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What is Claude Dispatch?

Claude Dispatch guides you through running AI workflows on your Mac from your phone. Setup, security, practical workflows, and troubleshooting for this new remote AI feature.

Claude Dispatch guides you through running AI workflows on your Mac from your phone. Setup, security, practical workflows, and troubleshooting for this new remote AI feature.

 

A Mac right in your pocket

You're standing in line at the coffee shop. Your phone rings – a colleague just submitted a PR that needs reviewing before the 2 PM deadline. You're 30 minutes away from your desk.

Before Dispatch, you'd have to frantically search for a laptop or tell your team to wait. But now? You pull out your phone, ask Claude to review your PR request on your Mac, and get a summary with specific feedback in less than a minute. You can approve it right at the checkout counter.

That's Dispatch. It turns your phone into a remote control for Claude Cowork running on your Mac. Not a stripped-down mobile app. Not a cloud proxy server. It's your Mac, doing the actual work, controlled from anywhere.

 

This course will take you from knowing nothing to using Dispatch effectively:

  1. Setting up and pairing your phone with your Mac takes just a few minutes.
  2. Understand the limitations of what Dispatch can and cannot do (this is more important than you think).
  3. Develop practical workflows for content development, creation, and business tasks.
  4. Trust the security model – and know exactly how your data is protected.
  5. Troubleshooting with practical solutions (Dispatch is still in its early stages of development, and honesty is crucial).
  6. Design your own mobile workflow, customized to your specific tasks.

Note on honesty

Dispatch launched in March 2026 as a research preview. It was really impressive for certain tasks and really unreliable for others. This course won't pretend that's not the case.

 

This series will tell you exactly what works, what doesn't, and how to maximize your success rate. That honesty is more helpful than exaggerated advertising claims.

Things you will learn

  1. Use Claude Dispatch to pair your phone with your Mac via QR code.
  2. Identify which tasks work reliably with Dispatch and which do not.
  3. Develop remote workflows for code review, content creation, and business tasks.
  4. Evaluating Dispatch's end-to-end encryption and approval gateway security model.
  5. Analyze common errors in Dispatch and apply techniques to improve the reliability of the task.
  6. Design a complete mobile workflow that fits your actual work.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

  1. Enable code review, build, and codebase searching from your phone when not at your desk, maintaining high development speed.
  2. Run content creation and business workflows remotely—compose documents, analyze spreadsheets, and manage files from anywhere.
  3. Evaluate Dispatch's end-to-end encryption and approval port to make informed security decisions for your team or organization.
  4. Add expertise in remote AI workflows to your professional profile, demonstrating proficiency with advanced agent deployment tools.
  5. Designing reliable mobile workflows that take into account Dispatch's current limitations, maximizing success rates for real-world tasks.

 

What you will build

Mobile code review process

Building a Dispatch workflow allows you to review PR requests, run testing tools, and approve mergers from your phone—with structured response summaries sent back to your messaging app.

Remote business operations workflow

Designing workflows on mobile devices involves drafting proposals for clients from templates, pulling data from spreadsheets, and preparing documents for review—all enabled from your phone while your Mac does the work.

Claude Dispatch & Remote Workflow

Demonstrate your ability to set up, secure, and operate Claude Dispatch to perform remote AI tasks across development and business processes.

Prerequisites

  1. Claude Max subscription package (Dispatch requires the Max package)
  2. Macs running macOS 14.0 or later with Claude Cowork installed.
  3. iPhone (iOS 16 or later) or Android phone (Android 12 or later)

Suitable candidates for this course

  1. Developers want to review code or activate a build without opening the laptop.
  2. Content creators often have sudden bursts of ideas and want to start writing immediately.
  3. Business professionals often travel frequently and need remote access to files and reports.
  4. Experienced Claude Cowork users want to extend their workflow to mobile devices.

What is Claude Dispatch?

Understand what Claude Dispatch is, how it works, and whether it's the right tool for your remote work needs.

 

The problem that Dispatch solves

This is a situation you've probably encountered before.

You're having lunch. Your phone rings. A client needs a revised proposal by 3 p.m. The data is on your Mac at home, and you're 40 minutes away from home.

Before March 2026, your options are: Rush home, apologize for more time, or try to do it yourself on your phone using whatever cloud-based app you have.

Now, there's a fourth option. You open Claude on your phone, type "Find Johnson's offer on my desktop, update the price to reflect the 15% discount we discussed, and save the new version." Claude will do that on your Mac while you're still eating lunch.

That's Dispatch.

What you will learn

Upon completing this course, you will be able to:

  1. Set up Dispatch and pair your device in less than 5 minutes.
  2. Knowing exactly which tasks Dispatch handles well (and which ones it doesn't).
  3. Develop practical workflows for code, content, and business tasks.
  4. Understand the security model to trust it.
  5. Troubleshoot like a pioneer user who's been through it all.
  6. Design a customized mobile workflow for your specific tasks.

So what exactly is Dispatch?

Dispatch is a feature within Claude Cowork that lets you send tasks to your Mac from your phone. But that one-sentence description hides some important details.

This isn't a mobile app in the traditional sense. You're not running Claude on your phone. You're giving commands to Claude on your Mac to perform tasks remotely. Your Mac is the device that does the actual work—reading files, running searches, accessing connectors, creating content. Your phone acts as the remote control.

This isn't a cloud service. Your files never leave your Mac. Claude handles everything locally. The connection between your phone and your Mac is end-to-end encrypted, and even Anthropic's relay server can't see what you're sending.

 

This isn't screen mirroring. You're not seeing your Mac's screen. You have a chat interface on your phone where you type in tasks and get results. Imagine you're texting your Mac and receiving a reply.

Quick test : Can you explain in one sentence the difference between using Dispatch and simply using Claude's mobile app?

The main difference : Dispatch accesses local files on your Mac and runs tasks on your computer, while the mobile app only has access to what you paste into it.

Explain architecture in a simple way.

Here's how Dispatch works, step by step:

  1. You open Claude on your phone and enter a task.
  2. Your phone encrypts the task and sends it to Anthropic's relay server.
  3. The relay server routes encrypted data packets to your Mac (it cannot read the contents).
  4. Claude Cowork on your Mac decodes the task and executes it.
  5. The results are encoded and sent back through the same relay server.
  6. Your phone decodes and displays the results.

A relay server is like a postal worker delivering sealed envelopes. They know where to send the envelope, but they can't open it.

This architecture has two implications: your data is secure, and your Mac needs to be running and connected to the internet for Dispatch to work. If your Mac is in Sleep mode, Dispatch will stop.

What Dispatch can do (currently)

Based on initial testing and practical use, this is what works well:

  1. File search - "Find Q4 revenue report on my computer"
  2. Summary of content - "Summary of meeting notes from last Thursday"
  3. Quick query - "What's in my project's README file?"
  4. Create a document - "Draft an email response from Sarah regarding progress"
  5. Simple file operation - "Create a new file named notes.md in my Documents folder"

And here's what's less reliable:

  1. Multi-step workflow - Tasks requiring more than 5 sequential steps sometimes get stuck.
  2. Complex programming tasks - Refactoring entire files or editing multiple files may fail midway.
  3. Some connector interactions - Not all of the more than 38 Cowork connectors are fully compatible with Dispatch.
  4. Long-running operations - Tasks that take several minutes may run out of time.

Honest numbers: Early testers reported a success rate of around 50/50 for complex tasks. Simple tasks performed much more reliably – reaching around 80-90%.

Who should use Dispatch right now?

Dispatch is currently in the research and testing phase on the Max package. This means:

 

Use Dispatch if you:

  1. I have paid Claude Max (100 USD/month).
  2. Have a Mac that's always on (desktop or laptop plugged in).
  3. To perform tasks quickly and remotely.
  4. Accepting the initial use of the software may sometimes result in errors.

Wait a little longer if you:

  1. 100% reliability is required for critical workflows.
  2. No Mac support (Windows and Linux are not yet supported)
  3. Currently using the Pro plan (Dispatch is currently only available on the Max plan, will be expanded later)
  4. It's frustrating when things don't work perfectly all the time.

Here's how to avoid the frustration. Dispatch would be better – it's early-stage software from a fast-paced development team. But currently, it's a tool for professional users who can accept occasional bugs.

Dispatch vs. Other Mobile AI Options

Features Dispatch ChatGPT Mobile Gemini Mobile Claude Mobile app
Access local files Have Are not Are not Are not
Runs on Mac Have Clouds only Clouds only Clouds only
End-to-end encryption Have Are not Are not Are not
Offline operation (on phone) Are not Part Part Are not
Approval Gate Have Are not Are not Are not
Reliability ~50-90% ~95% ~95% ~95%

The trade-off is clear: Dispatch gives you something no other mobile AI can do—access to your local computer. But it sacrifices the reliability of cloud-only tools. For many workflows, that trade-off is worthwhile.

The Global Cowork guidelines are applied automatically.

Here's a more important detail than you might think: Your Global Cowork instructions will automatically be applied to Dispatch tasks.

If you've configured Claude Cowork with instructions like "Always reply with bullet points" or "Use TypeScript, not JavaScript" or "Follow our company's style guide in ~/Documents/style-guide.md" - those instructions also work in Dispatch sessions.

This means your investment in setting up Cowork is doubled. Any customizations you've made to Claude's behavior on your Mac will carry over to your phone.

Key points to remember

  1. Dispatch lets you send tasks to Claude Cowork on your Mac from your phone—it's not a mobile app, it's remote control.
  2. Your data is stored on your Mac and protected by end-to-end encryption.
  3. Simple tasks (file searches, summarization, queries) work reliably; complex, multi-step tasks succeed about 50% of the time.
  4. Dispatch is currently only available for Mac, only in the Max package, and requires your Mac to be running.
  5. Remote Control is a separate feature for Claude Code developers – do not confuse the two features.
  6. Your Global Cowork instructions are automatically transferred to Dispatch.

Try designing a Dispatch task!

On your phone, open Claude (with Dispatch enabled on your Mac):

Đóng vai trò là người hỗ trợ làm việc từ xa của tôi. Tôi sẽ mô tả một tác vụ mà tôi muốn bạn chạy trên máy Mac khi tôi không ở bàn làm việc - hãy thực hiện từng bước với các điểm kiểm tra đánh giá. Về nhiệm vụ: - Điều tôi muốn thực hiện (bằng ngôn ngữ dễ hiểu): [] - Các file/thư mục liên quan: [] - Nơi lưu kết quả: [] - Mức độ ưu tiên (thực hiện ngay/chờ tôi): [] - Mức độ chấp nhận rủi ro (chỉ đọc/tạo mới/sửa đổi file hiện có): [] Trước khi thực hiện, HÃY XÁC NHẬN với tôi: 1. MỤC TIÊU ĐƯỢC DIỄN ĐẠT LẠI bằng lời của bạn 2. CÁC FILE CHÍNH XÁC bạn sẽ thao tác 3. CÁC THAO TÁC (đọc/tạo/sửa đổi/xóa) 4. NHỮNG RỦI RO CÓ THỂ XẢY RA + kế hoạch hoàn tác 5. KHI NÀO CẦN DỪNG LẠI ĐỂ XIN PHÊ DUYỆT CỦA TÔI (các điểm kiểm tra rõ ràng) Sau đó thực hiện từng bước, tạm dừng trước khi thực hiện bất kỳ hành động nào gây ảnh hưởng xấu. QUY TẮC BẮT BUỘC: - DỪNG LẠI trước khi xóa/ghi đè/đổi tên/gửi email — cần sự đồng ý của tôi. - Không bao giờ gửi tin nhắn ra bên ngoài (email/Slack) mà không có sự phê duyệt rõ ràng. - Giữ cho các thay đổi có thể hoàn tác — ưu tiên tạo file mới hơn là sửa đổi file gốc. - Báo cáo chính xác những gì bạn đã làm ở cuối, từng file một. - Nếu bạn gặp khó khăn, hãy DỪNG LẠI và hỏi. Đừng đoán mò. - Máy Mac của tôi phải luôn hoạt động — nếu bạn mất kết nối, hãy tạm dừng và chờ.

What you will see : Work plan confirmation + checkpoints before Dispatch executes on your Mac.

Dispatch's realistic expectations :

  1. Simple file search, summary, query: Confidence level ~95%.
  2. Multi-step creative tasks (e.g., "arrange my desktop"): Confidence level ~50%.
  3. Start with LOW-RISK tasks first. Observe how it works.
  4. If problems occur, the Global Cowork instructions on your Mac will still apply.

  1. Question 1:

    What is the difference between Dispatch and Remote Control?

    EXPLAIN:

    Dispatch and Remote Control are two separate features. Dispatch allows you to control Claude Code on your Mac from your phone. Remote Control is designed for Claude Code developers to manage remote programming sessions. Different tools for different workflows.

  2. Question 2:

    What is the current confidence rate for complex, multi-step Dispatch tasks?

    EXPLAIN:

    Based on initial testing (including MacStories' real-world evaluation), complex, multi-step tasks succeed about 50% of the time. Simple tasks like file searches, summaries, and queries work much more reliably. Dispatch is a research preview, and reliability will improve.

  3. Question 3:

    How does Claude Dispatch connect your phone to your Mac?

    EXPLAIN:

    Dispatch creates an encrypted bridge between your phone and your Mac. You pair them using a QR code, and all communication takes place through encrypted relay servers that cannot read your data. No files are uploaded to the cloud—Claude runs locally on your Mac.

Submit your work

 

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