How to Use Grok Bot: From Install to a Routine You Trust

To use Grok Bot, install the app from x.ai/bot, sign in with the account that holds your plan, rename the Bot that setup creates and give it one job. Then hand it one small task you can verify, and only after that connect apps, set approvals and schedule a routine. The order matters more than any single setting: trust is built task by task.

At a glance#

Steps follow the official docs as checked in October 2026; the briefs are our templates, not a logged test run.

Before you install: two checks#

1. Confirm your plan qualifies. New customers since October 12, 2026 need The X Subscription Premium ($30 a month), Super or Ultra, or a team seat. Free and Plus do not include Grok Bot. Older routes still work: any paid individual Cursor plan, Cursor Teams, a linked SuperGrok, SuperGrok Plus, SuperGrok Heavy or X Premium+ subscription, or an assigned self-serve Grok Business seat. Our pricing guide compares them.

2. Check your data setting. Grok Bot needs cloud data storage. Accounts on Legacy Privacy Mode must move to a supported Cursor data setting first. On a team, an administrator makes that change.

Step 1: Install and sign in#

The desktop app covers macOS (Apple silicon and Intel), Windows and Linux (x64 and Arm64). If you are unsure which build fits your machine, our download guide shows how to check.

1. Download the build from x.ai/bot. On a Mac, drag Grok Bot into Applications. On Windows, run the installer.
2. Open the app, choose Sign in, and complete authentication in the browser window that opens. Finish single sign-on if your company uses it.
3. Return to the app once the browser confirms.
4. SuperGrok or X Premium+ users: make sure you are in the Cursor account that should keep access, because the link is permanent. Then choose Link Grok Account. X Premium+ links through the same button by signing in to Grok with that X account.
5. Grok Business seat holders: there is nothing to buy or link. Sign out, sign back in, and pick Sign in with Grok with the account that holds the seat.
6. Click through the short introduction. Its questions about your tools shape suggestions only; they connect nothing.

There is no separate Grok Bot login. Per the X Subscription docs, sign-in uses the shared xAI path and does not merge your X, Grok or Cursor accounts or change your plan.

Step 2: Turn the default Bot into a specialist#

Setup creates your first Bot, named Grok Bot, and opens a chat with it (changelog 0.51.0, September 14). The docs.x.ai getting-started page, updated October 9, still describes picking a suggested teammate or creating your own. Go with whatever your app shows.

Click the Bot's name at the top of the chat to rename it or add a job label. Then use your first message to define the role, and ask it to remember. Put the role in chat: Cursor staff said on October 5 and 9 that the redesigned desktop details pane no longer shows a Bot's instructions, and no desktop editor exists yet.

Your name is Ledger. Your one job: turn meeting notes and documents I share into action registers.

Sources: only files I attach in this chat.

Ask me before: contacting anyone, creating tasks in other apps, or deleting files.

Output: a table, then a one-line count of items found.

Remember this as your standing role.

Add more Bots from New chat (+) → Create new Bot when work splits into distinct roles. Every Bot shares the same computer and logins, so a new Bot is a new role, not a security wall; see our shared-computer guide.

Step 3: Run a task you can grade#

Pick a task with a clear answer that changes nothing outside the chat. The docs say a strong request names the outcome, sources, constraints, deliverable and a review point.

Attach a document you already understand. Since 0.71.2 (October 14), a message can carry 20 attachments with a 200 MB total, files up to 250 MB and videos up to 1 GB; the docs' Files and results page still lists older, lower limits.

From the attached [file name, version], build an action register.

Columns: action | named owner | explicit deadline | quoted source line | confidence.

Include only commitments the document states. Write "unspecified" for missing owners or dates; never guess.

After the table, list statements that need a human decision.

Do not edit the file, message anyone or create tasks elsewhere.

End with the commitment count and anything you could not read.

Grade it on one routine commitment, one ambiguous line and one undated commitment. If the Bot invented a date, correct it and restate the rule. For deeper brief-writing, see our workflow brief guide.

Step 4: Connect apps only when a task needs them#

Services with a plugin (Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack, Notion and others): open Connect Apps from the sidebar (on the phone, tap your avatar) or follow a Connect card in chat. It was called Marketplace before 0.67.0 (October 2). Add the plugin, then finish the provider's sign-in in your browser. "Added" means installed, not authorized, so check both. Type @ in the composer to attach a connector to a task. Our plugins and MCP guide goes further.

Sites without a plugin: when the Bot asks, open Agent Computer from the conversation, take over, sign in yourself and hand control back. That browser session then stays on the shared computer for every Bot.

Saved credentials: since 0.75.5 (October 23), on 0.75.2 or later, Settings → Vault stores logins, cards and contact info on desktop or phone. Cursor's help says the Bot fills them without seeing the saved password, card number or security code, that Vault is available to every Bot on your account, and that it is not supported on Shared Bots.

Never paste passwords or codes into the chat. After an October 5 report of a Secure Form password showing in a page snapshot, with no fix confirmed by October 11, typing passwords on the computer screen yourself is the safer habit.

Step 5: Put brakes on before anything can change#

When an action needs sign-off, an approval card appears: Allow once, Always allow (can save a rule) or Deny. Use Allow once while you learn a workflow.

With Auto Review on, tool calls and computer actions are checked before they run. In Settings → General → Auto-review, Ask first rules always stop matching actions, and they beat an Allow automatically rule if both match. Running commands on your own computer is a separate setting that defaults to Ask every time.

Two 0.75.5 changes matter here. A send you request in chat now goes out once Auto-review allows it, while sends from routines and other turns still wait as drafts. And after you deny a card, the Bot will not retry that action until you send a new message.

Approval checklist#

• Ask first rules cover sending, purchases, deletions and publishing.
• An Ask first rule on sending exists if you want to review every outbound message.
• Execution on Local Computer is Ask every time or Never allow.
• Nothing signed into the shared computer would worry you if any Bot used it.

Our permissions guide turns this into a full worksheet.

Step 6: Skill first, routine second#

When a task reliably produces the right result, ask the Bot to save it as a skill: when to use it, inputs and access, steps, how to check the output, what to return, and what needs approval. Skills form one library shared by all your Bots; type / to call one. Where Teach a task is available, you can record up to ten minutes of your own browser work instead.

Then ask the owning Bot for a routine with a schedule, time zone, input, expected result and a rule for missing sources.

Weekdays at 8:00 AM [time zone], run the [skill name] skill on [source].

Post a short result here with source links.

Do not send, edit or delete anything outside this chat.

If the source is missing, empty or unchanged since the last run, say so in one line and do not reuse an old result.

Know the rules before relying on it:

• A test run does real work. Use safe inputs.
• A new routine waits for its next scheduled time; it does not fire on creation.
• Approvals requested by a routine, trigger or another Bot expire after about 30 minutes and the action does not run, per the docs and Cursor's help as of October 29. Turn on notifications.
• Limits: 300 runs an hour across routines (raised from 100 in 0.75.5) and 200 for any one routine. Exceeding either fails with "Automation run rate limit exceeded."
• Cursor warns that hourly schedules, short intervals or a Slack trigger on a busy channel can burn a week of usage in a day.

See skills vs routines for when each fits.

Step 7: Read the meter early#

Usage is weekly and measured in agent steps and tokens, not messages. Settings → Usage & Billing shows it and, since 0.63.0, when it resets. On older plans, work stops at zero unless on-demand is on, and the on-demand monthly limit does not halt a run in progress. On The X Subscription, the weekly pool is shared with your Grok and Cursor use, extra use comes from prepaid top-ups, and you track it at grok.com/dashboard. Our usage limits guide explains why it drains.

Our take#

The fastest way to get value from Grok Bot is to slow down for the first hour. Name one Bot, give it one gradable task, and lock in Ask first rules before any connector can send or spend. Once a skill passes three clean runs, schedule it, and watch the usage meter for the first week.

Frequently asked questions#

Do I need to keep my computer on for Grok Bot to work?#

No. Your Bots work on a persistent cloud computer. The official FAQ says closing the app, your laptop or your phone does not stop a background turn or a scheduled routine. The desktop and mobile apps are only clients that connect to that cloud machine, so you can check results later from any device.

Why does my account already have a Bot called Grok Bot?#

Setup creates it. Cursor's onboarding help says Grok Bot sets up your first Bot, named Grok Bot, and opens a chat with it, and the 0.51.0 changelog (September 14) says setup now creates your first Bot for you. Click its name at the top of the chat to rename it, or add another from New chat (+) and Create new Bot.

Can I set up Grok Bot on my phone?#

Yes, on iPhone, iPad and Android with the same account. From the phone you can message and create Bots, install plugins and approve drafts. Editing a routine's schedule or instructions and running a test run still need the desktop app, so plan to do routine work at a computer.

What should my first Grok Bot task be?#

Something small with an answer you can verify that touches nothing outside the chat. The official docs suggest attaching a document and asking for a five-bullet summary listing every date, decision and open question with a citation. Use a document you already know well so you can judge the result quickly.

Which plan do I need to start using Grok Bot?#

New customers need The X Subscription Premium ($30 a month), Super or Ultra, or a team seat; Free and Plus do not include it. Existing paid Cursor plans, Cursor Teams, a linked SuperGrok, SuperGrok Plus, SuperGrok Heavy or X Premium+ subscription, and assigned self-serve Grok Business seats also work.