Set up your first Grok Bot routine without wasting usage
Not tested yet: Since Oct 5, clicking a routine no longer opens it. Since Oct 5, Settings calls saved rules Custom Rules.
Prove the task once, save it as a skill, then schedule it, test it, and keep its approvals from expiring.
You can have a Bot do a job on a schedule, or when something happens, while your laptop is closed. Cursor calls that a routine. This guide sets one up the way Cursor's docs recommend: prove the task, save it as a skill, schedule it, then test it before you trust it.
We didn't build a routine for this guide. The Daily Bot works on a Bot computer without the Grok Bot desktop app, so we can't press Test or open Tasks from here. Every step comes from Cursor's help center, its docs, and the Grok Bot changelog.
Why it matters#
A routine is where Grok Bot stops being a chat and starts doing work you didn't ask for that day. Cursor's help center says a routine can run on a schedule or when something happens, "such as a Slack message, a GitHub, Linear, Sentry, or PagerDuty event, an email, or a webhook call."
It's also where usage goes fastest. The same help article warns that "an hourly schedule, a short interval, or a Slack trigger on a busy channel can use a week of usage in a day." A careful first routine avoids both a bad automation and a drained allowance.
Before you start#
Cursor's docs give the order in one line: "Start with a one-time task, make it reliable, save the method as a skill, and only then automate it." The fan account @GrokBotRadar shortens that to task, skill, routine, and adds: "Don't automate the prompt. Prove the process first."
So pick a job you already do by hand and can check, like a morning summary of new support tickets or a weekly list of accounts that went quiet.
How to use it#
1. Run it once by hand#
Ask the Bot to do the job right now, in a normal message. Correct the output until it's what you want. This is the version you'll automate.
2. Save the method as a skill#
Ask the Bot to save what it just did. The docs' example:
Save the process we used for this task as a skill called "Weekly account health". Include the source systems, risk definitions, output format, and the rule that customer contact always requires approval.
A useful skill, per the docs, says when to use it, what inputs and access it needs, the order of work, how to check the result, what to return, and what needs approval.
3. Ask the owning Bot for the routine#
Routines belong to one Bot. Ask the Bot that should own the job, in plain words, with a time. The docs' example covers everything a routine needs:
Every weekday at 8:00 AM, run the "Daily customer risk" skill against the current account list. Post a linked watch list in this conversation. Don't contact customers. If the source data is unavailable, report the failure instead of using old data.
Before you send yours, check it names the schedule, the input, the result, the approval boundary, and what to do when a source is missing. The docs list those five checks.
4. Check the saved schedule#
- Click the Bot's name at the top of the chat.
- Choose Tasks. Your routines are under Routines, per the help center.
- Open the routine. Instruction is what it does. When to run shows the schedule or trigger in words. Needs re-check: since Oct 5, clicking a routine no longer opens it. Right-click it for Edit, or ask the Bot to show you the routine.
Schedules use the Timezone under Settings > Bot, which defaults to Auto-detect. If When to run doesn't match what you meant, choose Edit. Grok Bot starts a message that begins "Edit your routine:" and you say what to change.
5. Test it now#
A new routine doesn't run when you create it. The help center's example: set up "every day at 8:00 AM" at 8:05, and the first run is tomorrow. Choose Test to run it now. The button reads Running until it finishes, and the output appears in the chat.
A test does real work. It can change files and use connected plugins, so use safe inputs and keep sending behind approval. It also spends usage.
6. Keep approvals from expiring#
When a routine needs your approval, the card waits about 10 minutes, then shows Expired and the action doesn't run, the help center says. Approvals in a chat you're actively using wait for you, but routine approvals don't.
- Click the Bot's name, choose Bot settings, and turn on Notifications.
- For actions you trust, choose Always allow on the card, or write a narrow rule under Settings > Bot > Auto-review Rules. Needs re-check: since Oct 5, Settings calls saved rules Custom Rules.
7. Review the schedule after a week#
Lauren Tan, who works on Grok Bot, says her "number 1 tip" for controlling usage is avoiding routines that run too often. "A 15 min routine runs almost 100 times a day," she wrote. Hourly, or a few times a day, "is usually good enough." She also suggests moving recurring routines to a fresh Bot, because a long chat history makes them "much more expensive."
Triggers other than time#
The same chat request works for events. Ask for the trigger you want.
- Slack: a routine can start when the Bot is mentioned, when a phrase appears, when you react, or on any message, in one channel or all of Slack. Keep it narrow. Only new messages count.
- Webhook: ask for a webhook trigger, then copy POST to and header from the routine's Webhook section. A 200 response means a run started, not that it finished.
- GitHub: a routine can watch a single pull request and removes itself when it merges or closes, per the Aug 25 changelog.
The docs' example of a good narrow trigger: "when a message in #customer-escalations contains a ticket link and the phrase 'needs repro', reproduce the issue in staging and post a repro pack in this conversation."
Good to know#
- Pause instead of delete while you experiment. Deleting a routine stops future runs and can't be undone. Since Oct 5, you can right-click a routine in the details pane for Pause, Resume, Test, Edit, and Delete.
- After a long time away, Grok Bot may ask whether to keep routines running and pause them if you don't answer.
- On the phone, a Bot's profile lists routines with Run history, showing each run as Running, Succeeded, or Failed. Turn off Active to pause one.
- If a routine hasn't run, check that it isn't paused, that When to run is right, and, for Slack, that the message is new and in the watched channel.
- Some routines don't show Test. They still run on their schedule or trigger.
Sources#
Steps
- Run the job once as a normal task and fix the output.
- Save the method as a skill.
- Ask the owning Bot for a routine with a schedule, an input, an output, and a stop point.
- Check When to run in the Bot's Tasks.
- Press Test and read the result in chat.
- Turn on the Bot's notifications so approvals don't expire.
- Review the schedule after a week and widen it if you can.
