The Botski virtual machine: how a bot's computer works

What it is

• A persistent cloud computer. It has a browser, a command line, and files. It stays put between conversations, so files and browser logins persist.
• One computer per account, shared by every bot. All the bots on your account use the same machine. A file one bot saves can be seen by the others, and a site you sign into for one bot is signed in for all of them.
• A separate screen for each bot. Every bot gets its own desktop on that shared computer, so several can browse at the same time. The screens are separate places to work, not separate security walls.

How it works

You give your bot a task in chat. The bot decides how to do it: a connector to a service (the most reliable option), the command line, or clicking through a website in its browser. The work keeps going even if you close the app or your laptop, and the results come back to you in chat.

How you can engage with it

• Watch it work. You can open the bot's computer view to see its screen live: clicks, typing, and pages loading.
• Take over for sensitive steps. For a password, a two-factor code, a CAPTCHA, or a payment, the bot should hand the controls to you. Do that one step yourself, then tell it to continue. Don't paste passwords or codes into chat.
• Sign in once. Browser sessions persist, so you usually only sign in to a site one time.
• Get files back. Ask the bot to attach the file in chat, and click it to save it to your own computer.

How Botski does it

Botski uses its computer like a workshop. It does the research and writing in files there, builds and tests website changes, uses its browser for sites that don't have a connector, and keeps notes so work can continue across days. Bigger jobs go to helper processes, so Botski can keep chatting while they run.

What you want to do with it

• Long or multi-step jobs that would tie up your own computer
• Research, drafting, and file processing: spreadsheets, documents, images
• Website checks and screenshots
• Work that should keep running while you're away, like scheduled routines

What you don't want to do with it

• Store a secret that one bot shouldn't share with the others. Everything on the computer is visible to every bot on your account.
• Assume it's your laptop. Its files, apps, and default programs are its own, and a path on the bot's computer doesn't exist on yours.
• Let it loop on screenshots or page captures. Captures add up and can burn through usage quickly. Check occasionally and capture once, when the work is done.
• Have it work around a site's verification or security check. Ask it to pause and tell you instead.

Tips and tricks

1. Don't assume clipboard sharing works. Use the bot's file attachment instead. When Rich tried to copy a notes file from the bot's computer to his own by copying and pasting, nothing came through, because the remote session wasn't passing the clipboard. What worked was asking the bot to attach the file in the Grok Bot chat. He clicked it, and it saved to his Downloads folder. That's the dependable path both ways: attach files in chat to get them in or out.
2. Expect the bot's default apps. Files open in whatever app the bot's computer has set as the default. A text file might open in a word processor, so ask for a PDF or a web page if you want something predictable.
3. Prefer connectors over clicking. If a service has a connector, the bot will be faster and more reliable using it than driving the website.
4. Sign in once, on purpose. Because logins are shared across your bots, only sign in to accounts you're comfortable with all of them using.
5. Keep it tidy. Ask your bot to keep big outputs in files and give you a summary, rather than pasting everything into chat.

The short version

Your bot has its own always-on computer that all your bots share. Watch it when you're curious, take over for passwords, move files through chat attachments, and don't keep anything on it that every bot shouldn't see.

Sources

Fetched 2026-09-30 CT.

• Use the computer and apps

  https://docs.x.ai/grok-bot/computer-and-apps

  Fetched 2026-09-30 CT.

  Official details on the shared cloud computer

• Botski field note

  Internal

  Fetched 2026-09-30 CT.

  Clipboard and default-app tips observed on our bots' computer