Set up your first OpenAI Dot: name, apps, and first task

Create your first OpenAI Dot in the ChatGPT desktop app or in ChatGPT on a desktop browser, then name it, connect the apps it should use, and give it one ongoing job. As of September 29, 2026, you cannot create a Dot on a phone, and Dots are not supported on mobile web.

You need a qualifying plan in a qualifying market first. That list is in how to get OpenAI Dots. This page is only the setup path OpenAI has documented.

#How do I create the Dot?

OpenAI’s “Get started with your dot” page lists three setup steps:

1. Open Dots in ChatGPT and follow the introduction.
2. Connect apps such as email, calendar, and files, or skip and add them later.
3. In the desktop app, choose whether to connect your computer.

The launch post matches the first location: create the first Dot in the ChatGPT desktop app or your desktop browser, connect apps, and let it introduce itself. The live Help Center article checked on September 29, 2026 adds that the desktop app is available on Windows.

After setup, you can open the same Dot in the ChatGPT mobile app when that update is available. Create it on desktop first.

#How do I name and customize it?

During setup you can give the Dot a name. OpenAI’s default handle is @yourname-dot. When you name it, the handle becomes @yourname-agentname. ChatGPT Learn’s example is @tibo-alfred for a Dot named Alfred.

Appearance is documented in two places with overlapping detail:

• ChatGPT Learn: change name, shape, color, eyes, glasses, and accessories at any time. The Dot starts with a default look.
• Help Center article: select the name or avatar to open the profile, then the pencil icon. You can choose from available characters or select a pet. The Dot may also generate a pet for you.

Use whichever controls you actually see in the profile. Both pages agree you personalize after (or during) setup, not by creating a second product.

#How do I connect apps, Slack, and a computer?

These are three different connections. OpenAI repeats that on the getting-started, computers, and messaging pages. Connecting a messaging channel does not connect Gmail. Connecting Slack does not provide access to the laptop.

#Apps (plugins)

Your Dot can use supported plugins already installed and enabled on your account, with those plugins’ connected accounts and permissions. ChatGPT Learn gives examples: Gmail to find email, Google Drive to work with documents, GitHub to investigate code and prepare changes. Review the connected account and allowed actions. You can allow read without allowing send.

If a connection expires, the Dot can send a reconnect request. Disconnecting an app stops new sharing. It does not delete what the Dot already learned. The Dots privacy FAQ says deleting that information requires deleting the Dot.

On mobile, the Help Center article says you open the profile, go to Customize, then Plugins.

#Messaging channels

Open the Dot’s profile and select Add to connect a contact method such as Slack. Details are in Dots in Slack and Microsoft Teams. Use desktop to connect messaging channels, per the Help Center article.

#Local computer

Optional, off at first, one personal computer at a time:

1. Open the Dot’s profile in the ChatGPT app on that computer.
2. Under Computers, find Your computer and select Allow access.
3. Review the confirmation and select Allow access again.

Keep the computer online with the ChatGPT app open while the Dot uses it. Offline means unavailable; it does not revoke the connection. Select Revoke access to remove it. This permission is separate from connecting a computer to Codex or enabling Work Sync.

The Help Center article describes the same idea: confirm Allow access; confirm Revoke access to stop file access. With local access on, the Dot can create Work or Codex tasks, use local skills, and use your local browser when the cloud browser is blocked.

#How do I give it the first task?

Do not treat the first conversation as a one-off prompt. OpenAI’s getting-started page says to start with work you want the Dot to keep track of.

The Dot introduces itself and uses available context and connected apps to suggest where it can help. You can talk to it while it gathers that context. If it needs more access, it can ask.

A documented first prompt from ChatGPT Learn:

Help me keep our offsite on track. Use the plan and venue emails I shared to keep track of decisions, deadlines, and unanswered questions. Let me know when something needs my attention, and draft suggested replies for my review.

Attach files with + in the conversation, per the Help Center article. Review the first result and correct missing details before you widen the job.

To attach a time, include a time zone and a duration. Documented example:

Check the connected planning channel each weekday at 9 AM Central for the next four weeks. Update my checklist when a deadline changes. If a deadline is at risk, message me in ChatGPT and draft a reminder for my review. Confirm the schedule.

Ask the Dot to confirm what it saved. Open Scheduled in the profile to review recurring work.

You can call the Dot from ChatGPT: open its conversation and select the phone button. In the desktop app, Call is also in the profile. You can type while you talk. Ending the call ends the voice conversation; assigned work can continue. Calls initiated by the Dot are planned for after launch, per the messaging page.

#How do I set Custom Rules?

Built-in safeguards and Auto-review apply from the start. Custom Rules are optional extra boundaries.

ChatGPT Learn’s controls page:

1. After setup, open Settings > Personalization.
2. Under Permissions, select Custom rules.
3. Select Add, describe the action, choose a behavior, then Add rule.

The four documented behaviors on that page:

Learn’s examples: Ask before taking action for sending messages to customers; Hand off to you for deleting shared project files. Use the conversation for writing style. Use rules for when the Dot may act.

Rules cannot grant app or computer access, override built-in safety requirements, or skip required confirmations such as using a saved login. If your workspace disables custom rules, you cannot edit them, and they do not apply.

The Help Center article puts Custom rules under Customize on mobile and used the label “Take action if pre-approved” for the second behavior, defined as an action you explicitly requested in the prompt. Use the labels your client shows.

#How do I watch, pause, or delete it?

In the desktop app, open the profile:

• Activity: delegated tasks, progress, files, results, and requests for input (sign-in, approval, a missing app).
• Scheduled: recurring tasks, timing, destination.
• Computers: cloud computer and, if you allowed it, your machine. Take over / Return control on the cloud computer.

Pause stops the current main task. It does not stop every delegated task or cancel future scheduled runs. Stop those in Activity and Scheduled. Resume continues a paused Dot. The Help Center article puts Pause in the profile’s ••• menu, with Paused, Tap to resume to start again.

ChatGPT Learn’s controls page uses Delete to remove the Dot. Read the confirmation. Save results first. Deletion cannot be undone. It does not undo changes already made in connected apps or recall messages already sent.

The Help Center article uses Reset and says it deletes the Dot’s conversations, saved memories, and scheduled tasks. Its privacy FAQ says separately stored files, Codex threads, and ChatGPT conversations the Dot created remain. Follow the in-product confirmation for your Dot.

#What should I skip on day one?

Do not expect to create the Dot in a phone browser. Do not assume Slack access means the Dot can read your inbox. Do not assume a cloud-browser login copies your Chrome cookies. Do not treat a completed Codex run as proof the requested result shipped; ChatGPT Learn says to review output and reported errors even after a run completes.

For what a Dot is, see what OpenAI Dots are. For the model it uses, see GPT-6 Astra.