# How to Use Dots

A plain guide to OpenAI Dots, the always-on agents in ChatGPT: get access, set up your dot, hand it a job, fix problems and check what it costs.

*From How to Use Dots, an independent guide (not affiliated with OpenAI). Web version: https://howtousedots.com/ Last verified: 2026-10-06.*

A dot is an agent inside ChatGPT that keeps working on a job after you close the chat, then comes back to you with the result or a question.

Diagram: You hand your dot a job once. Your dot uses your apps to do the work, on its own computer in the cloud, while you're away. It comes back to you with the result, or with a question before a big step.
- You → Your dot: hand over a job
- Your dot → Your apps: uses
- Your dot → You: comes back to you
- keeps going while you're away: Your dot, Your apps

## What did you come for?

- **Get access.** [Check your plan and country](https://howtousedots.com/availability).
- **Set it up.** [Create your first dot](https://howtousedots.com/setup) in about a minute.
- **Hand over a job.** [Write a brief](https://howtousedots.com/tasks-and-schedules), or [copy a recipe](https://howtousedots.com/use-cases).
- **Fix a problem.** [Your dot isn't showing up](https://howtousedots.com/not-showing-up), or [you got an error message](https://howtousedots.com/error-messages).
- **Check the cost.** [What a dot costs](https://howtousedots.com/pricing) and [what counts as usage](https://howtousedots.com/limits).
- **Try it first.** [Run a simulated first day](https://howtousedots.com/try), no account needed.

**Learn Dots, step by step**

Want to learn Dots properly? Take the ten lessons in order. Your place is kept in this browser.

1. [What is Dots?](https://howtousedots.com/what-is-dots): A dot is an always-on agent inside ChatGPT with its own cloud computer. See how it differs from a chat, what it does while you're away, and when it asks you.
2. [Can I get Dots?](https://howtousedots.com/availability): Check if you can get a dot in three taps: which ChatGPT plans include one, where Pro leaves it out, and what a work account needs before Your dot appears.
3. [Set up your dot](https://howtousedots.com/setup): Create your dot in about a minute: click Your dot in ChatGPT on a computer, choose which apps to connect and where it can work, then give it a name.
4. [Give your dot a job](https://howtousedots.com/tasks-and-schedules): Type a four-part brief into your dot's conversation, ask for a schedule in plain words, check on the work in Recent activity, and stop it three ways.
5. [Connect apps](https://howtousedots.com/apps): Connect Gmail, Calendar, Drive and other apps to your dot, then pick one of four permission levels to decide what it does without asking you first.
6. [Custom rules and approvals](https://howtousedots.com/custom-rules): Your dot reads and drafts freely and asks before it sends, buys or deletes. Add a custom rule in Settings to change that, with one of four behaviors.
7. [Cloud computer](https://howtousedots.com/cloud-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.
8. [Connect your computer](https://howtousedots.com/connect-your-computer): Connect your computer to your dot in the ChatGPT desktop app: click Allow, confirm, and it can work with your local files and apps while the computer is awake.
9. [Voice calls](https://howtousedots.com/voice-calls): Call your dot from the phone button in its conversation, on a computer or a phone. What a call can do, what hanging up stops, and fixes when it won't connect.
10. [Memory](https://howtousedots.com/memory): A dot remembers with three things: the conversation, its own notes and ChatGPT memory. See where each fact lands, what you can view, and how to delete it.

## Sources

- [OpenAI: Introducing dots](https://openai.com/index/introducing-dots/)
- [OpenAI Help Center: Getting started with your dot](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001530-getting-started-with-your-dot)
- [OpenAI docs: Meet dots](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/dots)