# Your dot's cloud computer: watch it, take over, sign it in 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. *From How to Use Dots, an independent guide (not affiliated with OpenAI). Web version: https://howtousedots.com/cloud-computer Last verified: 2026-10-06.* *Step 7 of 10 on the path "Learn Dots, step by step". Before it: [Custom rules and approvals](https://howtousedots.com/custom-rules.md). After it: [Connect your computer](https://howtousedots.com/connect-your-computer.md).* Every dot has a computer of its own in the cloud, with its own browser, files and website logins. Your dot works there while your devices are off, and you can open it to watch or take the mouse. **In short** - It's always there. You don't set it up and you can't switch it off. - Its browser shares nothing with yours. Signed in on your laptop doesn't mean signed in on your dot's. - Opening it only lets you watch. Click **Take over** to drive, then **Return control**. - You sign your dot in to a site through a private form. Your password never goes in the chat. ## Three machines, three sets of logins Start with where the work happens. Three machines are involved, and each keeps its own logins. **Interactive: Which machine does the job?** Open it: https://howtousedots.com/widgets/three-machines.html What it does: Pick one of six jobs and see which machine does it (the dot's cloud computer, your own computer, or your phone as the way you ask), whose logins it uses, and what happens when you shut your laptop. Its content as text: ### Which machine does the job? Pick a job. The machine that does it lights up, and you'll see whose logins it uses and what happens when you shut your laptop. Diagram: Three machines in a row. Your phone sends messages and calls to your dot's cloud computer, which does the work. The cloud computer reaches your own computer only if you allow it. messagesand calls only if youallow it Your phone Your dot's cloudcomputer Your computer #### Compare prices on five hotel sites - **Runs on:** **Your dot's cloud computer.** It opens the sites in its own browser. - **Logins it uses:** None. Public pages need no account. - **Laptop shut?:** It keeps going. Nothing about this job touches your devices. #### Check an order on a shop where you have an account - **Runs on:** **Your dot's cloud computer.** - **Logins it uses:** Its own. Being signed in to the shop on your laptop doesn't count, because the two browsers share nothing. Your dot asks you to sign in once on its browser, then stays signed in until you sign out or the site ends the session. - **Laptop shut?:** It keeps going once it's signed in. #### Summarize this week's email - **Runs on:** **Your dot, in the cloud.** It reads your mail through the Gmail plugin, with no browser involved. - **Logins it uses:** The Google account you connected as a plugin. That's an app connection, separate from any machine's browser. - **Laptop shut?:** It keeps going. #### Rename the files in a folder on your laptop - **Runs on:** **Your computer.** Those files exist nowhere else, so your dot needs the machine they're on, and you have to allow it first. - **Logins it uses:** None of its own. It works with what's already on that computer. - **Laptop shut?:** The job waits. Your computer has to be on, awake and online with the ChatGPT app open. #### Use a site that blocks its browser - **Runs on:** **Your computer**, if you've allowed it. Ask your dot to try the site from there. - **Logins it uses:** The ones already in the browser on your computer. Nothing carries over from the cloud browser. - **Laptop shut?:** The job waits until your computer is back. #### Give you an update while you're out - **Runs on:** **Your phone is only how you ask.** You message or call, and the work stays on the cloud computer. - **Logins it uses:** Nothing on your phone is shared with your dot. - **Laptop shut?:** Makes no difference. You can even send a job to your computer at home from here, as long as that computer is on. Your dot's browser starts signed out of everything, whatever your own browser is signed in to. ## Open it, take over, hand back Now look at the cloud computer itself. You open it from your dot's profile. **Walkthrough: Watch your dot's computer and take the mouse** ### Step 1: Open your dot's profile and click its computer Click your dot's name or picture at the top of the conversation. Under **Computers**, click the row named after your dot. ![The dot's profile: Call and Slack buttons, then Computers with one row, Brendot's computer, Connected, and a small live picture of its screen](https://howtousedots.com/assets/shots/cloud-computer-open-from-profile.jpg) Image: Brendan Jowett (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dE_TdWjLaU) ### Step 2: Watch The computer opens beside your conversation: a real desktop with a browser, a terminal and a file manager. Under it, a line says who's driving. Watching changes nothing. ![The cloud computer open beside a conversation: a desktop inside a thick blue frame, a browser start page with a clock and app shortcuts, a dock with three icons, and under it the words Brendot has control and a Take over button](https://howtousedots.com/assets/shots/cloud-computer-view.jpg) 1. The computer is named after your dot. 2. Its dock: a browser, a terminal and a file manager. 3. Who's driving right now. Image: Brendan Jowett (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dE_TdWjLaU) ### Step 3: Click Take over Click **Take over**. There's no confirmation, and your mouse and keyboard now work inside your dot's screen. ![The Take over button under the cloud computer's screen](https://howtousedots.com/assets/shots/cloud-computer-view.jpg) Image: Brendan Jowett (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dE_TdWjLaU) ### Step 4: Do your part, then click Return control The bar reads **You have control**. When you're done, click **Return control** and your dot carries on from where you left the screen. ![The same computer a second later. The bar under the screen reads You have control, with a Return control button](https://howtousedots.com/assets/shots/cloud-computer-you-have-control.jpg) Image: Brendan Jowett (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dE_TdWjLaU) ## Where your password goes Sooner or later your dot reaches a site that needs a login. It never asks for the password in the chat. Step through what happens instead. Diagram: How a sign-in travels. Your dot hits a login page in its browser and asks you. You type the password into a private form, which sends it straight to the dot's browser. The browser comes back to your dot already signed in. The password never passes through your dot. 1. Your dot reaches a login page in its browser and stops. - Your dot → Its browser: login page 2. It asks you to sign in. - Your dot → You: asks you 3. You type your password into a private form. Your dot is paused while you do. - You → Private form: you type 4. The form sends it straight to the browser. It never passes through your dot. - Private form → Its browser: password 5. The site lets the browser in, and your dot carries on signed in. - Its browser → Your dot: signed in The form is the only protected route. A password typed into a message is readable by your dot like any other text, so keep it out of the chat. ## Sign in when your dot asks On screen, that exchange is two clicks and a form. **Walkthrough: Sign your dot in to a website** ### Step 1: Open the sign-in request Your dot says what it needs the site for and puts a sign-in row under its message. Click the row. ![A message from the dot: Sign in to your venue account so I can review the saved proposal, with a row under it reading Sign in to venues.example.com](https://howtousedots.com/assets/shots/cloud-computer-sign-in-form.jpg) Image: OpenAI (https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/dots) ### Step 2: Type your details and click Sign in Enter your email and password, plus any code the site sends you, and click **Sign in**. ![The sign-in form: Email address, Password, a Save to Passwords box, and buttons Take over to sign in, Not now and Sign in](https://howtousedots.com/assets/shots/cloud-computer-sign-in-form.jpg) 1. Save to Passwords keeps the login for next time. It's optional. 2. Take over to sign in opens the browser so you can log in on the site yourself. Image: OpenAI (https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/dots) ### Step 3: Check for the chip A chip in the conversation reads **Sign-in details entered**, and your dot tells you it's in. It stays signed in until you sign out or the site ends the session. ![A chip in a dot's conversation reads Sign-in details entered, with a tick](https://howtousedots.com/assets/shots/cloud-computer-sign-in-chip.jpg) Image: Peter Yang (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5X1eMU6isI) If you saved the login, the next sign-in on that site is a one-click question, **Use this saved account?** A saved login is never used without it. ## When a site blocks your dot's browser Signing in doesn't help with every site. Some refuse browsers that run in the cloud, and your dot tells you when it hits one. ![The cloud computer's browser showing www.amazon.com is blocked. This page has been blocked by Chromium. Under the screen the bar reads You have control](https://howtousedots.com/assets/shots/cloud-computer-blocked.jpg) 1. The page is refused before any login. 2. Taking over doesn't help. It's the same browser. Image: Pat Simmons (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fzbEP_sOjk) - Ask your dot to try the site from [your own computer](https://howtousedots.com/connect-your-computer). That's a different browser, with your logins in it. - For a CAPTCHA, your dot asks before it solves one. Answer yes or no in the chat. - Your dot won't build a way round a block, and it says so if you ask. ## Check yourself One question before you move on. **Predict: You're signed in to your bank on your laptop. You ask your dot to download last month's statement. What happens?** - It downloads the statement, because you're already signed in - It reaches the bank's login page and stops to ask you - It reads the password your browser saved Answer: It reaches the bank's login page and stops to ask you Your dot opens the bank in its own browser, where nobody has signed in yet. It asks you, and you sign it in through the private form. ## Next step Your dot's own computer covers most jobs. For the rest, give it yours. **Next:** [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. ### Does my dot keep working when my laptop is closed? Yes. Work on its cloud computer carries on while your devices are off. Only jobs that need your own computer wait for it. ### Should I keep files on the cloud computer? Treat it as your dot's workbench. Ask your dot to save anything you care about as a file in its **Outputs**, or to a connected app such as [Google Drive](https://howtousedots.com/google-drive), so you can reach it without opening the computer. ### What's installed on it? It's a Linux desktop with a browser, a terminal, a file manager and fifteen programs on its start page, including Blender, GIMP and Inkscape. Its working folder is `/workspace`. - 2026-10-06: Rebuilt around the real screens, with the three-machines chooser and the sign-in drawing. - 2026-10-05: First published. ## Sources - [OpenAI docs: Connect computers and apps to your dot](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/dots/computers-and-apps) - [OpenAI docs: Meet dots (the sign-in request and form)](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/dots) - [OpenAI: How we build safety, security, and privacy into dots (secure sign-in, the saved account prompt)](https://openai.com/index/how-we-build-safety-security-and-privacy-into-dots/) - [OpenAI Help Center: Dots privacy, security, and safety FAQs](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001529-dots-privacy-security-and-safety-faqs) - [OpenAI Help Center: Getting started with your dot](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001530-getting-started-with-your-dot) - [Brendan Jowett on YouTube: screenshots of the cloud computer and taking over](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dE_TdWjLaU) - [Pat Simmons on YouTube: screenshot of a site blocked in the cloud browser](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fzbEP_sOjk) - [Peter Yang on YouTube: screenshot of the Sign-in details entered chip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5X1eMU6isI)