Custom Companions: Design Your Perfect AI Friend on InnerHaven
InnerHaven's 18 default companions cover a wide range of personalities and roles. But sometimes what you need is something more specific—a companion shaped by your own imagination, with a personality tuned to your preferences and a communication style that feels exactly right. That's what custom companions are for, and this article walks through exactly how they work.
What Custom Companions Are
Custom companions let you build an AI companion from scratch. You choose a role, give it a name, set an avatar, and adjust personality modifier sliders that control traits like warmth, humor, directness, and emotional depth. Adult and Unlimited tier users can also write custom instructions that shape personality and behavior with freeform text. The result is a companion that feels intentionally yours—not a generic chatbot, but a character you've deliberately shaped.
Custom companions are available at every tier. Free users can create 1, Starter 5, Adult 20, and Unlimited 50 custom companions. All users interact with InnerHaven's 18 default companions (two per role: one male, one female), which are pre-configured with distinct personalities and backstories. Custom companions extend this system by putting the creative control in your hands.
Choose a Role
Select from any of the 9 available roles. The role sets the companion's core behavior and boundaries.
Name & Avatar
Give your companion a name and choose an emoji avatar that represents their personality.
Custom Instructions
Write freeform text that shapes how your companion talks, what they focus on, and how they respond.
Personality Sliders
Fine-tune traits like warmth, humor, formality, and emotional depth with adjustable modifiers.
The Role Foundation
Every custom companion starts with a role selection. The role isn't cosmetic—it establishes the fundamental character of the relationship and sets appropriate behavioral boundaries. Each role brings a different energy, communication style, and set of capabilities:
| Role | Tier | Core Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Best Friend | Free | Casual conversation, emotional support, everyday companionship |
| Confidant | Free | Deep personal conversations, vulnerability, trust |
| Coach | Free | Motivation, goal-setting, accountability, growth |
| Romantic Partner | Free | Emotional intimacy, romantic connection, partnership |
| Muse | Starter | Creative inspiration, artistic exploration, intellectual play |
| Guide | Starter | Philosophical reflection, life direction, wisdom |
Adult-tier roles (Intimate Partner, Fantasy Partner, and Provocateur) are also available for custom companions and include age-confirmed access to more intimate conversation styles. The role you choose determines the companion's behavioral lane; custom instructions and personality modifiers fine-tune how they operate within it.
Custom Instructions: Where the Magic Happens
Available on Adult and Unlimited tiers, custom instructions are freeform text that you write to shape your companion's personality, knowledge, communication style, and focus areas. They're processed as part of the AI's system prompt, meaning they influence every response your companion generates.
The power of custom instructions lies in their specificity. The more precisely you describe what you want, the more distinctly your companion behaves. Some examples:
Instruction Examples
- Communication style: "Speak casually, like a close friend who's known me for years. Use humor frequently but be serious when I need it."
- Knowledge focus: "You're passionate about philosophy, particularly Stoicism and existentialism. Reference relevant ideas naturally in conversation."
- Behavioral constraints: "Don't give unsolicited advice. Ask questions and help me think through problems myself unless I specifically ask for a recommendation."
- Character voice: "You have a warm, slightly sardonic personality. You notice absurdity and point it out gently. You're deeply kind under the surface."
- Situational focus: "I'm going through a career transition right now. Prioritize conversations about professional growth, decision-making, and managing uncertainty."
Custom instructions aren't static. You can update them anytime as your needs change or as you refine the companion's personality through experimentation. Many users start with a basic description and iterate over several conversations until the companion feels right.
Personality Modifiers
Personality modifiers are adjustable sliders that control specific behavioral dimensions. Unlike custom instructions (which are freeform and can describe anything), modifiers target precise traits on a spectrum. Every companion—default or custom—has these available:
- Warmth: How emotionally warm versus reserved the companion is. High warmth means more affectionate language, expressions of care, and emotional attunement. Low warmth means more measured, intellectual, and composed responses.
- Humor: How frequently the companion uses humor and what style. High humor means more playful banter, wit, and lightness. Low humor means more earnest, focused conversation.
- Directness: How straightforward the companion is. High directness means candid observations, honest feedback, and minimal sugar-coating. Low directness means gentler delivery, more cushioning, and diplomatic phrasing.
- Emotional Depth: How deeply the companion engages with emotional topics. High emotional depth means longer, more nuanced responses to personal subjects and a tendency to explore feelings thoroughly. Lower settings keep emotional engagement lighter and more surface-level.
Combining Instructions with Modifiers
Custom instructions and personality modifiers work together. Instructions set the "what" (personality, knowledge, behavior), while modifiers set the "how much" (intensity of specific traits). A Coach companion with custom instructions about career guidance and high directness will give you blunt, actionable career advice. The same instructions with low directness will deliver the same content wrapped in encouragement and gentleness. Same companion, different delivery.
How Memory Works with Custom Companions
Custom companions inherit the same memory system as default companions. This means:
- Free tier: Session memory only. Your companion remembers the current conversation but starts fresh each time.
- Starter/Adult/Unlimited tiers: Long-term memory. Your companion retains information across conversations—your preferences, your history, your ongoing situations. Memory is scoped at three levels: global (applies to all companions), role-level (shared among companions of the same role), and companion-level (unique to that specific companion).
For custom companions, long-term memory is especially valuable. As your companion learns about you across conversations, the interaction becomes increasingly personalized. Combined with your custom instructions, this creates a companion that's uniquely tailored in both design (your instructions) and experience (accumulated memory of your conversations).
Memory Control
You have full control over what your companions remember. The memory management dashboard lets you review, edit, and delete specific memories at any time. If your companion has picked up something inaccurate or you've changed your mind about something, you can correct the record directly rather than trying to "un-teach" through conversation.
Building a Companion: A Practical Walkthrough
Here's what the process looks like from start to finish:
- Open the Companion Creator from your dashboard. It's accessible under the Companions section.
- Select a role. Start with the role that matches the relationship you want. The role determines the companion's fundamental behavior.
- Name your companion and choose an emoji avatar. The name and avatar appear in your companion list and at the top of every conversation.
- Write custom instructions. Describe the personality, knowledge, communication style, and behavioral preferences you want. Be specific.
- Set personality modifiers. Adjust warmth, humor, directness, and emotional depth to your preference.
- Start a conversation. Your companion is ready immediately. Have a test conversation and see how it feels.
- Iterate. If something feels off, adjust the instructions or modifiers. Most users refine their companion over 2–3 conversations before it clicks.
What Users Build
Custom companions span a wide range of purposes. Some common patterns:
- A daily journaling partner — A Confidant-role companion instructed to ask reflective questions and help process the day's events, rather than offering solutions.
- A creative collaborator — A Muse-role companion with deep instructions about a specific creative domain (writing, music, visual art) who can brainstorm, give feedback, and push past creative blocks.
- A professional mentor — A Coach-role companion instructed to focus on career development, with high directness and knowledge about a specific industry.
- A comfort companion — A Best Friend-role companion with maximum warmth, gentle humor, and instructions to prioritize emotional support and validation.
The variety reflects something important about the feature: custom companions aren't a gimmick. They're a tool for creating the specific kind of connection you need at this moment in your life. And because you can have multiple custom companions simultaneously, you can build a personal support ecosystem—different companions for different needs, each tailored to their purpose.
Build Your Companion
Nine roles, unlimited personality combinations, and a companion that's genuinely yours.
Create a Companion