Your dot can help you keep work moving as plans change. Start as you would with a new assistant: explain the job, share the right information, and talk through what good work looks like. As you review its work together, turn what you learn into clearer guidance for next time.
Dots, ChatGPT Work, and scheduled tasks
Your dot is one personal agent you can keep working with as your plans change. You reach the same dot in ChatGPT, Slack, or Teams, and through texting where available. Switching channels does not create a new dot or reset its memory; messages stay in their respective conversations. If you already use ChatGPT Work or scheduled tasks, here’s how a dot fits alongside them.
| Use | When to use it |
|---|---|
| ChatGPT Work | You have a task with a clear result, such as researching a question, comparing options, or creating a file. You can review its progress and give further instructions. |
| Scheduled tasks | You want work to run at a set time or repeat on a schedule, such as preparing a brief every Monday. Where supported, tasks can also run from an app event. |
| Your dot | You want help keeping track of a responsibility, such as preparing for upcoming meetings and following up on open questions. Your dot can decide when to check back, follow up as things change, and ask when it needs your input. |
You can use them together. Scheduled tasks can run work you’ve delegated to ChatGPT Work, and your dot can delegate tasks to ChatGPT Work or set up scheduled checks. You can keep talking to your dot as priorities change.
Working together over time gives you chances to make expectations clearer. Explain why a draft helped, which detail was wrong, or why an update needed your attention. Your dot uses relevant ChatGPT memory and can save notes about preferences and decisions. Ask it to summarize guidance you want to reuse, review that summary, and check a later result to see whether it applied it.
Saved notes are not a complete conversation history. Repeat essential requirements and link to the current document. If you need a decision from an earlier ChatGPT conversation, ask your dot to find it and confirm the details.
Give your dot an orientation
Start with one job, such as checking a project plan or following up on unanswered questions. Explain how you like to work, when to ask you, what steps matter, and which sources to use. You can work out the details together as you go. Adapt the example prompts below to your own work.
Tell your dot about your work
Explain what you do, what needs your attention, and how you like to receive updates. Details that feel obvious to you may need an explanation. You can edit and copy these prompts into your dot’s conversation.
Tell your dot what you are responsible for and what is due next. If you are unsure where to start, have it ask you questions.
Share the plan, task list, and recent discussion. Explain what each source is for, which one is current, and what to do if they disagree.
Share a brief or draft you liked. Explain why its structure, length, or level of detail helped, so your dot knows what to carry into new work.
Other details to include
- Explain who is involved, who owes the next action, and who can approve a decision.
- Include deadlines, budget limits, the intended audience, and any required approvals.
- Point out decisions already made, why they were made, and work that is finished.
Give it an ongoing responsibility
A responsibility is an ongoing assignment, such as keeping a project plan up to date. A task is a specific piece of that work with a clear end, such as checking today’s updates and drafting a summary.
Use an example below to start with one task. Then agree on when your dot should repeat it or follow up, which sources to use, and when the responsibility ends. Explain what to do if information is missing.
Choose a job for your dot
Track changes to a plan
Ask your dot to check for changes that affect a deadline or an agreed plan. Share the plan and the threads where updates happen. Say which dates and requirements to watch, how often to check, and when this responsibility ends.
What you should get
What to check
Prepare for a meeting
Have your dot read the background before a meeting and draft a brief. Share the agenda, previous notes, and current proposal. Say what you need to decide and when you need the brief.
What you should get
What to check
Follow up on open questions
Have your dot check for replies and draft follow-ups. Share the task list or thread. Explain what answer or completed action would close each item, and when to follow up.
What you should get
What to check
Find conflicting information
Ask your dot to compare related documents and point out disagreements. Share the documents and say which one to follow if they disagree. Explain any exceptions that have already been approved.
What you should get
What to check
Draft upcoming work
Ask your dot to prepare a draft before you need to start writing. Share the task, deadline, audience, and an example to follow. Say when you need a draft to review.
What you should get
What to check
Explain when to act and when to ask
Give your dot permission to take specific actions as part of its responsibility. Name what it can do, where it can act, and who can receive an update without asking you each time. Be equally clear about decisions and actions that still need your approval.
These instructions authorize the actions you describe; they do not grant access to an app or override workspace permissions, required confirmations, or built-in safeguards.
How instructions and permissions workConnecting an app does not set up a recurring check. Tell your dot what to check and when. If you want it to respond to an event, such as a new message, ask it to confirm whether the connected service supports that.
Check the first result
Ask your dot to start now. Use the first result to check both the work and whether your instructions gave it enough context.
Open the result and compare it with the sources and your expectations. If it missed the mark, check whether a source was missing, an instruction was unclear, or it made a mistake. Correct the issue, then confirm what happens next.
When you want a regular check-in
Your dot can decide when to follow up on assigned work. If you need a check at a fixed time, give the time, time zone, frequency, and end date. Say what to check, where to put the result, and when to message you. Ask it to confirm the saved schedule. You can review it in Scheduled.
Set up a recurring taskGive feedback as you go
Give feedback while the work is fresh. Explain what helped or missed the mark, why it matters, and what to do differently. Decide which lessons should apply next time.
Choose feedback to give your dot
Ask for a recommendation
Ask for the detail you need for a particular decision. Say when a request is an exception to your usual preferences.
Reduce unnecessary updates
Explain which updates help you act and which ones add noise. Give a specific expectation for future work.
Correct a mistaken detail
Correct the current work, then explain how to handle the same situation next time.
Explain what worked
Point out what helped and why. Ask your dot to put the approach into words you can review and reuse.
Say whether your feedback applies just this time or to future work. Review how your dot summarizes the change, correct anything it misunderstood, and ask it to remember the guidance you want to keep. Check a later result to see whether it helped.
Review what your dot prepares
Open the sources and the actual draft or file. Check whether the result is useful and whether your dot followed the expectations you discussed.
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Check the facts.
Compare dates, decisions, and quoted details with the linked sources. Ask which instructions and sources informed a recommendation. Check it against your deadline, budget, and other requirements. Resolve conflicting guidance and look for assumptions presented as facts.
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Check the result.
Open the draft, file, or page it created. Does it give you what you need for the next step? If you requested a change in another app, check it there. Confirm whether a message was drafted or sent, and whether a request was submitted or approved.
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Check what is still running.
In the desktop app, open Activity in your dot’s profile to review delegated tasks and requests for input. Check the output even when a run is marked complete.
Keep your dot up to date
As you find an approach that works, ask your dot to draft a short note with the steps, sources, and decisions that need your input. Review it together before using it as ongoing guidance. You can keep it in a document or Page that you and your dot can read. When something changes, update that guidance and ask your dot to read the current version. Check active tasks and saved schedules separately when plans change or a project ends. Stopping a task does not cancel future scheduled runs.
When it isn’t helping
When a result misses the mark, point to the part that needs to change and explain what would make it useful. Ask your dot to revise that part, then check the result together. If the feedback should apply beyond this task, say when to reuse it. The situations below can help you decide what to clarify, what to check, and when to get help.
You have not heard back
Ask for the last completed step and what is still unresolved. Open the task to check for a decision, approval, or connection request. If it keeps retrying the same step, ask it to explain the blocker and suggest another approach. For a missed recurring check, review the saved schedule and notification instructions; an acknowledgment alone does not confirm a schedule was saved.
The suggestions do not fit your work
Restate the decision you need to make and the constraints that matter. Point to the current source, especially if an older plan or a similar project could be causing confusion. Ask your dot to distinguish confirmed information from assumptions and revise the recommendation against those requirements.
The draft needs too much editing
Name the audience, purpose, and format. Share a short example you like and explain what to carry over, such as its level of detail or how it opens. Ask for a revision of one section first so you can check the approach before it rewrites the whole document.
It keeps missing a preference you already explained
Point to the earlier instruction and a result that did follow it. Ask your dot to summarize the preference and when it applies, then check that summary for conflicts or overgeneralization. Repeat essential requirements in the current task. A promise to remember is not enough; check whether the next result follows the guidance.
Updates are noisy or hard to act on
Explain what deserves your attention and what can wait. Ask your dot to name the project, explain what changed, and state what input it needs from you. If you want routine updates at a set time, ask for a schedule and verify it was saved. Review existing schedules separately to avoid duplicate updates.
It takes on more than you asked for
Restate the specific change you want and what should stay as it is. Ask your dot to separate optional suggestions from the task and carry those limits into any work it delegates. Review the actual file or draft afterward to check that the change stayed within scope.
It keeps asking whether to continue
Clarify which actions you are authorizing for this task and which still need a decision. Ask what specific permission or missing information is holding up the next step. Keep the scope concrete: drafting, sending, and changing access are different actions. Required approvals and built-in safeguards still apply.
It cannot open a document or app
Ask which source it could not open and what error it encountered. Check the plugin connection, connected account, and your access to that source. Complete any sign-in or connection request before asking it to continue. If the source is still unavailable, decide whether to provide the relevant information yourself or finish that step manually.
If the same problem continues after you clarify the request and check the setup, it may need troubleshooting or a product fix. Keep the original request, the result, and any error message when reporting it. You should not have to keep rewriting the same instruction. For help, see the setup and troubleshooting guide.
Keep learning
Working with agents
Learn how to choose work, give a clear brief, and review an agent’s results.
Meet dots
Explore what dots can do and how they fit with ChatGPT Work and Codex.
Get started with your dot
Set up your dot, connect tools, and have your first conversation.
Tasks and memory
Understand ongoing work, recurring tasks, and the context your dot uses.
Control your dot
Review progress, manage permissions, and stop work.