Dispatch is easiest to understand as a persistent conversation between your phone and Claude Desktop. When the current beta requirements are met, that conversation can ask Cowork to use local files, configured connectors, plugins, and apps while the computer is awake and Desktop is open.
That local requirement does not apply to every scheduled task. Current Cowork also supports cloud scheduled tasks that can run without a device online. Local tasks still depend on the local machine. Conflating those two execution boundaries is the fastest way to design the wrong workflow.
Check Anthropic's current Dispatch requirements and scheduled-task documentation before setup; plan availability and platform support can change.
The five layers
Dispatch is the remote conversation. It lets an authenticated user send work from a supported mobile app to the paired Desktop environment.
Cowork is the work surface. It plans and performs longer tasks with the files, apps, and capabilities available in that environment.
Plugins package reusable capabilities such as skills, connectors, and—on supported surfaces—additional agent behavior. Installation, organization policy, and surface support determine what is actually available.
Connectors link external services. OAuth, service permissions, cloud reachability, and organization controls still apply. A connector being installed does not authorize every action.
Schedules decide when work runs. Cloud tasks and local tasks have different access, persistence, and device requirements.
Choose the execution location first
Use a cloud scheduled task when the work can run with cloud-accessible sources and should continue while devices are offline. Keep repository, connector, and environment access narrow.
Use a local scheduled task when the task genuinely needs local folders or apps. The machine and required application must be available under the current product rules.
Use Dispatch when a human wants to initiate or continue local work remotely. Dispatch is not a blanket always-on scheduler.
A safe setup sequence
- Update the supported Desktop and mobile apps.
- Pair the authenticated account using the current official flow.
- Start with a read-only folder containing harmless test files.
- Add one approved plugin or connector at a time.
- Test a request that should succeed.
- Test a request outside scope that should fail.
- Require explicit review for sends, deletes, publishing, purchases, and account changes.
- Record the task, tools used, and result.
Do not weaken permissions merely to remove a prompt. Routines or scheduled work that runs without interactive approvals must begin with the least privilege needed for that exact task.
What plugins do not guarantee
A plugin can bundle instructions and integrations, but capabilities are not automatically identical across Claude surfaces. Some features are Cowork-specific. Custom plugins may be local. Connectors depend on authentication and organization policy.
Review the package, its source, requested permissions, and supported surfaces before installation. Treat third-party plugin content as code with access to the tools you grant it.
Reliability without mythology
Cowork is designed for long-running work, but no workflow is guaranteed never to time out or complete correctly. I remove fixed setup-time and reliability promises.
Instead, make tasks resumable. Save intermediate artifacts, define checkpoints, cap retries, and make failures visible. A good remote operator is not one that claims it will run forever. It is one that can show exactly where it stopped.
The mental model is simple: Dispatch is the remote doorway; Cowork is the workspace; plugins and connectors are capabilities; schedules decide when and where work runs. Keep those boundaries visible and the system becomes much easier to operate safely.