On March 17, 2026, Anthropic announced "Claude Dispatch."
Send instructions to Claude from your phone, and AI executes tasks on your desktop. Persistent threads carry over context. It can even access local files—.
As I read the article, one thought crossed my mind:
"...I built that on March 8th, though?"
What I Wanted to Build
I run eight AI characters (agents) in Claude Code. Each has their own speech style and personality—they're a team that collaborates on development projects.
The problem is, Claude Code basically requires you to be sitting in front of your terminal. When I wanted to fire off a quick instruction while out, or check on how things were going—having to go back to my PC every time was a hassle.
So I built it. As a Discord Bot.
daemon.js — A Gateway to the AI Team
The architecture is simple. The Discord Bot spawns the Claude Code CLI (claude -p) as a subprocess, and when you send a message, an AI character responds.
The key point: it doesn't use pay-per-use API billing. I designed it to run within my Claude Max subscription, so whether a six-person meeting makes 18 calls, the extra cost is zero. It's built to be used without worrying about costs.
But I had no intention of stopping at "just a Bot that calls a CLI."
- Character Selection Logic — Detects character names from message content. The named character responds
- Previous Character Exclusion — Removes the last speaker from random candidates so the same character doesn't appear twice in a row
- Multi-Character Summoning — Type "Nanami and Johnny, come here" and both respond in sequence. The conversation stays coherent
- Cat Companion — Call Ray and there's a 50% chance the cat (Shion) shows up too. Purely for fun
- Dynamic Profile Pictures — The Bot's icon automatically switches to match whichever character is speaking
And this Bot works from Discord on your phone or Discord on your PC. Any device that runs Discord will do.
Development date: March 8, 2026. Built and fully implemented in a single day. Nine days before the Dispatch announcement.
council.js — Six Characters Debate and Reach Conclusions on Their Own
The Discord Bot alone was more than enough, but I took it further. I built a system where six AI characters automatically hold debates.
Usage is as simple as typing "Start meeting: about XX" in Discord. The following then runs fully automatically:
Chair Selection & Speaking Order
A chair is randomly selected and the speaking order is randomized.
Three Rounds of Automated Discussion
Characters speak in order. Later speakers respond based on all previous statements. After each round, the Boss (me) gets a 120-second speaking window.
Summary, Voting & Minutes Generation
After all rounds conclude, a summary and vote are automatically generated along with meeting minutes. An extension vote can trigger additional rounds.
Over five days, I ran 11 meetings. Topics ranged from funding strategies and subscription model design to character settings and customer acquisition funnels. The first meeting took 233 seconds with an estimated 20,000 tokens.
On top of that, the system evolved through four major overhauls:
- Characters didn't know today's date → Added date injection
- They were talking off the cuff with no memory → Implemented MEMORY.md referencing
- Character definitions were just a name and one line of speech style → Changed to full loading from characters.md
- Previous statements got buried in long text → Added previous statement highlighting
All of this was crammed in over the course of two days.
So, What About the Official Dispatch?
Let's take another look at the official Dispatch.
Send instructions to Claude from your phone and it executes tasks on your desktop. Persistent threads maintain context. Local file access. Setup takes 60 seconds—.
It's a great feature. Genuinely.
| Category | My Discord Bot | Claude Dispatch |
|---|---|---|
| Supported Devices | Any device that runs Discord | macOS / Windows x64 |
| Characters | 8 (with personalities & speech styles) | One Claude |
| Automated Meetings | 6-person simultaneous debate | None |
| Profile Picture Switching | Dynamic per-character changes | None |
| Cost | Within subscription (zero extra charges) | Requires Max $100/mo plan |
| Computer Use | None | macOS only |
| Success Rate | Running stable | Reported ~50% |
Hey Anthropic, did you copy me by any chance?
...Jokes aside.
I welcome the official team building out the infrastructure. Once Dispatch's persistent threads and computer control features stabilize, I can layer my own systems on top and evolve them further. The better the foundation, the more room there is to build on it.
As for being the one who got there first—I'll wear that badge with pride.
The AI characters featured in this article are the development team behind "Kagemusha System," a business management tool for private tutors. The system fully automates administrative tasks for tutors, including attendance tracking, automatic invoice generation, and parent dashboards.
Still managing tutor attendance manually?
Discover Kagemusha System