Dispatch locks sessions to Fable 5 with no working model switch, blocking usage available on other models

Status Open
Maintainer reply None cached
Activity 4 comments · opened Jul 20, 2026

What happens

On a Max plan, every Dispatch session (mobile Cowork → Dispatch, controlling a desktop session) starts on the default model, Fable 5. Once the Fable 5 usage limit is hit, the session is stuck. The in-session prompt says:

"You've reached your Fable 5 limit. Run /usage-credits to continue or switch models with /model."

But none of the offered paths work:

  • /model shows no selectable options / no picker appears
  • /model haiku (naming the model inline) does nothing — the next message still hits the Fable 5 limit
  • /usage-credits does nothing
  • There is no model dropdown anywhere in the Dispatch UI

Starting a brand-new session does not help — new sessions default to Fable 5 again and hit the same wall.

Result

The Dispatch experience is fully blocked with no in-app way to change models or continue. Critically, the account still has plenty of Max-plan usage available on other models (Opus/Sonnet) — only the Fable 5 sub-limit is exhausted. Because Dispatch pins every session to Fable 5 and offers no working way to switch, the user is locked out of usage they are actively paying for. A concurrent non-Dispatch session on another model works fine at the same moment, confirming the account is not globally capped.

Expected

  • /model should work inside Dispatch sessions, or Dispatch should expose a model selector at task-launch time (see #60079)
  • Dispatch should not ignore the user's configured model (see #39889)
  • The /usage-credits and /model remediations the app itself suggests should actually function

Environment

  • Plan: Max
  • Surface: Dispatch (Claude mobile app controlling a desktop session)
  • Model: Fable 5 (default; not user-selected)

Related: #39889 (Dispatch sessions ignore model and permission-mode settings), #60079 (Add model selector for Dispatch).

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3 Comments

joezeng · 1 month ago

This also stops Pro users with no usage credits from using Dispatch at all.

micahlagrange · 22 days ago

i also have pro and dispatch is unusable.

waingro1 · 9 days ago

I'm on Max, Dispatch is using Opus 4.8. In my case I'm hitting a bio flag on the API, and because I can't switch models, I'm stuck in a broken state where I cannot push my project forward. When I run "/model sonnet" in the chat, the working notes reflect that it changed. When I run "/model" by itself immediately after, it shows Opus 4.8 again. There is no way to change models, edit prompts, send feedback, or anything. I'm hard broken right now.

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