What Dispatch Is, What It Isn't

~12 min · dispatch, mobile, remote, asynchronous

Level 0🌱 Novice

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Your Mac becomes a 24/7 AI workstation

Claude Dispatch (launched March 2026) lets you send tasks from your phone to Cowork running on your Mac at home. The Mac stays on, Dispatch has pre-authorized access to a designated folder and approved apps, and Claude executes locally. You get a phone notification when the work is done.

The category distinction matters. Cowork = you're at the desk, you approve plans live. Dispatch = you're not at the desk, plans are pre-authorized, work runs to completion. Same engine, different presence assumption. The trade is: Dispatch sacrifices live approval for the freedom to walk away.

Real-world shape: 8:00 AM on the train, you ask Dispatch to summarize the Q4 earnings report saved in ~/Documents/Finance. By 8:25, your phone buzzes — ~/Desktop/exec-summary-q4.pdf is ready. You walk into the office with the summary already prepared.

Code

A real Dispatch task·text

# 8:00 AM, on the train, iPhone:
"Dispatch: read the Q4 earnings report in /Documents/Finance and
 prepare a one-page executive summary with three key highlights.
 Save to /Desktop/exec-summary-q4.pdf."

# Your Mac at home:
#   - Reads the earnings PDF
#   - Analyzes key metrics
#   - Generates a one-page PDF
#   - Saves to /Desktop

# 8:25 AM, push notification:
#   "Task complete. exec-summary-q4.pdf saved to Desktop."

Three modes, three presence assumptions·text

                Chat (Web)    Cowork           Dispatch
You sit:        Browser       Mac, at desk     Anywhere on phone
Claude runs:    Cloud         Local Mac        Local Mac
Your role:      Ask & read    Approve & watch  Pre-authorize, walk
Output:         Text          Files            Files + push notify
File access:    No            Working folder   Pre-authorized

External links

Claude Dispatch overview

Exercise

If you have Dispatch enabled, send your Mac a real task from your phone — something that takes more than two minutes (a multi-file analysis, a folder reorganize). Walk away. Note the friction in the setup; note the magic when the notification arrives.