How to Use ChatGPT Dots as a Business Owner

What are ChatGPT dots, in plain words?

A dot is OpenAI’s always-on agent, and it holds a job after you leave the chat. OpenAI launched dots on September 29, 2026. Your dot has its own cloud computer and browser, so work continues while your phone and laptop are off. It tracks progress and decides what comes next. It comes back to you for the decisions that need your judgment.

You message it in ChatGPT, in Slack or in Microsoft Teams. It can also hand tasks to ChatGPT Work and Codex and manage them.

What do dots cost, and how do you get one?

Your first dot comes with ChatGPT Pro or Business Premium at no extra cost, and those plans carry the price.

Plan	Price	Dots access	As of
Pro	$100, $200 or $500 a month	First dot included. Age 18+, outside the EEA, UK and Switzerland	November 6, 2026
Business Premium seat	$125 a seat monthly or $100 a seat billed yearly	First dot included, in supported regions and eligible workspaces. Two paid seats minimum	November 6, 2026
Enterprise, Edu, Healthcare	Flat rates or scaled use, for eligible workspaces	Admin preview to November 18, then on by default unless the workspace opts out. Billing starts November 18	November 6, 2026
Other ChatGPT plans	See OpenAI’s pricing page	Not on OpenAI’s list	November 6, 2026
A second dot	Not published	Announced for the future	November 6, 2026

For Pro and Business Premium, talking to your dot does not count against ChatGPT limits. Tasks it runs in Work or Codex do count. OpenAI’s plan allowance for deeper work has no published size as of November 6, 2026.

What are the five best jobs to give a dot first?

Start with open quotes and work down to the morning brief, ranked by money first and hours second. A dot fits work that stays open for days.

1. Quote follow-up. Open quotes need someone to keep score, and a dot holds that job.

You own open quotes. Search my connected email and files for every quote we sent in the last 30 days. Keep a list with customer, amount, date sent, last reply and next step. Every weekday at 8:00 AM Eastern for the next 30 days, update the list and message me with any quote over 7 days quiet, largest first. Draft a follow-up for each one. Do not send anything. Confirm the schedule you saved.

2. Aging receivables. This is cash you already earned.

Read my open invoices from the accounting app I connected. Group them by customer into 1-30, 31-60, 61-90 and 90+ days past due. Show which accounts moved into an older bucket this week. Draft one follow-up for each of the ten largest balances and include the source for each number. Do not send anything or change any record.

3. Quiet customers. A customer who stops ordering does not call to tell you.

Compare each customer's orders in the last 90 days with their prior 90 days. List the customers who slowed down or stopped, ranked by dollars lost. Show the last order date, usual order size and my last contact. Suggest one next step for each. Do not contact anyone or edit any record.

4. The Friday report. It takes someone hours, and by Friday it is already stale.

Every Friday at 2:00 PM Eastern for the next 8 weeks, build my weekly report from my connected sources: sales, cash collected, open quotes, late orders and the three things that need me. Compare each number with last week. Mark any number you could not source. Send it to me only. Confirm the schedule you saved.

5. The morning brief. You stop chasing five people for one picture.

Every weekday at 7:00 AM Eastern for the next 30 days, tell me what changed overnight in my connected email, calendar and Slack channels. Return only late orders, large payments, big quotes and complaints. Give a source and the decision I owe for each item. Notify me only if something qualifies. Do not reply to anyone.

A dot sees only what it can reach. Point it at 40 scattered tabs and it gives the wrong answer faster. Data first, then AI. That is what the Business Brain fixes first, and this guide shows how the wrong answers happen.

How do you set up a dot in 20 minutes?

You set it up in six steps inside ChatGPT on your phone or computer.

1. Open dots and follow the introduction. Mobile web does not work.
2. Name your dot. Keep the default look and move on.
3. Connect one plugin, such as email. Review its allowed actions as you connect it, and choose read where the plugin offers it.
4. Skip the computer connection. It starts off, and your dot has its own cloud computer.
5. Add your custom rules from the next section.
6. Paste prompt one. Ask the dot to confirm what it saved, then check the first run yourself.

To reach it from Slack, open the dot’s profile and choose Add. Adding it to a channel does not start any watching, so tell it which channels and events to watch. A messaging channel also gives it no access to your inbox.

What rules do you set before a dot touches the business?

Start read-only, then let it propose and act only after the work holds up. OpenAI’s own example is a dot that reads email and cannot send it. Set that first in the plugin’s allowed actions and in the connected account’s own permissions, since those are your hard limit. Then add custom rules under Settings > Personalization > Custom rules.

Custom rule setting	Use it for
Take action without asking	Reading, comparing, building lists, private notes
Take action when you say so	Replies you already drafted together
Ask before taking action	Posting to a shared channel, updating a record
Hand off to you	Moving money, emailing a customer, changing a price, deleting records

Those four in the last row are what a dot never does alone. Paste this as well:

Standing rules. Remember these. You may read, compare and draft. Ask me before you post or update anything. Never move money, email a customer, change a price or delete a record. If a number has no source, say so and stop.

Your rollout rule: one job and one app on read-only for one full week of checked runs. Add the next job only after that.

Where do dots break?

Dots break on rules, stopping and cost you cannot see yet.

1. OpenAI says custom rules can be ignored or mistaken. Treat account permissions as the real wall.
2. Pause stops the main task only. Delegated tasks and future scheduled runs keep going until you stop them too.
3. Delete and stop leave finished work in place. Sent messages stay sent.
4. A finished run does not prove a right result. Read the sources on anything that matters.
5. Disconnecting an app leaves what the dot already learned. Clearing the dot’s own memories means deleting the dot.
6. Teams access and the US Pro text beta are both limited as of November 6, 2026.
7. OpenAI publishes no approval timeout and no price for more dots as of November 6, 2026.

Should you use a ChatGPT dot?

Use one if your team already works in ChatGPT and Slack, and you want open work chased without a daily reminder. Skip it if you want a known bill past the first dot, and see our side-by-side or the Grok Bot course.