# Looking for a Grok Bot Alternative I use Grok Bot every day. It drafts my posts, watches my Slack, and has its own cloud computer. It's good. But it's a paid, managed service, and I wanted to answer one question for myself: **Can I run something similar on my own Mac, with my own models, and still keep a human yes before every write?** So I started [awesome-bot](https://github.com/jellydn/awesome-bot), a small research repo. Not a ranking. Just notes from actually installing things. This post is the snapshot as of **1 Nov 2026**. ## 1\. What I actually need My daily work is Slack, Gmail, GitHub, and Sentry. So the bar is: - Read Slack threads, Gmail, GitHub repos/PRs, and Sentry incidents. - Run on a schedule and remember useful context. - Bring my own model (BYOK), ideally self-hosted and always on. - Least-privilege OAuth, auditable tool calls, and **approval before any write**. That last one is non-negotiable. An agent that can post to Slack or send email without asking is not an assistant, it's a liability. ![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/uploads/covers/56ee654dbcca2d711e191e2a/17750e4b-4802-4673-a21a-d3214babdd1e.png align="center") ## 2\. The shortlist | Platform | How it runs | License | Status | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Grok Bot](https://x.ai/news/introducing-grok-bot) | Managed | Paid service | Baseline | | [Rakazo](https://rakazo.com/) | Hosted from $10/mo, desktop app | Apache-2.0 | Tried, not selected | | [OpenMausBot](https://mausbot.com/) | Desktop / VPS / Docker | Apache-2.0 core | **Current trial** | | [OpenBot](https://www.copilotkit.ai/openbot) (CopilotKit) | Self-host template | MIT | Watching | | [OpenHuman](https://tinyhumans.ai/openhuman) | Local core, hosted memory from $20/mo | GPL-3.0 | Tried, Free plan dropped | | [OpenBot.run](https://openbot.run/) | Desktop, local-first | PolyForm Noncommercial | Tried, fails approval rule | ## 3\. Rakazo: nice pitch, broke on install Hosted plan is **$10/month** if you bring your ChatGPT or Claude plan, or credits from $20/month. Bots, browser automation, routines, web + desktop + mobile. On paper it's very close to what I want. In practice, desktop v0.3.5 "This computer" mode failed because the `v0.3.5` container images return 404 (only `edge` exists). Connecting Twitter returned a raw Composio JSON error. I filed both: [#2414](https://github.com/elie222/rakazo/issues/2414) and [#2415](https://github.com/elie222/rakazo/issues/2415). Keeping it on the list. Not installing it next. ## 4\. OpenBot.run: works with my ChatGPT plan, but no brakes This one surprised me. It picked up my existing Codex CLI login (ChatGPT plan) and the provider just became available. Supports a long list of agents: Codex, Claude Code, Gemini, Grok, OpenCode, Ollama... But the agents run with `danger-full-access` and `approvalPolicy: never`. They can change files, run commands, and drive the browser without asking. Also the license is now PolyForm Noncommercial, so not for work use without a separate license. Fun to try. Fails my approval rule. ## 5\. OpenHuman: the "free" plan isn't really free I ran the headless core plus web UI from release `v0.64.20` (main didn't compile for me). The local setup is fine. The catch is memory. On the Free account, the memory API returns `MEMORY_PLAN_REQUIRED` (403). Hosted memory starts at **$20/month** (Basic) or **$200/month** (Pro), and the page says payments and credits are non-refundable. So the Free plan is out. If I come back, it's with a paid plan or not at all. ## 6\. OpenMausBot: my current trial [OpenMausBot](https://github.com/milind-soni/OpenMausBot) (formerly OpenGrokBot) is the one I'm still running. Apache-2.0 core, works with Codex/Claude/Grok CLIs, has schedules, webhooks, phone pairing, MCP, and approval cards for risky actions. My setup: - Harness on `127.0.0.1:8799`, Vite UI on `5199`, Electron off. - One `just up` starts both and opens a Cloudflare tunnel to `bot.itman.fyi`. - A remote browser must **pair** with a code before it can call the API. ![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/uploads/covers/56ee654dbcca2d711e191e2a/e51878b7-800b-432f-84d7-cb68b91f0784.png align="left") One gotcha that cost me time: don't rewrite the Host header in the tunnel. If you do, the same-origin check fails with `forbidden: cross-origin request`. Two things to watch: API keys sit in local config as plaintext (file mode 0600), and Slack/Gmail/GitHub go through Composio, which may cost extra. Sentry is still unverified. ## 7\. OpenBot (CopilotKit): the one I'm watching Different project, same name. It's an MIT template you clone and run. What I like: every tool call goes through a gateway that **writes an audit row before the call**. That's the right shape. I haven't put it through the same hands-on run yet. ## 8\. Honest status None of them has passed the real test yet. Slack, Gmail, GitHub, and Sentry were not fully connected in any run. Sentry support is unverified everywhere. And a reminder to myself: **an advertised integration is not proof** of real OAuth scopes, two-way actions, or unattended runs. The real test is one workflow: 1. Pull a Sentry issue and stack trace. 2. Find related GitHub commits and PRs, with citations. 3. Search Slack for the incident discussion. 4. Prepare a Gmail draft with a summary and links. 5. **Wait for my yes** before sending or posting anything. ## 9\. The shape I want ```text Web / mobile UI | Agent orchestrator --- Model gateway (BYOK / local LLM) | Tool permission gateway | | | | Slack Gmail GitHub Sentry | Audit logs + approval + scheduler + state ``` Start read-only. Add writes later, behind approval. ## Wrap up For now Grok Bot stays my baseline, and OpenMausBot is the self-hosted one I keep running. The repo is open, so if you've tested one of these (or one I missed), PRs are welcome. Please bring a version, a date, and whether you **tested** it or just **read** about it. Cheap agents are easy. Agents you can trust with your inbox are not. Repo: #ITMan #AI #SelfHosted #OpenSource