Dispatch is the Claude Cowork feature that lets you assign Claude a task from your phone and have it run on your always-on desktop computer, then message you the finished result. For agencies, it turns the dead time between meetings into a way to delegate real work, because Claude keeps one continuous thread and uses the files, connectors, and apps already set up on your machine.
Also known as Claude Dispatch, Cowork Dispatch
Dispatch is part of Claude Cowork, Anthropic’s assistant that runs on your own computer rather than only in a browser tab. Instead of a fresh chat for every request, you get one persistent conversation you can reach from the Claude mobile app or the desktop app. You send an instruction from your phone, Claude does the work on your desktop, and it sends back the output: a spreadsheet, a memo, a comparison table, a draft. Anthropic introduced it as a research preview in 2026, on the Pro and Max plans.
When you hand over a task, Claude decides how to run it and uses what is already on your machine: local files, connectors to tools like Gmail, Slack, and Google Drive, installed plugins, and, when you allow it, direct control of desktop apps. The work happens on your computer, so it has to be awake with the desktop app open, not asleep in your bag. The thread keeps context from earlier tasks, so you do not re-explain your projects, your templates, or how you like things done every time you message it.
Agency work rarely sits still at a desk all day. Dispatch matters because it lets the studio keep moving while Claude handles production work in the background, on the machine where all the real files and tools live.
It turns travel and downtime into output. Brief Claude from your phone between a shoot and a client lunch, and the deck, the competitive scan, or the status report is waiting when you get back. The work runs on your desktop while you are away from it.
It reaches the tools agencies actually use. Because Claude works on your own computer, it can pull from local files, your Google Drive, your Slack, and the apps you already have open, instead of being limited to what a phone screen can do.
It raises the stakes on oversight. Giving a mobile assistant control of a desktop that can read files, send messages, and operate apps is powerful and risky. Agencies handling client data should scope what Claude can touch and review the output before anything goes to a client.
An account lead is between client sites and remembers the weekly performance recap is due. From the train, they message Claude in Dispatch: pull last week’s numbers from the campaign tracker in Google Drive, build the recap deck in our template, and flag anything off pace. Claude runs the task on the lead’s desktop back at the office, assembles the deck, and sends a push notification when it is ready. By the time the lead reaches the client, the draft is in hand for a final read, and the only work left is the judgment call on what to recommend, not the assembly.
The automations and agents module of the workshop teaches you how to build AI workflows that compress the busywork without taking the craft out of the studio.