Hands-on with OpenAI Dots: cloud computer, connected machines and background agents run in parallel

dry_towelette99 · reddit · 2026-10-01

A Reddit user spent a day probing OpenAI's Dots and mapped out an execution model that official docs gloss over:

Its own persistent cloud computer handled a multi-day, hundreds-of-PDFs document review, absorbing side questions without losing context.
Work/Codex delegated tasks are separate execution targets — the Dot's cloud computer does not automatically serve as a worker for delegated tasks; a launch failed until an environment was available.
A connected Linux machine (via the desktop app) became a second target: the Dot dispatched the blocked task to it remotely.
Genuine parallelism: cloud computer ran task A while the Linux box ran task B.
Computer-free background agents are also possible — a read-only research agent with no computer target, enabling three simultaneous tracks.
The Dot can context-switch mid-job: pause a review, resolve a specific factual question, update its understanding, and resume.

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