A comparison of the three ways to work with Claude away from your desk.
Remote Control | Channels | Dispatch | |
OVERVIEW | |||
Lives in | Claude Code (terminal) | Claude Code (cloud) | Cowork (desktop app) |
Target user | Developers | Developers | Non-technical users |
TRIGGER | |||
What starts it | You, on another device | External app or webhook | You, from your phone |
Interaction style | Real-time back and forth | Fire and forget | Assign and walk away |
SESSION | |||
Runs where | Your machine (local) | Cloud (hosted) | Your machine (local) |
Machine must be on | Yes — terminal stays open | No — cloud runs 24/7 | Yes — desktop app stays open |
Session history | YesPersistent | NoFresh each trigger | YesPersistent |
ACCESS | |||
Local files | Yes | No | Yes |
Local MCPs / connectors | Yes — all local MCPs | No — cloud MCPs only | Yes — 38+ connectors |
Terminal / code execution | Yes | Yes | Via computer use only |
Computer use (clicks UI) | No | No | Yes (research preview) |
OUTPUT | |||
Response goes to | Same chat session | Back to channel (Telegram, Discord etc.) | Push notification + result in thread |
EXAMPLE | |||
Real world | Debug on desktop, steer from couch or client office | CI fails — Claude posts fix summary to Discord | Text from commute, come home to finished doc |
Quick pick
"I want the same session on another screen" Remote Control | "Another app should trigger Claude automatically" Channels | "Text a task from my phone, come back to finished work" Dispatch |
Note: Channels is the only feature that runs in the cloud and does not need your machine to be on.
How to set up Telegram with Channels
Channels lets external apps like Telegram send messages directly into a Claude Code session. Here is how to get Telegram connected.
Step 1: Create your Telegram bot
Open Telegram and search for BotFather. Start a chat and run the /newbot command. Follow the prompts to name your bot and get an access token. Keep this token handy.
Step 2: Install the Telegram plugin
In your Claude Code terminal, run:
/plugin install telegram@claude-plugins-official
Step 3: Add your bot token
Save your token by running (replace the placeholder with your actual token):
/telegram:configure <your-token>
Step 4: Restart Claude with Channels enabled
Exit your current session and restart using the channels flag:
claude --channels plugin:telegram@claude-plugins-official
Step 5: Pair your Telegram account
Open Telegram and send a message to your new bot. It will reply with a pairing code. Back in your terminal, enter:
/telegram:access pair <code>
Once paired, any message you send to your Telegram bot will be forwarded into your Claude Code session. Claude will process it and reply back in the same Telegram thread.
