Grok Bot Troubleshooting: Routines, Approvals, Logins
Find your problem below and work through the steps in order. Start with the least destructive fix. A Bot's cloud work can carry on even when your app is closed or disconnected.
A routine didn't run
From the official help page and troubleshooting docs, check in this order:
- The routine is enabled, not paused. Routines pause if you are away for a long time.
- The schedule and time zone are right. Schedules use Settings, Bot, Timezone.
- It is a new routine. A new routine waits for its next scheduled time; it does not run when you create it. Use Test to try it now.
- The Bot that owns it still exists. Deleting a Bot deletes its routines.
- The apps it needs are still connected. A routine that hits a signed-out app shows a Reconnect card.
- Your usage or access isn't paused.
- For a Slack trigger: only new messages count, and the trigger type (mention, phrase, reaction, any message) matches what happened.
- For a webhook: a 200 response only means the run started, not that it finished.
Missed runs are not made up later. Check the run history, but note it keeps only the last 20 runs.
Related tips: Do it by hand, save a skill, then schedule, Make routines cheaper: events, slow schedules, change checks
A routine ran but did the wrong thing
Do the job by hand in chat until it is right, save the method as a skill, and make the routine one line that calls the skill. Describe the outcome, not exact tool calls, which break when connectors change. Have a Bot check the routine's output, not only that it ran.
Related tips: Keep routines one line long, Write the outcome, not the recipe, One job per Bot
Usage runs out early in the week
The help page warns that hourly schedules or busy Slack triggers can use a week of usage in a day. Switch to narrow event triggers, slow schedules down, add a cheap change check before the real work, and use connectors before the browser. Export your usage CSV and ask your Bot which routines cost the most.
If a routine fails with "Automation run rate limit exceeded", it hit the run limit: 300 runs an hour in total, 200 per routine. Those runs are not retried automatically.
Related tips: Make routines cheaper: events, slow schedules, change checks, Analyse your own usage CSV, Connectors before the browser
An approval card expired, or keeps coming back
Approvals from work that started without you (a routine, a trigger, another Bot) expire after about 30 minutes (10 before the 0.77.0 update) and the action does not run (docs). Either ask the Bot to try again while you are there, add a narrow Allow automatically rule for that exact action under Settings (now the Permissions section), or have the routine stop at a draft. If an action always asks, look for a matching Ask first rule: Ask first wins over Allow automatically. After you deny a card, the Bot stops until you send another message.
Related tips: Start each day with an approvals prompt, end it with a night prompt, What actually stops a coding Bot (and what is only advice)
The Bot seems stuck
From the troubleshooting docs: open the computer view to see whether it is waiting on a page, and look for a question, approval, login, CAPTCHA or secret request in the chat. Send a short redirect if the approach is wrong, or "Stop now" to end it. A long chat can also slow things down; a handoff skill lets you continue in a fresh chat.
Related tips: Open your Bot's screen to watch or help, A /clean-start skill for long chats
A website keeps asking you to log in
Take over the computer and sign in yourself, finish two-factor or the CAPTCHA, wait for the signed-in page to load, then tell the Bot to continue. Don't paste passwords or codes into chat. Some sites expire sessions often and that can't always be avoided. Saving the login in Vault or sharing it through 1Password saves you doing this every time.
Related tips: Vault: logins, cards and contact info, Use your 1Password with Grok Bot, Open your Bot's screen to watch or help
An app won't connect
Open Connect apps, click the connected count next to the title and check the app is listed. Reopen its page, choose the sign-in action and finish it with the right account in your browser, then retry the task. If you revoked access in the app itself, remove and reconnect it (docs). On a team, an admin may have blocked it; it then shows Disabled by team admin.
Related tips: Connect your apps from chat, or through one MCP hub, Let your Bot ask for the access it needs
A skill doesn't show up
Type / in the composer to find saved skills. Private skills are shared across all your Bots. If one is missing, the docs say to check it is enabled under Connect apps, the connected count, then Private skills.
Related tips: A /clean-start skill for long chats, Keep routines one line long
The Bot's computer can't be reached
Go from least to most destructive (docs): Retry or reopen the chat; restart the app; choose Recover computer when it is offered; then Settings, Computer, Update Bot's Computer, which keeps your files and logins but removes installed apps and packages. Use Reset only as a last resort: it restores the last saved snapshot and can lose recent work. Your chats are stored outside the computer and survive a reset.
Related tips: Back up your whole Bot setup, Check usage and update your Bot's computer in Settings
@bot didn't reply on X
Tagging @bot needs an X account connected to your Grok account and isn't available in every region yet. The docs say @bot also stays quiet when a post has a video, tags @grok as well, or doesn't pass moderation. To get the result in your app, ask it to "send it to my bot".
Related tips: Tag @bot on X: say "send it to my bot"
Before you contact support
The docs suggest collecting: your Grok Bot version, operating system, the exact error message, the Bot or routine name, the rough time and time zone, any request or conversation ID shown, and whether a retry, app restart or computer update changed anything. Never include passwords, codes or secret values.
More: why routines break and how to build them so they don't · glossary · official troubleshooting docs