Facts checked September 29, 2026
Edition: English
AgentDots
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Set-up · about 10 minutes

How to set up Dots in ChatGPT: a step-by-step guide

Making a Dot takes about ten minutes, and deciding what it may do without asking deserves far more thought than choosing its colour.

Step by step

  1. Open Dots on a computer

    Log in to ChatGPT through a browser or the desktop app, then find Dots in the sidebar, or start a Dot from inside Codex. Your first Dot must be created there; after that it is available on mobile as well.

  2. Choose a name and appearance

    Give your main Dot a name, then choose its colour, eyes and accessories. Everything can be changed later, so do not linger over it.

  3. Connect apps sparingly

    Pick apps from the plugin directory singly rather than in a batch. Where the app permits, let email and calendar be read but not written for now, and do not connect banking or admin tools yet.

  4. Write Custom Rules

    Open the rules panel and sort actions into those the Dot may take alone, those that need your approval and those it must never attempt. Narrow, concrete rules hold up better than sweeping ones, and the Dot checks them automatically before anything that touches your accounts or shares information.

  5. Give it a first task that only reads

    Ask for a morning summary of important emails and the day's meetings. Watch its progress in the Activity View, and hold back permission to send until you like what you see.

The first week

Spend the first week watching rather than delegating. Check the Activity View daily, and press Take over when your Dot stalls on a website instead of typing long explanations. Its proactive research only reads, and whatever it proposes still waits for your approval, so judge those suggestions before widening access. Teams that talk in Slack or Microsoft Teams can add the Dots integration there. Personal-plan users who want the Dot's work kept out of training should disable Improve the model for everyone, which sits in data controls.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Handing over bank or admin access straight away, before you have watched the Dot at work.
  • Treating the Dot as unmetered: chatting is, but jobs it launches in Codex or ChatGPT Work come out of your normal allowance.
  • Starting setup on a phone, where the first Dot cannot be created.