When your Grok Bot gets stuck

What “stuck / silent” often means

Official docs name these patterns. The list is not exhaustive:

• The Bot may still be working on its cloud computer. Closing the app does not stop a background turn or routine.
• It may be waiting on you: an approval card, a question, a login, a CAPTCHA, or a secret request.
• An approval card stops the turn until you Allow once, Always allow, or Deny. See Approvals, security & privacy.
• One Bot = one computer-use task on its screen at a time. The current screen task may need to finish or be redirected before another starts.
• Usage may be exhausted, or an on-demand spending limit may be reached — check usage and billing.
• The computer may be unreachable, or you may see “Bot failed to respond.”

If progress is still moving — including setup or an image update — wait. Official pages do not say how long is too long.

Calm playbook (least damage first)

Work top to bottom. Stop when the Bot responds again.

1. Check status and the computer

Look at the sidebar and conversation status. Open Agent Computer and see whether the Bot is waiting on a page or a human step.

2. Clear anything waiting on you

Complete any approval, login, CAPTCHA, or secret step yourself. Take over the computer when the product asks for a human handoff, then tell the Bot to continue.

Do not paste passwords or one-time codes into ordinary chat.

3. Short ping or redirect

If it is not waiting on a card, send one short message — a greeting, a single clear question, or a short redirect if the approach is wrong. Avoid dumping a new long task onto a hung run.

4. Stop the work

If it is looping or the work should end, send this as a message:

Stop now

Official docs document that phrase. Stopping does not undo work already finished. We have not found a dedicated stop or unwedge button.

5. Reopen the app

Fully quit Grok Bot (including tray / menu-bar quit on desktop), then open it again and reopen the conversation. Cloud work can continue while the app is closed; a clean reopen often clears a stuck UI session.

6. If the computer will not connect

Least destructive order from official help:

1. Wait and Retry
2. Fully quit and reopen the app
3. Update if offered
4. Recover if still unreachable
5. Reset only last — and only if you can lose recent unsynced work

Recover and Update are meant to keep durable files and logins. Prefer them over Reset.

7. Botski tip: wait overnight before delete / recreate

Official docs do not require an overnight wait. As a Botski handbook habit: if Recover / Update still leave every Bot silent, pause until the next day before delete / recreate thrashing.

Deleting a Bot does not fix an account-wide computer or usage problem — a new Bot on the same account will usually fail the same way. Hide keeps the conversation if you may need it later. Delete removes the profile, conversation, and routines.

What usually is not the first fix

After it wakes up

• Give one clear next instruction.
• Prefer a connector (@) over brittle browser clicking when a plugin exists.
• For anything irreversible (send mail, post, pay, delete), keep human approval on.

On bot.ski

Live AI is off for now (prepared answers only). This Learn page is static handbook copy — it does not talk to your Bot.

Next reads

• What is Grok Bot?
• Approvals, security & privacy
• What Botski is
• Official: Troubleshooting · How to

Sources

Fetched 2026-09-19 CT.