help What is Claude Cowork?

What is Claude Cowork?

Claude Cowork is an AI agent built into the Claude desktop app. You describe an outcome; Claude plans the steps, uses your files and connected tools, and does the work on your computer — while you stay in control.

Claude Cowork in one minute

Think of Cowork as a coworker that lives on your desktop. Instead of answering one prompt at a time like a chatbot, it takes a whole task — prep this meeting, organize this folder, compile this report — plans the steps, and carries them out using your calendar, Slack, email, and files. It runs locally in the Claude app, shows its work as it goes, and hands the finished result back to you.

What Claude Cowork can do

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Run multi-step tasks

Hand off a whole job and Cowork plans and executes the steps on its own.

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Work with your files

Read, organize, create, and edit documents in the folders you point it to.

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Use your connected tools

Calendar, Slack, email, and drives — Cowork pulls context and acts across them.

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Run on a schedule

Turn recurring work into scheduled tasks that run automatically in the background.

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Control the computer

When a task needs it, Cowork can see the screen and use apps to get it done.

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Keep you in control

It shows its plan and progress, and you steer or approve along the way.

How it's different

vs. Claude chat

Chat answers questions turn by turn. Cowork takes an outcome and does the multi-step work to reach it.

vs. Claude Code

Claude Code is for developers in the terminal and IDE. Cowork is a desktop agent for everyday knowledge work — files, docs, and connected apps.

vs. ChatGPT Desktop

Cowork centers on autonomous, tool-using task execution on your machine, with scheduling and local file access built in.

Who it's for

work

Busy professionals

Offload meeting prep, inbox triage, and recurring reports to a capable agent.

groups

Teams

Standardize routine workflows and let Claude keep shared folders tidy.

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Anyone with repetitive work

If a task is multi-step and repeatable, Cowork can take it off your plate.

Frequently asked

What does Claude Cowork do? expand_more

It takes multi-step tasks — like preparing a meeting, organizing files, or compiling a report — plans the steps, and completes them using your connected tools and files, right on your desktop.

Is Claude Cowork free? expand_more

The Claude desktop app is free for chat. Cowork's agentic features are included on paid plans (Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise).

How is Cowork different from regular Claude? expand_more

Regular Claude chat answers prompts. Cowork acts — it plans and executes whole tasks, uses your tools, and can run on a schedule.

What do I need to use it? expand_more

The Claude desktop app on macOS or Windows, a Claude account, and a paid plan for the agent features.

Is it safe to let Cowork access my files? expand_more

Cowork runs locally and works only in the folders and tools you connect. It shows its plan and progress so you can steer or stop it at any point.

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