Risk ladder

Where does each account land?

Tap the accounts you're thinking of giving a Bot. Each lands on one of three rungs, with the reason.

Here are ten accounts people connect, each on its rung.

Tap one to place it on the ladder.

  1. Fine in week one

    A Bot only reads here, or nothing of yours is signed in.

    Nothing on this rung yet.

    Public websites, with no login

    No login

    Research on public pages needs no account of yours, so there's nothing for a Bot to act on in your name. Start here.

    Your calendar, through the Google Calendar plugin

    Plugin

    Begin with jobs that read your day. The plugin can also create events and answer invitations, so add an Ask first rule before you let a Bot invite anyone.

  2. Connect with Ask first

    A Bot can send, post or pay here in your name. Connect it, and add a rule so it asks before the step that can't be taken back.

    Nothing on this rung yet.

    Email, through the Gmail or Outlook plugin

    Plugin

    The Gmail plugin can read, draft and send, and a sent email can't be called back. A Bot's emails arrive as drafts with Send email and Discard. Leave drafts on, and add the rule as a second check.

    Rule send an email

    Slack, through the Slack plugin

    Plugin

    The plugin posts as you, in any channel you can post in. A Bot's messages arrive as drafts with Send message and Discard.

    Rule post a message in Slack

    Your X account, through the X plugin

    Plugin

    A post is public the moment it goes out, under your name.

    Rule post, reply or repost on X

    Shopping and payments, through Link

    Plugin, US only

    A Bot can pay with a card saved in your Link wallet. Each purchase comes to you first as a card that shows the amount, and a request you decline or leave to expire makes no charge.

    Rule buy or pay for anything

  3. Keep away

    The whole account would sit within reach of every Bot you have, or the site may turn a Bot away. Leave it off the Bot's computer.

    Nothing on this rung yet.

    Your bank's website

    Browser login

    Signing in on the Bot's browser puts the whole account within reach of every Bot you have, acting as you. Grok Bot's terms make you responsible for whatever a Bot does there.

    LinkedIn, signed in on the Bot's browser

    Browser login

    LinkedIn has no plugin, so a Bot would work through your own login from a cloud computer. Whether a site allows a Bot at all is in that site's terms, and following them is your job.

    An account that isn't only yours

    Any login

    A client's login, an employer's or a family account. Every Bot on your account can use a login on the computer, and a teammate's Team Bot usually can too while you chat with it. Work that needs logins of its own needs a Cursor account of its own.

    The files on your own Mac or PC

    Your computer

    Your computer is separate from the Bot's computer in the cloud. Execution on this computer decides whether Bots may open files and run tasks there. Set it to Never allow until a job needs your local files.