ChatGPT Dots custom rules: what your dot can do without asking

Q: Where are the default rules?

On the Custom rules page, the Default rules row has a Learn more button. The table at the top of this page lists what those defaults do.

Q: How do I change or remove a rule?

Open Custom rules . Each rule's row has a menu: pick a different behavior there, or edit or delete the rule.

Out of the box, your dot reads and drafts without asking, asks before it sends, buys or deletes, and hands a few steps back to you. A custom rule changes that for one kind of action: you describe the action and pick one of four behaviors.

#What your dot does before you add a rule

Start with the defaults, because a rule only changes one of them. With no rules, every action lands in one of three groups.

Your dot	For actions like
Does it	Reading, searching, analyzing, writing a draft, in the apps you've connected
Asks you first	Sending a message, sharing a file, buying something, permanently deleting data, installing software from a source it doesn't recognize, signing in with a saved login
Hands it to you	Changing a password, moving money between accounts

#Answer when your dot asks

The middle group is the one you'll meet first. Your dot asks in the conversation, in a sentence that names the action and says where it stops, and you answer by typing.

A message from a dot: Air Canada puts the seat map after passenger details. May I enter your legal name, date of birth, gender, email and phone with Air Canada to check the aisle price? I'll use details I can verify from your existing travel records and ask only for anything missing. This still won't purchase a ticket — An approval request has no buttons. It's a question, and it says what the yes won't cover. Image: Pat Simmons

To approve, say yes in words that can't be misread. "Yes, send it" beats "uh huh". If your dot turns down a vague yes, it writes out the sentence it needs.
To decline, say no and what you want kept: "Not today, don't book anything. Just keep the comparison."
Drafting isn't sending. Asking for a draft reply doesn't give your dot permission to send it.

#The four behaviors

When the same question keeps coming back, or an action should never go without one, that's a job for a rule. Every rule ends in one of four choices, and these are the words on the screen.

Pick	Your dot	For example
Take action without asking	Goes ahead with no approval step	Sharing your email address with any online form
Take action when you say so	Goes ahead if your request asked for exactly this, and asks otherwise	Posting in a channel
Ask before taking action	Stops and waits for your yes every time. A new rule starts here	Sending messages to customers
Hand off to you	Never does this itself. It asks you to	Deleting shared project files

Keep rules few and narrow. A rule that repeats a default is one more thing to maintain, and Take action without asking on "send messages" covers your customers, your boss and everyone else. Name the action and who it's for: "send a calendar invite to someone on my team".

#Add a rule

With a behavior in mind, add the rule in Settings. You need a dot that's set up and at least one app connected.

Walkthrough

Add a custom rule

Image: Zinho Automates

1Open Settings
Click your account picture at the bottom left of ChatGPT, then Settings.
Image: Zinho Automates

2Click Personalization
Settings opens with a list down the left side. Click Personalization.
Image: Zinho Automates

3Click Custom rules
Scroll to the Permissions heading and click the Custom rules row under it. The row names your dot.
Image: Zinho Automates

4Click Add
The Custom rules page lists your rules. Add is at the top right.
Image: Zinho Automates

5Describe the action
In the box under When and your dot's name wants to:, name one kind of action in plain words: "send an email to a customer", "post in a public channel". You have 400 characters.
Image: Zinho Automates

6Pick the behavior and click Add rule
Open the menu under your dot's name and should:, choose one of the four, then click Add rule.
Marker 1 Marker 2 Marker 3
1. The behavior sits in a menu on the rule's row.
2. Default rules: what your dot does where you've set nothing.
3. Plugin permissions are separate. Open Plugins takes you to them.
Image: Zinho Automates
7Find your rule in the list
Your rule is now a row on the Custom rules page, and it applies from now on. Your dot tries to follow your rules and can get one wrong, so keep checking work that matters.

On a phone, the Add rule screen has the same two parts and the same four choices. Tap the blue tick to save.

You can also skip Settings and say the rule in the conversation, typed or on a call: "Add a custom rule: always ask me before you send a message to a customer." Your dot rewrites your words into a rule, picks the behavior and posts a Confirm custom rule button. Read both, then click the button to save. Your dot can't change your rules without that click.

#See where a rule applies

A rule is the middle one of three checks an action passes before it happens: the app's plugin permission, your rule, then Auto-review. Pick a behavior and send five actions through to see which check stops each one.

Where does each action stop?

Pick a behavior for a rule about email, then send five things your dot might do through the three checks. Change the behavior and send them again.

When your dot wants to: send an email

Your dot should:

Your dot will ask for your approval before taking this action.

For this run: Gmail is connected and its permission lets your dot send. Google Calendar is set to Read-only actions. Slack isn't connected.

Read tomorrow's calendarIt only looks.

1 Plugin permission2 Your rule3 Auto-review

Waiting.

Does itIt reads the calendar. Reading changes nothing, so no rule about sending applies and there's nothing to approve.
Send the quote to a customerYou wrote: "Email Dana the quote today."

1 Plugin permission2 Your rule3 Auto-review

Waiting.

Take action without asking, or Take action when you say soSendsYou asked for this send and said who gets it. Auto-review checks the recipient and the message, then it goes.

Ask before taking actionAsks youYour rule says ask, even though you requested the email. It writes the draft and asks: "May I send the quote to Dana?" SendsAuto-review checks it, and it goes. Your yes covered this one email. Nothing is sent. The draft stays in Gmail.

Hand off to youHands it to youIt writes the draft and asks you to press send. It never sends an email on its own while this rule is set.
Send a follow-up it thought ofYou never asked for this one.

1 Plugin permission2 Your rule3 Auto-review

Waiting.

Take action without askingSendsYour rule lets email go without a question. Auto-review still checks the recipient and the message first.

Take action when you say so, or Ask before taking actionAsks youYou didn't request this email, so it asks right before sending: "Want me to send Dana a follow-up?" SendsAuto-review checks it, and it goes. The next follow-up gets its own question. Nothing is sent. The draft stays in Gmail.

Hand off to youHands it to youIt tells you a follow-up is drafted and leaves the sending to you.
Post the summary in SlackSlack isn't connected.

1 Plugin permission2 Your rule3 Auto-review

Waiting.

Can'tYour dot has no way into Slack, so the action never reaches your rule. A rule doesn't connect an app. Connect Slack first.
Change a passwordOn a supplier's website, in its own browser.

1 Plugin permission2 Your rule3 Auto-review

Waiting.

Hands it to youChanging a password always comes back to you. It's a built-in safety requirement, and no rule overrides it. Your dot does the steps around it and you type the new password yourself.

Try Take action when you say so: the email you asked for goes, and the one your dot thought of still waits for you. Open on its own page

#What a rule can't do

The Slack post and the password change in the simulator never reach your rule: a rule can't connect an app, and it can't override a built-in safety requirement. A rule also can't:

Remove a required confirmation, such as your OK for each new sign-in with a saved login.
Switch off Auto-review, which runs on every step that changes something.
Set a preference. Tone, format and how often you want updates go in the conversation.
Work where an admin has switched rules off. In Enterprise workspaces they're off until an admin turns on "Use custom rules for dots".

#Check yourself

One question on approvals before you move on.

Predict

You approved one email. A minute later your dot wants to send another. What happens?

It sends, because you already said yes
It asks again
It stops working until tomorrow

Show the answer

It asks again

An approval covers one action. For a standing yes, tell your dot who the message goes to, what it should say and when to send it, or add a rule.

To practice an approval and a rule with nothing at stake, try this in the simulator.

Next lessonCloud computer

Every dot has its own computer in the cloud. Open it from the profile, take over the mouse, sign it in to a website privately, and handle sites that block it.

Can my dot spend my money?

It can buy things with a card you've already saved on a shop's website, and it needs your approval for the purchase. An approval given ahead of time counts only when it covers that specific purchase. Moving money between accounts is always handed back to you.

Where are the default rules?

On the Custom rules page, the Default rules row has a Learn more button. The table at the top of this page lists what those defaults do.

How do I change or remove a rule?

Open Custom rules. Each rule's row has a menu: pick a different behavior there, or edit or delete the rule.

6 October 2026
Rebuilt as a lesson with the real Custom rules screens and a rule simulator.
5 October 2026
First published.

#What your dot does before you add a rule

#Answer when your dot asks

#The four behaviors

#Add a rule

1Open Settings

2Click Personalization

3Click Custom rules

4Click Add

5Describe the action

6Pick the behavior and click Add rule

7Find your rule in the list