How to Build a Grok Bot That Writes Your Weekly Report From a Google Sheet

Every Friday at 3 PM, a one-page report lands in your chat: this week vs last week, 3 wins, 3 risks, and a chart file. Your Sheet is only read, never edited.

Checked October 17, 2026. Researched and drafted with help from Grok Bot, one of the agents covered.

Why build this

A lot of us keep a spreadsheet that matters: sales, leads, orders, hours, website visits. And every week someone asks, "So how did we do?"

Writing that answer takes an hour. You copy numbers, do the math, and try to sound smart about why a number dropped.

A Grok Bot can do the boring part. It opens your Sheet, compares this week with last week, and writes a short report in plain English. You read it, fix anything that's off, and share it yourself.

This bot reads and prepares. It doesn't edit your Sheet, and it doesn't send the report to anyone. That makes it a safe first "work" Bot.

Who it's for

• Small business owners who track sales or orders in Google Sheets.
• Team leads who owe their boss a Friday update.
• Freelancers and agencies who report numbers to clients.
• Side-project builders who track sign-ups or views.
• You've finished our beginner Grok Bot track (first Bot, first task, safety settings).

What you'll need

• Grok Bot on The X Subscription Premium ($30/month) or higher, or a paid Cursor plan, or an older SuperGrok subscription linked to your account. (Plans checked Oct 17, 2026.)
• A Google Sheet with one row per day or per week, and a date column. If your data is messy, that's OK; we'll show you how to point the Bot at the right tab.
• The Google Drive plugin in Grok Bot (to find and read the file). The Google Sheets plugin is optional.
• 25–30 minutes and last week's numbers, so you can check the Bot's math.

What you'll get

• A step-by-step build: Bot, Google connection, first report, skill, Friday routine.
• The Bot description that keeps it read-only.
• The full weekly report prompt: this week vs last, % change, 3 wins, 3 risks, chart file.
• A math check prompt so you can trust the numbers.
• Correction prompts to lock in your format.
• Safety settings that stop any edits to your Sheet.
• Troubleshooting for the most common problems (wrong tab, wrong week, Google admin blocks).
• A "Same job in other agents" box for Gemini, Dots, Hermes and Muse.

Time

About 25–30 minutes to build, then two Friday test runs before you trust it.

Quick questions

Can it change my spreadsheet? Not in this build. We connect it in a read-only way and add a rule that stops any edit.

Does my Sheet need to be tidy? Tidier helps. A date column and clear column names are enough.

Can it email the report to my team? That's the Advanced version (A2), where sending sits behind an approval card. This guide stops at the report.

Before you start: 5-minute safety setup

1. Add Ask first rules. Open Settings → General → Auto-review (Auto-review is Grok Bot's safety checker. It decides which actions stop and wait for your OK.) and add:

   • Ask first before editing, clearing, or deleting anything in Google Sheets or Google Drive.
   • Ask first before sharing any file or sending any message.

2. Local computer off. Settings → General → Bot → Execution on Local Computer → Never allow.

3. Time zone. Settings → General → Bot → Timezone. "Friday 3 PM" means your Friday 3 PM only if this is right.

Step 1: Create the Bot

1. Choose New in the sidebar (or Cmd/Ctrl+N), then Create new Bot. (First launch: Create your own.)
2. Open Edit Profile. Name it Report Writer. In Label, type Weekly report (this is its job).
3. Paste this description:

Job: Every week, read my Google Sheet and write a one-page weekly report.

Source: the Google Sheet "[YOUR SHEET NAME]", tab "[TAB NAME]".
Weeks run Monday to Sunday in my time zone.

Standing rules:
- Never send, buy, publish, or delete without my approval.
- Read only. Never edit, clear, sort, filter, or add anything in my Sheet.
- Save reports as new files in /workspace/weekly-reports/. Never overwrite an old report.
- Show your math. Every number in the report must come from the Sheet.
- If the Sheet can't be opened, or this week's data is missing, say so. Never use last week's numbers as this week's.
- Keep it to one page. Plain English. No jargon.

/workspace is the shared folder on the Bot's cloud computer. You'll see the files as cards in chat.

4. Turn on Notifications in Bot settings.

Step 2: Connect Google (read-only first)

Grok Bot's help page splits Google files across two plugins:

• Google Drive can search and read files your account can open.
• Google Sheets can read and edit cells in Sheets your account can edit.

So for a read-only Bot, start with Drive only.

1. Select Connect apps in the sidebar.
2. Search Google Drive, choose Add, and finish the Google sign-in in your browser.
3. Check Connect apps → Your plugins shows it under Installed.

Then test whether Drive alone can read your numbers:

Use Google Drive to find my Google Sheet called "[YOUR SHEET NAME]".
Open the tab "[TAB NAME]" and show me the column names and the last 5 rows.
Don't change anything.

• If you see your real numbers: perfect. You're done connecting.
• If it can't read the cells: add the Google Sheets plugin the same way. Your Ask first rule will stop any edit and show you an approval card. Choose Deny if one ever appears for this bot.

Extra-safe option: if you're the owner, make a copy of the Sheet that only holds the numbers you want reported, or share the Sheet as Viewer to an account you connect. Grok Bot's help page says a file shared as Viewer stays view-only.

Work Google account? Your admin may need to approve the app named Grok before sign-in works. See Troubleshooting.

Step 3: Run the report once by hand

Type @ and attach Google Drive (and Google Sheets if you added it). Then paste:

Write my weekly report from the Google Sheet "[YOUR SHEET NAME]", tab "[TAB NAME]".

This week = Monday [date] to Sunday [date]. Last week = the 7 days before that.
The metrics I care about: [e.g. Revenue, Orders, New leads, Refunds].

Report format (one page):
1. Headline: one sentence on how the week went.
2. Table: | Metric | This week | Last week | Change | % change |
3. 3 wins: things that went up or went well, each with the number.
4. 3 risks: things that dropped or look off, each with the number and one possible reason. Mark reasons as "guess" unless the Sheet shows it.
5. One chart: this week vs last week for my top 2 metrics. Save it as a PNG.
6. "Questions for me": anything that looked odd (blank days, duplicates, huge jumps).

Save the report as a Word file and the chart as a PNG in /workspace/weekly-reports/ with this week's date in the file names.
Read only: don't edit the Sheet.

The report and chart appear as cards in the chat. Open them to preview. You can download them from there.

Step 4: Check the math (do this every time at first)

AI can make math mistakes. Ask it to prove its numbers:

For every number in the table, show me which rows you added up (the dates and row numbers) and the total. Use code to calculate, not mental math. Then tell me if anything didn't match.

Check two numbers yourself in the Sheet. If both match, you can start trusting it. If one doesn't, tell it exactly what went wrong:

Revenue is wrong. You counted refunds as sales. From now on, Revenue = column "Amount" minus rows where "Type" is "Refund".

Step 5: Lock in your format

After a run you like, say:

Use this format for all future weekly reports. Keep the same headings, the same table, and the same chart style.

Small tweaks people often want:

Round money to whole dollars and show % change with one decimal.

Add a line at the top: "Data through [last date in the Sheet]."

If a metric moved less than 5%, call it "flat" instead of a win or risk.

Step 6: Save it as a skill

Save the process we just used as a skill called "Weekly report from Sheet."
Include:
- the Sheet name, tab, and the metrics I care about
- how weeks are defined (Monday to Sunday, my time zone)
- the exact report format and chart
- the math check (calculate with code, list the rows used)
- the read-only rule: never edit the Sheet
- what to do if data is missing: report it, don't reuse old numbers
- where to save files: /workspace/weekly-reports/, new file each week

Type / in the chat box to find it later. Skills are shared by all your Bots.

Step 7: Schedule it for Friday

Every Friday at 3:00 PM my time, run the "Weekly report from Sheet" skill for the current week (Monday through today).
Post the report and chart here.
If the Sheet can't be opened or has no rows for this week, post "No new data this week" and stop.
Never edit the Sheet. Never send the report to anyone.

Then open View conversation details → Routines (click the Bot's name at the top of the chat, then find Routines on the Details tab), pick the routine, and choose Test (older versions call it Test run). Since this bot only reads and writes new files, a test is safe.

Tip: if your team fills in the Sheet late on Friday, move the routine to Monday morning and report on "last week" instead.

Make it yours: 3 variations

Agency, one report per client:

My Sheet has a "Client" column. Make one short report per client, each as its own file, named with the client and date.

Shop owner, best sellers:

Add a "Top 5 products this week" list by revenue, and flag any product that sold zero this week but sold last week.

Month-end version: make a second routine on the 1st of each month that compares last month with the month before. Routines must be at least 5 minutes apart, so don't stack them at the same minute.

Safety settings recap

If an approval card ever appears for this bot, read it. A report Bot should never need to edit your Sheet. Choose Deny, and ask it why it tried.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Likely cause	Fix
"I can't find that file"	Name doesn't match, or a different Google account is connected	Paste the Sheet's link instead of the name. Check which account you signed in with
It read the wrong tab	Sheets with many tabs	Name the tab in the description and the skill
Numbers are off by a day	Time zone or week definition	Check Settings → General → Bot → Timezone. Say "Monday to Sunday" explicitly
"Your admin needs to review Grok" / "Access blocked"	Company Google account	Ask your Google admin to set the app Grok to Trusted (Security → Access and data control → API controls → App access control → Manage third-party app access, then set Grok to Trusted)
Plugin shows Needs auth	Sign-in didn't finish	Open the plugin in Your plugins and choose Authenticate
Routine didn't run	Paused, signed out, or usage limit	View conversation details → Routines → check it's enabled and read the recent runs

Same job in other agents

Next step

When this report is right three Fridays in a row, move up to A2: How to Build a Grok Bot That Sends Your Weekly Report for You, With Your Approval. It writes the report into a Doc, drafts the team email or Slack post, and stops on an approval card.