[BUG] Dispatch entry point completely absent from Claude Desktop sidebar on Windows — mobile shows Dispatch and fails pairing with "Pairing failed"

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 is enabled for my account on mobile (the Dispatch section renders, the setup flow starts), but the Dispatch entry point does not exist anywhere in the Claude Desktop app on Windows. There is no Dispatch item in the Cowork sidebar and no Dispatch toggle in Settings.

As a result, pairing can never complete. The mobile app sits on "Looking for your desktop…" for roughly a minute, then fails with "Pairing failed".

This is not a network or auth problem on my side. It is a missing desktop-side entry point, which makes the documented setup flow unfollowable.

Actual behavior

Dispatch is visible and initiatable on mobile but has no counterpart in the desktop app, so pairing can never succeed. The account is clearly flagged as Dispatch-eligible server-side, since mobile renders it, while the desktop client never receives the sidebar entry.

Impact

Dispatch is unusable on Windows for this account. The mobile app advertises the feature and walks the user into a setup flow that cannot be completed, and the failure message blames a desktop configuration step that has no UI in the shipped build.

What Should Happen?

Expected behavior

Per the Help Center article "Assign tasks from anywhere in Claude Cowork", Dispatch should appear in the Cowork left sidebar on desktop with a "Get started" flow. It does not appear at all.

Requests

1. Confirm whether the desktop Dispatch sidebar entry is gated separately from the mobile entry, and whether the two gates can diverge for one account.
2. If the gate is server-side, provide a way for users to see their own flag state, or a support path to have it reset.
3. Fix the mobile "Pairing failed" checklist so it does not instruct users to complete a step absent from their desktop build.

Error Messages/Logs

Mobile, after ~60s on "Looking for your desktop…":

  Pairing failed

  1. Dispatch is set up in Claude Desktop  -- impossible to satisfy; this UI does not exist on desktop
  2. You're signed in as <same account as mobile>  -- satisfied
  3. Claude Desktop is open and you have the latest version installed  -- satisfied

No error is surfaced on the desktop side, because there is no Dispatch UI there to surface one.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open Claude Desktop on Windows, Home (Cowork) tab.
2. Inspect the left sidebar. Items present: New, Projects, Artifacts, Scheduled, Customize, Projects, Chats and tasks. No Dispatch item.
3. Open Settings and look for Dispatch / computer use. No such setting.
4. On the mobile app, open Dispatch and begin pairing.
5. Mobile shows "Looking for your desktop…" for ~60 seconds.
6. Mobile shows "Pairing failed" with the three-item checklist above.

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

No, this never worked

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

1.34493.1.0 (Claude Desktop, Windows MSIX)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

Environment

• OS: Windows 11 Pro, 10.0.26200 (build 26200), 32 GB RAM
• Claude Desktop version: 1.34493.1.0 (MSIX package)
• Claude mobile app: iOS, latest App Store version
• Plan: Pro
• Account type: personal account that displays as an Organization in the app
• Region: Serbia
• Cowork: works normally — Home tab, chats and tasks, Scheduled, Artifacts, Customize all present and functional
• Claude Code: present and working

Troubleshooting already performed (none resolved it)

• Ran the in-app update checker; app reports it is up to date, and the installed build is 1.34493.1.0
• Full quit from the system tray (not just closing the window) and relaunch
• Complete uninstall via Windows Settings → Apps, then clean reinstall from claude.ai/download
• Verified the Pro subscription is active
• Verified desktop and mobile are signed in to the same account
• Checked Settings for any Dispatch / computer use toggle — none exists
• Retried mobile pairing multiple times across several sessions

Why this looks like server-side gating rather than a local install problem

Issue #51426 documents that the Cowork sidebar item registry is rendered server-side and delivered per page load, and that nothing local — config files, cache clears, reinstalls — changes that behavior. This matches exactly what I observe: no amount of reinstalling changes the sidebar, while mobile, served by the same account, does get Dispatch. The gate appears to be applied inconsistently across the mobile and desktop clients for one account.

Related issues

• #51426 — Cowork sidebar entry point appears then disappears, server-side rollout gating (closed as not planned)
• #57745 — Dispatch pairing permanently failing on Windows 11 (closed as not planned / stale)
• #67303 — Dispatch permanently "Can't reach your desktop", needs server-side pairing reset
• #70471 — Dispatch permanently "Can't reach your desktop", Cowork works, Windows
• #75499 — Dispatch on Windows desktop cannot pair with iPhone
• #68481 — Dispatch mobile permanently shows "Offline" despite desktop running
• #46391 — Dispatch mobile shows "Can't reach desktop" despite desktop running and Cowork working
• #48007 — Dispatch shows desktop online but leaves requests unanswered; traced to an expired OAuth token in ~/.claude/.credentials.json with no auto-refresh

Several of these were closed as stale without a fix. The Windows failure mode looks under-reported relative to the macOS ones.