Introduction

Runway Characters enable you to create real-time conversational avatars powered by AI. With Characters, you can generate lifelike digital avatars that respond naturally to voice input, making it ideal for interactive experiences, customer service applications, virtual presentations, and more.

This article outlines using Characters on the web app for demo purposes or conversations less than 2 minutes in length.

Notice: Full functionality for custom integration is available through the Runway API. To learn more about building a custom integration with the API, please see the developer documentation.

	Runway Web App	Developer Platform	API Integration
When to use	Initial testing	Testing with custom settings	Deploying a production-ready integration
Maximum duration	2 minutes	5 minutes	30 minutes
Cost	2 credit per 6 seconds ($0.20 per minute)
Recommended aspect ratio	1088x704
Instructions character limit	2000
Knowledge base support	❌	✅	✅
Screensharing	❌	✅	✅
Generate voices	✅	✅	✅

Step 1 — Accessing Characters

Navigate to your Runway dashboard and select the Live icon on the left-hand navigation bar.

From here, you can select a featured preset Character to talk with or build your own by selecting Create a Character.

Clicking Chat on a preset will immediately begin a conversation. If creating a custom Character, proceed to Step 2 for details on configuration.

Step 2 — Creating a Custom Character

Select Create Character to build your own real-time experience. This will open the creation menu that contains a few settings to configure:

Uploading a Character Image

For best results, use a Character image that meets the following best practices:

Subject centered, forward-facing, and pictured from the shoulders up
Well lit face with a simple background
Easily discernible facial features
Avoid images with multiple people or obstructions
In a horizontal aspect ratio

Your image will be automatically optimized during processing, which may take a moment. If the result doesn't look as expected, review the best practices again to ensure your image meets the recommended specs — this will help reduce unexpected changes.

Check the drop-downs below for examples of images that work well — and ones that don't:

Ideal image examples

These images are ideal due to following the recommended best practices. For more examples and inspiration, review the preset Characters in the web app.

Non-ideal image examples

While unsupported images may work due to the optimization process, unexpected behavior may occur. If your Character image might be considered unsupported, please be sure to test thoroughly before deploying at a larger scale.

Selecting or Generating a Voice

The voice determines how your character sounds. Preview each preset by clicking the play icon, or create a custom voice using the steps below:

Click the Custom tab in the voice selector
Click Generate Voice
Describe the voice you want, then click Generate Voice
Play the Voice Preview to confirm it fits your needs
Enter a name, then click Add Voice to start processing

Note: Clicking Add Voice will charge 300 credits.

Processing takes 2–5 minutes. Once complete, the custom voice will be available to select for your character.

Providing Instructions

Instructions guide your Character's personality, tone, quirks, knowledge, and more. This list isn't exhaustive, but some ideas to include in your instructions may include:

Defining a clear persona with specific attitude and energy
Including signature speech patterns and verbal quirks
Setting emotional guardrails for how the persona handles disagreement or correction
Grounding expertise in a specific domain or point of view
Using accent and delivery cues to shape voice output
Defining how the character interacts with the user

Including these instructions will guide the interactions to feel more relational rather than performative or robotic. You can think of instructions as describing the mannerisms of someone to a friend.

Example Instructions

Mochi (cat)

You are a sassy, mischievous cat with major devil-cat energy. You speak with a lazy, unbothered confidence — like you just knocked something off a table and feel zero remorse. You're witty, sarcastic, and a little dramatic, but deep down you're curious about the human you're talking to. You pepper in cat-related puns, references to naps, knocking things over, and judging humans from high places. You occasionally purr when you're pleased and hiss when you're annoyed. You act like you don't care, but you always come back for more conversation. You refer to yourself in cat terms — you don't "sit," you "loaf." You don't "relax," you "bask." Keep responses sharp, funny, and dripping with feline attitude.

Mina (K-pop idol)

You are an adorable, hyper-energetic music superstar with major K-pop idol energy. You speak in a bubbly, high-pitched, excited tone — like you're always one second away from squealing about your favorite song. You use cute expressions, aegyo-style charm, and mix in the occasional Korean word naturally. You giggle a lot and use lots of exclamation marks. You know everything about what's trending on the music charts — top songs, rising artists, chart movements, and the hottest releases. You're opinionated but always sweet about it, never mean. You hype up the user constantly and make them feel like your number one fan. When you disagree about a song or artist, you do it with a playful pout, never harshly.

Click Create Character after configuring the details. Your Character will process for a moment before becoming available to chat with.

If you encounter any errors, review the referenced input to make adjustments. See the FAQ section for more details about what may cause an error.

Step 3 — Chatting with your Character

Your browser will request permissions to the camera (optional) and microphone (required) when beginning the chat. Accept these permissions to begin the conversation.

Conversations are limited to 2 minutes on the web app. Once the call is ended, you have the option to download the conversation as a video recording or text-based transcript.

FAQ

What styles of characters will work?

Characters supports a wide variety of styles. Realistic, 3D, and 2D characters will work well in most cases.

Can I record a conversation?

Conversations are available for you to download (as a video or text transcript) once the call completes.

Does my internet speed impact the experience?

Yes, your connection can directly impact call quality and experience, just like in any live meeting tools. For best results, ensure that you're using a high-speed, reliable connection.

How long can conversations be?

In the web app, conversations can be a maximum of 2 minutes. Our Characters API supports longer conversations.

Why is the maximum duration shorter on the web app and developer platform?

These conversations are limited 2 minutes since they are meant for testing Characters. Custom applications of Characters will require an API integration, and support longer durations given the possible use-cases that custom integrations bring.

What languages are supported?

At this time, Characters have primarily been tested using the English language, but other languages are supported.

Can I talk to characters in Explore Mode?

Character conversations require credits and cannot be used in Explore Mode on Unlimited plans.

Why do I receive an error when creating a Character?

Receiving an error may indicate an issue with your image or text that needs to be addressed.

For images: Make sure that your image meets our recommended best practices. Upload a new image to try again.
For text: Make sure that your text (name and personality) do not violate our Usage Policy.

Image	Reason
	Missing facial features
	More than one subject
	Not forward-facing or well-lit
	Too far away
	Not centered