The most expensive thing I lost every day was not time, it was ideas. Something would occur to me in a meeting, pull the churn numbers for that account, draft the follow-up we just promised, and by the time I was back at my desk it had evaporated under the next three things. I called it the idea tax: the work that never happens because you were not at your machine when you thought of it.
Claude Dispatch is the closest thing I have found to a refund on that tax. It lets you text a task to the Claude running on your own computer, which does the work locally and has it waiting when you get back. Your desktop becomes a worker you can hand jobs to from anywhere. This guide is how it works, when to reach for it, and how it fits alongside Routines and remote control.
What Dispatch is
Dispatch is a way to send a task from your phone to the Claude on your desktop and let it run there. You are not running the work on your phone, and you are not running it in the cloud. You are handing a job to your own computer, remotely, and it does the work locally and holds the result for you.
The mental model that makes it click: your desktop is now a colleague you can text. You are away, you think of something that needs doing, you send it, and it starts without you being there. When you get back, or check from your phone later, the work is done or waiting on you. The machine kept working while you were in the meeting.
How it works: text in, run local, pick up later
The flow is three steps. You send the task from your phone. Your desktop Claude receives it and runs it locally, using the files and tools on that machine. The result is there for you to collect, immediately if it is quick, or later if it takes a while or needs your sign-off. It is asynchronous by nature: you fire and forget, then come back.
That asynchrony is the point. Unlike a chat where you wait for the reply, Dispatch is for handing off a job you do not need to babysit. You throw it over to your desktop and get on with your meeting, and the work happens in the background on a machine that was just sitting there anyway.
Why local matters
The thing that makes Dispatch different from a cloud job is that it runs on your machine, which means it has your machine's context: the files in your folders, the tools you have connected, the accounts you are logged into. A task that needs your actual account list, your real notes, your local scripts, can run against them without any of that data leaving your computer.
For GTM this is often exactly what you want. The task you thought of in the meeting is usually about real, sometimes sensitive, data, this account's history, that deal's notes, and running it locally means you are not shipping that anywhere to get it done. Your desktop already has everything; Dispatch just lets you reach it from your pocket.
There is a trust angle worth naming: because the work stays on your machine, Dispatch is often the easier sell for tasks that touch data you would hesitate to send anywhere. Nothing leaves, your desktop just does locally what you would have done at it. For a GTM operator handling real customer records, that is frequently the difference between a task you are comfortable automating and one you are not.
TipReach for Dispatch when the task needs the files and tools on your own machine. If it only needs the open web or general knowledge, a cloud Routine or a plain chat is simpler.
Dispatch vs Routines vs remote control
Three automation surfaces sound similar, so place them clearly. Dispatch is you handing a one-off task to your local machine from afar. Routines are scheduled jobs that run in the cloud on a cadence, without your machine involved. Remote control is you actively driving a local Claude Code session live from a browser or phone, watching it work.
The quick way to choose: is this a one-off you want your own computer to handle now, that is Dispatch. Does it need to happen on a schedule without you, that is Routines. Do you want to actively steer a running local session from elsewhere, that is remote control. They overlap at the edges, but the center of each is distinct.
Write it like a brief, not a chat
Because a dispatched task runs without you, the instruction has to carry everything up front, the way a good brief does and a chat does not. In a live session you would clarify as you go; here there is no as-you-go. So spell out the inputs, the output you want, and the constraints in one message, and end with what to do when done, leave it for me, or send it, so the agent is not guessing at the finish line.
This is a small discipline that pays off across all async work, not just Dispatch. The tasks that come back wrong from a dispatch are almost always the ones phrased like the start of a conversation instead of a complete assignment. Front-load the context and name the finish, and the result is waiting for you instead of half-done and confused.
What to dispatch
The best candidates are tasks you think of away from your desk that need your machine and do not need you watching. Pull and summarize an account's history before a call you just scheduled. Draft the follow-up you promised in the meeting you are still in. Clean and enrich the list someone just handed you. Each is a self-contained job your desktop can finish on its own.
The tasks that fit worst are the ones that need a back-and-forth, where you would want to see a draft and steer it in real time. Those are better as remote control or a session you sit with. Dispatch shines on fire-and-forget work with a clear finish line, not on collaborative iteration.
- Pre-call prep: pull and summarize an account before a call you just booked.
- The promised follow-up: draft it from the transcript while the meeting is still fresh.
- List work: clean, dedupe, or enrich a list someone just sent you.
- Not a fit: anything that needs live back-and-forth, which suits remote control better.
Setting it up
The one thing Dispatch depends on is a reachable desktop. The Claude on your computer has to be running and the machine awake and online for it to receive and run a task. So the setup is really about keeping your desktop available: signed in, not asleep, connected. Get that right and the rest is just sending tasks.
The how-to below covers enabling it and sending your first task. Because the whole value is capturing work when you are away, the setup that matters most is the boring part, making sure the machine will actually be there to catch what you throw at it.
Where it goes wrong
The number-one failure is the sleeping desktop. If your machine has gone to sleep or dropped offline, the task you dispatched has nowhere to land, and you come back expecting a result that never ran. Adjust your sleep settings, or at least know your machine's habits, before you rely on Dispatch for anything time-sensitive.
The other two are the usual automation traps. A vague dispatched task runs unattended and produces something off, with no chance for you to correct it mid-flight, so dispatched tasks need to be clearer than ones you would babysit. And a task with write access running unattended can act in ways you did not intend, so keep the permissions tight on anything that touches your CRM or sends to a person.
- The desktop asleep or offline, so the task never runs and no result appears.
- A vague task, which unattended has no chance for you to steer it back on course.
- Unattended write access, letting a dispatched task change or send things without a check.
- Dispatching work that needed a back-and-forth, which suits remote control instead.
The GTM version
Dispatch is built for the reality of a GTM calendar, which is back-to-back and rarely at your desk. The follow-ups you promise on calls, the prep for a meeting that just got booked, the list a colleague drops in Slack while you are heads-down, all of it can go to your desktop the moment you think of it, and be done or waiting when you surface. The idea stops dying between the thought and the keyboard.
The habit that pays off is dispatching the moment the task occurs to you, in the meeting, on the walk, in the elevator, instead of trusting yourself to remember. Your desktop is sitting there anyway; put it to work. What is the task you thought of today that quietly evaporated before you got back to your laptop?
How to set it up
Keep your desktop reachable
Dispatch runs the task on your own machine, so it has to be on, awake, and online to receive one. Before you rely on it, adjust your sleep settings so the desktop will actually be there to catch the task.
TipCheck your machine's sleep settings first. The most common Dispatch failure is a task sent to a laptop that had gone to sleep.
Enable Dispatch and pair your phone
Turn Dispatch on for the Claude on your desktop and connect it to the Claude app on your phone. Check the docs for the current setup steps, since this is a moving product surface.
Text a self-contained task
Send a task with a clear finish line and everything it needs to run alone, since you will not be there to steer it:
"Pull Acme's account history and last two call transcripts, and draft a follow-up under 120 words about their ramp-time concern. Leave it for me to review."
Pick up the result
Collect the output when you are back at your desk or from your phone later. Review anything with a write action before it goes out, and keep permissions tight on tasks that could touch your CRM or send to a person.
Frequently asked questions
What is Claude Dispatch?
A way to send a task from your phone to the Claude on your own computer, which runs it locally and holds the result for you. Your desktop becomes a worker you can hand jobs to when you are away from it.
Where does the work actually run?
On your own machine, not your phone and not the cloud. That means it can use your local files, tools, and logged-in accounts, and your data does not have to leave your computer.
How is Dispatch different from Routines?
Dispatch is a one-off task you hand to your local machine from afar. Routines are scheduled jobs that run in the cloud on a cadence without your machine. Different triggers, different place the work runs.
How is it different from remote control?
Remote control is actively driving a live local session from a browser or phone, watching it work. Dispatch is fire-and-forget: you send a self-contained task and come back for the result.
What happens if my desktop is asleep?
The task has nowhere to run, so it does not execute and no result appears. Keeping your machine awake and online is the main thing Dispatch depends on, so adjust sleep settings before relying on it.
What should I dispatch?
Self-contained tasks that need your machine and do not need you watching: pre-call prep, a promised follow-up, cleaning a list. Avoid work that needs live back-and-forth, which suits remote control.
Is it safe to dispatch tasks that change data?
Be careful. A task with write access running unattended can act without a check, so keep permissions tight on anything touching your CRM or sending to a person, and leave writes for your review where you can.
Why does this matter for GTM?
Because a GTM day is rarely spent at your desk, and the follow-ups and prep you think of in meetings usually evaporate before you get back. Dispatch lets you fire them at your desktop the moment they occur to you.
Sources & further reading
Claude ships fast. This page was last reviewed Aug 23, 2026; verify time-sensitive details against the official docs above before relying on them.