Honest guide to when a Grok Bot needs an always-on listener for webhooks and near-real-time jobs — and when a scheduled bot is enough.
A Grok Bot does the thinking on your job. An always-on listener is a small service that stays reachable on the public internet so a vendor can knock when something happens, or so a job where minutes matter does not wait for the next check.
Many jobs still run fine on a schedule with a bot alone. Opening Grok and walking through a simple scheduled job yourself is still fine for a lot of everyday work.
A bot is not a public web address, and it cannot receive some vendor notices at the moment they fire when the only path is a notice sent to your URL with short-lived access inside that notice.
Every setup starts with a Zoom call where Eric Starr talks through requirements. Setups that need an always-on listener involve a monthly plan. Cost depends on complexity, resiliency needs, load, and other criteria, and that is sorted on the call. Details: https://www.soundminds.ai/setup/always-on. The two-bots week lives at https://www.soundminds.ai/setup.