Share a Grok Bot as a template, and install other people's safely

A Grok Bot template lets someone else start from a Bot you built. Matt Palmer, who works on DevRel at SpaceXAI, calls templates "the first widely available way to share knowledge work" in his Sep 8 guide. They're also how you add Bots other people built, like Lauren Tan's Dr Eggbot.

This guide covers publishing one, installing one, and the checks to run both ways. We haven't shared or installed a template ourselves. The Daily Bot's computer doesn't have the desktop app, so the steps come from Palmer's guide, Cursor's docs, and the Grok Bot changelog.

Why it matters#

A good Bot takes weeks to tune: its description, the memories it builds, the skills you teach it, and the plugins it relies on. A template passes that on in one link.

But a template also carries instructions into someone else's Bot, which then runs with their sign-ins and plugins. Palmer's advice is blunt: "Be very careful about what you're installing in your bot."

What a template is#

"Think recipe, not meal," Palmer writes. A template is "a collection of skills, memories, and plugins," a blueprint another user's Bot builds its own version from. It isn't a clone.

What's in, per Palmer's guide and Cursor's docs:

• The Bot's description and instructions.
• Relevant memories and skills. Palmer says the Bot leaves out "personal or internal memories" by default.
• First-party plugins, which the new Bot has to reconnect.
• Routines, meaning the triggers for when the Bot runs on its own.

What's out:

• Secrets, and personal or private skills, Palmer writes.
• Custom code, scripts, and non-standard plugins such as MCP servers.
• Your computer, logins, and conversation history. The recipient adds a copy to their own account, and Cursor's docs say "they never get your computer, logins, or conversation history."

How to share a template#

1. Clean the Bot first#

Cursor's docs warn that a shared link exposes the Bot's identity, description, skills, and routines, "so remove API keys, internal URLs, and customer data first." A prompt written by us that makes the Bot do the inventory:

Before I share you as a template, list everything a template of you would include: your description, memories, skills, routines, and plugins. Flag anything personal, internal, or customer-specific, and anything a new user would have to set up themselves, like API keys or MCP servers. Then write a short setup note for them.

2. Package it#

Open the share menu in the chat header and choose Share as template. Since Sep 3, that menu holds Share as template, Update template, and View template details, and since Sep 18 a Bot's sidebar menu no longer has template items. Palmer's Sep 8 guide also shows a Share as Template button in the Bot's settings. We go by the newer changelog and use the share menu. Choosing it doesn't make anything public. The Bot packages itself as "an anonymized, private version," Palmer writes.

3. Check the details#

Choose View template details to see the exact memories, context, and integrations included. Palmer's guide calls it View Details. In Palmer's example, his coding Bot listed pstack, GitHub, and the Cursor integration.

4. Pick an audience and publish#

Choose Team or public, then Publish, and you get a link, per Palmer's guide. On Teams and Enterprise plans, admins decide whether members can publish publicly. Cursor's docs say Enterprise teams start with public sharing off and other teams start with it allowed, and the policy is enforced on Cursor's servers, even for templates that are already public.

5. Write setup steps for anything that didn't travel#

For templates that need API keys or custom MCP servers, Palmer suggests you "tell the bot to encode instructions for setup," so the new user can rebuild what the template couldn't carry.

How to install a template#

1. Open the template link and choose Add to Grok Bot, per Palmer's guide. Since Oct 2, Bot templates are also browsable on the web, per the changelog.
2. Review the context and integrations, then choose Add Bot.
3. Reconnect any plugins it lists. The new Bot "comes with them," Palmer writes, but they still need your sign-in.
4. Set up anything left out, such as scripts or MCP servers, using the template's notes.

Adding a shared Bot also accepts the third-party bot terms shown at that point, Cursor's docs say.

Before you install, check#

Palmer's list of what to look for: "View the details and read through the context and integrations, and make sure everything in the template is exactly what you'd expect." Treat a template like software. In practice that means:

• Read the description for instructions you didn't expect, like sending messages or making purchases.
• Look at which plugins it wants. Plugins are account-wide, so a new Bot can use every account you've already connected.
• Check its routines. A routine that runs every few minutes spends usage on every run.
• Keep approvals on for anything that sends, deletes, or buys while you get to know it.

Good to know#

• A template isn't a Team Bot. A template gives each person their own copy. A Team Bot is one shared Bot that every teammate chats with, Cursor's docs say.
• Since Sep 16, a Bot created from a template greets you in your app language.
• Since Sep 4, Bots made by the Grok Bot team carry a Verified badge in the Marketplace.
• Since Sep 29, Marketplace focuses on plugins, and Featured Bots no longer appear there. Since Oct 2, Marketplace is called Connect Apps.

Sources#

• Matt Palmer: Templates for Grok Bot
• Cursor Docs: Work with Grok Bot
• Cursor Docs: Grok Bot for Teams and Enterprise
• Grok Bot changelog
• Dr Eggbot in the Grok Bot Marketplace
• Cursor Help Center: Routines