ChatGPT dots: who gets one, how to set it up, and the settings to check first

This is the setup from the reel. One thing first, so you know what you're reading: I'm on ChatGPT Go, which doesn't get dots, so I haven't used one. Everything below comes from OpenAI's own launch post and its two help pages on dots, read on 30 September 2026. Links are at the bottom.

What a dot is

A normal ChatGPT chat waits for you to type. A dot keeps going. It runs on its own computer in OpenAI's cloud, with its own browser, and it can connect to over 4,000 apps through plugins. You can message or call it in ChatGPT (desktop, web and the phone app), and message it in Slack or Teams.

When you're not talking to it, it reads the apps you've connected and looks for ways to help. OpenAI calls that "proactive research", and in that mode it can't send messages, change anything in your apps, or control a browser. Anything it actually does goes through its approval rules first.

The example in OpenAI's post: an early tester forgot to invoice a publication. His dot noticed, prepared the invoice, and sent it after he approved it.

Do you get one?

• ChatGPT Pro: yes, except in the EU (EEA), Switzerland and the UK. Pro plans start at $100 a month (US price).
• Business Premium: yes, in every region ChatGPT supports.
• Enterprise, Edu and Healthcare: a beta, off until your workspace admin turns it on.
• Free, Go and Plus: not yet. OpenAI says it plans to "expand dots to more users soon".
• Under 18: no.

Your first dot is included in Pro or Business Premium at no extra cost. It's rolling out gradually, so it can take several days to show up on an account that qualifies.

Setting up your first one

1. Use a laptop or desktop. You create a dot in the ChatGPT desktop app (Windows too) or in ChatGPT in a desktop browser, at chatgpt.com/dots. You can't create one on your phone, and the phone's browser isn't supported at all.
2. Follow the onboarding and give it a name. Its handle starts as @yourname-dot and changes to your name plus whatever you call it.
3. Connect only the apps you mean to. Plugins are shared with the rest of ChatGPT, so anything you've already connected there is available to your dot too. Check the Plugins tab before you start.
4. Then use it from your phone. After setup you can talk to it in the ChatGPT mobile app, once mobile access is available on your account.

Three things to set before you connect your email

Custom rules. On the phone it's Customize → Custom rules. For each kind of action you pick one of four: take action without asking, take action if pre-approved, ask before taking action, or hand off to you. OpenAI's own example rule is "never send emails". And OpenAI says the most sensitive actions, like changing a password or transferring money, hand back to you to finish yourself.

What you connect stays learned. Disconnecting an app stops new access, but it does not delete what your dot already picked up from it. You can't look at or delete single dot memories either. The only way to wipe them is to delete the dot. So connect the inbox you'd be fine with it remembering.

Training. On personal plans, the "Improve the model for everyone" setting decides whether your dot's conversations and work can be used to train OpenAI's models. Turn it off in ChatGPT's settings if you don't want that. OpenAI says people may still review activity in limited safety cases even with it off.

First jobs to hand it

OpenAI's help page suggests starting with a recurring check. These are written the way their examples are; I haven't run them myself.

Every morning at 8, look at my calendar and tell me what's coming up today, and anything that clashes.

Every Friday at 5 pm, check my email for work I finished this week that I haven't sent an invoice for. List them. Don't send anything without asking me first.

The second one is the invoice example from OpenAI's post, with a rule written into it. You'll find the scheduled ones under Scheduled in your dot's profile, where you can review them and change their schedule.

If you're on Free, Go or Plus

You don't get a dot yet, and I don't either. Most of the boring jobs people will hand a dot (the invoice you forgot, the morning calendar check, the group chat you stopped reading) can already be done in pieces with the ChatGPT you have, just not while your phone is off.

Where the longer version lives

The Rabbit Hole is the community where I hand one boring job at a time to the AI on the phone you already own, and post the ones that worked and the ones that didn't. Ask there and I answer in the open, so the next person with your question finds it. New members get a 7-day free trial, then it's $5 a month for every course in the library; Premium ($99 a month) adds weekly office hours. skool.com/the-rabbit-hole-3206

Sources

• OpenAI, Introducing dots, 29 September 2026
• OpenAI Help Center, Getting started with your dot
• OpenAI Help Center, Dots privacy, security, and safety FAQs
• Pro pricing: iGeeksBlog on the dots launch ($100, $200 and $500 Pro plans)