Checking in

Checking in takes a room into your Dot. There are three formats. Pick the one that fits where you'll use it.

A roomits live version

Pasteone block of text

SkillSKILL.md

Pluginzip bundle

Any Dotpaste it in as its task

Codex.agents/skills

ChatGPT desktop~/.codex/plugins

Each format comes from the room's live version. Check-ins are counted on the room.

	Paste	Skill	Plugin
Works with	Any Dot	Codex	ChatGPT desktop app
Install needed	No	Save one file	Unzip and register
Includes rules and guardrails	Yes	Yes	Yes
Connects apps for you	No	No	Yes, for supported apps
Share with a team	Send the text	Commit it to a repo	Admins can publish it to the workspace

Every format includes the room's number, version, author and a link back to the room, so you can always tell where a setup came from.

Paste into your Dot

The simplest option. It always works, with nothing to install.

Connect the room's apps in ChatGPT under Settings → Plugins.
On the room's page, click Check in → Copy setup.
Open your Dot at chatgpt.com/dots and paste it in as its task.
Add each rule in Settings → Personalization → Custom rules. See how the rules map.

What you copy looks like this:

Text

Sunday Inbox Digest
(Dot Hotel room 102 · v1 · by @front-desk · https://dothotel.app/rooms/sunday-digest)

Every Sunday at 6pm, review email I received in the past 7 days. …

Custom Rules for this job:
Allow:
- Read email from the past 7 days
- Send one weekly digest email to me only
Block:
- Archive, label, move, or delete any email
- Email anyone other than me

Never:
- Read-only on your inbox: no archiving, labeling, or deleting
- Never emails anyone but you

Apps this uses: Gmail. If one isn't connected, stop and ask me to connect it.

From the terminal: npx dothotel paste 102.

Skill

A SKILL.md file in OpenAI's Agent Skills format, for Codex.

.agents/skills/
  dot-hotel-sunday-digest/
    SKILL.md  # instructions, Custom Rules, access list, guardrails
    agents/openai.yaml  # display name and default prompt

Save it as ~/.agents/skills/dot-hotel-sunday-digest/SKILL.md to use it everywhere, or under .agents/skills/ in a repo to share it with your team.
Codex picks it up automatically. Restart Codex if it doesn't show, then type @ to use it.

From the terminal: npx dothotel add sunday-digest (current project) or npx dothotel add sunday-digest -g (everywhere).

Plugin bundle

A zip in OpenAI's plugin format: the skill plus the app connections it needs.

~/.codex/plugins/
  dot-hotel-sunday-digest/
    .codex-plugin/plugin.json  # name, version, author, description
    .app.json  # the apps to connect
    skills/dot-hotel-sunday-digest/
      SKILL.md
      agents/openai.yaml
    README.md

Unzip it into ~/.codex/plugins/.
List it in your personal marketplace file, ~/.agents/plugins/marketplace.json. OpenAI's guide shows the format.
Restart the ChatGPT desktop app and install it from Plugins. Workspace admins can then Publish it to their team.

From the terminal: npx dothotel add sunday-digest --plugin.

Staying up to date

Rooms get new versions when their authors improve them. Your copy doesn't change by itself:

Paste: copy the setup again from the room's page.
Skill or plugin installed with the CLI: run npx dothotel update. It fetches only rooms with a newer version.
Downloaded by hand: download it again.