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EXIT audit: teach every bot when to stop, not just how to start

Bots keep chasing, searching, or monitoring after the job is already done.

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What hurt

@Michael_Fenech_ tip: most teams teach Grok Bot how to start a job and forget when to stop — chase after a reply already landed, research after the answer is found, monitors that never end. Paste his 4-point EXIT audit (End / Exceptions / Inactivity / Termination) into your Chief of Staff. Author-quoted prompt. Not affiliated with xAI.

What to install or create

Paste EXIT audit into Chief of Staff → review missing stop rules → approve changes one by one.

Bots

  • No new bot. Follow the first-run steps.

Plugins

  • None on day one. Follow the first-run steps.

Routines

  • None on the first run. Watch one manual pass first.

The prompt

EXIT audit across the Grok Bot team (author-quoted)

Quoted from @Michael_Fenech_ — as published. Do not invent a second system prompt.

Last line is our approval fence: Never send, post, spend, or buy without my explicit yes.

Run an EXIT audit across my Grok Bot team.

Find every active Bot and routine that performs recurring tasks, monitors something, follows up with people or works towards an outcome.

For each one, evaluate these four EXIT rules:

E — END CONDITION

Define exactly what success looks like. Identify the event or result that should mark the job as complete and stop further work.

X — EXCEPTIONS

Identify situations that should immediately stop or pause the Bot and hand control back to me, including unexpected replies, changed circumstances, errors or decisions requiring my judgement.

I — INACTIVITY LIMITS

Set appropriate limits on retries, follow-ups, elapsed time and repeated attempts that aren't making progress. Identify when a job should stop rather than keep consuming resources.

T — TERMINATION CONFIRMATION

Define how the Bot records why it stopped, what it completed, what remains unresolved and whether anything needs my attention.

Now:

1: Review each Bot and routine against all four EXIT rules. Show me which protections already exist and which are missing.

2: Flag jobs that could run indefinitely, repeat unnecessary work or continue acting after their original purpose has been fulfilled.

3: Recommend specific EXIT instructions for each Bot and routine, prioritised by risk and wasted effort.

4: Preserve all existing safeguards and approval requirements. Do not interrupt or modify any active job without my approval.

5: Present your findings and proposed changes in one report. Wait for my approval before implementing anything.

Never send, post, spend, or buy without my explicit yes.

First run

  1. 1Read https://x.com/Michael_Fenech_/status/2116126468224729568 (credit @Michael_Fenech_).
  2. 2Open your Chief of Staff (or main ops bot) and paste the author EXIT audit prompt.
  3. 3Review the report: missing End / Exceptions / Inactivity / Termination rules.
  4. 4Approve only the EXIT instructions you want; leave active jobs alone until you say yes.
  5. 5Re-run the audit after a week of usage drama to catch new always-on bloat.

Approval fence

Preserve existing safeguards; do not interrupt or modify any active job without your approval.

What to tweak

Steal the EXIT prompt; a good agent knows when it's done.

Source

Michael | AI + Agents @Michael_Fenech_ · Original post

Not affiliated with xAI. We did not write this prompt. Third-party template terms still apply.

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