Source: Claude Tutorial Dispatch In Cowork 2026 04 17 (Anthropic tutorial — https://claude.com/resources/tutorials/dispatch-in-claude-cowork)
Dispatch is the Claude Cowork feature that lets you send a task from your phone and have Claude execute it on your desktop — including native-app computer use. Launched March 23 2026 per the Cowork product timeline. This article is the how-to for the feature that makes “message a task from bed, come back to the output” real.
Key Takeaways
- Dispatch = mobile task send + desktop execution. You type a task on your phone; Claude runs it on your desktop computer using whatever access it has (files, connected apps, Claude in Chrome, native desktop apps via computer use).
- Requires Claude desktop + mobile apps and Pro or Max. Not available on free tier. Team/Enterprise covered by their respective plan tiers per Cowork.
- Four capability categories:
- Computer files — Desktop, Documents, Downloads, with per-folder permission dialogs
- Connected apps/tools — Gmail, Slack, Calendar, Drive, custom connectors
- Web pages — via Claude in Chrome
- Native desktop applications — through the computer use feature
- The representative workflow: “There’s a PowerPoint file on my desktop called Northgate Strategy. Export it to PDF and attach it to my 2PM calendar invite today.” Claude opens the file, exports it, finds the invite, attaches, reports back.
- Dispatch uses direct connections when available; computer use when not. Connected apps (Gmail, Slack, etc.) go through API; apps without connectors go through computer use which operates the screen. Direct is faster.
- The computer must remain awake with Claude app open during Dispatch execution. This is the hard operational constraint — sleep-mode will break it.
- Computer use occupies your screen during execution. You can’t use the desktop for other work while Dispatch is driving it. Monitor, don’t multitask.
- Task memory is local per machine. No cloud sync of the Dispatch task history. Important for privacy — also means switching desktops loses continuity.
Setup
- Install Claude on both desktop (Windows or Mac) and mobile
- Open Claude desktop and switch to Cowork mode
- Access the Dispatch feature from Cowork
- Follow the device-connection prompts
What Dispatch unlocks (use cases)
- Pre-work briefings — queue up a summary task from your morning commute; arrive at your desk to a completed briefing
- Remote file editing — make changes to desktop-app files (PowerPoint, Excel, native tools) from your phone
- Accessing apps without connectors — computer use fills the gap when there’s no API connector for an app
- Monitoring long-running tasks — kick off a long task; check progress from your phone
Operational rules
| Rule | Why |
|---|---|
| Computer must stay awake with Claude running | Dispatch cannot wake a sleeping machine |
| Computer use occupies the screen | Direct manipulation; you can’t multitask on the same machine |
| Direct connections > screen-based | If a connector exists, use it — it’s faster and more reliable than computer use |
| Task memory stays local per machine | Privacy by default; no cross-device sync |
Implementation
- Tool/Service: Claude Cowork → Dispatch
- Setup: Pro or Max subscription; Claude desktop (Mac or Windows) + mobile apps; pair via Dispatch prompts.
- Cost: Included in Pro (20/mo) or Max (200/mo) subscription — see Cowork pricing.
- Integration notes: Computer use is the underlying primitive — any workflow that would use Claude’s computer-use capability can run under Dispatch. Direct connectors (Gmail, Slack, GDrive, etc.) preferred where available.
Related
- Cross-Topic Connections — cross-topic synthesis comparing Routines vs Managed Agents vs Dispatch with a decision framework
- Claude Cowork (Product Overview) — the umbrella product; Dispatch lives inside Cowork
- Cowork Plugins — ecosystem Dispatch can invoke
- Cowork for Marketing — marketing-specific Cowork workflows where Dispatch is useful (e.g. async task completion)
- Claude Code Routines — the developer-facing analog of async task execution (cloud-hosted, scheduled/API/GitHub-triggered); Dispatch is local-desktop, mobile-triggered
- Claude Managed Agents — hosted agent primitives; Dispatch is the consumer-surface analog
- The Advisor Strategy — cost-control pattern that can apply inside Dispatch sessions
- Claude Prompting Best Practices — computer-use resolution guidance (1080p sweet spot; 720p/1366×768 for cost-sensitive)
Open Questions
- Authentication flow for mobile → desktop pairing. Tutorial says “follow connection prompts” — how is the pairing secured? Device-code, QR, account-linking? Important for enterprise evaluations.
- Fallback when desktop sleeps. Is there any queue-and-retry behavior if the desktop goes to sleep mid-dispatch, or does the task hard-fail?
- Concurrent Dispatch tasks. Can you send multiple tasks in parallel, or is it one-at-a-time per desktop?
- Windows parity. Tutorial says Windows/Mac compatible but doesn’t call out any feature differences.
- Audit trail for enterprise. Team/Enterprise admin visibility into Dispatch usage — is it logged via the same OpenTelemetry pipeline as Cowork enterprise tier?
Try It
- Pair your devices via Dispatch and send one low-risk task from your phone (“summarize my unread Slack DMs on the desktop and send me the summary”).
- Test the Northgate workflow verbatim — find a PowerPoint on your desktop, export to PDF, attach to a calendar invite. That’s the canonical tutorial example.
- Measure direct vs. computer use. Same task on two paths — one via a connected app (fast), one via computer use (slow). Feel the difference so you know which to prefer.
- Set a monitoring task — kick off a long build/deploy from mobile, check progress via phone while away from desk.
- Do the sleep test — intentionally let your desktop sleep mid-task and observe failure mode. Once is enough to learn the operational constraint.