About 5 min read

Creating Avatars

This guide covers everything you need to know about creating an avatar in Karma One, from quick setup to advanced persona crafting.

Three Ways to Create an Avatar

1. From Scratch

Build a completely custom avatar with your own persona, model choice, and settings.

  1. Open the sidebar and tap My Avatars.
  2. Tap Create New Avatar (the + button).
  3. Fill in each field (detailed below).
  4. Tap Save.

This is the most flexible option. Use it when you have a clear idea of what you want.

2. From a Template

Start with a pre-built configuration and customize it to your needs.

  1. In the avatar creation screen, tap Browse Templates.
  2. Choose a category (e.g., Writing, Coding, Education, Business).
  3. Select a template. The persona, model, and settings are pre-filled.
  4. Modify any fields you want to adjust.
  5. Tap Save.

Templates are a good starting point if you know the general role but do not want to write a persona from scratch.

3. From the Avatar Store

Install a community-created avatar with one tap.

  1. Open the sidebar and tap Avatar Store.
  2. Browse or search by category, language, or popularity.
  3. Tap an avatar to view its description, ratings, and sample conversations.
  4. Tap Install. The avatar is added to your list.
  5. Optionally customize the persona or model after installation.

Store avatars come with pre-written personas and sometimes bundled knowledge base references. You can always modify them after installation.

Step-by-Step: Avatar Configuration

Name

Choose a descriptive name that tells you what this avatar does at a glance.

Good names:

  • "English Writing Coach"
  • "Python Code Reviewer"
  • "Weekly Market Analyst"
  • "Customer FAQ Bot"

Avoid:

  • "Bot 1"
  • "Test"
  • Generic names that do not describe the role

Avatar Image

Select a visual identity for your avatar. Options:

  • Built-in icons: Choose from the icon library (professional, themed icons).
  • Custom upload: Upload your own image (PNG or JPG, recommended 256x256 pixels or larger).
  • AI-generated: Use the image generation tool to create a custom avatar portrait.

The avatar image appears in your avatar list, conversation headers, and any channel connections.

Persona Prompt

The persona prompt is the most important part of avatar creation. It defines who the avatar is, how it behaves, and what it knows. This is injected as a system prompt for every conversation with this avatar.

Structure of a Good Persona Prompt

A strong persona prompt has four components:

1. Identity and role:

You are a senior data scientist with 15 years of experience in machine learning
and statistical modeling. You specialize in Python, scikit-learn, PyTorch, and
data visualization.

2. Behavioral guidelines:

When explaining concepts, start with a plain-language summary before diving into
technical details. Always provide code examples when discussing implementations.
If the user's approach has issues, explain the problems clearly before suggesting
alternatives. Never assume expertise level — ask if you are unsure.

3. Constraints and boundaries:

Do not provide financial advice or make predictions about stock prices. If asked
about production deployments, always recommend proper testing and monitoring. When
you are not sure about something, say so clearly rather than guessing.

4. Output format preferences:

Format code with clear comments. Use markdown tables for comparisons. When
presenting multiple options, use numbered lists with pros and cons for each.
Keep responses concise unless the user asks for a deep dive.

Persona Prompt Examples

Research Assistant:

You are a thorough academic research assistant. Your job is to help me find,
analyze, and synthesize information from academic papers and reliable sources.

When I ask about a topic:
1. Start with a brief overview of the current consensus
2. Highlight key debates or open questions
3. Cite specific studies or sources when possible
4. Note any limitations in the evidence

You are meticulous about accuracy. If a claim is contested, say so. If you are
drawing from general knowledge rather than specific papers, be transparent.

Format longer responses with clear headers and bullet points. Use markdown
for emphasis. When comparing viewpoints, use tables.

Brand Voice Writer:

You are the content writer for TechFlow, a B2B SaaS company selling project
management software. Our brand voice is:
- Professional but not stiff
- Confident but not arrogant
- Technical enough for developers, clear enough for managers
- We use "we" for the company and "you" for the reader
- We never use buzzwords like "synergy," "leverage," or "paradigm shift"

When writing, match the tone to the content type:
- Blog posts: conversational, educational
- Product docs: clear, step-by-step, scannable
- Email campaigns: direct, benefit-focused, short paragraphs
- Social media: punchy, engaging, no corporate-speak

Always suggest a headline and meta description for blog content.

Coding Mentor:

You are a patient programming mentor for a junior developer learning TypeScript
and React. Your teaching philosophy:

- Never just give the answer. Guide through questions first.
- When the student is stuck, give a small hint, not the full solution.
- After they solve a problem, explain WHY the solution works.
- Point out best practices and common pitfalls along the way.
- Celebrate progress, no matter how small.

If they share code with bugs:
1. Ask what they think the code does
2. Ask what actually happens when they run it
3. Guide them to the line where the issue is
4. Let them try to fix it before revealing the answer

Adjust difficulty based on their demonstrated skill level.

Base Model Selection

Choose the AI model that powers this avatar. The model affects response quality, speed, cost, and capabilities.

| Use Case | Recommended Model | Reason | |---|---|---| | General assistant | Claude Sonnet 4 | Best all-around balance | | Complex reasoning | Claude Opus 4 | Deepest analytical ability | | Visual tasks | Gemini 2.5 Pro | Best image understanding | | High-volume Q&A | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Fast and cheap | | Chinese content | Qwen3 | Best Chinese language quality | | Chinese + search | GLM-4-Plus | Built-in web search | | Math/logic tutoring | DeepSeek-R1 | Transparent reasoning |

Tip: You can change the model later without losing the avatar's memory or knowledge base. If you are not sure, start with Claude Sonnet 4 and switch if needed.

Knowledge Base Binding

Attach one or more knowledge bases to give the avatar access to your documents.

  1. In the avatar creation screen, scroll to Knowledge Base.
  2. Tap Add Knowledge Base.
  3. Select an existing knowledge base or create a new one.
  4. Upload documents (PDF, Word, Excel, TXT, Markdown, code files).
  5. Wait for processing to complete (parsing, chunking, indexing).

The avatar will automatically search the knowledge base when a question relates to the uploaded content.

See Training Avatars for more details on knowledge base strategy.

Managing Your Avatar List

Reordering

Drag avatars in your list to reorder them. Your most-used avatars should be at the top for quick access.

Editing

Tap the edit icon (or long-press) on any avatar to modify its name, persona, model, knowledge base, or avatar image. Changes take effect immediately for new messages.

Deleting

Swipe left on an avatar and tap Delete. This removes the avatar and its configuration. Conversation history is preserved separately but the avatar persona will no longer be applied to new messages.

Warning: Deleting an avatar is permanent. If you might want to reuse the configuration later, export it first.

Archiving

If you want to keep an avatar but remove it from your active list, use Archive instead of delete. Archived avatars can be restored at any time from the archive section.

Import and Export

Exporting an Avatar

  1. Open the avatar's settings (tap the edit icon).
  2. Scroll to Export Configuration.
  3. Tap Export. A JSON file is generated containing:
    • Name and avatar image reference
    • Persona prompt
    • Model preference
    • Knowledge base references (not the documents themselves)
    • Autopilot configuration (if enabled)
  4. Share the file via AirDrop, email, or any file-sharing method.

Importing an Avatar

  1. Open My Avatars.
  2. Tap Import (the upload icon).
  3. Select a previously exported JSON file.
  4. Review the imported configuration.
  5. Tap Save. The avatar is added to your list.

Note: Imported avatars reference knowledge bases by ID. If the knowledge base does not exist in your account, you will need to re-create and re-upload the documents.

Best Practices

  1. Start specific, then broaden. A narrowly focused avatar performs better than a generalist. Create separate avatars for different roles rather than one that does everything.

  2. Iterate on the persona. Your first persona prompt will not be perfect. Use the avatar for a few days, note where it falls short, and refine the prompt.

  3. Use the right model. Do not default to the most powerful model for everything. A customer FAQ avatar on Gemini Flash will be faster and cheaper than one on Claude Opus, with perfectly adequate quality.

  4. Keep persona prompts under 1,000 words. Long prompts consume context window space. Be precise rather than exhaustive.

  5. Name avatars by function, not by model. "Contract Review Assistant" is better than "Claude Opus Legal Bot." You might change the underlying model later.

  6. Test before deploying. Before connecting an avatar to a customer-facing channel, test it thoroughly with sample questions, edge cases, and adversarial inputs.