# Create your first Grok Bot and give it a job

Create a Bot from New chat, name it for its job, tell it that job in one message, then hand it a first task that needs no plugin or login. Real screens.

*From Learn Grok Bot, an independent guide (not affiliated with SpaceXAI or Cursor). Web version: https://learngrokbot.com/first-bot Last verified: 2026-10-06.*

*Step 3 of 9 on the path "Learn Grok Bot, step by step". Before it: [Set up Grok Bot](https://learngrokbot.com/setup.md). After it: [Connect plugins](https://learngrokbot.com/plugins.md).*

To create a Bot, click **New chat** (the **+** at the top of the sidebar), type a name and click **Create “name” Bot**. Then tell the Bot its job in a message, which the Bot saves as its description.

**In short**

- Two clicks and a name make a Bot. The Bot greets you first.
- Name the Bot for one job. The name steers it from its first message.
- A Bot has no description box. You send its standing job as a message and have the Bot read it back.
- A good first task uses public web pages only, so there's nothing to connect.
- Click the Bot's name at the top of the chat to find its name, label, picture, routines and files.

You need three things.

**What you need**

- [ ] Grok Bot open on your computer and signed in. If it isn't, [set up Grok Bot](https://learngrokbot.com/setup) first.
- [ ] One job in mind: a kind of work you'd hand to an assistant every week.
- [ ] Fifteen minutes.

## Create your Bot

A new Bot takes two clicks and a name. The walkthrough shows each screen, and ends on the panel where the app keeps everything about the Bot.

**Walkthrough: Create a Bot**

### Step 1: Click New chat

**New chat** is the **+** at the top of the sidebar, beside the search button. Click it and a **To:** field opens, with **Create new Bot** at the top of its list.

![The top of the Grok Bot sidebar, with a search button and a plus button, and beside it a To field whose list starts with Create new Bot and Create group chat](https://learngrokbot.com/assets/shots/first-bot-new-chat.png)

### Step 2: Type a name, then click Create “name” Bot

Type a name that says the Bot's job, such as Meeting Prep or Expense Reports. The list shrinks to **Create “name” Bot**. Click that row.

![The To field with Demo Research typed in it, and one row underneath: Create “Demo Research” Bot](https://learngrokbot.com/assets/shots/first-bot-type-a-name.png)

The name steers the Bot: its first question to you often follows from it. **Create new Bot** skips the name and makes a Bot called **New Bot**, which you can rename later.

### Step 3: Answer the Bot's first question, or skip it

The Bot speaks first. **Working on it** shows for five to ten seconds, then a greeting and a question card arrive. Answer the card if a choice fits. The next section sets the job in one message either way.

![A new Bot's chat: a greeting, a question card that has been answered and folded to one line with a tick, the Bot's reply, and a second card with four lettered answers and a Type your own answer field](https://learngrokbot.com/assets/shots/first-bot-first-questions.png)

1. An answered card folds down to your choice, with a tick.
2. Click a lettered answer if one fits. The Bot replies, and often asks a follow-up.
3. None fit? Use **Type your own answer**, or close the card with the **x** in its corner.

### Step 4: Open the Bot's details

Click the Bot's name at the top of the chat. A panel opens on the right with everything the app keeps about this Bot.

![The details panel for a Bot called Demo Research: its picture, its name, Add a label, the tabs Details, Library and Computer, and one routine listed under Routines with a switch](https://learngrokbot.com/assets/shots/first-bot-details-panel.png)

1. Click the picture, the name or **Add a label** to change it. A label is a short tag that shows beside the Bot's name in the sidebar.
2. **Details** lists the Bot's routines, each with a switch to pause it. A new Bot's list is empty.
3. **Library** keeps the pages and files the Bot makes. **Computer** shows its screen.

The picture opens an editor with three tabs: **Bot** for a shape and a color, **Generate** to describe a picture, and **Upload** for an image of your own, smaller than 25 MB.

> **You should see**
>
> Your Bot's name is at the top of the chat and in the sidebar. The panel shows its picture, **Add a label** and three tabs, and nothing in it says what the Bot's job is. That comes next.

## Tell the Bot its standing job

The details panel has no description box, and the app has no settings page for a Bot. You set a Bot's standing job by telling the Bot in chat.

A standing job holds what stays true every time: what the Bot works on, where it looks, what it hands back and when it asks you first. Here is one for a Bot that prepares you for meetings, with each part labeled.

**A standing-job message**

- "Set your description to this:": saves what follows as the job
- "You prepare me for meetings with companies I haven't met before.": what to work on: one job
- "Use each company's public website and public news only.": where to look
- "Give me one page of notes as a file, with a link for every fact.": what comes back
- "Never contact anyone. Ask me before you sign in to any site.": when to ask first
- "Then show me the description exactly as saved.": makes it read the job back

Send your own version. The Bot saves it and repeats the saved text in its reply, which is the only place the app shows it. If the reply doesn't match what you sent, send the message again. Keep a copy, because you'll edit and resend it whenever the job changes.

The [Bot builder](https://learngrokbot.com/build) writes this message for the job you pick.

## Hand the Bot a first task that needs no plugin

With the job saved, give the Bot something small to finish. Pick a task it can do from public web pages, so there's no app to connect first.

Copy this request and fill in a company you're about to talk to.

```prompt title="A first task"
I have an intro call with [company] ([their website]) tomorrow. From their public website only, write one page of prep notes: what they sell, who it's for, pricing in one line, three recent items from their blog or changelog, and five questions I should ask. Save the notes as a file and share it here.
```

Give it about a minute. Here is what came back when the company was Linear.

![Three replies from the Bot, then a file card. The first says it is pulling Linear's public site and changelog, the last says the intro-call prep is ready, and the card reads linear-prep.md, 2.4kB](https://learngrokbot.com/assets/shots/first-bot-first-reply.png)

1. Within seconds the Bot says what it's about to do.
2. When it's done, one line says what's in the notes and where they came from.
3. The notes arrive as a file. Click the card to read them in the app, where there's a **Download file** button.

The file is also kept under **Library** in [the Bot's details](#details). To change the notes, say what you want in your next message.

## Type, dictate or talk

You've typed everything so far. The message box has two more ways to reach a Bot, both at its right-hand end.

![The right-hand end of the message box, with two round buttons: a microphone and a waveform](https://learngrokbot.com/assets/shots/first-bot-voice-buttons.png)

1. The microphone is **Start voice input**. Your speech turns into text in the message box, and you can edit it before you send it. The shortcut is Cmd+D on a Mac, Ctrl+D on Windows and Linux.
2. The waveform is **Start voice chat**, a live conversation. The Bot answers out loud and keeps listening until you hang up.

- The waveform shows only while the message box is empty. Once you type, the send arrow takes its place.
- When a voice chat ends, a **Voice chat** line with the call's length appears in the chat. Click it to read the transcript.

## Three mistakes with a first Bot

A first Bot that wanders or stalls usually comes down to one of these.

> **Common mistake: One Bot for everything**
>
> A Bot called Assistant gets little guidance from its name, and what it learns on one kind of work is harder to reuse on the next.
>
> **The fix:** Give each Bot one job and name it for that job, such as Meeting Prep or Expense Reports. A second kind of work is a second Bot.

> **Common mistake: Looking for a description box**
>
> Earlier versions of the app had a **Bot settings** page with a **Description** field, and **Edit Profile** in the right-click menu. The current app has neither.
>
> **The fix:** Send the job as a message that starts "Set your description to this:", and ask the Bot to show the description as saved.

> **Common mistake: Starting with a task that needs a login**
>
> A first request to clear your inbox or post in Slack stops at connecting an app, before the Bot has finished anything for you.
>
> **The fix:** Start with public web pages, or click the **+** in the message box, choose **Attach files** and ask for a summary of a document. Apps come in the next lesson.

## Check you've got it

Your Bot has a job and has finished a task. One check on the difference between the two.

**Spot the problem: One line of this standing-job message doesn't belong in it. Tap it.**

- Set your description to this:
- You watch what my three main competitors publish.
- Use their public websites and public news only.
- Summarize the article I pasted above in five bullets.
- Ask me before you contact anyone.
- Then show me the description exactly as saved.

Answer: Summarize the article I pasted above in five bullets. That's today's request. Send it as its own message once the job is saved. The standing job holds only what stays true every time.

Next, connect your Bot to an app you work in, so its job can reach past public web pages.

**Next:** [Connect plugins](https://learngrokbot.com/plugins)

Give a Bot access to Gmail, Slack and the other apps you use, and what to do when an app has no plugin.

### Can I create a Bot on my phone?

Yes. In the phone app, tap **+** on the home screen and choose **New Bot**.

- 2026-10-06: First published.

## Sources

- [Cursor Help Center: Onboarding](https://cursor.com/help/grok-bot/onboarding)
- [Cursor Help Center: Change a Bot's name, picture, and description](https://cursor.com/help/grok-bot/edit-bot)
- [SpaceXAI docs: Create and manage Bots](https://docs.x.ai/grok-bot/bots)
- [SpaceXAI docs: Get started](https://docs.x.ai/grok-bot/get-started)
- [Cursor Help Center: Voice chat with a Bot](https://cursor.com/help/grok-bot/voice-chat)
- [SpaceXAI docs: Grok Bot for Mobile](https://docs.x.ai/grok-bot/mobile)
- [Cursor forum: staff on the description field in the desktop details pane](https://forum.cursor.com/t/grok-bot-show-and-edit-bot-role-description-in-the-info-pane-match-docs/173333)
- [Cursor forum: staff on Bot instructions on desktop](https://forum.cursor.com/t/grok-bot-macos-unable-to-see-or-edit-bot-instructions-or-skills-on-desktop/173803)
- [Ben Lang on X: tips collected from the Grok Bot team](https://x.com/benln/status/2092258694352208213)