Grok Bot is xAI's always-on AI agent platform that gives each bot its own persistent cloud computer, lets it sign into your tools like a person would, and keeps working even when your laptop is closed. Launched in public beta on August 11, 2026, it turns the conversational AI model Grok 4.6 into a team of specialized agents you manage through a messaging-style app.
The biggest shift from a normal chatbot is architectural: every bot runs on a shared cloud virtual machine with a browser, filesystem, and terminal. That VM stays alive 24/7, so a bot can be given a job, go idle while an approval is pending, and pick the work back up exactly where it left off. You describe outcomes in plain language, and the bot figures out which apps to check, which websites to navigate, and which steps to follow.
This guide walks through the full setup from download to your first scheduled routine, with every fact verified against xAI's official documentation and independent sources as of August 2026.
Last verified: 2026-08-20
- Grok Bot is in public beta; expect rough edges.
- Pricing and features are volatile. Re-check before subscribing.
- Requires an eligible paid plan ($200/mo minimum).
What is Grok Bot and how is it different from Grok the chatbot?
Grok Bot is not a smarter reply in a chat window. It is a fleet of named AI agents, each with a specific job, running on a cloud computer that persists independently of your device. xAI frames it as "AI teammates you can give real work to" (xAI, Aug 11 2026).
The core differences from a standard chatbot:
- Persistent cloud computer: Each user account gets one shared VM with a browser, filesystem, and terminal. All bots on the account share that computer, so they can hand off files, browser sessions, and app logins to each other (AITools Review, Aug 12 2026).
- Own credentials, own logins: Bots sign into your existing tools (Gmail, Slack, Google Calendar) using your own account via OAuth, rather than requiring a separate API integration for each app (xAI Docs).
- Multi-bot coordination: Bots can message each other autonomously. A chief of staff bot can delegate to a research bot, which hands results to a content bot, all visible to you in a shared thread (x.ai/bot).
- Learning by demonstration: You can record yourself performing a task on the bot's browser, and it turns that recording into a reusable skill it can repeat on its own (xAI Docs: Skills and routines).
The product began as an internal prototype at xAI that, according to the company, "took off across the company" for sales outreach, marketing campaigns, new hire onboarding, and bug fixes before it was released publicly (xAI, Aug 11 2026).
For a broader comparison of how Grok Bot stacks up against another always-on agent platform, see our Grok Bot vs Hermes Agent comparison.
How much does Grok Bot cost and who can use it?
Grok Bot is bundled into existing xAI and Cursor subscriptions. There is no standalone plan. The three eligible tiers as of August 2026 are:
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Cursor Ultra | $200/month | Grok Bot included, weekly usage allowance |
| Cursor Teams Premium | $120/seat/month | Grok Bot included, SSO, shared analytics, team marketplace |
| SuperGrok Heavy | $300/month | Grok Bot included, weekly usage allowance |
Sources: AI Pricing Guru, Aug 16 2026; eesel.ai, Aug 12 2026; MindStudio, Aug 15 2026.
The weekly usage allowance size is not published. When the included allowance runs out, on-demand usage is "billed from model and token cost" with no spend cap, according to xAI's own documentation (eesel.ai, Aug 12 2026). There is no model picker, meaning you cannot steer work to a cheaper model when the bill climbs.
A free trial exists for individual accounts, and Cursor Teams Standard seats ($40/seat/month) can use the trial or on-demand usage, but the trial length is not published (eesel.ai, Aug 12 2026). The "Get started for free" button on the pricing page links to a desktop download rather than a signup flow with clear trial terms.
For a detailed assessment of whether that $200/month is worth it, read our Grok Bot review.
What platforms is Grok Bot available on?
Grok Bot is available on desktop (macOS and Windows) and iOS as of August 2026.
- macOS: Apple silicon and Intel downloads available from the Grok Bot access page (xAI Docs: Get started, Aug 11 2026).
- Windows: x64 and Arm64 installer downloads available.
- iOS: Available on the App Store, with full feature parity to desktop.
- Android: Not yet available. xAI lists it as "coming soon" without a firm date.
Everything syncs between desktop and mobile. A routine set up on your laptop is visible and controllable from your phone, and vice versa. The phone version does everything the desktop does, including viewing the bot's cloud computer screen and taking over browser controls when a login is needed (Geeky Gadgets, Aug 13 2026).
How to set up Grok Bot in 6 steps
Step 1: Check plan eligibility
You need one of: SuperGrok Heavy ($300/mo), Cursor Ultra ($200/mo), or Cursor Teams Premium ($120/seat/mo). If you are already on Cursor Ultra or SuperGrok Heavy, Grok Bot is included at no extra charge. Some SuperGrok Heavy subscribers reported entitlement issues on launch day, which appears to be beta rollout friction rather than a pricing change (eesel.ai, Aug 12 2026).
Step 2: Download and install the desktop app
Go to the Grok Bot access page and choose the download for your computer.
macOS:
- Choose Apple silicon or Intel.
- Open the disk image.
- Drag Grok Bot to Applications.
- Open it. If macOS asks for confirmation, choose Open.
Windows:
- Choose x64 or Arm64.
- Run the installer.
- Open Grok Bot from the Start menu.
Also grab the iOS app from the App Store so everything stays synced. Both the desktop and phone versions can control the same bots and view the same cloud computer (xAI Docs: Get started, Aug 11 2026).
Step 3: Sign in
Choose "Get started" on the welcome screen. Grok Bot uses your Cursor account. If your organization requires SSO, complete the normal organization sign-in flow. Finish authentication in the browser window that opens, then return to the app.
On first use, Grok Bot introduces you to three concepts: bots, the shared computer, and routines. It asks which tools you use (Gmail, Calendar, Slack, etc.). These answers shape the first teammate suggestions. They do not connect or modify those tools by themselves (xAI Docs: Get started, Aug 11 2026).
Step 4: Create your first bot
The most important mental shift: think in roles, not tasks. Do not build a bot to write one email. Build an inbox bot that owns your inbox. Do not build a bot to make one piece of content. Build a content bot that owns your content. One bot, one job, done well.
xAI's own documentation shows the pattern: separate bots for sales outbound, talent scout, expense manager, each with a narrow job (x.ai/bot). Cramming ten jobs into one mega-bot causes routines to pile up and quality to drop.
Choose a suggested teammate from "Meet a future teammate" or pick "Create your own" and give the bot:
- A short name (e.g., "Piper")
- One primary job (e.g., "Product performance")
- A description of how it should work
The description matters more than you might expect. It works like a job listing that other bots can read. When any bot in your account hits a task outside its lane, it scans the descriptions of your other agents, finds the right specialist, and messages them directly. Write descriptions the way you would write a one-line job ad (MindStudio, Aug 12 2026).
xAI's docs give this example:
Name: Piper
Job: Product performance
Description: Investigate product-performance questions using our observability tools. Preserve links and screenshots, separate evidence from hypotheses, and return a short summary with the highest-impact issue first. Never change production settings.
Step 5: Connect plugins
Go to Settings and then Plugins to browse the connector marketplace. The built-in connectors as of August 2026 include:
| Connector | What it connects |
|---|---|
| Gmail | Read, draft, send, organize email |
| Google Calendar | Search events, create events, RSVP, check availability |
| Google Drive | Browse and read Docs, Sheets, Slides |
| Slack | Read and post messages, trigger on new messages |
| GitHub | Events, repositories, code |
| Notion | Notes and databases |
| Salesforce | Explore CRM objects, query and update records |
| Microsoft Outlook | Mail and calendar |
| Microsoft Teams | Messages, channels, chats |
| SharePoint | Document libraries |
| OneDrive | Personal cloud storage |
Sources: xAI Docs: Connectors; Beginners in AI, May 2026.
Connecting a plugin is a one-click OAuth flow: click connect, sign in to the service, authorize access. Once authorized, the connection is shared across your entire fleet of bots. Every bot you create afterward can use that same Gmail or Slack connection without re-authenticating. This matters if you are connecting a personal knowledge base, because every new agent inherits that context instead of starting from zero (MindStudio, Aug 12 2026).
When there is no official connector for a site, the bot uses its own browser and logs in like a person would. It pulls up the login screen, hands you the controls with a "takeover" button, and you type in the password yourself directly into the site. The bot never sees your password in plain text. The session stays logged in on the bot's cloud computer, and from then on it can work inside that site whenever you ask it to (Geeky Gadgets, Aug 13 2026).
For services not in the built-in list, you can also connect through Zapier MCP (accessing up to 9,000 apps) or Firecrawl (for web access and competitor monitoring).
Step 6: Give it a first task
A strong first request includes five things, per xAI's own guidance:
- Outcome: What should be finished?
- Sources: Which apps, websites, files, or conversations matter?
- Constraints: What must the bot avoid or ask before doing?
- Deliverable: What should it return?
- Review point: When should it stop for you?
For example: "Every weekday morning at 7 AM, look at my calendar and my email and send me a short plan for the day. List meetings, flag emails that need replies, and tell me where my day is overloaded and what to move."
When you type this, the bot creates a routine: a saved, scheduled job with its own step-by-step instructions that runs on the cloud computer whether your devices are on or not. You can open and edit those instructions anytime. You wake up, open the app, and your day is already laid out (MindStudio, Aug 12 2026).
How do Grok Bot routines and triggers work?
Routines are where Grok Bot stops being a chat app and starts being an operations layer. A routine is a saved job with instructions that fires in two ways:
Schedule-based routines
You describe the schedule in plain conversation. Examples:
- "Every weekday at 7 AM, plan my day from calendar and email."
- "Every Monday at 8 AM, reconcile what we shipped last week."
- "Every day at 8 AM, scan competitor sites and load five content ideas into my board."
The bot creates the routine and writes its own step-by-step instructions. Half the time, you do not even need to ask explicitly. You mention you want something done weekly, and the bot quietly creates the routine itself. You can review and edit the instructions at any time.
Trigger-based routines
Triggers fire when an event happens, not when a clock says so. Current trigger types as of August 2026 include:
- A new Slack message in a watched channel
- A GitHub event (push, PR, issue)
- A Microsoft Teams message
When a trigger fires, the bot wakes up, does its job, and returns to standby. Background routines run even when your laptop is closed, because they execute on the cloud VM, not your device (xAI Docs: Skills and routines, Aug 11 2026).
Setting up a Slack trigger is a useful first example: connect Slack from the plugin panel, select the channel the bot should watch, set "new Slack message" as the trigger, teach the bot what to do when a message arrives, then send a test message to verify the cycle of trigger, activation, response, and standby works.
How do Grok Bot skills work?
A skill is a saved, repeatable way of doing something. Under the hood, it is a markdown file with instructions, the same concept as skills in Claude or other AI agent frameworks. Skills are shared across your bots. You can call them with a slash command (type / and the skill name in the composer).
There are three ways to create a skill:
Method 1: Ask the bot to save it
After completing a task successfully, tell the bot: "Save the process we just used as a skill called 'Weekly account health.'" The bot writes the skill file, capturing steps, decision rules, expected output, and safety boundaries. A useful skill states when to use it, required inputs, the sequence of work, how to validate the result, what to return, and what requires approval (xAI Docs: Skills and routines, Aug 11 2026).
Method 2: Upload skill files
You can hand a zip of skill files to a fresh agent and it installs them. This means skills you have saved in Claude or other agent frameworks can be exported and imported. Ask your Claude agent for the skill's markdown file, then paste that directly into Grok Bot. Teams can share entire playbooks this way.
Method 3: Teach a task by screen recording
This is the most distinctive method. Open a one-to-one bot conversation and its computer view, then choose "Teach a task." Describe the result you are about to demonstrate, perform the workflow once in the bot's browser (log into a dashboard, pull a report, post an update), and hit stop. The bot studies the recording and turns your clicks into a skill it can repeat on its own forever.
Key constraints from xAI's documentation:
- Teaching records visible computer interaction for up to 10 minutes.
- It does not record microphone audio.
- Avoid exposing secrets during the demonstration. Use the secure handoff flow for credentials.
- The learned skill is a draft. You should add decision rules, failure handling, and approval boundaries that may not be obvious from one example.
- Teach-by-demonstration may be enabled gradually across accounts. If the control is not visible, ask the bot to create a skill from written instructions instead.
(xAI Docs: Skills and routines, Aug 11 2026)
Agents can also improve their own skills. After running a skill, a bot can review its own output, flag ambiguities it noticed, and adjust the skill instructions to fix them without being asked. The more you run skills and routines, the more context and history the bot accumulates. Week four will work better than week one.
How do you make bots message each other?
You can open one chat with two, three, or five bots in it at once and they work the task together. But it goes further than that: bots can message each other on their own without you asking, and you can read every message.
Practical example: open a new chat, add your chief of staff, content bot, and research bot. Say: "Look for content ideas. Check my calendar and inbox and tell me what to prioritize this week." The research bot checks what is current, the content bot pitches from what exists in your knowledge base, and the chief of staff organizes the priorities.
Your chief of staff can also grow the team. Tell it: "Create a new agent for image generation." It sets up the new agent, and that agent appears in your sidebar. You can then talk to it directly or keep routing work through the chief of staff. This means you only need to talk to one agent, and it delegates to the rest (MindStudio, Aug 12 2026).
For more on the broader pattern of building AI agent teams that work together, see our guide on how to use AI agent teammates that actually finish your work and our deep dive on how to orchestrate a team of AI agents for your business.
What are the best use cases to build first?
Start small. Here are five builds in order from simplest to most complete, designed to be rewatched when you sit down with the app:
Morning briefing system (10 minutes): One bot, two connections (Gmail + Calendar). Set a 7 AM weekday routine that reads your email and calendar and sends a daily plan. This is your training-wheels build. It teaches you the routine pattern with zero risk because the bot only reads, never sends.
Inbox-to-board pipeline: One bot, two connections (Gmail + a project tool like ClickUp). Every morning, read your inbox, extract real tasks, and add them to a to-do list with due dates and priority levels. Your inbox stops being a to-do list you are scared of; tasks land on a board your whole team sees, sorted by urgency, before you have had coffee.
SEO content engine: One bot, an SEO skill, and a website connector (like Netlify). The bot drafts content using the skill, then posts it to your site and triggers a deploy. Slot it into a schedule: "Every day at 9 AM, look through my notes and post one blog targeting trending keywords I have not already covered."
Meeting-to-action system: Connect Google Drive, and the bot reads your recent meeting notes, identifies what was committed to, and adds those items to your to-do agent. This turns meetings from talk into tracked work.
Competitor monitoring: A research bot that scans competitor sites daily (via Firecrawl or its own browser) and loads five ideas into your content board. Runs in the background on a schedule.
The recommended cadence is one new agent per week. That is 50 new automations per year, with enough iteration time to find which ones are useful and delete the ones that are not. If you are wondering where to start, look at what you spend the most time on day-to-day and build from there.
What are Grok Bot's limitations?
Being early means accepting real constraints. Here is what is verified as of August 2026:
- Usage limits are real. Plans include a weekly usage allowance whose size is not published. Heavy users have hit their limits quickly. Some reported getting less than a day out of the free trial. Running many agents in parallel burns through the allowance fast (eesel.ai, Aug 12 2026).
- No model picker. You cannot choose which AI model handles each task. Grok Bot's managed router decides behind the scenes. For most people this is a relief (one less decision); for technical users who want to steer work to a cheaper model, it is a limitation (eesel.ai, Aug 12 2026).
- No spend cap. On-demand overage is billed from model and token cost with no cap yet. $200/month is the entry fee, not necessarily the invoice (eesel.ai, Aug 12 2026).
- No live voice mode. You can dictate messages with your voice, but there is no conversational voice mode that speaks back (MindStudio, Aug 15 2026).
- No Android app. iOS and desktop only.
- It is a beta. It launched August 11, 2026. Expect rough edges and occasional breakage.
- Limited trigger library. Triggers currently cover Slack messages, GitHub events, and Teams messages. More are expected but not yet shipped.
- No independent benchmark. All performance and reliability claims trace back to xAI's own launch materials rather than third-party testing (AITools Review, Aug 12 2026).
For an open-source alternative that avoids the subscription cost entirely, see our guide to OpenMausBot, the free open-source GrokBot alternative.
What this means for you
If you are already on Cursor Ultra or SuperGrok Heavy, Grok Bot costs nothing extra to try, and you should. Start with one bot, one routine, one connection. The morning briefing build takes 10 minutes and teaches the full pattern with zero risk.
If you are not already on those plans, the $200/month entry fee plus an uncapped usage meter means you should pilot carefully. Give a bot a genuinely low-stakes workflow first, watch the usage percentage, and only then decide whether to expand.
The way Grok Bot works (describe outcomes, not steps; think in roles, not tasks; let agents talk to each other) is the direction every agent tool is heading. The skills you build here transfer to whatever comes next, whether you stay on Grok Bot or move to an open-source alternative.
FAQ
Q: Is Grok Bot free to use?
A: No. Grok Bot requires an eligible paid plan: Cursor Ultra at $200/month, Cursor Teams Premium at $120/seat/month, or SuperGrok Heavy at $300/month. A free trial exists for individual accounts, but the trial length is not published.
Q: What model powers Grok Bot?
A: Grok Bot runs on Grok 4.6, xAI's latest model, priced at $2 per million input tokens and $6 per million output tokens at the API level. Inside Grok Bot, you do not pick the model. The managed router decides which model handles each task.
Q: Can Grok Bot work while my computer is off?
A: Yes. Each bot operates on a persistent cloud computer, not your local machine. Routines execute on the cloud VM and continue running even when your laptop or phone is closed. You can check results later from any synced device.
Q: Do I need to know how to code to use Grok Bot?
A: No. Grok Bot is built for people who do not want to see code, choose models, or review reasoning traces. You interact through naming agents, giving plain-language instructions, and connecting plugins via one-click OAuth.
Q: Can one Grok Bot agent talk to another?
A: Yes. Agents can message each other autonomously based on their descriptions. When a bot hits a task outside its lane, it scans the descriptions of other bots in your fleet and routes the request to whichever one matches. A chief of staff bot can also create and delegate to new bots.
Q: What is the difference between a skill and a routine?
A: A skill is a reusable set of instructions for how to do a task. A routine tells a bot when to run that task, either on a schedule (every weekday at 7 AM) or in response to a trigger (a new Slack message). You build a skill first, then automate it with a routine.
Q: How does "teach a task" work?
A: You record yourself performing a workflow in the bot's browser for up to 10 minutes. The bot converts that recording into a reusable skill. It does not record audio. Avoid exposing secrets during the recording, and use the secure handoff flow for credentials. The learned skill is a draft that you should add decision rules and failure handling to.
Sources
- xAI. "Introducing Grok Bot." August 11, 2026. https://x.ai/news/introducing-grok-bot
- xAI Docs. "Get started with Grok Bot." August 11, 2026. https://docs.x.ai/grok-bot/get-started
- xAI Docs. "Skills and routines." August 11, 2026. https://docs.x.ai/grok-bot/skills-routines-and-automations
- xAI. "Grok Bot: A new kind of colleague." https://x.ai/bot
- xAI Docs. "Connectors." https://docs.x.ai/grok/connectors
- AI Pricing Guru. "Grok Bot Pricing: Plans, Limits & API Costs (2026)." August 16, 2026. https://www.aipricing.guru/news/xai-grok-bot-launch-pricing-impact-august-2026
- eesel.ai. "Grok Bot pricing 2026: the $200 plan and the uncapped meter." August 12, 2026. https://www.eesel.ai/blog/grok-bot-pricing
- MindStudio. "What Is Grokbot? xAI's New Agentic Assistant Explained." August 15, 2026. https://www.mindstudio.ai/blog/grokbot-xai-agent-app
- MindStudio. "How to Set Up Grok Bot and Build Your First AI Agents." August 12, 2026. https://www.mindstudio.ai/blog/grok-bot-setup-guide
- AI Tools Review. "Grok Bot: xAI's Always-On AI Agents, Explained." August 12, 2026. https://aitoolsreview.co.uk/insights/grok-bot-agent-launch
- Geeky Gadgets. "New Grok Bot Deploys a Custom AI Agent Fleet in 20 Minutes or Less." August 13, 2026. https://www.geeky-gadgets.com/grokbot-build-ai-agents/
- Beginners in AI. "Grok Just Added Connectors: What It Means for Gmail, Notion." May 2026. https://beginnersinai.org/grok-connectors-launch-2026/
Updates & Corrections
- 2026-08-20 - Initial publication. All facts verified against xAI official documentation and independent sources as of August 2026. Pricing, platform availability, and feature set flagged as volatile (beta product).
Researched and drafted with AI agents; reviewed and fact-checked under human editorial oversight. How we work.
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