Always on
AI assistants that keep working while you don't
Dots run quietly in the background. The moment an email lands, a meeting moves or a file changes, the right Dot already knows, and it only taps you when it matters.
Watchers turn events into work
A chatbot waits for you to type. A Dot does not. Each Dot can have watchers, small listeners that notice something happening and wake the right Dot, with its own session, persona, tools and memory.
OpenDot ships watchers for Gmail, Outlook, calendars, Drive, OneDrive and Teams, folders on your Mac, web pages, RSS feeds, MCP resources, schedules and a local webhook. Anything that can send a request can trigger a Dot.
Three kinds of reply: urgent, update, or quiet
A Dot that pinged you for everything would be useless. When something happens, the Dot decides how loud to be. It replies [URGENT] when you need to act now, [UPDATE] when you should know but need not act, or it stays quiet when nothing needs you.
You also set budgets that keep every Dot in check, so a busy inbox cannot run away with your model usage.
A few examples
- Your Inbox Dot sees "Invoice overdue" arrive and flags it as urgent.
- Your Calendar Dot notices a board meeting moved to 9:30 and updates you.
- A Dot watching a Drive folder tells you a deck was edited by a colleague.
- A Research Dot checks a web page or RSS feed on a schedule and only speaks up when something changed.
What "always on" means, honestly
Dots run while OpenDot is open, including in the background with the window closed. They cannot run while your Mac is asleep or OpenDot is quit. When your Mac wakes, the watchers catch up on what they missed.
Gmail, Outlook and Drive are checked every 30 seconds rather than pushed instantly, because push notifications would need a public webhook. For most inboxes that is fast enough to feel instant. You can choose during setup whether Dots keep running in the background, and change it later in Settings, Background.
Still under your control
Background does not mean unsupervised. Each Dot only has the access you gave it, tools that change things ask for approval, and the audit log records what Dots did. Personal details are masked before they reach a cloud model, and you can run the Dot on a local model so the thinking stays on your Mac.
Set it up in one sentence
You do not write rules or workflows. Create a Dot by describing its job, such as "Watch my inbox and tell me what actually needs me", choose what it may touch, such as Gmail, Calendar or a folder, and OpenDot connects the right watchers. From then on the Dot works in the background, and its replies appear in its own chat in the sidebar like messages from a colleague.
Frequently asked questions
Do Dots run when my Mac is asleep?
No. Dots run while OpenDot is open, including in the background with the window closed. When your Mac wakes, watchers catch up on what they missed.
How quickly does a Dot notice a new email?
Gmail, Outlook and Drive are checked every 30 seconds. Folders, schedules and the local webhook react as the event happens.
Will my Dots spam me?
They are built not to. A Dot replies [URGENT], [UPDATE] or stays quiet, and the budgets you set keep every Dot in check.
What can trigger a Dot?
New email, calendar changes, file changes in Drive, OneDrive or a local folder, web pages, RSS feeds, MCP resources, schedules and webhooks.
