility options, how to share, and what helps a character stand out.

Who can see your character

When you create or edit a character, you choose who can see it:

Private: only you can find and chat with it.
Friends: your friends on Shiro can see it on your profile and chat with it.
Selected friends: only the friends you pick.
Public: anyone can find it on Discover, in search and on your profile.

You can change this at any time. A character's personality stays private even when the character is public: people can chat with it but can't read the instructions you wrote.

Sharing a link

Every character has a link you can share anywhere, from its profile. Public characters also get their own page on the web with their portrait, description and first message, so a shared link looks good in chats and on social media, and people can start chatting in their browser right away, without installing anything.

Comments

People can leave comments on a character's profile. It's a nice way to hear what people enjoy about your character and which stories they've been telling. Comments are checked against our community guidelines, and you can report any that break them.

What makes people want to chat

On Discover, people see a portrait, a name and a tagline first. Those three decide whether someone opens your character's profile.

A tagline with a story in it. "A lighthouse keeper who hasn't seen a visitor in three winters" beats "A nice girl". Hint at a situation, not just a trait.
A clear portrait. A portrait that shows the character's face and mood reads well even at small sizes. See making a great character portrait.
A greeting that starts a scene. Once someone opens a chat, the greeting decides whether they reply. See how to write a character greeting.
The right category and tags. They're how people browse and search. Pick the category that fits best and a handful of accurate tags.
A description. A few sentences on the profile about who the character is and what stories they're good for helps people decide.

Keep improving

Chat with your public characters yourself from time to time. If a character drifts, add a clear sentence to the personality. If people often ask the same question in comments, consider adding the answer to the description. Editing a public character keeps its link and comments.

shiro+ creators also get stats showing how many people have chatted with each of their characters, which helps you see what resonates.

Public characters are reviewed

New and edited public characters, including their portraits, are checked against our community guidelines before they appear on Discover. Characters can't impersonate real private people, and content that breaks the rules is removed. Keep characters you've made for personal stories private if they aren't meant for everyone.

Your profile

Your public profile shows your shared characters along with your display name, bio and picture. People who enjoy one of your characters can find the rest there, and add you as a friend. See friends, messages and status notes.

Open Shiro