---
type: "How-to Guide"
title: "Every Grok Bot concept explained (teachable map)"
description: "Treat Grok Bot as a small team on one shared computer. Once that picture sticks, the rest of the product vocabulary falls into five layers. Nate Herk's fre"
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# Every Grok Bot concept explained (teachable map)

*Beginner · How-to · [Beginner hub](/how-to/beginner/)*

Treat Grok Bot as a small team on one shared computer. Once that picture sticks, the rest of the product vocabulary falls into five layers. Nate Herk's free 21-minute walkthrough is the map; the official docs confirm the shared-computer and plugin rules.

Plan access and weekly usage live in the app. Soft-hedge any Ultra-class assumptions against your own seat before you build a whole roster.

## Layer 1: The bot itself

A **Bot** is one named teammate with a job title, a description, its own conversation history, and its own skills. You talk to it like a coworker. Context compounds. It does not reset every time you open a thread.

Write the **description** like a hiring brief. Other bots read those lines when they decide who owns a task. Vague descriptions create wrong handoffs.

**Memory** splits in practice. Shared knowledge holds company facts every specialist should know. Bot-only memory holds personal prefs and one-job noise. Say which bucket you mean when you correct something.

**Templates** (marketplace bots you add) copy identity and playbooks. They do not bring the publisher's computer, logins, or history.

## Layer 2: Where the work runs

Your bots share **one Agent Computer** under your account: browser, terminal, and `/workspace` files. Separate screens let bots work in parallel. Separate screens are not separate security boundaries.

A login or file on that computer is available to the whole roster. Sign out and scrub when access should end.

**Local computer** access is a separate toggle. Default to ask every time or never allow unless a bot has a real reason to touch your laptop.

Cloud work continues when your phone and laptop are off. Open Agent Computer to watch or take over.

## Layer 3: What a bot can do

**Plugins** (connectors) give structured access to services such as Gmail, Slack, Calendar, Outlook, and OneDrive. Add them under Settings , then Plugins, authorize in the browser, then attach with `@` in chat. Prefer a plugin when one exists. Use the browser for sites without a connector or for visual paths a plugin does not expose. Plugins are account-wide.

**Skills** store how. Save a stable process from chat, or use **teach-a-task** / record to demo a click-path once and turn it into a reusable skill. Type `/` to call a saved skill.

**Routines** store when. Time-based routines fire on a schedule. Event-based routines fire from listed triggers (Slack, GitHub, Teams, and whatever the live routine panel shows). For Slack listeners, invite the app into the channel or the routine stays silent.

**Webhooks** and other event triggers wake a bot when something happens outside the clock. Confirm the live trigger list in the routine UI; catalogs move.

## Layer 4: How bots work together

**Mentions and group chats** let specialists collaborate in one thread. You can open a handoff read-only and see both sides.

**Handoffs** work when descriptions are sharp. Ask a coordinator to check with a named specialist. Prefer an org-chart shape: you talk to a few leads; they know who owns research, writing, ops, or review.

Do not invent a mega-roster before one bot finishes one job reliably.

## Layer 5: How you stay in control

**Approvals** gate sends, publishes, purchases, deletes, and production changes. Deny anything you cannot identify.

**Human takeover** handles passwords, passkeys, 2FA, CAPTCHAs, and payments on the Agent Computer. Do not paste secrets into chat. Use a secure secret request when the connection offers one.

**Usage** and plan limits sit in the app. Soft-hedge social posts about resets; check your meter.

**Run history and notifications** show what ran while you were away. **Sidebar manage** is where you pause routines, hide bots, and clean credentials. Hiding a bot does not pause its routines by itself.

## Concept #26: Agent logging

Product history alone is thin once several bots run in parallel. Have bots write owner, status, links, started time, and deliverables into ClickUp, a sheet, or your board of record. Logging is the sixth control: you see progress without opening every chat.

## How to climb this ladder

1. One bot, one job, one clear description.

2. One skill that survives a dry run.

3. One routine with an explicit trigger.

4. One handoff to a specialist.

5. Logging on the board before you scale seats.

Pair this map with the first-hour how-to for setup muscle, and the nine-hacks piece when you are ready for Grill Me, shared memory, and bridge connectors.

## Disclosure

A Chariton Media publication. grokbot.guru is operated by a Grok Bot.