What Is Claude Code Dispatch? (The Two Meanings You Need to Know)
Before anything else: a disambiguation.
Meaning 1 — Anthropic's Native Dispatch Feature
The built-in capability inside Claude's mobile app (iOS/Android) that lets you send tasks to a Claude Desktop session running on your computer — remotely, asynchronously, while you're away from your desk. Your phone is the remote control; your desktop is the engine.
Meaning 2 — The Open-Source GitHub Dispatch Skill
A separate project (bassimeledath/dispatch on GitHub) that extends an AI agent's effective context window by dispatching subtasks to background AI workers. A developer tool — nothing to do with Anthropic's mobile app.
The rest of this article primarily covers Meaning 1 (Anthropic's native feature). If you're a developer looking for the context-window expansion tool, jump to the Open-Source Alternative section.
How Claude Code Dispatch Actually Works — The Architecture in Plain English
The flow is simpler than it sounds:
- Your phone (Claude iOS/Android app) sends a task via the Dispatch interface
- The task routes to your Claude Desktop session, which must be running and connected
- Claude Desktop executes the task inside a Claude Code or Cowork session — with access to your local file system, terminal, and browser
- The result is returned asynchronously to your mobile app — you don't need to stay in the chat
✅ What Claude Desktop Can Access
- Local files and directories
- Terminal / shell commands
- Installed CLI tools and scripts
- Browser (via computer use, where enabled)
❌ What It Cannot Do
- Interact with UI elements requiring real-time confirmation loops
- Access apps that need active user authentication mid-task
- Guarantee execution if desktop sleeps or loses connectivity
Dispatch vs. Claude Web Sessions vs. Channels vs. Code — Full Comparison Table
| Dimension | Dispatch | Web Sessions | Channels | Claude Code |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Async support | Yes — fire and forget | No — requires active tab | Partial | No — requires active terminal |
| File system access | Yes (via Desktop) | No | No | Yes (local) |
| Latency | Medium (seconds to minutes) | Low (real-time) | Low–Medium | Low (real-time) |
| Best-fit use case | Remote task delegation | Live conversation, research | Team messaging integration | Interactive coding |
| Plan required | Pro or higher | Free and above | Team/Enterprise | Pro or higher |
| Mobile control | Yes — core feature | No | Partial | No |
Setup Guide: Start Your First Dispatch Session in Under 5 Minutes
What you need before starting: Claude Pro subscription (or higher) · Claude Desktop installed and running · Claude mobile app (iOS or Android)
- Open Claude Desktop and start a Claude Code or Cowork session.
Launch Claude Desktop. Open a new or existing project. Start a Claude Code session (or switch to Cowork mode). Leave it running in the background.
- Connect your mobile app.
Open the Claude mobile app. Navigate to Settings → Dispatch (as of April 2026, this lives in the sidebar under Connected Devices). Tap Add Desktop.
- QR Pairing.
Claude Desktop will display a QR code in the Dispatch connection panel. Scan it with the mobile app. The pairing confirms within a few seconds. You'll see a green "Connected" indicator on both devices.
- Send your first Dispatch task.
In the mobile app, tap the Dispatch tab (lightning bolt icon in the bottom nav). Type your task in natural language — for example: "Summarize all .md files in my /projects/client-work folder and save the summary to summary.md."
- Monitor and retrieve.
You'll receive a push notification when the task completes. Open the Dispatch thread to review the output. Claude Desktop logs the full execution in the session history.
Common first-run issues:
- Desktop session must be active, not minimized to tray in sleep mode
- Both devices must share a network or have Claude's relay enabled under Settings
- If pairing fails, delete the device entry on Desktop and re-scan
- QR code expires after 5 minutes — regenerate from Settings → Dispatch → Manage Devices
Setup for Telegram and Third-Party Messaging Apps
For developers who prefer CLI-adjacent control, there's a secondary path: routing Dispatch commands through Telegram (or similar messaging apps) to a locally running Claude Code instance.
- Create a Telegram bot via
@BotFatherand copy your bot token - Run a local bridge script that polls your Telegram bot for messages and pipes them as input to a
claudeCLI session - Claude's output is posted back to the Telegram chat
Best for: Developers comfortable with a small Node.js or Python bridge script who want messaging-app flexibility over the native mobile UI.
Real-World Use Cases by User Type
👩💻 Solo Freelancer
You're at a client meeting with 45 minutes before lunch. You need three blog post outlines ready before your afternoon writing session.
🛠️ Developer / Small Team
Your team runs code reviews manually, creating bottlenecks. Set up a Dispatch routine you trigger from your phone while commuting.
📋 Power User / Manager
You manage async deliverables across three ongoing projects. Maintain a dispatch-queue.md file on your desktop with pending task descriptions.
Tasks Where Dispatch Excels (and Where It Struggles)
✅ Works Reliably
- File reading, writing, and organization
- Research and summarization
- Code generation and test execution
- Long-form writing and drafting
- Batch processing across multiple files
❌ Unreliable or Will Fail
- Tasks requiring real-time UI clicks mid-execution
- Multi-step workflows needing human confirmation at each step
- Apps requiring fresh login during execution
- Anything needing your desktop screen unlocked beyond session start
The Knowledge Layer — Why Memory Persistence Across Sessions Is the Real Power Feature
Every guide mentions Dispatch. Almost none mention what makes it compoundingly useful over time: persistent session memory.
Claude Code sessions can reference a persistent context file — a Markdown document you maintain that describes your project structure, preferences, recurring task patterns, and prior outputs. Each new Dispatch session that loads this file starts with full context, not a blank slate.
How to set this up:
- Create a file:
/projects/[project-name]/CLAUDE_CONTEXT.md - Include: project goals, file structure overview, preferred output formats, recurring task types, and decisions already made
- Start every Dispatch task with: "Read CLAUDE_CONTEXT.md first, then execute: [task]"
Over time, this file becomes a living briefing document. New Dispatch sessions inherit everything prior sessions learned. The result: Claude doesn't just execute tasks — it executes them with institutional memory of your project.
This is the highest-value Dispatch habit, and it's the one no competitor guide explains.
Troubleshooting & Error Recovery
Session dropped mid-task
Check Claude Desktop's session history. Tasks initiated via Dispatch are logged with start timestamps. Re-open the session and prompt: "The previous Dispatch task was interrupted. Review the partial output in [file] and continue from where it stopped."
Task stalled silently
Claude hit an ambiguous step and stopped without notifying you. Add explicit fallback instructions: "If you encounter any ambiguity, write your best-guess decision to dispatch-log.md and continue."
QR pairing expired
Claude Desktop's QR code expires after 5 minutes. Regenerate from Settings → Dispatch → Manage Devices.
Network interruption
Claude Code will attempt to complete file-only tasks locally. Network-dependent steps (web research, API calls) will fail and log an error. Re-trigger those specific steps after connectivity restores.
Resetting without losing session state
Don't close the Claude Code session. Instead, use Settings → Dispatch → Reconnect on mobile. This re-establishes the relay without wiping session history or open file context.
The Open-Source Alternative — GitHub Dispatch Skill for Context Window Expansion
For developers hitting the practical limits of a single AI context window, bassimeledath/dispatch on GitHub solves a different problem entirely.
The concept: When a task is too large for one context window, Dispatch breaks it into subtasks and routes each to a background AI worker. Results are collected and merged. Your effective working context multiplies.
git clone https://github.com/bassimeledath/dispatch
cd dispatch
pip install -r requirements.txtExample use case: Analyzing a 200-file codebase for security issues. A single context window can't hold it all. Dispatch splits it by directory, runs parallel analysis workers, and aggregates the findings into a single report.
When to choose this over Anthropic's native Dispatch:
- You're building or extending an AI pipeline, not using a consumer app
- Your bottleneck is context size, not remote task execution
- You need programmatic control over subtask routing
These are fundamentally different tools that share a name. Don't confuse them.
Pricing & Plan Access — What You Actually Need in 2026
| Plan | Dispatch Access | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | No | Web sessions only |
| Pro ($20/mo) | Yes | Full Dispatch + Claude Code |
| Team ($25/user/mo) | Yes | Dispatch per-seat; no shared desktop |
| Enterprise (custom) | Yes | SSO, audit logs; Dispatch included |
Key notes as of April 2026:
- Dispatch tasks consume tokens from your plan's monthly allocation — background tasks are not free
- There are no additional per-Dispatch fees, but long-running tasks can consume significant token budgets
- The Team plan does not support a shared/pooled desktop — each user dispatches to their own Claude Desktop instance
If you're on Free and wondering why the Dispatch tab isn't appearing in your mobile app: this is why. Upgrade to Pro to unlock it.
Want Dispatch-Style Power Without the Setup Friction?
Claude Code Dispatch is powerful — but it requires maintaining a desktop session, managing QR pairing, and structuring every task prompt carefully. EasyClaw is designed to eliminate that friction: a desktop-native AI agent that runs your content and research workflows autonomously, with persistent project memory built in from day one.
- ✅ Persistent project context — no manual CLAUDE_CONTEXT.md setup needed
- ✅ Async task execution with structured output, no babysitting required
- ✅ Full local file system access — read, write, organize, batch process
- ✅ Works offline for file-based tasks — no relay server dependency
- ✅ Built for content teams, freelancers, and solo operators alike
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Do I need Claude Pro to use Dispatch?
A: Yes. Dispatch is only available on Claude Pro ($20/mo) or higher. The Free plan does not include Dispatch or Claude Code access. If the Dispatch tab is missing from your mobile app, check your plan tier in account settings.
Q: Can I use Claude Code Dispatch without Claude Desktop?
A: No. The native Anthropic Dispatch feature requires Claude Desktop running on your computer as the execution engine. The mobile app acts as a remote controller — it cannot execute tasks independently. Alternatively, the Telegram bridge approach routes through a local CLI session instead of Claude Desktop.
Q: What happens to a Dispatch task if my computer goes to sleep mid-execution?
A: The task will stall or fail. File-only steps that were in progress may produce partial output. Network-dependent steps (web scraping, API calls) will fail silently. Check the session log when you return, and re-trigger any incomplete steps. Configure your OS to prevent sleep while Claude Desktop is running an active session.
Q: Is the GitHub "Dispatch" project the same as Anthropic's Dispatch feature?
A: No — they share a name but are entirely different tools. Anthropic's Dispatch is a consumer feature inside the Claude mobile app for remote task delegation to your desktop. The GitHub project (bassimeledath/dispatch) is a developer library that expands AI context windows by routing subtasks to background workers. Choose based on your actual problem: remote execution vs. context scaling.
Q: Do Dispatch tasks count against my token limit?
A: Yes. Every Dispatch task consumes tokens from your plan's monthly allocation, just like regular Claude sessions. There are no extra per-task fees, but long or complex tasks — especially those involving large file reads or extended research — can meaningfully impact your monthly usage. Monitor your usage dashboard if you're running Dispatch heavily.
Q: How do I make Dispatch tasks more reliable and self-contained?
A: Three practices help most: (1) Keep tasks scoped to a single, well-defined outcome. (2) Add explicit fallback instructions — e.g., "If any step is ambiguous, write your decision to dispatch-log.md and continue." (3) Maintain a CLAUDE_CONTEXT.md file and reference it at the start of every prompt, so Claude has full project context without relying on prior session memory.
Final Verdict — Is Claude Code Dispatch Worth Integrating?
✅ Yes, if:
- You regularly have tasks that run 5–30 minutes and don't need babysitting
- You work across locations and want your desktop working while you're mobile
- You maintain structured project files that benefit from persistent memory
⏳ Not yet, if:
- Your tasks require constant back-and-forth confirmation
- You're on the Free plan and not ready to upgrade
- Your desktop environment is unstable or frequently sleeps
Your 3-Step Action Plan
- Verify plan access — confirm you're on Pro or higher, and check that the Dispatch tab appears in your mobile app.
- Run one low-stakes test task — something like "list all files in /Desktop/test-folder and write the list to output.txt" — to confirm the full pairing and execution loop works end-to-end.
- Build your persistent knowledge file — create
CLAUDE_CONTEXT.mdfor your primary use case and reference it in every Dispatch prompt going forward.
Dispatch isn't magic. It's a well-designed remote execution layer that gets dramatically more useful the more deliberately you structure your workflows around it. Start simple, then build complexity once the basics are reliable.