[BUG] Cowork Dispatch sessions are fully isolated from Projects — no shared context, working directory, or cross-device access

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

Summary

Dispatch tasks in Cowork launch in fully isolated sessions with no access to their parent Project's context, working directory, file conventions, or memory. The dispatched session also cannot be accessed from Claude mobile, which defeats the core async use case of Dispatch.

Environment

• App: Claude Desktop (macOS), March 23, 2026 build
• Plan: Max (Opus 4.6)
• OS: macOS (Apple Silicon)
• Session ID: 3843e0a6-e0a6-473b-9d78-b032dd13a0ea
• Session slug: sleepy-eager-turing

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open Claude Desktop → Cowork mode
2. Have a Project set up (e.g., "Base") with associated files, conventions, or a working folder
3. Use Dispatch to send a task (e.g., "Create a file and save it to the right place")
4. Observe the dispatched session

Six distinct issues observed:

1. Complete session isolation (no project context inheritance)

The dispatched session gets a fresh sandbox with:

• User selected a folder: no — even though the parent project has a folder
• Empty memory directory
• No access to the parent Project's files, naming conventions, or CLAUDE.md project-level instructions
• No visibility into other Cowork sessions or projects

The agent has no way to discover where files should be saved, what naming conventions to use, or what the user's project structure looks like.

2. Dispatch creates a separate chat instead of living in the Dispatch view

The sidebar shows the dispatch as a separate entry under "Recents", distinct from the main Dispatch view (radio icon in nav). The relationship between the Dispatch nav destination and individual dispatch chats is unclear.

3. UI clipping on dispatch label

The "Dispatch" badge/flag on the sidebar entry is visually clipped (bottom portion cut off). Minor cosmetic issue.

4. No cross-device access

The dispatched session is not accessible from Claude mobile. For a feature whose value prop is "fire and forget, check later," this breaks the core workflow entirely.

5. request_cowork_directory requires a path but agent doesn't know it

When the agent tries to mount a user directory via request_cowork_directory without a path (to trigger the native folder picker), it gets:

Error: The `path` parameter is required in this session.

The agent doesn't know the user's directory structure, so it can't provide a path. Even explicit paths like ~/Documents/working/base fail.

6. present_files permission denied

When the agent tries to surface completed files via present_files:

Error: Permission to use mcp__cowork__present_files has been denied.

The dispatch session has no reliable way to deliver output files to the user.

Related Issues

• #36313 — No way to revisit folder permissions for Dispatch
• #36157 — Dispatch causes black screen freeze
• #36170 — Dispatch slow, infinitely asking permissions

What Should Happen?

Dispatched sessions should:

1. Inherit the parent Project's working directory — if the Project has a mounted folder, the dispatch session should have access to it
2. Inherit project-level memory and CLAUDE.md — so the agent knows conventions, naming patterns, and context
3. Be accessible from Claude mobile — or at least have a way to view dispatch results cross-device
4. Surface in the main Dispatch view as a coherent queue/inbox rather than spawning separate sidebar entries
5. Have present_files permissions — a dispatched task that produces files should be able to deliver them
6. Support request_cowork_directory without a path — or inherit the parent's mounted directory so manual mounting isn't needed

Error Messages/Logs

## request_cowork_directory (no path, expecting folder picker):
Error: The `path` parameter is required in this session. Pass the specific path (e.g. ~/Downloads).

## request_cowork_directory (with explicit path):
Error: Path "/Users/kylesnav/Documents/working/base" doesn't exist or isn't accessible.

## present_files:
Error: Permission to use mcp__cowork__present_files has been denied.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open Claude Desktop → Cowork mode
2. Set up a Project (e.g., "Base") with a working folder and project-level conventions
3. Click Dispatch and send a task like "Create a tech taxonomy file and save it to the project folder"
4. Open the dispatched session
5. Observe that the session has User selected a folder: no in its env, empty memory, no project CLAUDE.md, and no access to the parent project's working directory
6. Try to use request_cowork_directory without a path → error requiring path
7. Try to use present_files to deliver output → permission denied
8. Try to access the dispatch session from Claude mobile → not available

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

No, this never worked

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

Claude Desktop (Cowork) — March 23, 2026 build, Opus 4.6

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

iTerm2

Additional Information

Context: This bug was discovered and this issue was filed from within the affected dispatch session itself. The session was dispatched to create a technology taxonomy file from a YouTube video. The file was successfully generated (750 lines) but could not be delivered to the user's intended destination due to the isolation issues described above.

Note on Terminal/Shell: This is a Cowork (Claude Desktop) session, not a terminal. "Other" was selected because there is no Cowork option in the dropdown — which itself is a minor gap in the bug report template.

User's setup: The user has a "Base" project with multiple other Cowork projects visible in the sidebar (YOLO Project, MiroFish, React Learning), a starred "Base Meta" item, and a scheduled "Obsidian daily runner" task. The dispatch session had no awareness of any of this context.

Session metadata:

• Session ID: 3843e0a6-e0a6-473b-9d78-b032dd13a0ea
• Session slug: sleepy-eager-turing
• Account: 8b3a7ca7-a3b0-4ef7-a130-f47e0bfff76a
• Org: 7a09b399-c56b-4b51-8bd1-4ae04e504233
• Max plan, Opus 4.6
• 10 plugins installed (productivity, data, finance, marketing, product-management, engineering, operations, brand-voice, design, cowork-plugin-management)

[Terminal env and API platform are irrelevant as they're not related to the features involved.]