Cowork and Dispatch: Claude working on your computer

Two of Claude's newest capabilities change the relationship between you and AI from "I ask, it answers" to "I assign, it does."

Cowork is Claude working alongside you on your desktop — seeing your screen, clicking, typing, navigating applications. Dispatch is the async version — you assign a task from your phone or the web, and Claude picks it up on your desktop and completes it independently.

Cowork: real-time collaboration

With Cowork active, Claude can see your screen and interact with it. You might say:

• "Fill in this spreadsheet with the data from the PDF I just opened"
• "Navigate to our CRM and find all deals closing this month"
• "Set up this form based on the wireframe I'm showing you"

Claude sees what you see and acts on it. It is the difference between explaining what you want done and showing Claude what you're looking at.

Where it works well:

• Repetitive desktop tasks — filling forms, copying data between apps, formatting documents
• Navigating unfamiliar software — "show me where the export settings are in this app"
• Multi-step workflows across applications — pulling data from one tool into another

Where to be careful:

• Claude can see everything on your screen. If you have sensitive information visible — passwords, personal messages, confidential documents — be aware that Claude is processing it.
• Cowork uses more resources than a regular conversation. Your computer may feel slower while it is active.
• For critical actions (sending emails, submitting forms, making purchases), confirm before Claude clicks "send." Most Cowork interactions include a confirmation step, but stay aware.

Dispatch: async task assignment

Dispatch is what you use when you want Claude to do something while you're away. From your phone or the Claude web app:

1. Write the task: "Prepare a summary of all customer tickets from the last week, organised by category, and put it in a Google Doc"
2. Assign it to your desktop
3. Claude picks it up and works through it

When you come back, the work is done. You review it.

Where it works well:

• Research tasks that take time — gathering information, reading multiple sources, compiling results
• Report preparation — pulling data, formatting it, creating the document
• Routine tasks you do weekly — the same steps every time, now automated

Where to be careful:

• Claude needs your desktop to be on and logged in. If your computer sleeps, Dispatch can't run.
• Review the output before acting on it. Dispatch is autonomous — it doesn't ask you questions along the way. The output is only as good as your task description.
• Start with low-stakes tasks. Don't Dispatch "email all our customers" before you have tried "draft an email to one customer" and reviewed the result.

How to think about the difference

	Cowork	Dispatch
When to use	Working at your desk, need help now	Stepping away, want work done while you're gone
Interaction	Real-time, you watch and guide	Async, Claude works independently
Best for	Multi-app workflows, visual tasks	Research, reporting, routine prep
Control level	High — you see every step	Lower — you see the result

Setting this up for a team

If you are an admin rolling this out:

1. Start with Cowork, not Dispatch. Let people get comfortable with Claude working on their screen while they watch before they trust it to work unsupervised.
2. Define approved use cases. Not everything should be delegated to Claude on a desktop. Customer communications, financial actions, anything with real-world consequences should stay in the "human reviews before acting" category.
3. Train on task description quality. Dispatch is only as good as the prompt. Vague tasks produce vague results. Teach your team to write specific, scoped task descriptions — the same skill they need for good prompting in general.

Further reading

• Cowork overview — Anthropic Support
• Computer Use documentation — Anthropic Docs