You’re away from your desk. Maybe you’re on the way to a meeting, waiting at an airport, or just away from your computer for the afternoon. And you need a task done. Claude Cowork Dispatch makes this possible.
Claude Cowork Dispatch is a feature inside the Claude desktop app that lets you send tasks to Claude from your phone and have it execute them on your computer. Files, Slack, email, Chrome — Claude can access all of it while you’re away, and message you back when the job is done.
This guide walks through exactly how to set up Dispatch, how to prompt it effectively, and a real example where we built a full HTML dashboard from a spreadsheet — entirely from a phone.
What Is Claude Cowork Dispatch?
Claude Cowork Dispatch is a phone-to-desktop task delegation feature built into Claude Cowork. It pairs your Claude mobile app with the Claude Desktop app, so any message you send from your phone goes directly to Claude running on your computer.
Think of your phone as a walkie-talkie. You send an instruction. Claude picks it up, does the work on your desktop — reading files, browsing the web, accessing your apps — and sends you a message back when it’s done.
The key distinction from regular Claude chat: Dispatch uses your actual desktop environment. Claude has access to local files, authenticated services like Slack and email, and can even control Chrome for research tasks. It’s not running in the cloud with access to nothing — it’s running on your machine, with everything you’ve already connected.
See also: Claude Cowork Projects
What You Need to Use Claude Cowork Dispatch
Before pairing your phone and desktop, make sure you have everything in place. Missing any one of these will stop the setup from working.
- Claude Desktop app — latest version (macOS or Windows x64). You’ll know you have the right version because you’ll see a ‘Dispatch’ tab in the left sidebar.
- Claude mobile app — latest version on iOS or Android. Same check: you should see a Dispatch tab.
- Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise plan — Dispatch is not available on the free tier.
- Both devices on the same account — you must be signed in with the same Anthropic account on both your phone and desktop.
- Your computer must stay on and awake — Claude cannot execute tasks if your machine is asleep. This is the most common issue people run into.
To verify you’re on the latest version: open Claude Desktop, click the three-line menu in the top left, go to Help, and select Check for Updates.
How to Set Up Claude Cowork Dispatch Step by Step
The setup takes about two minutes. You’ll pair your phone and desktop through a live pairing screen — no QR code scanning required if both devices are already signed in.
Step 1: Open Dispatch on Your Phone
Open the Claude mobile app. Tap the menu and navigate to the Dispatch tab. You’ll see a screen that says ‘Co-work with your thumbs.’ Tap ‘Pair with my desktop.’
The app will show a message saying it’s looking for your desktop. Keep this screen open.
Step 2: Open Dispatch on Your Desktop
On your computer, open Claude Desktop. Click the Dispatch tab in the left sidebar. You’ll see a screen titled ‘Co-working on the go’ — click Get Started.
On the next screen, click ‘I’m signed in on my phone.’ This confirms your phone is already logged in and ready to pair.
Step 3: Configure the Keep-Awake Setting
After clicking ‘I’m signed in on my phone,’ you’ll see a ‘Keep Dispatch Running’ screen. This is important: turn on ‘Prevent sleep while Dispatch is running.’ Without this, your computer can go to sleep mid-task and Claude will stop working.
You can also toggle ‘Allow all browser actions’ here — this lets Claude use Chrome for web scraping, research, or any browser-based task. Recommended to leave on.
Step 4: Confirm the Pairing
Once both devices connect, your phone will show a confirmation: ‘Your phone and desktop are now paired. Happy co-working.’ The setup overlay on desktop disappears and you’ll see a live Dispatch conversation with the Claude emoji.
You’re now ready to send tasks.
See also: Claude Cowork web scraping guide
See also: Claude Cowork tutorial
See also: Claude Cowork tips and tricks
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How to Write Effective Dispatch Prompts
Dispatch works best when you’re specific. Claude has access to your entire desktop — files, folders, apps — so you need to point it in the right direction.
The single most important habit: always name the folder and the file. If you just say ‘summarize my spreadsheet,’ Claude has to guess which one. If you say ‘in my Excel PDF folder, look at the file called final-report.xlsx,’ it goes straight there.
A Prompt That Works
In my Excel PDF folder, can you give me a quick summary of what’s in the final report spreadsheet?
This prompt does three things well: it names the folder, names the file type, and asks for a specific deliverable (summary). Claude returned a structured breakdown — single sheet, 17 rows, 7 columns, departmental Q4 data — in under a minute.
A Prompt to Avoid
Can you look at my spreadsheet?
No folder, no filename, no goal. Claude might find something and run with it, but it might not be the right file. Be specific.
Approving Permissions from Your Phone
Some tasks require Claude to access specific files or applications. When it needs permission, it will send you a notification on your phone. You approve or deny directly from the mobile app — nothing happens on the desktop without your sign-off.
This is intentional: Dispatch creates a real action chain from your phone to your desktop. Every access request routes through you.
Real Demo: Building an HTML Dashboard from Your Phone
Here’s a complete example of what Dispatch can handle. Starting with a spreadsheet in a local folder, the goal was to build a full interactive dashboard — all from a phone, while away from the computer.
Step 1: Ask Claude to Summarize the Data
First prompt sent from phone:
In my Excel PDF folder, can you give me a quick summary of what’s in the final report spreadsheet?
Claude responded on the phone: the file is a Q4 departmental performance report with 17 rows and 7 columns. It covers 15 departments including sales, marketing, and engineering. Summary took under 60 seconds.
Step 2: Request the Dashboard
Second prompt:
Can you build me an HTML dashboard in that folder? Just let me know when it’s done here in the chat.
Dashboards take longer than a summary — expect 5 to 10 minutes depending on the complexity. Claude worked on the desktop in the background and sent a message when it was complete.
The finished dashboard included:
- 5 KPI cards — headcount, budget, actual spend, revenue, goal attainment rate
- 5 interactive Chart.js visualizations — pie charts, bar charts, goal attainment, budget variance
- Sortable data table with all 15 departments
- 2 dropdown filters that update all charts dynamically
- Fully self-contained HTML — no server needed, opens straight in a browser
This is the kind of output that would normally take a few hours in Python or Streamlit. With Dispatch, it was two prompts from a phone.
See also: Streamlit dashboards
What Connectors Can Claude Dispatch Access?
Once paired, Dispatch can use every connector you’ve already authenticated in Claude Cowork. The setup screen confirms this: ‘All connectors are on — Dispatch can use every connector that you have authenticated.’
That typically includes:
- Local files and folders on your desktop
- Email (read, search, draft)
- Slack (read messages, send updates)
- Chrome (browse the web, scrape pages, do research)
- Any other service you’ve connected through Claude’s integrations
You don’t need to reconfigure anything. Dispatch inherits your existing Cowork setup. If it was connected before, it’s accessible now.
Memory and Scheduled Tasks in Claude Cowork Dispatch
Two features make Dispatch more useful over time: memory and scheduled tasks. These are what separate it from a one-off tool.
How Memory Works in Dispatch
Dispatch maintains a persistent memory of your work history and preferences. This means the longer you use it, the less you need to re-explain context. If you’ve told Claude how you like your weekly report formatted, it remembers that the next time you ask for one.
Memory is scoped to your Cowork session and tied to the persistent thread. It’s the same memory system available in Cowork Projects — context that carries forward rather than resetting with every task.
See also: Claude Cowork Projects
Setting Up Scheduled Tasks via Dispatch
You can set recurring automations directly inside Dispatch — no separate configuration required. Claude can run tasks on a schedule and deliver results to your phone when they’re done.
Common examples:
- Daily email scan — check inbox every morning and summarize action items
- Weekly metrics pull — pull numbers from a spreadsheet every Monday and compile a brief
- Friday reports — generate a weekly summary from Slack or email activity
- Recurring file cleanup — organize a folder on a set schedule
To set one up, just tell Claude in Dispatch what you want it to do and how often. It handles the scheduling. Your computer needs to be on at the scheduled time for it to run.
What to Know Before You Enable Dispatch
Dispatch creates a real action chain between your phone and your desktop. When you send an instruction, Claude can read files, move them, access connected services, control apps, and use a browser. That power is the point — but it’s worth understanding what you’re enabling.
Before you pair your devices, think through three things:
- What files and accounts does Claude have access to? Dispatch uses whatever is already connected in your Cowork setup. Know what that includes.
- Do you trust every app and service in the chain? If Claude has access to Slack, email, and Google Drive, an instruction from your phone can touch all of them.
- Know how to disconnect quickly. If something runs that you didn’t intend, you can unpair Dispatch from the settings menu. This immediately severs the phone-to-desktop connection.
Computer use in Dispatch also operates outside the standard Claude sandbox. This is not confined to a virtual machine. Claude is running directly on your operating system. That’s what gives it the ability to work with real files and real apps — just be intentional about what you ask it to do.
Current Limitations of Claude Cowork Dispatch
Dispatch is powerful, but a few constraints are worth knowing before you commit a critical task to it.
- Your computer must stay on — There’s no cloud execution fallback. If your machine sleeps, Claude stops mid-task. Turn on the ‘Prevent sleep’ toggle and keep plugged in.
- Computer use runs outside the sandbox — Claude operates directly on your OS, not in a virtual machine. This is intentional but means extra care is warranted for sensitive files.
- Single conversation thread — Dispatch runs as one continuous conversation. You can’t run parallel threads for different tasks simultaneously.
- Windows arm64 not supported — Only Windows x64 is supported at this time. arm64 devices won’t work.
- Permission prompts interrupt the flow — If Claude needs access to something new mid-task, it pauses and waits for your phone approval. Keep an eye on notifications.
- No cloud sync — Like Cowork in general, everything runs locally. There’s no backup or sync across devices.
Most of these are known limitations that Anthropic is actively working on. The core workflow is solid; these are edge cases.
Frequently Asked Questions About Claude Cowork Dispatch
Does Claude Cowork Dispatch work on Android?
Yes. Dispatch works on both iOS and Android. Download the latest version of the Claude mobile app on either platform and follow the same pairing steps.
What happens if my computer goes to sleep during a Dispatch task?
The task stops. Claude cannot execute work on a sleeping machine. This is why the ‘Prevent sleep while Dispatch is running’ toggle is so important. Enable it during the setup and your machine will stay awake as long as Dispatch is active.
Can Claude Dispatch access cloud files like Google Drive or Dropbox?
Only if you’ve already connected those services in your Claude Cowork setup. Dispatch doesn’t add new integrations — it uses whatever you’ve already authenticated. If Google Drive is connected, Claude can access it. If not, it can’t.
Is Claude Cowork Dispatch available on the free plan?
No. Dispatch requires a Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise subscription. It’s not available on the free tier.
How is Claude Cowork Dispatch different from just using Claude on my phone?
The standard Claude mobile app runs entirely in the cloud — it can only access information you explicitly share in the chat. Dispatch connects your phone to your actual desktop environment. Claude can read local files, control apps, access authenticated services, and execute real actions on your computer. It’s the difference between asking Claude a question and having Claude do your computer work.
Start Using Dispatch Today
Claude Cowork Dispatch is one of the most practical AI features released in 2026. The setup takes two minutes, and the use cases are broad — from quick file lookups to full dashboard builds, all triggered from your phone.
The two things that matter most: name your files and folders precisely in every prompt, and make sure your computer stays awake. Get those right and Dispatch works exactly as advertised.
Here’s where to start:
- Update Claude Desktop and Claude mobile to the latest version
- Open Dispatch on both devices and complete the pairing
- Enable ‘Prevent sleep while Dispatch is running’
- Send your first prompt — something specific, with a named folder and file
- Approve the permission request from your phone when it comes through
- Check back in a few minutes for the result
Once you’ve run a task successfully, you’ll find more use cases naturally. Weekly reports, data cleanups, email drafts, research summaries — anything you do at your computer is now something you can kick off from anywhere.
