Let an OpenAI dot keep your to-do list current
An OpenAI dot keeps running on its own cloud computer after you close the laptop. Give it your SwitchDesk to-do list and it can sort the inbox overnight, chase overdue items and line up tomorrow, then leave each change as a card for you to approve.
- Connects by signing in (OAuth)
- About 5 minutes
- Set up on your Mac · Pro
Needs Your Approval3
What a dot can do with your list
A dot calls the same SwitchDesk tools a ChatGPT chat does. The difference is timing: it doesn’t wait for you to type.
- Keep watch. Read Incoming, Today, This Week and every category, with due dates, notes and sub-to-dos.
- Sort. Move to-dos into categories, using each category’s bio to decide where they belong.
- Follow up. Set or change due dates, mark things done, add the next step under a parent to-do.
- Ask instead of guessing. Post a question with up to three answers, or a batch of up to 25 changes you approve or deny as one.
- Read your calls, if shared. Meeting summaries, action items and your recaps, once you allow them on your Mac.
Why hand list upkeep to a dot
Most to-do lists decay quietly. Incoming fills up, dates slip past, finished things stay open. Fixing that takes ten dull minutes a day, which is exactly the kind of work an always-on agent can do while you sleep.
The trick is to let the dot do the legwork and keep the decisions. With Assistant, it sorts, proposes and asks overnight, and you clear the cards over coffee: a tap to accept a batch, Deny for anything that looks wrong. If you already plan in a ChatGPT chat, the dot is the same connection doing the same tools, without you in the room.
Standing instructions that work
Give the dot one job per instruction, and say when.
“Each weekday morning, read my SwitchDesk list and send me a three-line plan for the day.”
ReadsReads Today, This Week and what’s due. The dot writes the plan itself, in ChatGPT, Slack or Teams; SwitchDesk sends nothing.
“Overnight, file everything in Incoming into the category it belongs to.”
ChangesMoves each to-do using your category bios. In Assistant, it can send all the moves as one card.
“When a to-do is three days overdue, ask me what to do with it.”
ChangesPosts a question card in Needs Your Approval with up to three answers to tap.
“After each call, add any action items that aren’t on my list yet.”
ChangesReads the call’s action items (once “Share meetings & notes with your AIs” is on) and adds what’s missing to Incoming.
“On Fridays, suggest to-dos that look finished or dead. Never delete without asking.”
ChangesProposes check-offs and deletes as cards. Deleted items keep a 7-day Undo.
Set it up
The SwitchDesk part is the ChatGPT plugin. If you’ve done the ChatGPT setup, start at step 6.
SwitchDesk on your Mac
Click Connect an AI and choose ChatGPT
Open Settings → AI Access and click Connect an AI. Choose ChatGPT (“Also Codex & dots”).
SwitchDesk on your Mac
Answer “What can it do?”, then Continue
Pick Read only, Assistant or Full control; Fine-tune sets each permission on its own. Click Continue (with Full control the button reads Allow & Continue). Keep Assistant for a dot. Already added SwitchDesk to ChatGPT for your chats? You can skip to step 6.
ChatGPT
In ChatGPT, open Plugins → + → Add custom MCP server.
ChatGPT
Paste this URL, then click Create.
Give it a name, like SwitchDesk.
https://mcp.switchdesk.org/mcpChatGPT
Sign in with your SwitchDesk email.
Use your SwitchDesk email and the code we send. The page shows the access you picked on your Mac. Confirm it. Finish within 15 minutes.
Your dot
Give the dot a standing instruction
Click Done in SwitchDesk. Then tell the dot, in plain words, what to look after in SwitchDesk and when. Name the plugin so it knows which list you mean, for example: “Use SwitchDesk. Each morning, file what’s in Incoming.”
Your dot
Set its Custom Rules
In the dot’s own Custom Rules, say what it may do on its own, what it must ask about first and what it must never do. Keep SwitchDesk changes on “ask first” until you’ve watched it for a week.
In a Business workspace, an admin may need to allow custom MCP plugins first. If the dot reports it can’t change anything, check whether your ChatGPT plan or workspace keeps custom plugins read-only; reading still works.
MCP server and tool reference →
Choose how much the dot can do
For a dot, the preset matters more than for a chat, because nobody is watching each call. Here’s what each one allows on your to-dos:
| What it may do | Read only | Assistantdefault | Full control |
|---|---|---|---|
| See to-dosEvery to-do, done ones, sub-to-dos, notes and repeat rules | On | On | On |
| Add to IncomingNew to-dos in Incoming, above Today | Off | On | On |
| Add anywhereAny category, Today, This Week (and a day), Next Week, sub-to-dos | Off | Ask | On |
| Edit to-dos and notesTitles, notes, due dates, repeats, moves, urgent, backlog | Off | Ask | On |
| Check offDone, in progress or open | Off | Ask | On |
| DeleteDelete, with 7-day Undo | Off | Ask | On |
| Shared categoriesAny change your teammates can see | Off | Ask | On |
Assistant is the right fit for most dots: it can capture into Incoming freely, and every other change becomes a card. Avoid Full control for an unattended agent unless you check Activity often. Every permission, explained.
Keeping it safe
- Two rulebooks. The dot’s Custom Rules decide what it tries. SwitchDesk’s permissions decide what it’s allowed. A change has to pass both.
- The dot reads the outside world. Web pages and emails can hide instructions. SwitchDesk tells every AI to ignore orders found inside to-dos and notes, and keeps deletes on Ask in Assistant.
- A runaway stops itself. More than 20 deletes in 10 minutes pauses the connection’s writes until you resume it.
- Nothing is final for a week. Activity lists every call each connection makes, with Undo for 7 days on anything it changed.
- Unused, it ends. A connection that goes unused for 90 days expires. You can set an earlier end date.
- Off switch. Pause stops a connection’s writes; Revoke ends it at once. A burst of deletes pauses it by itself. Revoking also cuts off your ChatGPT chats and Codex, since they share it.
If something doesn’t work
- The dot says the connection is paused. Either you paused it, or a burst of deletes did. Resume it in Settings → AI Access.
- “Waiting for approval” on every change. That’s Assistant working. Open SwitchDesk and clear the cards.
- “Not allowed”. The permission is Off. Change it in Settings → AI Access; the dot’s next call picks it up.
- It won’t delete a repeating to-do. Deleting a repeating to-do also ends its series, so SwitchDesk refuses unless the request says so. Ask the dot to delete it and stop the series.
- It can’t see your calls. Switch on “Share meetings & notes with your AIs” on your Mac and confirm the emailed code. Recaps also need Full control or a custom setting.
- “SwitchDesk Pro is needed”. The connection pauses with the plan and resumes when Pro is back.
Published . How AI Access works →