# Stops short, or hands the task back (`act.stops_short`)

Feedback Bench, personal agents, built 2026-10-19, window 2026-08-31 to 2026-10-18. Web page: https://feedbackbench.com/#/criterion/act.stops_short

Area: [Getting tasks done](https://feedbackbench.com/criteria/act.md)

**Definition.** The post says the agent stopped before the task was done, gave up, handed steps back to the user, told the user how to do it instead of doing it, or needed repeated prompts to finish. As praise: it did the task itself where the user expected only instructions, or finished from one request.

**Boundary.** Not this: use general.unspecific for praise that it completes tasks, gets things done, automates work or runs on its own, when no stop, hand-back or prompt count is named. Not this: see the act.* leaf of the task when the post names the kind of task. Not this: see [Following instructions, rules and corrections](https://feedbackbench.com/criteria/act.instructions.md) when it does something other than what was said. Not this: see [Says it did something it did not do](https://feedbackbench.com/criteria/act.false_reports.md) when it claims a result that did not happen. Not this: see [Asks before acting: too little or too much](https://feedbackbench.com/criteria/control.approval.md) when it stops only to ask permission. Not this: see [Response and task completion speed](https://feedbackbench.com/criteria/ask.speed.md) when the point is how fast.

Rated user-weeks, all agents: 1239. Complaint share: 45%.

## The brief

Written by large language models from this page's numbers and the posts it quotes, then checked: every number in the text is in the build. Interpretation, not measurement.

Muse is the agent most likely to finish the job. Its users say they state a problem once and it does the task itself. Hark and Grok Bot also rank high. Finishing makes up 2.2% of what users rate, and 45.1% of those ratings are complaints. OpenClaw and ChatGPT Dots rank low. ChatGPT Dots users rate this 1.87 times as often as other users, and they write 20% of the category's complaints here.

### What separates the best from the rest

Users of the leading agents describe asking once and getting the work done. Muse users say it solves the problem they state and does not quit. Grok Bot users say it needs no babysitting and fixes its own hung tasks. Users of the trailing agents describe having to push tasks to the end. OpenClaw users say it stalls mid-task and sits idle until prompted again. ChatGPT Dots users say they have to micromanage it, and its complaints outnumber its praise 111 to 40.

- **Ranks high**: [Muse](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/muse.md), [Grok Bot](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/grok-bot.md), [Hark](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/hark.md)
  - Muse, 2026-10-16, App Store (App Store): “simply the best doing ai i've found so far, i simply stated my problem and it solved it, incredible.” [source](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/muse-from-meta/id6760173601)
  - Grok Bot, 2026-10-13, X search: Grok Bot, Grokbot, x.ai/bot (X): “every day i wake up, grok bot continues to blow my mind. just this morning, grok bot debugged itself because one of the tasks i assigned to it got hung up. my mind was blown away. [link] [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/17050482/status/2109805682186674186)
- **Ranks low**: [OpenClaw](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/openclaw.md), [ChatGPT Dots](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/dots.md)
  - OpenClaw, 2026-10-16, X search: OpenClaw, openclaw.ai (X): “@michaelslate @steipete plus that bug where gpt will say "i am going to do this ..." and just stops until you kick it few times. i had to write custom plug between codex and openclaw to make it work.” [source](https://twitter.com/1164544374404976641/status/2111211024766407055)
  - ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-11, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “i've been using @chatgpt dots heavily since launch. the promise is exactly what i want: an assistant that knows my context, helps me think and gets work finished. but i keep becoming its project manager. feedback for @therohanvarma @thsottiaux:” [source](https://twitter.com/4112141/status/2109120524400132263)

## How it breaks

Rule: A separate pass sorts complaints into failure modes. For each criterion with at least 30 complaining user-weeks, a large language model reads 150 complaint posts drawn at random and names 4 to 8 failure modes; a second large language model then puts every complaint post on that criterion in one mode, or in Other when it fits none. Modes are fixed once named, and new posts are sorted into them each week. A mode counts distinct user-weeks with a complaint in it, per agent; across agents, one user-week per agent. Modes do not change the labels or the Feedback Score. Examples: up to 3 posts per mode from different users, chosen and checked as receipts are.

Two modes tie for largest, each 20% of complaining user-weeks. The first is needing constant prompting to finish, led by ChatGPT Dots and OpenClaw. The second is stopping silently mid-task, led by Hermes Agent and OpenClaw. No mode belongs mostly to one agent. ChatGPT Dots comes closest, with 42% of complaints about dropping some of several tasks. Muse, the leader, draws 32% of complaints that the agent gives instructions instead of acting.

562 complaining user-weeks.

| Failure mode | User-weeks | Posts | Agents (user-weeks) | Definition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constant babysitting needed to finish | 110 | 116 | ChatGPT Dots 28, OpenClaw 25, Muse 21, Grok Bot 17, Hermes Agent 17, Hark 1, Poke 1 | Complaints that no meaningful task finishes without repeated prompts, steering, or corrections, to the point where doing it yourself would be faster. This covers general complaints about too much supervision that name no single stopping pattern from the modes above. |
| Silent abandonment partway through a task | 110 | 112 | Hermes Agent 30, OpenClaw 29, Muse 16, ChatGPT Dots 14, Grok Bot 14, Gemini Spark 5, Hark 1, Instinct 1 | The agent stops working mid-task without saying so: the session ends, it freezes, goes quiet, or sits idle while the work is unfinished. This excludes cases where it openly declines, hands steps back, or waits on the user for an explicit reason. |
| Gives up at the first obstacle | 64 | 65 | Grok Bot 20, ChatGPT Dots 12, Muse 12, Hermes Agent 7, OpenClaw 6, Hark 4, Gemini Spark 2, Poke 1 | When it hits a site error, login wall, blocked booking, approval step, or hard bug, the agent quits, gives up within minutes, or tells the user to drop the goal, instead of retrying or finding another way. This excludes cases where it simply stops with no obstacle in sight. |
| Instructions given instead of action | 60 | 61 | Muse 19, Grok Bot 14, OpenClaw 12, ChatGPT Dots 8, Hermes Agent 4, Gemini Spark 3 | The agent tells the user how to do something, or passes back steps it could do itself (copy/paste, manual calls, manual SSH migration, setting changes), instead of doing them. This excludes handoffs forced by a real blocker such as 2FA or a site refusing access. |
| Promised progress or follow-up never arrives | 42 | 42 | Grok Bot 13, ChatGPT Dots 11, Hermes Agent 7, OpenClaw 7, Hark 2, Muse 1, Poke 1 | The agent says it is working on the task, will report back, or that the job is pending or done, but nothing is actually produced until the user checks and finds it stuck or idle. This excludes visible stalls the agent itself admits to. |
| Offers a task, then says it can't | 34 | 34 | Muse 10, ChatGPT Dots 6, Grok Bot 5, Hermes Agent 5, OpenClaw 5, Gemini Spark 1, Hark 1, Poke 1 | The agent suggests or agrees to do a task, then says it can't do it, or keeps saying it can't do things it can do. This excludes tasks the user asked for that the agent declines from the start. |
| Drops some of several assigned tasks | 24 | 24 | ChatGPT Dots 10, Grok Bot 5, Muse 5, Hermes Agent 3, Instinct 1 | Given several tasks or scheduled jobs, the agent finishes some, quietly forgets or skips others, and only picks them up after the user reminds it. This excludes losing a single task partway through. |
| Pauses for a 'continue' between steps | 15 | 15 | Hermes Agent 4, Grok Bot 3, Muse 3, OpenClaw 3, ChatGPT Dots 1, Gemini Spark 1 | In a multi-step workflow or task list, the agent stops after each step or after a few items and only resumes when the user prompts it again. This excludes one-off stalls with no step-by-step pattern and cases where it hands the remaining work to the user. |
| Other | 110 | 114 | OpenClaw 24, ChatGPT Dots 23, Grok Bot 17, Hermes Agent 16, Muse 16, Hark 11, Gemini Spark 3 | Complaints that fit none of the modes above. |

#### Constant babysitting needed to finish

- ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-16, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “openai dots feels like i have to micro manage it and feels less capable than it's competitors. what's been your experience?” [source](https://twitter.com/58985575/status/2111165082507919643)
- Muse, 2026-10-15, r/MetaAI (Reddit): “how to make meta muse a hard worker? so annoying it requires constant pushing and instructions. it has all access, login, but it makes you push to do the work in the screenshot it was doing the ltl freight bids shopping” [source](https://www.reddit.com/r/MetaAI/comments/1x6iwbs/how_to_make_meta_muse_a_hard_worker/)
- Grok Bot, 2026-10-14, @bot (X): “can we clean this up @bot? i shouldn't have to ask you twice. [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/12598542/status/2110498631086379421)

#### Silent abandonment partway through a task

- OpenClaw, 2026-10-15, X search: OpenClaw, openclaw.ai (X): “@jayqinqt i don't like that button-pushing command, so i'm letting the ai do it itself. xangi is done with this, while openclaw is stopping, which is a common situation.” [source](https://twitter.com/184823070/status/2110748066668257756)
- Muse, 2026-10-11, Play Store (Play Store): “please finish the story. i get to the good part. . can't get the rest.” [source](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.facebook.aura)
- OpenClaw, 2026-10-11, X search: OpenClaw, openclaw.ai (X): “@ziwenxu_ i am trying, when it’s not failing to execute local work and sits there doing nothing. when everything works its great. (pretty much my exact openclaw experience)” [source](https://twitter.com/1638237230761144325/status/2109384821403431304)

#### Gives up at the first obstacle

- Hark, 2026-10-17, @hark_labs (X): “@hark_labs your bot told me last minute it ran into a snag and couldn’t do it” [source](https://twitter.com/2961936246/status/2111285059219255453)
- Hark, 2026-10-17, @hark_labs (X): “@chrisgpt @hark_labs yes, same happened to me, i got the manual check, and i just opened doordash myself and finished the order” [source](https://twitter.com/1681021708923465728/status/2111276878707195930)
- Hark, 2026-10-17, @hark_labs (X): “@hark_labs it never worked. the agent said to reach out to support.” [source](https://twitter.com/1684007057555431425/status/2111251844215292103)

#### Instructions given instead of action

- Hermes Agent, 2026-10-14, r/hermesagent (Reddit): “not all it always tell me to open the server terminal and some stuff manually its not that bad cuz i start learning new stuff through this but still annoying if i cant access my computer in the moment” [source](https://www.reddit.com/r/hermesagent/comments/1x5rvsh/terminal_command_and_passwords/pgoxpcv/)
- Grok Bot, 2026-10-12, r/GrokBot (Reddit): “"i won't do that on my own" translation = you have to ask me to fix it.” [source](https://www.reddit.com/r/GrokBot/comments/1x4e58w/grokbot_doesnt_allow_tailscale_exit_nodes_follow/pgdaawe/)
- Grok Bot, 2026-10-12, X search: Grok Bot, Grokbot, x.ai/bot (X): “@kyrannio right... i already created a grok bot that composes music bit i have to do a bunch of steps to get the song manually how 2020 ugg lol” [source](https://twitter.com/125256783/status/2109483279594496497)

#### Promised progress or follow-up never arrives

- ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-15, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “@openai’s dots has so many issues to me, i ended up spending half of the messages asking it to publish the site change it made or push changes to gh. and it often still wouldn’t work 🤷♂️ [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/1498500680/status/2110707066583277578)
- ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-13, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “i let @openai dot work overnight on a project as i had 40% usage and expected a reset. dot did nothing all night for nine hours. asi is here. [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/2058615230263963648/status/2109973361413554327)
- ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-08, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “i renamed my openai dot “dumb.” i asked it to manage multiple social media channels and follow daily routines. instead, it keeps planning, reporting, and stalling while real work goes unfinished. @openai @sama @thsottiaux @embirico” [source](https://twitter.com/1025929908/status/2108305128818110916)

#### Offers a task, then says it can't

- Poke, 2026-10-12, @interaction (X): “@sezeriltekin @interaction incredibly bad, it can only be talked about, never give them a job to do.” [source](https://twitter.com/200210563/status/2109753527123722468)
- Hark, 2026-10-08, @hark_labs (X): “@markjenney @hark_labs i didn't get so many results. it did ask if i wanted them but then it.... didn't do anything” [source](https://twitter.com/13531722/status/2108224763856359452)
- ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-04, ChatGPT Dots Finally Clicked When I Learned This (YouTube): “i tried using dot to orchestrate one of my ongoing codex chats but it said it didn't have the power to do it...” [source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RYDaLnB6ec&lc=UgzEQqXql1oVm2udCUV4AaABAg)

#### Drops some of several assigned tasks

- Muse, 2026-09-08, X search: Muse from Meta, Meta Muse (X): “@meta muse spark 1.3 is an artificial intelligence agent that has sworn not to complete any task and is determined to do half a job even in 10 attempts.” [source](https://twitter.com/2741542125/status/2097331989036646800)
- Muse, 2026-10-08, @muse (X): “as i work more with @muse i see a couple of limitations: when allowing it to use my mac mini, if i give it too many unrelated tasks at once, one may get lost and i have to remind muse to go back and pick it up. there might be a way to avoid this but i have not come across it yet. i will put the other limitation i have found in a separate post.” [source](https://twitter.com/1428822980654780427/status/2108170442506645511)
- Grok Bot, 2026-09-06, X search: Grok Bot, Grokbot, x.ai/bot (X): “is tibo not in the @grok bot team? this is ending too quickly and everything is left half-finished. i always think this, but heavy is the best, right? why can't you fulfill even 10% of my commands? the construction can't even start from the starting line. i'm really troubled. 😭” [source](https://twitter.com/4365384662/status/2096443551043432629)

#### Pauses for a 'continue' between steps

- OpenClaw, 2026-10-16, X search: OpenClaw, openclaw.ai (X): “@michaelslate @steipete plus that bug where gpt will say "i am going to do this ..." and just stops until you kick it few times. i had to write custom plug between codex and openclaw to make it work.” [source](https://twitter.com/1164544374404976641/status/2111211024766407055)
- Grok Bot, 2026-10-01, OpenAI dots compete con grokbot il nuovo gpt 6.1 sol compete con opus 5.5 tutto questo è successo (YouTube): “to make him do a simple debugging job, i had to ask 4 times to continue the analysis. more and more inconclusive. i don't see the improvement.” [source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzyQCv6p0QA&lc=UgwACgwe4RUu7njEI5l4AaABAg)
- Hermes Agent, 2026-09-21, r/hermesagent (Reddit): “hello guys, trying to code something with hermes and gemma4-26b-a4b, but it keeps stopping before finishing what i gave him, and then i have to send a « continue » message so that’s he continues or try again. am i doing some wrong or is it normal ?” [source](https://www.reddit.com/r/hermesagent/comments/1wmjjgj/hermes_keeps_stoping/)

#### Other

- Hark, 2026-10-16, @hark_labs (X): “@hark_labs looks like it glitched and asked me for an api key right at checkout 👀🤔. not as seamless as you’d think. [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/261222214/status/2111244917334765624)
- ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-12, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “isn't chatgpt dot kind of useless? the implementation isn't progressing at all. why do i have to ask codex to solve it?” [source](https://twitter.com/1593936241967640576/status/2109516556598493650)

## Top requests

What users ask to add or change, most asked first. 136 user-weeks ask for something. Requests do not change the Feedback Score. Rule: A separate pass by a large language model reads every counted post and extracts what the user asks the agent or its vendor to add or change, with the criteria it maps to and a short normalised wording; it does not touch the labels or the Feedback Score. A large language model groups the wordings within each criterion (the first criterion the request maps to) into themes, and a second pass merges themes that ask for the same change under different criteria; a merged theme sits under the criterion most of its requests map to, and code counts it once. A theme counts distinct user-weeks that ask for it, per agent; across agents, one user-week per agent. Themes asked in fewer than 2 user-weeks, and requests that share no theme, are not shown. Examples: up to 3 posts per theme from different users, without slurs: whole posts of 60 to 450 characters with at least 8 words beyond handles and links, posts of at most 280 characters first, then the newest.

| Rank | Request | User-weeks | Posts | Agents (user-weeks) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Finish tasks without stopping partway | 25 | 25 | Muse 8, OpenClaw 8, Grok Bot 4, Hermes Agent 3, ChatGPT Dots 1, Gemini Spark 1 |
| 2 | Finish without repeated prompting | 23 | 24 | Hermes Agent 7, Muse 7, OpenClaw 4, Grok Bot 3, Gemini Spark 1, Instinct 1 |
| 3 | Less babysitting for end-to-end tasks | 13 | 13 | Hermes Agent 4, OpenClaw 4, ChatGPT Dots 2, Muse 2, Grok Bot 1 |
| 4 | Broader real-world agent capabilities | 12 | 12 | Gemini Spark 5, Grok Bot 4, Hermes Agent 1, Muse 1, OpenClaw 1 |
| 5 | Do the task instead of giving instructions | 12 | 12 | OpenClaw 4, Grok Bot 3, Muse 3, Hermes Agent 2 |
| 6 | No cutoffs on long-running tasks | 11 | 11 | Hermes Agent 5, OpenClaw 3, Muse 2, Grok Bot 1 |
| 7 | Recovery and retry after mid-task crashes | 8 | 8 | Hermes Agent 4, OpenClaw 3, ChatGPT Dots 1 |
| 8 | Clear handoff and explanation when stuck | 4 | 4 | Hermes Agent 2, Muse 2 |
| 9 | Fewer unnecessary checks before finishing | 4 | 4 | Hermes Agent 3, Grok Bot 1 |
| 10 | Auto-resume blocked board tasks | 3 | 3 | Hermes Agent 2, OpenClaw 1 |
| 11 | Support tasks linked from social posts | 3 | 3 | Muse 3 |

### 1. Finish tasks without stopping partway

- Muse, 2026-10-11, Play Store (Play Store): “please finish the story. i get to the good part. . can't get the rest.” [source](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.facebook.aura)
- Gemini Spark, 2026-10-08, X search: Gemini Spark (X): “the reply to the estimate request always stops at just the beginning. i want to leave it to gemini spark. [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/1908107969520406528/status/2108150430350110816)
- Grok Bot, 2026-10-05, X search: Grok Bot, Grokbot, x.ai/bot (X): “grok bot been failing me all night. its not completing tasks either. @bot fix! [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/1392504262928715777/status/2106970677047951825)

### 2. Finish without repeated prompting

- Grok Bot, 2026-10-14, @bot (X): “can we clean this up @bot? i shouldn't have to ask you twice. [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/12598542/status/2110498631086379421)
- Hermes Agent, 2026-10-10, @NousResearch (X): “@nousresearch dissapointing keeps stopping mid task and need to keep prompting it” [source](https://twitter.com/317138753/status/2109019221938384922)
- Hermes Agent, 2026-10-09, @NousResearch (X): “@nousresearch @microsoft did you guys change something? my main agent needs me to copy and paste paragraphs to perform lately like i’m building a nuclear submarine or some shit?” [source](https://twitter.com/248973133/status/2108378193098867179)

### 3. Less babysitting for end-to-end tasks

- ChatGPT Dots, 2026-10-07, Why OpenAI's new Dots are useless (YouTube): “my dot is learning, but i’ve definitely had to push it. it’s helped with research and building, but i still have to remind it to keep workers active and get finished changes deployed. i want consistent follow-through without having to babysit every step.” [source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSaI_xTyEcs&lc=UgynenjN_vsDj0H2QU94AaABAg)
- Muse, 2026-10-01, @muse (X): “@mukund @muse @yelp this is my entire experience with it as well. every meaningful task requires some kind of intervention or review of what it did to the point where it’d be faster just doing it myself.” [source](https://twitter.com/232691130/status/2105806260662620641)
- Grok Bot, 2026-09-27, @bot (X): “@bot @grok ＠spacexai they say, “99% of people still use grokbot like google. only 1% are building teams of self-learning agents.” yeah, but i just want to give grok a job and have it handle it on its own.” [source](https://twitter.com/434297908/status/2104184938023325746)

### 4. Broader real-world agent capabilities

- Grok Bot, 2026-10-15, @bot (X): “@ferminrp @bot i want to see something done other than the weather 🫠” [source](https://twitter.com/1785825626634559488/status/2110879306180084211)
- Grok Bot, 2026-10-05, X search: Grok Bot, Grokbot, x.ai/bot (X): “@sirwisesam @dinerdash2026 yes, my daughters would be appalled at my lack of choreography to video editing or lack thereof. maybe one day i’ll own a grokbot that can do it all for me.☺️” [source](https://twitter.com/1119404197/status/2107206586162717012)
- Grok Bot, 2026-09-30, We Built Grok Bot. Here Are Our 14 Best Bots | Peng Zheng & Lauren Tan (YouTube): “many small tasks are very time-consuming. the more you can automate, the better. '-'” [source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ5TEaleUdg&lc=Ugxl7uYDQK6k_EEOFnl4AaABAg.AbKfUsuIgN4AbNtpJoIyEr)

### 5. Do the task instead of giving instructions

- Hermes Agent, 2026-10-06, @NousResearch (X): “@nousresearch ha. the part i really want to see is what happens when the hotel site doesn't cooperate. i've tried hermes and plenty of other setups. an agent that works through that without handing the job straight back to me is what i'm looking for.” [source](https://twitter.com/1470752806785138691/status/2107493892765687932)
- Grok Bot, 2026-10-04, @bot (X): “@elonmusk @grok @bot waiting for mine to stop organizing problems and actually solve them” [source](https://twitter.com/47203701/status/2106803777382875514)
- Muse, 2026-09-25, Play Store (Play Store): “offers to take care of stuff then wants to give me instructions on how to do it myself. why offer to take care of it in the first place” [source](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.facebook.aura)

### 6. No cutoffs on long-running tasks

- Hermes Agent, 2026-10-08, @NousResearch (X): “congrats on the series b, @nousresearch! got you a pr to celebrate 🎁 hermes kept stopping at least once a day during my long-running /goal tasks, so i used hermes to write a pr for hermes. my first contribution to hermes agent: [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/14318713/status/2108165035692548097)
- Muse, 2026-09-26, Play Store (Play Store): “sucks cuse if never let you finish once it gots if just ends. for actually it don't even deserve a star the way you guys leave us hanging” [source](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.facebook.aura)
- Hermes Agent, 2026-09-25, @NousResearch (X): “@nousresearch why does the harness suddenly stop mid task now? always preceded by this </parameter> [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/56220871/status/2103515416404603062)

### 7. Recovery and retry after mid-task crashes

- Hermes Agent, 2026-10-09, @NousResearch (X): “@nousresearch my kanban board keeps stalling and i have to keep kicking it. its super annoying to come back and finding so little has been done. is there a feature im underutilizing that fixes this or something?” [source](https://twitter.com/1467212313379934219/status/2108633678490505525)
- Hermes Agent, 2026-10-06, @NousResearch (X): “@olriconlyfornft @nousresearch @teknium the /aux and /errors pairing could make missing summaries much easier to diagnose. can a background failure be linked to the original slack request, so the user sees which part is incomplete and a retry resumes that run?” [source](https://twitter.com/2103160355426099201/status/2107460828320727392)
- OpenClaw, 2026-09-24, @openclaw (X): “@openclaw restart recovery and managed updates matter more than the model list when agents are expected to run unattended.” [source](https://twitter.com/143774242/status/2102996211028656447)

### 8. Clear handoff and explanation when stuck

- Hermes Agent, 2026-10-07, @NousResearch (X): “@louiemota88 @devindevelopers @cognition @nousresearch i would check what happens to the session when the devin trial days run out mid task. the plugin has to fail clean and hand the plan back to hermes instead of retrying the same call until the sub is gone.” [source](https://twitter.com/1447584564239486980/status/2107919332298854700)
- Muse, 2026-09-28, @muse (X): “@muse meeting booked with muse on glasses. no phone, no screen. cool demo. production still asks for the escalate path when the calendar is wrong.” [source](https://twitter.com/864358436/status/2104568457475797136)
- Hermes Agent, 2026-09-24, @NousResearch (X): “@ethgoldi @benzinga @nousresearch the handoff is part of the product surface, not an exception path. if the agent can't explain why it stopped, the operator is just guessing.” [source](https://twitter.com/889730220852473856/status/2103259831750562241)

### 9. Fewer unnecessary checks before finishing

- Hermes Agent, 2026-10-04, X search: Hermes Agent, hermes-agent, Hermes Desktop (X): “i requested the task of building one vm on iaas from the hermes agent via the gui, and at first, i was amazed that it was working automatically, but after 20 minutes of still seeing it fiddling with the gui in trial and error, i started to feel anxious and scared.” [source](https://twitter.com/298969881/status/2106615668871504087)
- Hermes Agent, 2026-10-02, X search: Hermes Agent, hermes-agent, Hermes Desktop (X): “hermes-agent is an amazing harness. ask it to check your email, and even if you have only one unread and it has already read everything, it'll launch a full criminal investigation on all of it. ten minutes later it'll say, "hey, you have 1 unread." ask it: "oh cool, what does it contain?" ha: "ok, let me do another criminal investigation."” [source](https://twitter.com/1973083865607708673/status/2105939916001837438)

### 10. Auto-resume blocked board tasks

- Hermes Agent, 2026-09-01, X search: Hermes Agent, hermes-agent, Hermes Desktop (X): “@fei2411 there is a kanban plugin in hermes agent, and i put most of my to-dos in there. the agent will complete them one by one, but the current issue is that once a task is blocked, this thread ends, and it cannot continue after troubleshooting.” [source](https://twitter.com/1371445165/status/2094605143123853686)

### 11. Support tasks linked from social posts

- Muse, 2026-10-05, App Store (App Store): “i keep getting links from facebook from muse to do things for me, but it does not have those capabilities a little late to the game with your ai. i am going to keep using ai and probably every other ai except for this one.” [source](https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/muse-from-meta/id6760173601)
- Muse, 2026-10-04, Play Store (Play Store): “just got it then so far ahead of brick wall when it says to click on facebook post and create a collage from last year's plus. doesn't even do it natively or automatically. i have to read the same information again.” [source](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.facebook.aura)

## Every agent

| Agent | Overall rank | Reading | Customer love | 95% interval | n | Praise | Complaint |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Muse](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/muse.md) | 1 | 1st of 6 | 0.649 | 0.618–0.681 | 380 | 279 | 101 |
| [Hark](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/hark.md) | 4 | 2nd of 6 | 0.538 | 0.511–0.567 | 65 | 45 | 20 |
| [Grok Bot](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/grok-bot.md) | 3 | 3rd of 6 | 0.512 | 0.480–0.544 | 246 | 138 | 108 |
| [Hermes Agent](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/hermes-agent.md) | 2 | 4th of 6 | 0.491 | 0.461–0.521 | 194 | 104 | 90 |
| [OpenClaw](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/openclaw.md) | 5 | 5th of 6 | 0.431 | 0.401–0.459 | 169 | 61 | 108 |
| [ChatGPT Dots](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/dots.md) | 8 | 6th of 6 | 0.374 | 0.346–0.405 | 151 | 40 | 111 |
| [Gemini Spark](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/gemini-spark.md) | 7 | Too few posts | – | – | 25 | 10 | 15 |
| [Instinct](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/instinct.md) | 6 | Too few posts | – | – | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| [Poke](https://feedbackbench.com/agents/poke.md) | 9 | Too few posts | – | – | 4 | 0 | 4 |

## Posts

Receipts rule: Up to 5 praise and 5 complaint posts per area and 3 per criterion. Each is a whole post of 60 to 450 characters (700 for areas) with at least 8 words beyond handles and links, that judges the criterion, whose labels are all praise or all complaint, and that contains no slur. Posts that touch the fewest criteria come first, then posts of at most 280 characters, then the newest. A second large language model reads the first 3 candidates per slot and keeps a post only if it clearly praises, or clearly complains about, the agent on that criterion. Links and personal details removed by the source show as marks such as [link].

### Muse

- Praise, 2026-10-16, App Store (App Store): “simply the best doing ai i've found so far, i simply stated my problem and it solved it, incredible.” [source](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/muse-from-meta/id6760173601)
- Praise, 2026-10-16, App Store (App Store): “just started using muse! i’m loving my little personal assistant! love that it can actually help by doing the tasks!” [source](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/muse-from-meta/id6760173601)
- Praise, 2026-10-15, @muse (X): “@chriscoffee @muse @musecases codex/claude i’m building something that’s probably complex i ask muse to do mundane things i don’t want to do, find this email, fill out this form etc… muse is good at not quitting” [source](https://twitter.com/1519407585840885760/status/2110533410871722037)
- Complaint, 2026-10-15, r/MetaAI (Reddit): “how to make meta muse a hard worker? so annoying it requires constant pushing and instructions. it has all access, login, but it makes you push to do the work in the screenshot it was doing the ltl freight bids shopping” [source](https://www.reddit.com/r/MetaAI/comments/1x6iwbs/how_to_make_meta_muse_a_hard_worker/)
- Complaint, 2026-10-11, Play Store (Play Store): “please finish the story. i get to the good part. . can't get the rest.” [source](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.facebook.aura)
- Complaint, 2026-10-04, Play Store (Play Store): “just got it then so far ahead of brick wall when it says to click on facebook post and create a collage from last year's plus. doesn't even do it natively or automatically. i have to read the same information again.” [source](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.facebook.aura)

### Hark

- Praise, 2026-10-13, @hark_labs (X): “@aliansarinik @hark_labs @openai i absolutely think hark completes tasks very well, stronger than several other personal assistant agents.” [source](https://twitter.com/1980193143036530688/status/2109937956152868870)
- Praise, 2026-10-10, @hark_labs (X): “@markjenney @mustafa_2vec @prit4k @hark_labs i also found that hark can complete tasks better than muse.” [source](https://twitter.com/1980193143036530688/status/2108783944569405861)
- Praise, 2026-10-08, @hark_labs (X): “i agree with mark. @hark_labs has blown my mind with how it's able to seamlessly do things for me so i can focus on other things. [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/148829013/status/2108025423103738059)
- Complaint, 2026-10-17, @hark_labs (X): “@hark_labs it never worked. the agent said to reach out to support.” [source](https://twitter.com/1684007057555431425/status/2111251844215292103)
- Complaint, 2026-10-17, @hark_labs (X): “@chrisgpt @hark_labs yes, same happened to me, i got the manual check, and i just opened doordash myself and finished the order” [source](https://twitter.com/1681021708923465728/status/2111276878707195930)
- Complaint, 2026-10-17, @hark_labs (X): “@hark_labs your bot told me last minute it ran into a snag and couldn’t do it” [source](https://twitter.com/2961936246/status/2111285059219255453)

### Grok Bot

- Praise, 2026-10-18, X search: Grok Bot, Grokbot, x.ai/bot (X): “@zachpogrob grok bot, like claude code, is a product that can actually get work done, rather than being something that looks great but is actually useless except for helping you book flights like dots and muse.” [source](https://twitter.com/1856400310811668482/status/2111773765558583433)
- Praise, 2026-10-17, @bot (X): “@elonmusk @grok @bot this is changing everything for our company. ai was knowledge, now we have agentsq that execute. employees understand quickly how to use an agent and make it better. no need to babysit.” [source](https://twitter.com/1164920996123619328/status/2111283939625013588)
- Praise, 2026-10-16, X search: Grok Bot, Grokbot, x.ai/bot (X): “grok bot will casually use its own pc or yours.... it gets the job done though. [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/3009663162/status/2110935988461850710)
- Complaint, 2026-10-14, @bot (X): “can we clean this up @bot? i shouldn't have to ask you twice. [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/12598542/status/2110498631086379421)
- Complaint, 2026-10-12, r/GrokBot (Reddit): “"i won't do that on my own" translation = you have to ask me to fix it.” [source](https://www.reddit.com/r/GrokBot/comments/1x4e58w/grokbot_doesnt_allow_tailscale_exit_nodes_follow/pgdaawe/)
- Complaint, 2026-10-12, X search: Grok Bot, Grokbot, x.ai/bot (X): “@kyrannio right... i already created a grok bot that composes music bit i have to do a bunch of steps to get the song manually how 2020 ugg lol” [source](https://twitter.com/125256783/status/2109483279594496497)

### Hermes Agent

- Praise, 2026-10-11, X search: Hermes Agent, hermes-agent, Hermes Desktop (X): “got @sinkingstargame working on mac mini m4 with @codeweavers crossover! lazy sunday: i got hermes agent to install and set it all up, from laptop, a few prompts and a login to steam. looks and sounds great, runs decently. if there are issues, will try fix and report. [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/2758152969/status/2109190559189389445)
- Praise, 2026-10-11, X search: Hermes Agent, hermes-agent, Hermes Desktop (X): “#ai @work. my hermes agent is currently migrating proxmox vms to my new hyper-v. everything completely autonomous. including converting the vms from bios to uefi. this can of course also go in the other direction (if needed) [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/35470806/status/2109200473739645110)
- Praise, 2026-10-11, X search: Hermes Agent, hermes-agent, Hermes Desktop (X): “@hanghuang_ it’s an effective setup, i agree. when all the back-and-forth flows through a single channel, there’s no wasted motion. that’s why my gerasim (hermes agent) stays calm and focused on the task, and i don’t need to micromanage.” [source](https://twitter.com/2023352631767257089/status/2109352123854897448)
- Complaint, 2026-10-15, X search: Hermes Agent, hermes-agent, Hermes Desktop (X): “ahaha, to update hermes agent, i had to used @opencode to write a git graph as it couldn't complete the update by itself... it's fun to work with these guys” [source](https://twitter.com/3431097473/status/2110668936627064832)
- Complaint, 2026-10-14, r/hermesagent (Reddit): “not all it always tell me to open the server terminal and some stuff manually its not that bad cuz i start learning new stuff through this but still annoying if i cant access my computer in the moment” [source](https://www.reddit.com/r/hermesagent/comments/1x5rvsh/terminal_command_and_passwords/pgoxpcv/)
- Complaint, 2026-10-10, @NousResearch (X): “@nousresearch dissapointing keeps stopping mid task and need to keep prompting it” [source](https://twitter.com/317138753/status/2109019221938384922)

### OpenClaw

- Praise, 2026-10-15, @openclaw (X): “been saying since @openclaw. agents now run productively without any /loop, /plan or /goal and will relentlessly solve any problem you can throw at it. [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/20132963/status/2110630973432094987)
- Praise, 2026-10-02, X search: OpenClaw, openclaw.ai (X): “@mhp_guy i used my openclaw several months ago to replace a powered roof vent. same idea and completely handled by the agent until i sent payment” [source](https://twitter.com/23488482/status/2105849447041429718)
- Praise, 2026-10-02, X search: OpenClaw, openclaw.ai (X): “@smarth0mejunkie i used to be really excited to see what is new in ha and try them out. but since i linked openclaw it does all the work for me, it's just magic.” [source](https://twitter.com/328881174/status/2106135605461832042)
- Complaint, 2026-10-16, X search: OpenClaw, openclaw.ai (X): “@michaelslate @steipete plus that bug where gpt will say "i am going to do this ..." and just stops until you kick it few times. i had to write custom plug between codex and openclaw to make it work.” [source](https://twitter.com/1164544374404976641/status/2111211024766407055)
- Complaint, 2026-10-15, X search: OpenClaw, openclaw.ai (X): “@jayqinqt i don't like that button-pushing command, so i'm letting the ai do it itself. xangi is done with this, while openclaw is stopping, which is a common situation.” [source](https://twitter.com/184823070/status/2110748066668257756)
- Complaint, 2026-10-11, X search: OpenClaw, openclaw.ai (X): “@ziwenxu_ i am trying, when it’s not failing to execute local work and sits there doing nothing. when everything works its great. (pretty much my exact openclaw experience)” [source](https://twitter.com/1638237230761144325/status/2109384821403431304)

### ChatGPT Dots

- Praise, 2026-09-30, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “i made chatgpt dot review and fix my grok bots setup 🤭 hands off working” [source](https://twitter.com/1298678501990572037/status/2105331280410030502)
- Praise, 2026-10-08, ChatGPT Dots is INCREDIBLE (but only if you use it the right way) (YouTube): “my dot built a wordpress site with a logo, slick responsive design, ecommerce and a custom plugin about 12 hours. i barely touched the keyboard.” [source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e29WTzoOKxk&lc=Ugz97UbVbxXTv_IqX3x4AaABAg)
- Complaint, 2026-10-16, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “openai dots feels like i have to micro manage it and feels less capable than it's competitors. what's been your experience?” [source](https://twitter.com/58985575/status/2111165082507919643)
- Complaint, 2026-10-15, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “@openai’s dots has so many issues to me, i ended up spending half of the messages asking it to publish the site change it made or push changes to gh. and it often still wouldn’t work 🤷♂️ [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/1498500680/status/2110707066583277578)
- Complaint, 2026-10-13, X search: ChatGPT dots, ChatGPT dot, OpenAI dots, OpenAI's dot (X): “i let @openai dot work overnight on a project as i had 40% usage and expected a reset. dot did nothing all night for nine hours. asi is here. [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/2058615230263963648/status/2109973361413554327)

### Gemini Spark

- Praise, 2026-10-08, X search: Gemini Spark (X): “it's helpful that i can completely delegate everything related to the campaign to gemini spark [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/1623337973872996353/status/2107984495366578179)
- Praise, 2026-09-06, X search: Gemini Spark (X): “gemini spark you can create folders and files all at once with a single request! amazing speed!! the world is too swayed by new models. a model that can perform agentic tasks quickly is strong. gemini spark is amazing! #aibridgekumamoto2026” [source](https://twitter.com/960302304267198464/status/2096502625231679697)
- Praise, 2026-09-20, X search: Gemini Spark (X): “i’m using the @geminiapp gemini spark lately and it is doing a pretty good job with research and finishing tasks.” [source](https://twitter.com/2046119376080801792/status/2101671525082644544)
- Complaint, 2026-10-08, X search: Gemini Spark (X): “gemini spark has many restrictions .. it cannot complete reading a public repo.. [link]” [source](https://twitter.com/1271621522512322561/status/2108314165647413422)
- Complaint, 2026-09-24, X search: Gemini Spark (X): “i had @muse go through my youtube playlists, to learn about my interests, and make suggestions to cull down my overgrown "watch-later" list. it was a great way for her to get to know me quickly (and incidentally, something google's own gemini spark said it couldn't help me with).” [source](https://twitter.com/2530507214/status/2103208975978127695)
- Complaint, 2026-09-18, X search: Gemini Spark (X): “hi @joshwoodward and @officiallogank , can't the gemini live in android connect to gemini spark to schedule tasks or do work? it's repeatedly denying to do anything and asking me to go on gemini web and manually schedule from there. i remember you showed this in io 2026.” [source](https://twitter.com/1160020922394402816/status/2100992270073991671)

### Instinct

- Praise, 2026-10-14, Dots : tout ça pour réserver un vol et faire ses courses ? (YouTube): “very big user/builder of hermes and i admit instinct is a total madness! ⁠6,355 messages, 575 voice notes, 96 images, 37 documents, 2 videos in 22 days and 373 tasks launched: 361 completed, 10 active, only 1 failed 🙃” [source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjK13eSfyTQ&lc=UgzMkkigQ-XSvYitrIJ4AaABAg)
- Praise, 2026-09-27, X search: Instinct AI, Instinct personal assistant, instinct.com (X): “unpopular opinion: ticktick premium isn't worth the money. i used it for all my task planning and tracking. all it did was remind me. then i switched to instinct ai. it doesn't just remind me about tasks. it actually does them. reminders are old news. execution is the new standard.” [source](https://twitter.com/1917217944146268160/status/2104050118202912867)

### Poke

- Complaint, 2026-10-12, @interaction (X): “@sezeriltekin @interaction incredibly bad, it can only be talked about, never give them a job to do.” [source](https://twitter.com/200210563/status/2109753527123722468)
- Complaint, 2026-10-06, @interaction (X): “hey @interaction , poke keeps stopping on user lookup errors every time it tries to make an outlook draft. any help?” [source](https://twitter.com/2056065711915565057/status/2107490081179070972)
- Complaint, 2026-09-27, @interaction (X): “@defnozi @interaction poke never vibed for me either. i moved to asmi ai for the same stuff, it actually follows through on calls and bookings.” [source](https://twitter.com/315054788/status/2104038252474966245)