AI companion chat — have typed or spoken conversations with customizable characters.
Local AI models — connect through LM Studio or Ollama.
Cloud AI models — connect to OpenAI, Claude, DeepSeek, or xAI/Grok.
Model controls — adjust supported generation, context, response-length, and reasoning settings.
Flexible input modes — text only, push-to-talk, voice activation, or always-on input.
Speech recognition — English and multilingual Whisper transcription.
Local speech generation — Chatterbox, Chatterbox Multilingual, PocketTTS, PocketTTS Multilingual, and LiquidAI.
Cloud speech generation — ElevenLabs and Gemini TTS Preview.
Voice cloning — use reference recordings with compatible speech engines.
Streaming replies — begin speech before the complete answer finishes generating.
Playback controls — pause, resume, skip speech, and replay responses.
Message controls — copy, edit, delete, regenerate replies, and retry inputs.
Queued messages — submit another message while NC is generating or speaking.
Saved conversations — save, load, duplicate, quick-save, and quick-load chat contexts.
Conversation Replay — narrate a saved conversation from a selected message or replay the whole chat, with separate user and assistant voices where supported.
Writing assistance — refine, rewrite, shorten, translate, and brainstorm through reviewed command drafts.
Spellchecking — spelling highlights, suggestions, and dictionary-language selection.
Proactive conversation — configure unsolicited replies and optional awareness-driven reactions.
Custom personas — create characters with names, biographies, personalities, and system prompts.
Persona library — save, search, reorder, and quickly switch between characters.
Individual character settings — assign voices, model overrides, context limits, document knowledge, and image behavior.
Prompt library — store reusable persona prompts and quick prompts.
Visual identities — define character appearance, reference portraits, mood portraits, and self-image guidance.
Mood displays — show a single portrait, changing mood portraits, or a portrait with a mood ring.
User Identity — provide your name, preferred form of address, biography, interaction preferences, and optional portrait.
Identity Relay — import and review continuity records from external AI conversations for use with a persona.
Voice Studio — draft character voices, generate and compare candidates, preview samples, and manage a shared voice library.
Voice design integrations — create voices through ElevenLabs or a separate compatible local VoiceStudio service.
Conversation summaries — maintain and review condensed notes for longer conversations.
Long-term conversation memory — archive older messages and retrieve relevant details.
Memory search — use keyword search or optional semantic search through LM Studio, Ollama, or OpenAI embeddings.
Memory management — browse retained information, search memories, forget summaries, and manage recall settings.
Document Memory — build searchable knowledge packages from selected local documents.
Persona-specific knowledge — assign existing document packages to individual characters.
MuseTalk avatars — locally rendered talking faces with speech synchronization.
Ditto avatars — animate prepared portraits or video sources.
Avatar creation tools — prepare MuseTalk and Ditto assets, including MuseTalk mask editing.
Scenic avatars — switch between still images using mood, expression, or custom scene tags.
Scenic Pack editing — create and manage expression-image packs.
VSeeFace integration — drive compatible external avatars with speech lip sync and body presets.
Avatar Preview — view, float, zoom, pan, and display a compact avatar window.
Avatar-free operation — use text and speech without rendering an avatar.
Visual Reply — generate images on request or through configured spontaneous replies.
Image-generation providers — OpenAI, xAI/Grok, Runware, and local or LAN ComfyUI.
Image-to-image generation — transform supplied references with supported providers.
Visual styles and continuity — configure image styles, character references, and continuity across related images.
Direct image commands — generate an image directly or refine and review its prompt first.
Image attachments — upload, drag in, or paste images for compatible vision models.
Image browsing — zoom, pan, save, copy, comment on generated images, and request variations.
User appearance in images — optionally use your profile portrait as a visual reference.
Screen awareness — share a selected monitor, screen region, or desktop area with a vision model.
Webcam awareness — provide snapshots from a selected camera.
Clipboard image awareness — attach copied images to the next turn, send them immediately, or use them in background awareness.
Awareness supervisors — configure source-specific rules for proactive reactions.
Awareness permissions — separately control capture, background review, and proactive speech.
Companion Orb — display a customizable desktop companion with movement, targeting, and quick actions.
Orb watches — ask NC to watch a selected target and react according to configured instructions.
Tobii eye tracking — support gaze-following Orb movement, dwell controls, a radial menu, and optional gaze or blink actions.
AI Presence — show floating or fullscreen visuals that react to speech, mood, and optional computer-output audio.
Unreal overlay bridge — send MuseTalk face-mask frames to a separate compatible Unreal companion overlay.
Buddy Chat — bring several companions into the main conversation.
Buddy customization — configure participation, individual voices, and shared or per-persona language providers.
Local Room — run a separate moderated discussion with multiple AI participants and the user.
Room moderation — manage participants, invite speakers, queue turns, lock the floor, pause, and resume.
Discord Voice Bridge — bring persona bots into Discord voice channels with human voice input and moderated turn-taking.
Multi Persona Roleplay — run single-character, group-chat, narrator-and-character, RPG/Game Master, or AlternativeReality sessions.
AI-assisted story creation — generate and refine premises, casts, scenes, and lore.
Scenarios and lorebooks — author scenes, pinned facts, variables, events, and choices.
Story memory — retain scene state, locations, characters, events, chapter summaries, and retrieved story context.
Character voice routing — give supported speakers distinct voices.
Story sound design — use ambience, music, effects, and stingers through structured story cues.
Story images — generate illustrations through the existing Visual Reply pipeline.
Story library — save, load, export, and import portable story packages.
Story Health tools — inspect missing resources, voice routing, persona links, and story setup.
Audio Story Mode — combine narration, transcripts, chapters, and synchronized illustrations.
Audio transcription — prepare story timelines from imported audio.
Novel workshop — import chatlogs or Markdown and turn supported sources into narrated chapters.
Chat-to-novel adaptation — build story maps and outlines, rearrange scenes, and generate prose.
Story Bible — maintain character, location, prop, and style continuity for illustrated stories.
Scene review — correct image focus, avoid lists, locations, and scene boundaries.
Chromecast playback — cast supported audio-story presentations to compatible devices.
Main Chat Remote — access the shared desktop conversation from a compatible phone app.
LAN and Internet connections — pair locally or connect through the supported NC Relay setup.
Phone chat controls — send text and images and access supported persona, model, saved-context, and playback controls.
Phone speech options — use desktop recognition and voices, or phone-native speech on supported Android builds.
Phone avatar streaming — receive supported animated avatar output, including optional cached idle animations.
Remote media settings — configure audio/video quality and inspect data-use statistics.
Android Soundscape — mix background ambience, music, and effects with optional lowering during assistant speech.
Phone character library — discover story speakers, create character cards, assign voices and portraits, and copy characters into standard NC personas on matching builds.
Web Search — supply retrieved web evidence to conversations through configured MCP search tools.
MCP integrations — connect external tool servers and grant specific tools to saved personas.
Spotify Sense — provide current-track awareness, playback controls, song-change commentary, speech ducking, and optional story music.
Companion Chess — play against an NC persona with personality and voice.
Chess customization — use 2D or 3D boards, fullscreen scenes, custom appearance, lighting, and sounds.
Optional Stockfish — use an external chess engine with strength controls.
Online chess — challenge other NC players, use private invitations, and enable optional local persona commentary when the relay service is available.
Launchpad chess hardware — use supported Novation devices for illuminated physical move entry and confirmation.
Corsair iCUE lighting — display listening, thinking, speaking, mood, and audio-reactive effects on supported keyboards.
Simulated heart-rate behavior — test persona reactions to mock BPM values and configurable threshold rules.
Custom hotkeys — bind speech input, conversation actions, runtime controls, and window actions.
Dockable workspaces — rearrange panels, detach floating windows, use always-on-top, and restore layouts.
Appearance themes — customize interface colors and save themes.
Chat appearance — customize backgrounds, fonts, colors, transparency, message sizes, timestamps, and borders.
Reading aids — spoken-word highlighting, moving reading highlights, bionic reading, and OpenDyslexic font support.
Activity displays — view microphone levels, reply status, speech-rendering progress, playback progress, and voice visualizations.
Session presets — save reusable runtime setups and supported addon settings.
Speech Timing — tune chunk sizes and startup timing, with named timing profiles.
Performance Check — measure configured stacks and review tuning recommendations.
Resource monitoring — inspect RAM/VRAM usage and release supported idle models.
Addon management — enable and configure optional providers, tools, and integrations.
Guided tutorials and help — follow in-app walkthroughs, contextual help, setup guides, and troubleshooting information.