Grok Bot Updates: Hidden Prompt Alerts, Tailscale, and SSH Support

James Turner

Four official releases landed between November third and November sixth, and the one that matters most is 0.79.2, because your Bot now tells you when a web page hides instructions aimed at AI agents. It says it found them, and it says it didn't follow them. Quick note first, this is brought to you by Jellypod AI. Last episode we looked at early field reports and the 0.78.1 baseline. This time it's the official published changelogs from xAI, for 0.78.4, 0.78.5, 0.79.2 and 0.79.3.

James Turner

Start with 0.78.4, November third. It also rolls in 0.78.2 and 0.78.3. The Bot can now ask for a refund on a subscription charge, and it lists each way to ask before it sends or submits anything. That ordering is the point, you see the options first. When a Bot starts a cloud agent, the chat shows their exchange as a conversation, with the agent's icon and name. The Tasks pane lists those agents as Working, Run failed, or Status unavailable. And dictation can go out as a voice memo, which plays in the chat and has Show transcript. Team Bots can also suggest other team Bots that fit a request.

James Turner

Checkout got smoother too. After you approve a flight, stay, or grocery cart and its total, the Bot pays on its own, and asks again only if something material changes. But checkout with a saved card still waits for you to tap Pay on the order card before it fills in the card. So autonomy, with a hand on the brake.

James Turner

Version 0.78.5, November fourth, is a smaller release with one big idea. You can connect your personal tailnet from the Tailscale plugin, so Bots can reach MCP servers on it. Routines you schedule can run on your Bot computer while it's connected to your tailnet, and it runs only what you send it yourself. Also, a scheduled reorder of your usual list asks for one approval per order, and that approval shows the checkout total. That's the right design for anything that spends money on a timer.

James Turner

Now 0.79.2, November fifth, which also includes 0.79.0 and 0.79.1. Ask the Bot to find a gift and it asks for the recipient, budget, occasion, and deliver by date, and it never orders one that arrives late. On several major US airline sites, booking a flight follows the site's steps, and if a booking stops, it ends with a link to finish. Commands that open or unlock your Tesla, or let someone drive it, always ask for your approval. That last one is exactly where you want a hard rule.

James Turner

For builders, the Bot's computer can now run ssh and psql, and it runs Node.js scripts, including ones that start with the usual node shebang line. Put that next to the Tailscale connection from 0.78.5 and you get a practical combination. The changelog doesn't spell out that workflow, so that's my read, but it's a natural fit for reaching a database or internal service over your tailnet. Also in this release, the Library has filters for Pinned, All, Pages, Media, Links, Files, and Apps. The sidebar hides behind a toggle with one Bot, shows as a narrow rail with two to four, and in full with five or more. The desktop app has a new flat icon, and Settings offers Slovenian.

James Turner

Fixes worth knowing. Before placing an order, the Bot rechecks the shipping and total you approved, and tells you if the charged total differs. A one off routine turns off after it runs instead of firing again next year. That one's a relief. On Windows, the app no longer freezes for seconds the first time it loads a JPEG. And for Teams, admins can set a Bot Computer Retention Period, after which inactive members' Bot computers are terminated.

James Turner

Then 0.79.3, November sixth. Shared Pages get a title bar button, Switch to dark theme or Switch to light theme, that remembers your choice. People from a shared Slack workspace can message a Team Bot directly, and a different person starts a new conversation. When the usual page fetch fails, the Bot reads the page directly instead of opening it in a browser. Phone calls got cleaner: a busy or unreachable call now shows No answer, and when someone interrupts, the live transcript shows only the part of the Bot's line they heard. Unanswered and failed call cards offer Copy conversation ID.

James Turner

Two smaller safety notes. A revoked X Money connection stays signed out until you tap Connect in the app, and saying yes in chat doesn't reconnect it. And email the spam filter holds is kept so the Bot can read it when you ask, and it still doesn't wake you.

James Turner

Now the client side, and this comes from community and forum reports, not the official changelog. A support reply attributed to Mohit Jain says the Automatic Updates toggle only controls background auto restart. It does not stop the client from downloading and staging a mandatory version like 0.79.3. Once older builds age out, the app shows an Update required screen, and there's currently no supported rollback or version pinning path. So plan for it.

James Turner

Users on Windows and macOS also reported transient Bot failed to respond and Bot stopped without replying errors, even on simple greetings. Support said some behavior shifts and routing happen on the backend, not only from desktop regressions. On macOS, some failed updates, with the message that the downloaded update couldn't be prepared, traced to a disabled ShipIt helper in launchctl. The reported fix is to run launchctl enable on gui, your user ID, slash com dot anysphere dot sand dot ShipIt.

James Turner

How to use all this. Try the gift flow with a real deadline. Set up a scheduled reorder and check that the approval shows the total. If you run infrastructure, connect your tailnet and test ssh and psql from the Bot's computer. And let the hidden instruction notice make you more comfortable letting the Bot browse. That's the week, brought to you by Jellypod AI.