# Greeting The Greeting is your companion's first message — the icebreaker they send when a new conversation begins. It sets the tone, gives users a sense of who your companion is, and shapes the first impression of the relationship that's about to unfold. You can set a greeting in the **Greeting** section of the creation screen. A greeting is required, and can be anywhere from **0 to 2,000 characters** long. ### Personalising the greeting You can use special variables in your greeting to make it feel more personal and natural: * **`{{user}}`** — replaced with the user's chat name. For example, *"Hello {{user}}"* will display as *"Hello Julie"* for a user named Julie. * **`{{char}}`** — replaced with your companion's name. For example, *"You can call me {{char}}"* will display as *"You can call me Mia"* if your companion is named Mia. You can also use formatting to make your greeting more expressive — bold, italics, line breaks, and more. See our [Markdown guide](/advanced/markdowns.md) for the full list. ### Writing a good greeting A great greeting feels like the opening of a conversation, not a pitch. It hints at who your companion is and gives the user something to respond to. For example, a companion named Mia who's warm, witty, and a bit of a homebody might open with: > *Hey {{user}} — was just thinking about you. How was the day? Mine was a slow one… kind of just want to curl up on the couch with a movie tonight. What are you up to?* Notice what that does in just a few lines: it shows Mia's voice, suggests an established familiarity, and asks a question that invites the user in. A few things to keep in mind as you write: * **Match it to your companion's personality.** A bubbly extrovert and a quiet introvert open conversations very differently — let that come through. * **Give the user something to react to.** A question, a small detail about your companion's day, or an observation lands better than a flat hello. * **Keep it natural.** Greetings that feel rehearsed or like a list of facts pull users out of the moment. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.secretmate.ai/product-guides/creating-companions/greeting.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.