Remote control, not cloud.
Dispatch is how you start a Claude Cowork task when you are not at your desk. You message Claude from the mobile app, it does the work on your desktop machine using your local files, connectors and applications, and you pick the thread back up at the computer with its context intact.
The word doing the most work in that sentence is your desktop. This is not a cloud service running a copy of your environment. Your computer has to be awake with the app open the entire time. And as of the date below, it is beta on Pro and Max only, which are individual plans, not the Team plan most organizations roll out.
What has to be true for it to run
Most Dispatch disappointment traces back to one of these three, usually the first.
Your computer awake, app open
Dispatch runs the task on your desktop, not in the cloud. The machine has to be awake and Claude Desktop has to be open the whole time Claude is working. A sleeping laptop is a failed task.
Both apps on the latest version
Claude Desktop and the Claude mobile app both need to be current, with an active internet connection on both devices.
macOS, Windows x64, or Linux
All three are supported, with one gap: on Linux, tasks that rely on computer use are not available.
What Anthropic says it handles
Straight from the documentation rather than from demos.
- Pull data from a local spreadsheet and compile a summary report
- Search Slack messages and email for briefing documents
- Build a formatted presentation from files in Google Drive
- Organize or process files on the computer
- Drive desktop applications through computer use
The trade-off Anthropic names itself
Dispatch leans on computer use, and computer use has a different risk profile from the rest of Cowork. Instead of reaching your data through gated, permissioned access, Claude clicks and types in your applications the way a person would.
Anthropic's own warning is worth quoting rather than paraphrasing: a manipulated instruction, an unexpected command, or a phishing link opened in your browser could cascade into actions that are difficult or impossible to undo.
That is not a reason to avoid it. It is a reason to scope it. Keep the machine running Dispatch clean, do not leave privileged client material sitting in reach of it during the beta, and give it low-stakes work until you have watched how it behaves. The same advice we give for Cowork generally, held a little tighter.
Dispatch is a beta feature and the details move. Everything on this page comes from Anthropic's support article Assign tasks from anywhere in Claude Cowork, checked on the date above. If you are making a purchasing decision on plan availability, confirm it there first. We track changes on the Cowork changelog.
Dispatch, answered
What is Claude Cowork Dispatch?
Which plans include Dispatch?
Does my computer need to stay on?
Is Dispatch safe to use on work files?
How is Dispatch different from regular Claude Cowork?
Should our team be using it yet?
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