Assign tasks from anywhere in Claude Cowork

Claude Cowork gives you one continuous conversation with Claude that you can reach from your phone or your desktop. Assign Claude a task, go do something else, and come back to the finished work. Claude runs on your computer—with access to your local files, connectors, plugins, and your apps through computer use—and messages you the result when it's done.

Requirements

To use this capability, you need:

How it works

Instead of starting a new session for each task, you have a single persistent thread with Claude. This thread doesn't reset—Claude retains context from previous tasks, so you can pick up where you left off.

Message Claude from your phone on the way to work, then follow up from your desktop when you sit down. It's the same conversation, same context, wherever you reach it.

When you assign a task, Claude figures out what kind of work is needed and spins up the right session. Development tasks run in Claude Code; knowledge work runs in Cowork. These sessions appear in their respective sidebars. You can click into any session for details, or wait for the result in the thread.

Claude messages you the outcome—a spreadsheet, a memo, a comparison table, a pull request—rather than showing you every step of the process. You'll get a push notification on your phone when a task is done or when Claude needs your go-ahead.

Get started

Follow these steps to get started:

After completing these steps, your continuous conversation with Claude syncs across both surfaces automatically.

What you can do

From your phone, you can hand Claude tasks that use everything on your desktop, including things you can't open on your phone. For example:

Claude uses the same connectors, plugins, and file access you've already configured in Cowork. You don't need to set anything up separately for mobile.

Retrieve files and outputs

When Claude finishes a task that produces a file, you can access it directly from mobile or find it on your desktop at the location Claude specifies.

Memory

Claude remembers what you've worked on and learns how you work. Context carries across sessions, so you don't have to re-explain your preferences, your projects, or how you like things done.

You control what Claude remembers. You can view, edit, and delete your memory at any time.

Scheduled tasks and routines

You can set up tasks that Claude runs automatically on a schedule. Tell Claude once to check your email every morning, pull your metrics every week, or compile a Friday report—and it handles it from there without being asked again.

Computer use

Claude can use the apps on your computer to complete tasks you assign through Dispatch. If you ask Claude to update a spreadsheet in Excel, navigate an internal dashboard, or run your dev tools, Claude can work directly with those apps on your desktop.

Safety considerations

From your phone, you can now access everything on your desktop through Claude—including files, connectors, any plugins you've installed, and your apps through computer use.

Giving a mobile AI agent remote control of a desktop AI agent creates a chain where instructions from your phone can trigger real actions on your computer—including reading, moving, or deleting local files, interacting with connected services, and controlling your browser, and using your desktop apps.. This is powerful, but it also means mistakes (or malicious content the model encounters along the way) can have real consequences. A manipulated instruction, an unexpected command, or a phishing link opened in your browser could cascade into actions that are difficult or impossible to undo.

Before enabling this, make sure you:

Only connect these agents if you're comfortable with what they could do, not just what you intend them to do.

Current limitations

The following limitations apply: