What is RisuAI used for?

RisuAI is a cross-platform AI chat application for LLM roleplay and storytelling that supports many model providers, characters, lorebooks and plugins. It is a good fit for interactive fiction and character roleplay, comparing different LLM providers in one app, and cross-language roleplay with automatic translation.

Is RisuAI open source?

Yes. RisuAI is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at kwaroran/Risuai and is written mainly in TypeScript.

Yes. RisuAI is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host RisuAI?

Yes. RisuAI can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is RisuAI an alternative to?

RisuAI is an open-source alternative to Character.AI and Replika. Other open-source alternatives to Character.AI include SillyTavern, MaiBot and TavernAI V1.

Is RisuAI actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to RisuAI was on 29 September 2026, and the latest release is v2026.8.250, published on 25 August 2026. The project has 1.7k stars on GitHub.

RisuAI: open-source alternative to Character.AI, Replika

About RisuAI

Risuai, often called Risu, is a cross-platform AI chat application and web app aimed at roleplaying and story creation with large language models. It gives users a friendly interface to talk with custom characters, and it is built with TypeScript and Tauri so it can run as a desktop, mobile or browser application.

A large part of its appeal is configurability. It connects to many model providers, including OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, OpenRouter and local backends, and supports group chats with multiple characters, emotion images that change with expressions, lorebooks that give characters longer memory, regex scripts to reshape output, and automatic translation of input and output. Plugins add new features or providers, and prompts can be reordered with conditions and variables.

The project is released under the GPL-3.0 licence. It also includes theme choices, text-to-speech, embedded assets and an MCP client according to its topics. Because it relies on your own provider accounts or local models, it suits hobbyists and writers who want a flexible, free front end for interactive fiction rather than a general-purpose assistant.

Key features

Support for many LLM providers
Group chats with multiple characters
Lorebook memory for characters
Regex scripts to reshape model output
Automatic input and output translation
Plugins for new features and providers

Good fit for

→Interactive fiction and character roleplay
→Comparing different LLM providers in one app
→Cross-language roleplay with automatic translation

Built with: TypeScript; Tauri
Tags: llm; roleplay; ai-chat; characters; lorebook; tauri; mcp; plugins; typescript

RisuAI: questions and answers

What is RisuAI used for?: RisuAI is a cross-platform AI chat application for LLM roleplay and storytelling that supports many model providers, characters, lorebooks and plugins. It is a good fit for interactive fiction and character roleplay, comparing different LLM providers in one app, and cross-language roleplay with automatic translation.
Is RisuAI open source?: Yes. RisuAI is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at kwaroran/Risuai and is written mainly in TypeScript.
Is RisuAI free?: Yes. RisuAI is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host RisuAI?: Yes. RisuAI can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is RisuAI an alternative to?: RisuAI is an open-source alternative to Character.AI and Replika. Other open-source alternatives to Character.AI include SillyTavern, MaiBot and TavernAI V1.
Is RisuAI actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to RisuAI was on 29 September 2026, and the latest release is v2026.8.250, published on 25 August 2026. The project has 1.7k stars on GitHub.