Last week Cartoon Nick showed you how to build your first Grok Bot. This week: how to not get burned installing someone else's.
Here is the uncomfortable truth from xAI's own documentation. Templates do not automatically strip secrets. Marketplaces do not verify anything. And every Bot on your account shares one cloud computer and its logins. A template is untrusted software until you prove otherwise.
AI at Work Tip #71: The five-step install checklist
Run this every time, no exceptions.
GROK BOT TEMPLATE VETTING
1. READ the preview: description, every skill, every routine. If a routine sends email, posts, purchases, or deletes anything, stop and ask why.
2. INSTALL, then read it AGAIN inside the app. Previews can differ from what lands.
3. CONNECT only the accounts this one job needs, with the smallest permissions available. A website checker does not need your Gmail.
4. RUN one safe, reversible task while watching the computer view. Not a routine. One task.
5. ADD approval gates to the description before you let it run unattended (see Tip #72).If a template fails step one, do not install it to "see what it does." That is how you find out what it does.
AI at Work Tip #72: Every Bot gets these approval rules
Grok Bot supports two kinds of rules: Require Approval blocks an action until you confirm, and Always Allow lets it run. Cartoon Nick's default block, pasted into every Bot:
APPROVAL RULES
Require approval before: sending any email or message, publishing or posting anywhere, purchasing anything, deleting any file or record, changing any permission or setting, modifying anything on a live website.
Always allow: reading, searching, summarizing, drafting to a file in /workspace, and reporting to me.
If you are unsure whether an action needs approval, it does. Ask.Chat approval is not enough for anything expensive. For purchases or deletions, keep the human in the actual tool.
What's hot right now
The most-shared templates right now are "Chief of Staff" style coordinators that manage Slack, Gmail, and Calendar and delegate to specialist Bots. They are impressive and they are also the highest-risk thing you can install, because they need access to everything. Start with the boring single-job Bots. Graduate to the coordinator when you have three Bots you trust.
Where your web guy fits in
The most common Grok Bot request I get from clients is "make it update my website." I say no, then I say here is what it can do instead: read-only monitoring, draft posts to a file, and a weekly report. A Bot with publish rights to your WordPress site is a hacked-site recovery job waiting to happen, and I do enough of those already at webguynick.com.
Frequently asked questions
Are Grok Bot templates safe?
Only after you vet them. xAI does not verify third-party templates, and secrets in a template are not automatically removed.
What should a Grok Bot never be allowed to do without approval?
Send, publish, purchase, delete, change permissions, or modify a live website.
