/dispatch

Send a message directly to a specific session.

Context: This skill is designed for the Manager session inside Workstation. If Claude detects it's not in a Manager context (no workstation socket responding), inform the user:

•"This skill works from the Manager session in Workstation."
•"Open the Workstation app and use /dispatch from the Manager terminal."

When to Use

•When you have the exact session ID (from /work-sessions)
•When you want precise control over which session receives the message
•For follow-up messages to a session you've already identified

For fuzzy matching by repo name or task, use /route instead.

Arguments

•<session-id> - The session ID (from /work-sessions output)
•<message> - The message to send to the session's terminal

Implementation

1. Send dispatch command

bash

${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/workstation-dispatch dispatch "<session-id>" "<message>"

2. Handle the response

Success response:

json

{
  "status": "ok",
  "received": "dispatch",
  "targetSessionId": "abc123"
}

Error responses:

json

{"status": "error", "message": "Session not found: xyz789"}
{"status": "error", "message": "Cannot dispatch to external session"}

3. Report result to user

On success:

code

Dispatched to session abc123.
Message sent: "<first 50 chars of message>..."

On error:

code

Failed to dispatch: <error message>

Use /work-sessions to see available sessions.

Example Usage

code

User: "Send 'check the API status' to session abc123"

Manager runs:
  ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/workstation-dispatch dispatch "abc123" "check the API status"

Response:
  Dispatched to session abc123.
  Message sent: "check the API status"

Creating New Sessions

/dispatch only sends to existing sessions. If you need to create a new session, you have two options:

•/route — Auto-creates a first session on a repo if none exists
•create-worker — Explicitly creates a session (use for additional sessions on a repo that already has one)

bash

${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/workstation-dispatch create-worker <repo> <repo-path> <task-name>

Always provide a task name when creating additional sessions so they can be differentiated.

Notes

•The message is written to the session's terminal as if typed by a user
•The session's Claude Code will process it as a new prompt
•Use /work-sessions first to find valid session IDs
•For auto-routing, use /route instead
•Session permission mode is set at creation time. To configure default permissions for new sessions, use /workstation skip-permissions on/off.