Janitor AI Personas (2026): How to Make One, Switch It, and Stop the Bot Playing You
A Janitor AI persona is a short description of the person you play, which Janitor sends to the model together with every message. The bot’s card tells the model who the character is. Your persona tells it who you are: your name, how you look, how to refer to you.
It sounds like a small feature. It is the part of the prompt that you control in every chat, on every bot, and it causes two of the most common complaints on the platform: a bot that keeps describing you wrongly, and a bot that keeps writing your actions for you.
Janitor has rebuilt its persona pages several times in 2026, and its own help article has not kept up. So we checked the persona page on the website on 4 October 2026, read every persona entry in Janitor’s changelog, and compared both with the help centre.
This guide is about your persona as a player. If you want to build a bot, see Janitor AI bot creation.
The Short Answer
- Personas are under My Personas now, including your main one. Janitor moved main persona editing out of profile settings on 24 April 2026. Older guides, and Janitor’s own help article, still send you to Settings.
- The form is small: an image, a name, a description, a group and pronouns.
- Keep it short. Janitor’s guide says about 500 tokens or less, and appearance only.
- Do not describe your personality. That is what makes the bot play you.
- You can switch persona in the middle of a chat since 31 March 2026, and use several personas in one conversation.
- There is no limit on the web since 23 June 2026. The old limit was 100.
What a Persona Is, and Where It Goes
When you send a message, Janitor builds a prompt for the model. Part of that prompt changes every turn: the recent messages. Part of it is sent again every single time, however long the chat gets. Janitor’s help centre calls that second part permanent tokens. Its character creation guide lists them: the bot’s personality and scenario, the chat memory, and “the user’s persona”.
Two things follow from this.
The bot never forgets your persona. Old messages drop out of the model’s view as a chat grows. The persona does not. If the bot gets your eye colour wrong after 200 messages, the cause is the wording of the persona or the model itself. It has not been pushed out.
Your persona costs memory in every chat. On Janitor’s free model the whole context is about 9,000 tokens. Everything permanent comes out of that before a single message of conversation is counted.
| Persona length | Share of a 9,000-token context | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 150 tokens (about 110 words) | under 2% | Hardly noticeable |
| 500 tokens (Janitor’s suggested ceiling) | about 6% | Fine |
| 1,500 tokens | about 17% | One sixth of the bot’s memory, used on describing you |
The percentages are our arithmetic. The point is that a persona is not free text. Each sentence you add is taken from the room the bot has for remembering the story. We cover the full budget in Janitor AI chat memory.
If you use an outside model through a proxy, the context is larger and the share is smaller, but on a paid model you pay for the persona again with every message.
Where Personas Are Now
On the website, click your profile picture and choose My Personas. On 4 October 2026 the page had:
- a search box and a sort menu on the left;
- a New persona button and a New group button;
- your personas as a list, with the main one marked Default.
Opening the default persona shows it under the label “Default persona”, with its name and description ready to edit in place.
This is not what Janitor’s help article describes. The article “How to Edit & Swap Personas” was last updated on 30 August 2025, and three things in it are out of date:
| The help article says | What the changelog and the site say |
|---|---|
| Edit your main persona in Account Settings | ”main persona editing moved to my personas (removed from profile settings)” — 24 April 2026 |
| On My Personas you can only see your main persona, not edit it | The default persona opens and is editable there (seen 4 October 2026) |
| “The maximum amount of personas you can have is 100" | "We’ve removed the 100-persona limit on web” — 23 June 2026 |
If a video or a Reddit post tells you to look in Settings and you cannot find the box, this is why.
One thing the help article says that we did not re-check: the main persona uses your profile picture, and changing one changes the other.
How to Make a Persona
- Open My Personas.
- Press New persona.
- Add an image if you want one. You can drag it in, click to choose a file, or paste it.
- Type a persona name.
- Fill in Describe this persona. This is the text the model reads.
- Choose a group if you use them. New personas start as “Ungrouped”.
- Choose pronouns. The options are None, She/Her, He/Him, They/Them and Custom.
- Press Create Persona.
A few details:
- Pronouns are a separate field, added on 7 December 2025. You do not have to spend words in the description on them, but stating them there too does no harm.
- Groups are folders for your personas. They arrived in December 2025 and help once you have more than a handful: one group per fandom, or per kind of story.
- You can clone a persona from the My Personas page since 23 June 2026. This is the quick way to make a variant, for example the same person in a modern setting and in a fantasy one.
- A persona with no image gets a default avatar, since 14 January 2026.
- The changelog entries for cloning and for the removed limit both say “on web”. We did not check the mobile app.
How to Switch Persona
Before a chat. On a character’s page, your own picture is shown above the Chat buttons. Click it, pick a persona, then start the chat.
Janitor’s help article adds a warning that still matters: the page always starts on your main persona, even if your last chat with that bot used a different one. Check the picture before you press Chat.
To pick up an old chat. Since 19 January 2026, “Continue latest chat” follows the persona you have selected. Choose a persona and it opens your latest chat with that bot as that persona. With your main persona selected, it opens the latest chat that used no other persona. If a chat seems to be missing, select the persona you used for it first.
In the middle of a chat. Janitor added this on 31 March 2026 as an open beta, under the name multi-persona:
“theres a persona switcher right next to the chat input. tap your avatar, pick a different persona, and your next message goes out as them. the character treats each persona as a completely separate person.”
The announcement also explains how it works underneath: “every message gets tagged with who sent it. the llm gets all the persona descriptions so it knows exactly who its talking to.”
That last sentence has a cost that the announcement does not spell out. If the model receives every persona’s description, then a chat with three personas carries three persona texts in its permanent tokens. This is our reading of Janitor’s own description, not something Janitor states. On the free model, keep the personas in a multi-persona chat very short.
Two Characters in One Persona, or Two Personas?
People search for how to put two characters into one persona, for example a pair of siblings that you play together. Before March 2026 that was the only way, and it never worked well: the model had one “user” and could not tell which of the two had spoken.
Now there are two options.
| One persona that describes two people | Two personas, switched in chat | |
|---|---|---|
| Who spoke | You must say so in every message | Each message is tagged with its sender |
| How the bot treats them | As one user with two bodies. It mixes them up | As two separate people |
| Token cost | One description | Two descriptions |
| Status | Always worked, poorly | Open beta since 31 March 2026 |
For two people who act separately, use two personas. For a group that always acts as one, such as “the crew of the ship”, one persona is still simpler.
What Janitor Says to Write
Janitor’s help centre has a guide called “What Makes A Good Persona?”, updated on 11 August 2026. Its advice is specific, and it goes against what most templates do.
Short. “The sweet spot? Around 500 tokens or less.”
No personality and no backstory. This is the part most people get wrong, and the guide explains the reason:
“When you include personality traits or backstory in your persona, you’re essentially handing the AI a script of how it should roleplay you. Before you know it, you’ll find the bot narrating your actions.”
Facts, not instructions. The guide says to “describe how something looks, rather than telling the AI what to do with it”, and to “avoid controlling behaviour and stick to appearance”.
Comparisons before exact numbers. It suggests “average height” where you might write a measurement.
Wrap it in tags. The guide recommends XML-style tags around the persona, so the model reads the contents as facts about you and not as general story information.
Its own example is this:
<user_persona>Alex:
- average height, lanky build; young-adult
- male
- sun-bleached hair
- blue eyes
- smells like cookies</user_persona>That is the whole persona. It is about 30 words.
The guide also describes how to repair one. If the bot keeps misreading a detail, the detail is unclear, so say it more exactly. Its example: “sun-bleached hair” led the model to assume a blond surfer, and the fix was to write what the hair actually looks like.
A Template You Can Copy
This follows Janitor’s guide. Fill in what applies and delete the rest. Fewer lines is better.
<user_persona>NAME:
- adult, AGE or age range
- gender and pronouns
- height and build, in words
- hair
- eyes
- usual clothing
- one or two marks the bot should notice: a scar, a limp, glasses, a tattoo
- species or kind, if not human, with the visible traits
- role in the world, in a few words: "ship's medic", "new student at the academy"</user_persona>How to adapt it:
- For a fandom persona (a character from an anime or game that you play as), write the appearance in full. Do not trust the model to know the character from the name. It may know them, know a different version, or invent details.
- For a non-human persona, describe what can be seen: ears, tail, horns, wings, size. Each visible trait is something the bot can react to.
- For a role, name it and stop. “Ship’s medic” gives the bot something to work with. Three sentences about how good you are at your job is backstory.
- Leave out what you feel, how you talk, what you would never do, and your history. Show those through your messages.
A note on age. Janitor’s content rules require every persona to be an adult, and they say that using a persona under 18 is prohibited in every context and leads to a permanent ban. State an adult age in the persona text.
Why the Bot Plays You, and What Fixes It
“The bot is using my persona”, “the bot speaks for me” and “the bot controls my character” are the same problem. There are three usual causes, and only one of them is the persona.
1. The persona contains a script. A line such as “sarcastic, hides her feelings, rolls her eyes when annoyed” is a set of actions the model can perform. Sooner or later it writes “she rolls her eyes”. Remove everything that describes behaviour. This is the fix Janitor’s persona guide gives, and it costs nothing to try.
2. The bot’s own card does it. If the creator’s first message or example dialogue includes your character acting or speaking, the model copies that pattern. You cannot edit somebody else’s card, but you can edit the first message in your own chat and remove the lines that act for you.
3. Your instruction makes it worse. Many players add “don’t talk for {{user}}” to their prompt. Janitor’s writing guide says this often has the opposite result:
“that command often makes it write more about your character, not less.”
Its explanation is that the model reads the instruction as a request to give your character room in the story, and the only way it can do that is to write about them. What works better is example, not prohibition: end your own messages on your action, edit out any line where the bot acted for you before you reply, and reroll a reply that does it. Each such line you leave in the chat becomes an example the model follows.
The same approach applies to bots you make yourself. We cover it from the creator’s side in Janitor AI bot creation.
When the Bot Ignores Your Persona
The opposite complaint: the bot calls you by the wrong name, forgets your species, or treats you as a generic stranger.
| What happens | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Wrong name or wrong appearance from the first reply | The chat was started on your main persona | Check the picture above the Chat buttons, then start a new chat |
| The bot uses the name written in its card instead of yours | The creator wrote a fixed name where {{user}} should be | Nothing in your persona fixes this. Pick another bot or correct it in the chat |
| A detail is misread again and again | The wording is unclear | Rewrite that line more exactly |
| The persona works at first and fades in a long chat | The model is weak at holding details, or the permanent text is too long | Shorten the persona. Put the key fact in chat memory as well |
| Nothing from the persona appears at all | The persona did not save | Reopen My Personas and check the text is there |
If the persona will not save or the page will not load, it is rarely the persona. Janitor fixed two persona saving bugs in the past year (creating and selecting in December 2025, edits that made duplicates in January 2026). For the general case, see Janitor AI not working.
Are Personas Private?
There is no public page for a persona, and other users cannot browse yours. Two things to know.
Publishing a chat can show it. Since 31 March 2026 you can publish a chat for others to read. Janitor’s announcement says: “when you publish a chat, you can share your persona info. readers see each persona labeled.” If someone forks your published chat, “they get a persona switcher that includes your original personas alongside their own”. So a persona you used in a published chat can travel with it.
The persona is part of the prompt. It goes wherever your messages go: to Janitor’s model, or to the provider behind your proxy. For that reason, do not put real details in a persona. No real full name, no address, no workplace. A persona is a character, and it works better as one. Our page Is Janitor AI safe? covers the wider picture.
Checklist
- Open My Personas, not Settings.
- Write appearance and facts only, inside
<user_persona>tags. - Keep it under about 500 tokens. Under 150 is better on the free model.
- Set pronouns in their own field.
- State an adult age.
- Before each new chat, check which persona is selected.
- If the bot plays you, cut behaviour from the persona before you add any instruction.
- For two characters, use two personas and the switcher.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a persona on Janitor AI?
A persona is a short description of the person you play. Janitor sends it to the model with every message, so the bot knows your name, how you look and how to refer to you. Janitor’s help centre counts the persona among the permanent tokens, which means it uses part of the bot’s memory in every turn of every chat.
How do I make a persona on Janitor AI?
On the website, open the menu on your profile picture and choose My Personas. Press New persona, add an image if you want one, type a name, describe the persona in the text box, choose a group and pronouns if you want them, and press Create Persona.
How do I change my persona on Janitor AI?
For a new chat, open the character’s page and click your own picture above the Chat buttons, then pick a persona. Inside a chat, use the persona switcher next to the message box. Since 31 March 2026 you can switch in the middle of a conversation, and the character treats each persona as a different person.
What should I write in a Janitor AI persona?
Stable physical facts: name, rough age as an adult, build, hair, eyes, clothing, and anything the bot must not get wrong. Janitor’s own guide says to keep it at about 500 tokens or less and to leave out personality traits and backstory, because those read like a script and make the bot write your actions for you.
Are Janitor AI personas private?
A persona has no public page. Other users do not see it unless you publish a chat. When you publish a chat, Janitor says you can share your persona info, and people who fork the chat get a persona switcher that includes your personas. The persona text is also part of the prompt, so it is sent to Janitor’s model or to the proxy provider you use.
Why does the bot speak for me on Janitor AI?
Often because the persona tells it how you behave. Janitor’s guide explains that personality traits and backstory in a persona hand the model a script for playing you. Cut the persona down to appearance and facts. Janitor’s writing guide also says that instructions such as do not talk for the user often have the opposite effect.
How many personas can I have on Janitor AI?
On the website there is no limit. Janitor removed the old limit of 100 personas on the web on 23 June 2026. Its help article on personas still mentions the limit of 100, but that article was last updated in August 2025.
Can I use two personas in one Janitor AI chat?
Yes. Janitor added multi-persona chats as an open beta on 31 March 2026. You pick a different persona from the switcher next to the message box and your next message is sent as that persona. Every message is tagged with who sent it, and the model receives the descriptions of all the personas in the chat.
The layout of the My Personas page, the fields of the persona form, the pronoun options and the editable default persona were read on Janitor AI’s website on a free account on 4 October 2026. Nothing was saved or changed. Dated changes are from Janitor’s changelog and newsroom. The advice on length, content and tags, the example persona and the notes on bots that speak for the user are from Janitor’s help centre, as are the lists of permanent tokens and the rule on persona age. The percentages in the token table and the note on the cost of several personas in one chat are our own arithmetic and reading. We did not test the persona pages in the mobile app, and we did not test a length limit for the description box.
Product names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Arcanum is not affiliated with Janitor AI.