What Is Claude Dispatch and How Does It Work?

Claude Dispatch is a Cowork feature that lets you send an instruction from the Claude mobile app and have Claude complete the work on your desktop computer. The desktop session can use the local files, connectors, plugins, and supported applications that you have made available, then return the result to the shared conversation.

Dispatch is useful when the source material or software is on your computer but you are away from it. It is not screen mirroring: you assign a task in a conversation and receive the outcome rather than manually controlling the mouse from your phone.

How Dispatch works

1. You enable Dispatch in Cowork and choose the access it may use.
2. The Dispatch conversation synchronizes between Claude Desktop and the mobile app.
3. You describe the task from either device.
4. Claude selects an appropriate desktop session—Cowork for knowledge work or Claude Code for development work.
5. The desktop uses its permitted files, tools, connectors, or apps to do the work.
6. You receive a mobile notification when the result is ready or a decision is required.

The desktop computer performs the task, so it must stay awake, connected to the internet, and running Claude Desktop. If the computer goes offline, local Dispatch work cannot continue there.

What Dispatch can do

Good candidates have a clear input, output, and boundary. Examples include:

• Read a group of local spreadsheets and create a separate summary report.
• Search connected email or Slack messages and draft a briefing without sending anything.
• Create a presentation from files in an approved local or connected folder.
• Organize copies of files according to a stated naming rule.
• Inspect a repository, run defined checks, and prepare a code review or pull request.
• Use a supported desktop app to update a document or navigate an internal dashboard.

Current details and eligibility are documented in the Claude Dispatch help article. Because Dispatch is in beta, the exact plans, platforms, and app capabilities may change.

What Dispatch is not

It is not a remote desktop viewer

You do not receive a live image of the desktop and manipulate every control yourself. Claude interprets a natural-language request and uses available tools. On supported systems, Cowork computer use can interact with the screen, but that is an agent action rather than conventional screen sharing.

It is not the same as a remote Cowork session

Claude also offers remote Cowork sessions that run on Anthropic's infrastructure and can continue when your computer is off. Those sessions use files associated with the Claude account and have a different access model. Dispatch is specifically for assigning work to the desktop environment when you need local files, configured integrations, or desktop apps.

It is not identical to Claude Code Remote Control

Claude Code has remote-control and teleport features for development sessions. Dispatch is the broader Cowork route for assigning work from a phone; it can direct development tasks to Claude Code, but the product flows and supported use cases are not interchangeable.

Dispatch compared with related Claude work modes

These modes can evolve independently. Check the product interface and current documentation rather than assuming a capability based on a similar name.

Access, permissions, and safety

Dispatch can reach only what its desktop session and operating-system permissions allow. During setup, decide whether to grant local-file access and whether Claude may keep the computer awake. Connectors and plugins also retain their own authorization boundaries.

A remote instruction can have real consequences: it may edit files, send information through a connected service, run code, or interact with an application. Claude can ask for your approval, but you should still frame high-impact work conservatively:

• Begin with read-only analysis.
• Create a new output instead of overwriting a source file.
• Name exact folders, repositories, accounts, and destinations.
• Request a preview before sending messages or publishing changes.
• Use a review folder or trash instead of permanent deletion.
• Read every approval request before accepting it.

Anthropic's computer-use guidance also warns that screen interaction is less reliable than direct tools and can encounter unsafe instructions in on-screen content. Prefer connectors or structured tools when available.

Limitations to expect

• Host dependency: the desktop app, computer, and network must remain available.
• Permission failures: protected folders or expired service authorization can stop a task.
• Platform differences: computer use is not currently available in the Linux beta, although files, connectors, and plugins still work.
• Interface changes: screen-driven actions can fail if an app changes layout or displays an unexpected dialog.
• Ambiguous instructions: broad requests such as “clean up my desktop” leave too many irreversible choices unspecified.

There is no credible universal “success rate” for Dispatch tasks. Reliability varies with the request, tools, software interface, and environment. Test your own workflow with small, reversible cases before depending on it for time-critical work.

Who should use Dispatch?

Dispatch is a good fit for people who keep useful files or tools on a desktop computer and want to start clearly bounded work while away: developers checking a repository, analysts preparing a report, or teams drafting material from connected sources. It is a poor fit for an unattended, irreversible workflow that must succeed without review.

A safer first request

Read the CSV files in Documents/Weekly Sales and create a new summary named weekly-sales-summary.docx in that folder. Do not change the CSV files, send messages, or overwrite any existing file. If the output name exists, stop and ask me.

This request identifies the source, destination, allowed action, and stopping conditions. That structure matters more than making the prompt long.