Dots: always-on personal agents

Give your dot one ongoing responsibility with clear sources, review points, and an end date. You will start with a website launch checklist and learn how to review delegated work, change priorities, and stop follow-ups.

Before you start

• Dots must be enabled for your account. Eligible personal Pro users must be over 18 and outside the EEA, United Kingdom, and Switzerland. Business Premium is rolling out worldwide; Enterprise is rolling out worldwide and requires an administrator to enable dots.
• The current ChatGPT mobile app, desktop app, or a desktop browser. Mobile web is not supported.
• A short launch checklist with real deadlines, a named time zone, and a clear definition of which updates should reach you.
• Only the source material and app connections needed for that checklist. A local project also requires a computer connected separately to your dot and kept online with ChatGPT open.

Want to do it yourself?

Difficulty

6 out of 10

Estimated completion time

45–90 minutes for the first tested task

Skills you’ll need: Configure an agent’s scope and access, test a bounded request, and review its output before giving it recurring work.

I’ll do it myselfI’d rather get help

How this helps your brand

A source-backed launch checklist can keep owners, dates, and blockers visible around your website work. Defined update rules help you notice decisions that matter without confusing an agent’s progress with verified completion.

1. 1

   Step 1: Create your dot on a supported device

   Open dots in ChatGPT and follow the introduction. Give your dot a name and choose its appearance, or keep the defaults. You can skip app connections during setup and add them later.

   You can continue with the same dot across supported devices. If dots is missing, check account eligibility, workspace permissions, rollout, and the mobile app version before planning work around it.

2. 2

   Step 2: Give it one responsibility and its source material

   Start with a bounded job such as keeping a launch checklist current until Friday. Paste the checklist, dates, owners, and links to approved sources. Explain the outcome: identify blockers, keep the list current, and draft next actions for review.

   Your dot has a cloud computer and can work between conversations. It can delegate tasks to ChatGPT Work or Codex. Local coding needs a connected personal computer; cloud coding that needs a particular repository can use a Codex cloud environment you have already prepared.

   Illustrated exampleA bounded job with evidence for each change

   One responsibilityKeep the website launch checklist current

   Until Friday, 23 October · America/Toronto

   Launch item / ownerEvidence / next action

   Contact form · MayaDue Thu 22 Oct

   Ready

   Test submission received in the supplied test log.

   Launch copy · SamDue Fri 23 Oct

   Decision needed

   Checklist says “approval pending”. Ask you which draft to use.

   Sources: pasted checklist + supplied form test log.
   Missing approval stays unknown.

3. 3

   Step 3: Connect only the tools the job needs

   Connect the supported plugins needed to read the source material, and check the connected account and permissions. A messaging channel, an app connection, and access to your computer serve different purposes; one does not automatically grant the others.

   For the first run, the pasted checklist may be enough. If you later add a connected source, name what your dot should read there. Connecting a service alone does not create a monitoring task.

4. 4

   Step 4: Set update rules and a finish line

   Tell your dot which changes deserve an interruption, where to send updates, and when the responsibility should end. For example, keep routine notes in ChatGPT and notify you when a launch item is blocked or a decision is needed.

   If you need a fixed check-in, include its local time, time zone, and end date. Ask your dot to confirm the saved schedule. It can also decide when to follow up during ongoing work; that is different from a specific recurring schedule.

   State which actions need your review. Asking for draft customer replies does not authorize sending them. Built-in safeguards and connected app permissions still apply.

   Illustrated exampleDecide what deserves your attention

   A checklist item changes

   Routine progress

   Form test passed.Keep a note in ChatGPT.

   Blocker or decision

   Copy approval is missing.Notify you in ChatGPT.

   Action needs review

   A customer reply is drafted.Show the draft; wait for review.

   Example fixed check-in09:00 · America/Toronto

   Daily from 19–23 October 2026. Confirm the saved schedule and end date.

   Ends
   23 Oct

5. 5

   Step 5: Review the first result and correct it

   Ask for the current checklist, the evidence behind each change, and the next decision it needs from you. Correct a concrete detail, such as a launch date that moved from Thursday to Friday, and ask it to restate the revised plan.

   In the desktop app, open the dot’s profile and select Activity to inspect delegated tasks. Open Scheduled to check saved recurring work. Review actual outputs and reported errors even when a task says it completed.

6. 6

   Step 6: Resolve blocked access and stop finished work

   If a source cannot be read, ask which source and account are unavailable. Reconnect an expired plugin when requested, provide an accessible copy, or narrow the task. If local work is blocked, check that the connected computer is online with ChatGPT open.

   When the launch is done, ask your dot to stop this responsibility and cancel its recurring tasks. Verify Scheduled separately. Pause stops the dot’s current main task; stop delegated tasks in Activity as well. Stopping work does not undo actions already completed.

   Illustrated exampleFinish the work and its follow-ups

   Launch completeClose the responsibility in three places

   1. 1
      Main responsibility

      Ask your dot to stop maintaining the launch checklist.

      Pause stops the current main task.
   2. 2
      Scheduled

      Cancel recurring launch check-ins and verify the saved schedule.

   3. 3
      Activity

      Inspect delegated tasks and stop any launch work still running.

   Stopping work does not undo completed actions.

Help me keep this website launch checklist current until [end date and time zone].

Website and goal: [project and launch outcome]
Checklist: [items, owners, dates, and current status]
Sources to use: [paste material or name connected sources]

First, identify blockers, upcoming decisions, and missing information. Show me the checklist and evidence for proposed changes before expanding the work. Draft next actions for my review. Do not contact other people, publish, merge, or deploy.

Keep routine progress in ChatGPT. Notify me there only when a deadline is at risk, something fails, or you need my decision. For a fixed check-in, use [time and time zone] on [days] until [end date]. Confirm what you saved, which sources you can access, and how I can stop the work.