From Character.AI / Replika

What you're migrating

Character.AI, Replika, Chai, and similar companion apps don't expose public APIs for chat export. They do offer personal data download flows that return a zipped archive of your conversations, typically as JSON. The exact shape varies, but the logical units are the same:

This is a per-user migration, not a multi-tenant one. If you're a developer moving users off a companion product you built, you usually have your own user database and can do a batch import. If you're an individual moving your own chats into a Sonzai-powered app, a single-user prime is simpler.

1. Export from the companion app

For most of these platforms you request a data download from settings and receive a zipped archive by email, usually within a few hours. Once unzipped, you're looking at one or more JSON files with a shape like:

[
  {
    "character_id": "luna",
    "conversation_id": "conv_abc",
    "created_at": "2025-11-20T09:12:00Z",
    "messages": [
      { "role": "user",       "content": "Hey Luna",     "created_at": "..." },
      { "role": "character",  "content": "Hi! Missed you.", "created_at": "..." }
    ]
  }
]

Different exports use different field names (role vs is_human, text vs content, bot_id vs character_id). Normalise to the shape above before running the import.

2. Map to Sonzai

For a single-user import (the most common case for companion apps):

import json, os
from sonzai import Sonzai

sonzai = Sonzai(api_key=os.environ["SONZAI_API_KEY"])
AGENT_ID = "agent_luna"   # the Sonzai agent that replaces the companion character
USER_ID  = "me"           # the individual migrating their own chats

def build_transcript(messages):
  lines = []
  for m in messages:
      role = "User" if m["role"] == "user" else "Agent"
      lines.append(f"{role}: {m['content']}")
  return "\n".join(lines)

def migrate_character_export(export_path: str, character_id: str):
  with open(export_path) as f:
      convos = json.load(f)

  # Only conversations with the character we're migrating to this Sonzai agent
  mine = [c for c in convos if c["character_id"] == character_id]
  mine.sort(key=lambda c: c["created_at"])

  content = []
  for c in mine:
      transcript = build_transcript(c["messages"])
      content.append({
          "type": "chat_transcript",
          "body": f"[conversation {c['conversation_id']} @ {c['created_at']}]\n{transcript}",
      })

  return sonzai.agents.priming.prime_user(
      AGENT_ID,
      USER_ID,
      source="character_ai",  # or "replika", "chai", etc.
      content=content,
  )

For a multi-user migration (you run the companion platform), pack each user into a batch_import entry the same way, using the platform's stable user ID as user_id.

3. Import and verify

curl -s https://api.sonz.ai/api/v1/agents/agent_luna/users/me/prime/$JOB_ID \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SONZAI_API_KEY" | jq '.status,.facts_stored'

# See what Sonzai extracted
curl -s "https://api.sonz.ai/api/v1/agents/agent_luna/memory/facts?user_id=me&limit=50" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SONZAI_API_KEY" | jq '.facts[].content'

What moves, and what doesn't

Moves: your chat history, user identity (via user_id), and any user metadata you care to pass in (email, display_name, custom fields).

Doesn't move:

• Character persona / backstory. Rebuild this on the Sonzai agent via personality config. Companion apps often bundle personality into freeform scripts; Sonzai uses Big Five personality + an explicit bio.
• Character greetings / scenarios. Configure at agent level, not per user.
• Character voice (Replika/Character.AI voice models). Sonzai ships its own TTS — see Voice.
• Media attachments (images, voice notes, selfies). The import endpoints take text only. If media matters, store the URLs as text blocks ("Mia shared a photo of her hike: https://...") so the extractor at least records the reference.

Platform-specific notes

• Character.AI exports group by character; filter to the character you're migrating.
• Replika exports tend to have one long-running conversation per user with no character selection — use the whole history.
• Chai exports are conversation-centric; treat each conversation as its own transcript block.
• Janitor AI / others — if the export is raw JSON with messages, the shape-normalisation step is all you need.

What's next

• Personality — rebuilding the character in Sonzai.
• Voice — setting up TTS for the migrated character.
• Custom JSON — if the export format doesn't match the examples here.