# ChatGPT Dots glossary: every term explained

Every word you'll meet in ChatGPT Dots, from Recent activity and Monitoring to Auto-review and Take over, in one line each with a link to its lesson.

*From How to Use Dots, an independent guide (not affiliated with OpenAI). Web version: https://howtousedots.com/glossary Last verified: 2026-10-06.*

Every word here is one you'll meet in ChatGPT while using a dot, written the way the screen writes it. Each has one line and a link to the lesson that teaches it.

**Interactive: Find a Dots term**

Open it: https://howtousedots.com/widgets/glossary-finder.html

What it does: A finder for the glossary. Type a word or a label seen in ChatGPT, such as Monitoring, Take over or Sent by, and the list narrows to the matching terms; each links to its definition on this page. Terms: Dot, Your dot, Handle, GPT-6 Astra, Specialist dot, Profile, Status line, Recent activity, Outputs, Paused, Delete, Brief, Scheduled, Monitoring, Proactive research, Sent by, Approval request, Custom rules, The four behaviors, Default rules, Auto-review, Hand off, Plugin, Permission level, Cloud computer, Take over and Return control, Your computer, Space, Page, Pro 100, Pro 200 and Pro 500, Business Premium seat, Your dot is on a break, Preview limit.

Its content as text:

## Find a word you saw on screen

Type a label from ChatGPT, such as "Monitoring" or "Take over", or pick a term from the list.

- **Approval request**: Your dot asking before it acts
- **Auto-review**: The automatic check before an action
- **The four behaviors**: What a rule can tell your dot to do
- **Brief**: The message that hands over a job
- **Business Premium seat**: The Business seat with a dot
- **Cloud computer**: Your dot's own computer
- **Custom rules**: Your own rules for what needs a yes
- **Default rules**: What your dot does with no rules set
- **Delete**: Removes your dot for good
- **Dot**: An agent that keeps a job going
- **GPT-6 Astra**: The model a dot runs on
- **Hand off**: A step your dot leaves to you
- **Handle**: Your dot's name in Slack
- **Monitoring**: A job that waits for something to happen
- **Outputs**: Files your dot has made
- **Page**: A document your dot can edit
- **Paused**: A dot you've put on hold
- **Permission level**: How much an app allows without asking
- **Plugin**: How your dot uses an app
- **Preview limit**: A stop with a time to try again
- **Pro 100, Pro 200 and Pro 500**: The three Pro plans
- **Proactive research**: Reading your apps for ways to help
- **Profile**: The panel behind your dot's name
- **Recent activity**: The list of your dot's jobs
- **Scheduled**: The page that lists every schedule
- **Sent by**: The label on work your dot hands off
- **Space**: Where pages and files live
- **Specialist dot**: A dot with one job inside a company
- **Status line**: What your dot is doing now
- **Take over and Return control**: Using the cloud computer yourself
- **Your computer**: Letting your dot work on your machine
- **Your dot**: The sidebar entry
- **Your dot is on a break**: The message at the usage limit

## The basics

Start with what a dot is and where it sits.

![The top of the ChatGPT sidebar: New chat, then Your dot, then Projects](https://howtousedots.com/assets/shots/setup-sidebar-your-dot.jpg)

Image: Pat Simmons (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fzbEP_sOjk)

### Dot

An always-on agent inside ChatGPT that keeps a job going between your conversations, on its own computer in the cloud. You get one. [What is Dots?](https://howtousedots.com/what-is-dots)

### Your dot

Your dot's entry in the ChatGPT sidebar, right under **New chat**. It reads **Your dot** until you give your dot a name. [Set up your dot](https://howtousedots.com/setup)

### Handle

Your dot's name in Slack: your first name, a hyphen, then your dot's name, with an **AGENT** badge beside it. [Dots in Slack](https://howtousedots.com/slack)

### GPT-6 Astra

The OpenAI model a dot runs on. A dot's message box has no model picker. [What a dot is made of](https://howtousedots.com/what-is-dots#what-is-a-dot-made-of)

### Specialist dot

A dot with one dedicated job inside a company, with its own identity and access. Available only through pilots run with OpenAI. [What are specialist dots?](https://howtousedots.com/dots-vs-codex-work-scheduled-tasks#what-are-specialist-dots)

## Around your dot's conversation

These are the labels on the profile, the panel that opens when you click your dot's name.

![A dot's profile panel: the name Brendot with the status Thinking..., Call and Slack buttons, Computers, then Recent activity with four rows, a Show more link, and Outputs with the line No outputs yet](https://howtousedots.com/assets/shots/tasks-recent-activity.jpg)

1. The status line.
2. Recent activity.
3. Outputs.

Image: Brendan Jowett (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dE_TdWjLaU)

### Profile

The panel that opens when you click your dot's name or picture at the top of the conversation. It holds **Call**, **Slack**, **Computers**, **Recent activity** and **Outputs**. [What a dot looks like](https://howtousedots.com/what-is-dots#what-does-a-dot-look-like-in-chatgpt)

### Status line

The line under your dot's name that says what it's doing right now, such as "Thinking...". [What happens after you press send](https://howtousedots.com/tasks-and-schedules#what-happens-after-you-press-send)

### Recent activity

The list of your dot's jobs in the profile. A spinner means running, a tick means finished, and a clock means a schedule. Click a row to open the job. [See what's running](https://howtousedots.com/tasks-and-schedules#open-the-profile-to-see-whats-running)

### Outputs

The part of the profile under **Recent activity** that lists the files and pages your dot has made, newest first. [Give your dot a job](https://howtousedots.com/tasks-and-schedules)

### Paused

The pill that replaces the message box and the **Call** and **Slack** buttons after you pause your dot. You can't write to a paused dot. Click the pill to resume. [Pause your dot](https://howtousedots.com/tasks-and-schedules#pause-your-dot)

### Delete

The red item in the **...** menu at the top of the conversation. It removes your dot, its conversation, its notes and its scheduled tasks, and it can't be undone. [Dot memory](https://howtousedots.com/memory)

## Jobs and schedules

Next, the words for handing work over and seeing where it went.

### Brief

The message that hands your dot a job. A good one says the job, where to look, what still needs you, and when to tell you. [What a good brief says](https://howtousedots.com/tasks-and-schedules#what-a-good-brief-says)

### Scheduled

The page behind the clock icon in ChatGPT's left rail. It lists every scheduled task on your account, with your dot's in a group under its name. [Open Scheduled](https://howtousedots.com/tasks-and-schedules#open-scheduled-to-see-every-schedule)

### Monitoring

The word on a scheduled task that waits for something to happen, such as a new message in a channel, instead of running at a set time. [Give your dot a job](https://howtousedots.com/tasks-and-schedules)

### Proactive research

Reading your connected apps for ways to help when you haven't asked. It can't send messages, change anything or control a browser. [What a dot does while you're away](https://howtousedots.com/what-is-dots#what-does-a-dot-do-while-youre-away)

### Sent by

The label, followed by your dot's name, on each request in a Work or Codex task your dot started. Those tasks count toward your Work and Codex usage. [What a hand-off looks like](https://howtousedots.com/dots-vs-codex-work-scheduled-tasks#what-a-hand-off-looks-like)

## Rules and approvals

Then the words for what your dot does without asking, and what it brings to you first.

![The Add rule dialog with the behavior menu open: Take action without asking; Take action when you say so; Ask before taking action, ticked; Hand off to you. Each has a line of explanation under it](https://howtousedots.com/assets/shots/rules-add-rule-choices.jpg)

Image: Zinho Automates (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGGHiJF6g0c)

### Approval request

An ordinary message in which your dot asks before it acts. There are no buttons. You answer by typing, and one yes covers one action. [Answer an approval request](https://howtousedots.com/custom-rules#answer-an-approval-request)

### Custom rules

Rules you add in **Settings**, under **Personalization**. Each is one sentence describing an action, plus one of four behaviors. [Add a rule](https://howtousedots.com/custom-rules#add-a-rule)

### The four behaviors

What a rule can tell your dot to do: **Take action without asking**, **Take action when you say so**, **Ask before taking action** or **Hand off to you**. [The four behaviors](https://howtousedots.com/custom-rules#the-four-behaviors)

### Default rules

What your dot does where you've set no rule: it reads and drafts freely, asks before it sends, buys or deletes, and hands a few steps back to you. [Before you add a rule](https://howtousedots.com/custom-rules#what-your-dot-does-before-you-add-a-rule)

### Auto-review

The automatic check that runs before your dot acts, against what you asked for, your rules and the safety requirements. No rule switches it off. [Where an action stops](https://howtousedots.com/custom-rules#where-an-action-stops)

### Hand off

A step your dot won't do itself and asks you to do, such as changing a password or moving money. [What a rule can't do](https://howtousedots.com/custom-rules#what-a-rule-cant-do)

## Apps, computers and pages

These are the places your dot works.

![A dot's cloud computer: a desktop with a browser open inside a thick blue frame. 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)

### Plugin

How your dot uses an app such as Gmail or Slack. Your dot starts with every plugin already on your ChatGPT account. [Apps and permissions](https://howtousedots.com/apps)

### Permission level

How much your dot can do in one app without asking: **Always ask**, **Read-only actions**, **Allow low-risk actions** or **Allow all actions**. [The four levels](https://howtousedots.com/apps#what-each-permission-level-allows)

### Cloud computer

Your dot's own computer, with a browser and files. It runs in the cloud, so work carries on while your devices are off. [The dot's cloud computer](https://howtousedots.com/cloud-computer)

### Take over and Return control

The two buttons under the cloud computer's screen. **Take over** gives you the mouse and keyboard, and **Return control** gives them back to your dot. [Open it, take over, hand back](https://howtousedots.com/cloud-computer#open-it-take-over-hand-back)

### Your computer

The row under **Computers** in the profile for the machine you're on. Click **Allow**, then **Allow access**, and your dot can use the files and apps there while it's online. [Let your dot use your computer](https://howtousedots.com/connect-your-computer)

### Space

The part of ChatGPT that holds your pages, sites, images and files. It's the second icon in the left rail. [Space and Pages](https://howtousedots.com/space-and-pages)

### Page

A document in Space that you, your teammates and your dot can edit. You call your dot into one with an `@` mention in a comment. [Ask your dot from a comment](https://howtousedots.com/space-and-pages#ask-your-dot-from-a-comment)

## Plans and limits

Last, the words that come up when you pay for a dot or run into a stop.

### Pro 100, Pro 200 and Pro 500

The three ChatGPT Pro plans, at $100, $200 and $500 a month. Each includes one dot. They differ in usage, and only Pro 500 has Astra Ultrafast. [Pricing](https://howtousedots.com/pricing)

### Business Premium seat

The ChatGPT Business seat that includes a dot: $100 per user per month billed annually, or $125 billed monthly. Standard seats don't include one. [Pricing](https://howtousedots.com/pricing)

### Your dot is on a break

The message your dot shows when it has hit its usage limit. Wait, then send one message. [Dots usage limits](https://howtousedots.com/limits)

### Preview limit

A stop that reads "You’ve hit the preview limit" and gives a time to try again. [Dots usage limits](https://howtousedots.com/limits)

## Check you've got it

**Quick check: A row in Recent activity shows a clock and the word Monitoring. What is it?**

- A job that's running right now
- A schedule you paused
- A job waiting for something to happen

Answer: A job waiting for something to happen Monitoring means your dot is watching for an event, such as a new message, with no set time.

**Next:** [What is Dots?](https://howtousedots.com/what-is-dots)

A dot is an always-on agent inside ChatGPT with its own cloud computer. See how it differs from a chat, what it does while you're away, and when it asks you.

### Is it "Dots" or "dots"?

OpenAI writes "dots" in lower case, and one of them is "a dot" or "your dot". Most people searching write "ChatGPT Dots" or "OpenAI Dots". They're the same thing.

### Is there a Dots API or SDK?

No. Developers extend what dots can do by building plugins.

- 2026-10-06: Rebuilt with the labels the launch build shows and a finder. Every term links to its lesson.
- 2026-10-05: First published.

## Sources

- [OpenAI docs: Meet dots](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/dots)
- [OpenAI docs: Tasks and memory](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/dots/tasks-and-memory)
- [OpenAI docs: Connect computers and apps to your dot](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/dots/computers-and-apps)
- [OpenAI docs: Control your dot](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/dots/controls)
- [OpenAI Help Center: Getting started with your dot](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001530-getting-started-with-your-dot)
- [OpenAI Help Center: Dots privacy, security, and safety FAQs](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001529-dots-privacy-security-and-safety-faqs)
- [OpenAI: Introducing dots (launch post)](https://openai.com/index/introducing-dots/)
- [OpenAI: How we build safety, security, and privacy into dots](https://openai.com/index/how-we-build-safety-security-and-privacy-into-dots/)
- [OpenAI Help Center: Manage dots in ChatGPT workspaces](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001554-manage-dots-in-chatgpt-workspaces)
- [OpenAI Help Center: Plugins in ChatGPT](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001256-plugins-in-chatgpt)
- [OpenAI Developers: Plugins overview](https://developers.openai.com/plugins)
- [OpenAI docs: ChatGPT Space](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/space)
- [OpenAI docs: Work with agents in Space](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/space/agents)
- [OpenAI Help Center: Getting started with Space in ChatGPT (Space replaces Library)](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001549-getting-started-with-space-in-chatgpt)
- [OpenAI Help Center: About ChatGPT Pro tiers](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/9793128-about-chatgpt-pro-tiers)
- [OpenAI Help Center: ChatGPT Business overview](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8792828-chatgpt-business-overview)
- [ChatGPT Business product page (dots on Premium seats)](https://chatgpt.com/business)
- [OpenAI Help Center: ChatGPT release notes](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6825453-chatgpt-release-notes)
- [Pat Simmons on YouTube: screenshot of the sidebar](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fzbEP_sOjk)
- [Brendan Jowett on YouTube: screenshots of the profile and the cloud computer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dE_TdWjLaU)
- [Zinho Automates on YouTube: screenshot of the four behaviors](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGGHiJF6g0c)