Dispatch

What it is

Availability update — 7 October 2026. Dispatch is closed to new users in the unified experience. Existing users can keep using it for now; the setup walkthrough below describes the earlier interface.

Dispatch is a handoff. You message Claude from the mobile app, the work happens on your Mac using your local files, connectors, plugins and apps, and you come back to the finished thing. The phone is the remote control; the desktop is the engine.

The Dispatch view sums it up in a line of its own: dispatch something to Claude and check in from anywhere, whether it’s a task or a code session, all in one continuous thread.

It’s in limited beta for Pro and Max plans, and the sidebar row carries a Beta pill to match. It needs the current Claude desktop app (macOS, Windows x64 or Linux) and the current Claude mobile app, both signed in, both online.

Where to find it

On desktop

Sidebar → Dispatch, the fifth row of the sidebar in Claude mode, with a grey Beta chip beside the label.
The whole capability has an on/off switch at Settings → This computer → System → Dispatch: “Let Claude work on tasks from your phone using this computer. When off, your phone won’t be able to dispatch work here.”

How to use it

Set it up

Anthropic’s setup steps run like this:

Update the Claude desktop app and the Claude mobile app to their latest versions.
Open Dispatch in the desktop sidebar and click Get started.
Set the toggles for file access and for keeping your computer awake.
Click Finish setup.

Dispatch a task from your phone

Message Claude in the Dispatch section of the mobile app and describe the task. It runs on your Mac. You get a push notification on your phone when the task is done — or when Claude needs your go-ahead.

Watch and steer it from the Mac

The Dispatch view is two panels and a conversation. The title strip reads Dispatch with a More options button; the conversation and its own Message box fill the right-hand side, so you can reply from the Mac as well as from the phone. On the left:

Settings — what a dispatched task is allowed to do. Three switches: Keep awake, Mobile notifications and Allow all browser actions. Below them sit two more rows, one governing computer use and one setting code permissions, the latter on a dropdown showing its current value — Accept, for instance.
Outputs — files Claude has shared, with a Show folder button to open them in Finder. Until Claude shares something, it tells you as much.

Changes to the Settings panel apply to later dispatches.

Good to know

Your Mac has to stay awake and the app has to stay open. That’s the difference between Dispatch and a cloud Cowork session, which runs on Anthropic’s servers whether your computer is on or not.
Dispatch is mobile-initiator, desktop-executor. There’s no dispatching from desktop to desktop — that’s just Cowork.
Mobile notifications are a switch, not a given. If you’re not getting pinged when a task finishes, check the Mobile notifications toggle on the Dispatch view.

What’s changed recently

2026-10-07 — Dispatch remains present for this existing user, with settings and outputs controls. Its master switch is under This computer → System; new-user availability still follows the rollout guidance.
2026-09-13 — The path was wrong for two builds and is now fixed: Dispatch is at Sidebar → Dispatch, not “Cowork sidebar → Dispatch” — there hasn’t been a separate Cowork tab since July. The Settings panel has gained a Mobile notifications switch, the Outputs panel has a Show folder button, and the view now has its own Message box, so you can reply to a dispatched task from the Mac. The callout text has been rewritten to match what the view says today. There’s also a master switch at Settings → Cowork → Dispatch. The help centre now describes Dispatch as being in limited beta for Pro and Max, and lists Linux alongside macOS and Windows x64. The claude.com/resources/tutorials/dispatch-in-claude-cowork source has been dropped — it now returns 404.
2026-04-23 — Dispatch sidebar entry gained a Beta pill; page status moved from stable to new.