[FEATURE] Multi-device Cowork: Allow concurrent Cowork agents on multiple machines under a single account

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
• [x] This is a single feature request (not multiple features)

Problem Statement

Cowork currently enforces a single-device lock per account. If a Cowork agent is running on Machine A, attempting to start Cowork on Machine B (same account) presents:

"Another device is connected" A Cowork agent is already running on [Machine A]. Quit the Claude app on that device, then restart this one to take over.

The only option is "Disconnect all and retry" — a destructive action that kills the session on Machine A.

This is a hard blocker for users who operate across a stationary workstation and a portable laptop — a common setup for remote-first professionals, consultants, and anyone doing substantive knowledge work.

My setup: I run an AI consulting practice and have built an agentic operating system on top of Claude's ecosystem (Claude Code, Cowork, Dispatch, MCP connectors). My infrastructure spans two machines:

• Cynapse4eva (home workstation, always-on) — runs Cowork as the primary command center with Dispatch, scheduled tasks, and full MCP connector access.
• - CynapsePro (Surface Pro laptop, travel/on-the-go) — currently locked out of Cowork entirely because the workstation holds the agent lock.

The workstation is the right home for Dispatch and scheduled tasks. But when I'm traveling or working from a client site, I have zero access to Cowork's agentic capabilities on my laptop. I'm forced back to standard Chat mode — no file system access, no autonomous multi-step execution, no connectors. The delta between Chat and Cowork is massive, and losing it on the road is a real productivity hit.

Proposed Solution

Allow multiple Cowork agents to run concurrently on different devices under the same account, with each agent operating independently against its own local file system and session state.

Key design points:

1. Independent agents, shared account. Each device runs its own Cowork VM with its own folder access, session history, and task queue. No cross-device sync is required (and per Anthropic's own docs, this isn't currently supported anyway). The agents simply need to coexist.
2. Dispatch binds to one device. Dispatch (mobile → desktop) should remain single-target. Let the user designate which machine receives Dispatch tasks — most likely the always-on workstation. This avoids routing ambiguity.
3. Usage limits are shared. Both agents draw from the same account's token budget. This is already the implicit contract — the user is paying for a plan, not a per-device allocation. Anthropic can throttle or flag abuse if concurrent usage exceeds reasonable thresholds.
4. MCP connectors are per-device. Each Cowork instance configures its own connectors independently. This is already how it would work given that connector auth is stored locally.

Possible implementation approaches:

1. Remove the device lock, keep sessions independent. The simplest path. Each Claude Desktop install registers its own Cowork agent. No sync, no shared state — just lift the mutex. Dispatch remains pinned to one device via a user setting.
2. Device registry with role assignment. The account maintains a registry of authorized devices. Each device is assigned a role (e.g., "Primary — receives Dispatch" vs. "Secondary — local Cowork only"). This gives users explicit control and prevents accidental Dispatch routing.
3. Session handoff (less preferred). Allow a Cowork session to be "transferred" between devices without killing it. This is more complex and less useful than true concurrency, but could be a stepping stone.

Alternative Solutions

• "Disconnect all and retry": The current escape hatch. Destructive — it kills the workstation session, cancels any running tasks, and breaks scheduled task continuity. Not viable for a setup where the workstation needs to stay alive.
• Dispatch from mobile while traveling: This partially works — I can send tasks from my phone to the home workstation. But it requires the workstation to be awake, introduces latency, and doesn't help when I need to point Cowork at local files on my laptop (e.g., a client deliverable I'm iterating on at their office).
• Separate accounts: I could pay for a second Max subscription. But this fragments my MCP connector auth, memory, conversation history, and preferences across two accounts. It's a $100-200/mo workaround for what should be a platform capability.
• Cloud-synced working directory: Tools like Fast.io or a shared Google Drive folder could give both machines access to the same files. But this doesn't solve the core problem — the Cowork agent itself is locked to one device. The files are accessible; the agent is not.

Priority

Critical - Blocking my work

Feature Category

CLI commands and flags

Use Case Example

_No response_

Additional Context

Who this impacts:

This isn't an edge case. The two-machine setup (workstation + laptop) is standard for:

• Consultants and freelancers who work from home and travel to client sites
• - Remote-first professionals with a desk setup and a portable machine
• - - Power users building agentic workflows where Cowork is infrastructure, not a nice-to-have

The current single-device lock treats Cowork as a casual productivity tool. For users who've built real workflows around it, it's a hard constraint that forces a binary choice between mobility and capability.

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Filed from claude.ai using Claude in Chrome after being blocked by the device lock on Claude Desktop. Which kind of proves the point.