{"slug": "dots", "name": "Dots", "category": "ai", "category_name": "AI models and assistants", "description": "", "recommenders": 5, "commenters": 7, "warners": 1, "score": 4.235, "rising": 5.0, "first": "2026-08-21", "latest": "2026-10-22", "why": "I used dots and enjoyed it because I could supplement my codex usage", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 1, "compare": 1, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 3], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I used dots and enjoyed it because I could supplement my codex usage", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "usedots.com", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://usedots.com", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Dots", "dots"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 803126817, "item_id": 50195426, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50195426", "by": "joshstrange", "date": "2026-10-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Dots is the better product overall right now.", "excerpt": "I've used Dots and Duet now (not planning to touch Muse/Grok) and while I want Duet to be better, Dots is the better product overall right now. After setting up Duet it suggested things it could help me with. The things it suggested were \"ok\" but not great suggestions IMHO. I let it go to see what it would do and I hated the UI/UX within seconds. It started \"working\" and dumping \"Cards\" in the chat of the tickets it ", "context": "", "use_case": "monitoring communications", "switched_from": "", "story": "Claude Duet"}, {"id": 802996689, "item_id": 50187293, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50187293", "by": "Computer0", "date": "2026-10-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used dots and enjoyed it because I could supplement my codex usage", "excerpt": "I really have no interest in this if it's going to use my plan's regular limits. I have less control over the context window, if its going off task. I used dots and enjoyed it because I could supplement my codex usage with read heavy long horizon tasks like reading gh issues and making pr's. These PR's were typically pretty bad but gave some starting point. I have much better real world output with the Claude Code st", "context": "", "use_case": "read-heavy long-horizon tasks, making PRs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Claude Duet"}, {"id": 802982272, "item_id": 50186392, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50186392", "by": "kuberwastaken", "date": "2026-10-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the only reason why I haven't switched from instinct to dots", "excerpt": "same, the only reason why I haven't switched from instinct to dots is the surface being whatsapp", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "instinct", "story": "Claude Duet"}, {"id": 798384529, "item_id": 49899033, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49899033", "by": "jjcm", "date": "2026-09-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "There's a lot of negativity in here for Dots.", "excerpt": "There's a lot of negativity in here for Dots. I've been a pretty heavy user of Grok Bot, and here are a few thoughts a long the positive line. 1. Collaboration between always-on agents is a really, really powerful thing. It allows for domain-specific expertise that doesn't overload the context window, while still allowing for access to knowledge if they need it. 2. Domain-specific always on agents creates a good barr", "context": "", "use_case": "always-on agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Dots: Always-on agents"}, {"id": 791608864, "item_id": 49475554, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49475554", "by": "Jommi", "date": "2026-08-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Does https://usedots.com/ fit your purpose?", "excerpt": "Does https://usedots.com/ fit your purpose?", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stripe said to abandon $50B pursuit of PayPal"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 798498816, "item_id": 49906176, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49906176", "by": "rkagerer", "date": "2026-09-30", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Sorry, but all the evidence I've seen points to their models being nowhere near good enough to do this reliably, consistently and responsibly.", "excerpt": "> Dots use auto-review[1] to check actions that could affect your accounts or share information against your instructions So if I've got this right, their security relies on other agents that sit at the boundary and sentry whether a proposed action is allowed. This means they have to interpret the purpose of the action, what effect it will have, whether those two things align, and what is the potential risk / splash ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Dots: Always-on agents"}]}], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["monitoring communications", "read-heavy long-horizon tasks, making prs", "always-on agents"], "compared": [{"slug": "claude", "name": "Claude", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "codex", "name": "Codex", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49896604", "title": "Dots: Always-on agents", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50186037", "title": "Claude Duet", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50186455", "title": "Claude Duet", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49473483", "title": "Stripe said to abandon $50B pursuit of PayPal", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49375244", "title": "Show HN: Open-source Stripe Connect alternative", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"compare": 1}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 1, "warn": 1}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 3}}, "quotes": [{"id": 803126817, "item_id": 50195426, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50195426", "by": "joshstrange", "date": "2026-10-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Dots is the better product overall right now.", "excerpt": "I've used Dots and Duet now (not planning to touch Muse/Grok) and while I want Duet to be better, Dots is the better product overall right now. After setting up Duet it suggested things it could help me with. The things it suggested were \"ok\" but not great suggestions IMHO. I let it go to see what it would do and I hated the UI/UX within seconds. It started \"working\" and dumping \"Cards\" in the chat of the tickets it ", "context": "", "use_case": "monitoring communications", "switched_from": "", "story": "Claude Duet"}, {"id": 802996689, "item_id": 50187293, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50187293", "by": "Computer0", "date": "2026-10-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used dots and enjoyed it because I could supplement my codex usage", "excerpt": "I really have no interest in this if it's going to use my plan's regular limits. I have less control over the context window, if its going off task. I used dots and enjoyed it because I could supplement my codex usage with read heavy long horizon tasks like reading gh issues and making pr's. These PR's were typically pretty bad but gave some starting point. I have much better real world output with the Claude Code st", "context": "", "use_case": "read-heavy long-horizon tasks, making PRs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Claude Duet"}, {"id": 802982272, "item_id": 50186392, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50186392", "by": "kuberwastaken", "date": "2026-10-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the only reason why I haven't switched from instinct to dots", "excerpt": "same, the only reason why I haven't switched from instinct to dots is the surface being whatsapp", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "instinct", "story": "Claude Duet"}, {"id": 798498816, "item_id": 49906176, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49906176", "by": "rkagerer", "date": "2026-09-30", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Sorry, but all the evidence I've seen points to their models being nowhere near good enough to do this reliably, consistently and responsibly.", "excerpt": "> Dots use auto-review[1] to check actions that could affect your accounts or share information against your instructions So if I've got this right, their security relies on other agents that sit at the boundary and sentry whether a proposed action is allowed. This means they have to interpret the purpose of the action, what effect it will have, whether those two things align, and what is the potential risk / splash ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Dots: Always-on agents"}, {"id": 798384529, "item_id": 49899033, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49899033", "by": "jjcm", "date": "2026-09-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "There's a lot of negativity in here for Dots.", "excerpt": "There's a lot of negativity in here for Dots. I've been a pretty heavy user of Grok Bot, and here are a few thoughts a long the positive line. 1. Collaboration between always-on agents is a really, really powerful thing. It allows for domain-specific expertise that doesn't overload the context window, while still allowing for access to knowledge if they need it. 2. Domain-specific always on agents creates a good barr", "context": "", "use_case": "always-on agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Dots: Always-on agents"}, {"id": 798370288, "item_id": 49898143, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49898143", "by": "lukebuehler", "date": "2026-09-29", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Dots are not remote agents _in_ a sandbox.", "excerpt": "Dots are not remote agents _in_ a sandbox. They use a sandboxes/environments, but they are, what is now called, \"managed agents\", meaning they run in a distributed harness and utilize environments when they need on. At least that is what I can ascertain from this article: https://openai.com/index/how-we-build-safety-security-and-privacy-into-dots/ (see first diagram when scrolling down)", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Dots: Always-on agents"}, {"id": 791608864, "item_id": 49475554, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49475554", "by": "Jommi", "date": "2026-08-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Does https://usedots.com/ fit your purpose?", "excerpt": "Does https://usedots.com/ fit your purpose?", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stripe said to abandon $50B pursuit of PayPal"}, {"id": 790162144, "item_id": 49385134, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49385134", "by": "Jommi", "date": "2026-08-21", "stance": "compare", "quote": "How do you compare to https://usedots.com/?", "excerpt": "How do you compare to https://usedots.com/?", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Open-source Stripe Connect alternative"}]}