Dispatch

What it is

Dispatch is a handoff: you start a task on your phone in the Claude app, it runs on your Mac, and Claude messages you back when it’s done. The phone is the remote control; the desktop is the engine. Currently labelled Beta in the Cowork sidebar.

The desktop Dispatch view itself is a thin layer — settings that govern what the handed-off task is allowed to do (browser, computer use, code permissions) and an outputs area showing files Claude has shared. You don’t usually type into it; you type on your phone.

Where to find it

On desktop

Cowork sidebar → Dispatch.

How to use it

Dispatch a task from your phone

On your phone, open the Claude app.
Compose the task.
Choose Dispatch → pick your desktop.
The task appears on your Mac’s Dispatch view and starts running.

Review a running dispatch on desktop

Cowork → Dispatch.
The Settings panel shows the current permissions: Keep working · Allow all browser actions · Computer use · Code permissions (e.g. “Accept safe”).
The Outputs panel lists files Claude has shared.
Check back whenever — the handoff is asynchronous.

Change dispatch permissions

Toggle any of Keep working, Allow all browser actions, Computer use, or Code permissions from the Dispatch view’s Settings panel. Changes apply to subsequent dispatches.

Good to know

Your Mac has to stay awake for dispatched tasks to run. Plug in or enable Keep awake.
Dispatch is a mobile initiator, desktop executor pattern. There’s no “dispatch from desktop to desktop” — that’s just Cowork.
The callout on the Dispatch view summarises the whole feature: “Claude can work with your files, in Chrome, and connectors. Dispatch a task or a code session from the mobile app, and Claude will keep working so long as your computer stays awake.”

What’s changed recently

2026-04-23 — Dispatch sidebar entry now carries a Beta pill in Claude for Desktop 1.3883.0. Page status moved from stable to new to reflect that.
2026-04-18 — Page verified against desktop build 1.3109.0.