dusk botdocswhat bots can do
permissions and safety
the scary stuff. what a bot may do without asking, what it must ask about, and how you stay in charge.
a bot that can click, type and send things for you needs rules. dusk bot has two: how much a bot may do without asking, and whether it may send things in your name.
the approval card
when a bot reaches something it has to ask about, it stops and shows a card in the chat. you choose Allow or Deny, and the bot carries on or does something else.
The reply to Dana is drafted. Ready when you are.
Send on your behalf?
Gmail · a reply to Dana about Friday's invoice
for some requests you can also allow that exact thing from now on, so a bot stops asking about a command it runs every day. the grant is narrow: it covers that one command or tool, not everything like it.
approvals reach you wherever you are. they show in the app, on your phone with a notification, and out loud if you are on a call.
approval levels
every bot has an approval level. it decides what the bot does without asking.
Ask for approvalRequests approval for commands and file changes
Auto-accept editsApproves file edits automatically; other actions can still require approval
Approve for meUses the provider's automatic review to approve routine actions and ask about others
Full accessFull computer access (elevated risk)
| level | what the bot does |
|---|---|
| Ask for approval | asks before it runs a command or changes a file. |
| Auto-accept edits | changes files without asking. other actions can still ask. |
| Approve for me | the ai's own automatic review approves routine actions and asks you about the rest. |
| Full access | does commands, edits and computer actions without asking. real questions and missing sign-ins still come to you. |
not every ai offers every level. where an ai has no automatic review, Approve for me behaves like Ask for approval, and the app tells you so.
changing the level
- for a bot: open its settings. the level applies to the bot and all of its conversations.
- for one conversation: use the level control by the message box.
- for a whole department: if you sort your bots into departments in the sidebar, a department's menu has Set for all bots in this department. it shows you what each bot will get before anything changes.
you can change the level while a bot is working. it applies from the bot's next step where its ai allows that, and otherwise from its next turn.
sending on your behalf
sending is treated separately, because a sent email cannot be unsent. this covers emails, messages, posts, invites and payments made through connected apps. reading and drafting never count.
Ask every timeEvery send waits for your tap.
Allow a daily amountSends go out on their own, up to the cap below.
- Ask every time: every send waits for your tap.
- Allow a daily amount: sends go out on their own, up to a cap you set. after that, the bot asks.
you set this for each bot, in its permissions.
what a bot never needs to ask about
a bot can always read its own things: its job, its notes and its own conversation folders. that is its own notebook, not yours.
what no level can do
even Full access is only about approval prompts. it does not:
- sign in for you, or get past a captcha or a two-step code
- get around your operating system's privacy settings
- give a bot access to an app you did not connect, or to someone else's workspace
- turn on a feature you turned off
staying in charge
- stop: ⌘. stops the bot you are looking at. ⌥⌘. stops all of them.
- watch: a bot's computer is live on your screen whenever you want to look.
- take over: Take control hands you the mouse, and the bot's own clicks are refused until you hand it back.
- limit what it can reach: a bot can only use the apps you connected and allowed for it.
you are responsible for what your bots do and for what you approve. read a card before you tap Allow, especially when it sends, buys or deletes.
stuck? write to [email protected] and a person answers.