Claude Cowork — The Complete Guide
Cowork is Claude's delegation mode — you describe the goal, Claude works across your files and tools, and you come back to a finished result. This guide covers everything: what it is, how to set it up, and how to get the most out of it.
Cowork runs only in the Claude Desktop app — not on the web or mobile.
Cowork vs Chat — What's the Difference?
Same Claude, two ways of working. The right one depends on what you're trying to do.
"Chat is a conversation you steer turn by turn. Cowork is a delegation: you describe the goal, Claude works across your files and tools, and you come back to a finished result."
| Situation | Chat | Cowork |
|---|---|---|
| Your goal | Still working it out | Clear deliverable in mind |
| The work | Few back-and-forth turns | Multi-step, multi-source, long-running |
| Your role | Present for every turn | Describe once, check back |
| Output | Text to read or copy | Finished file or action taken |
| Works on | Web, mobile, desktop | Desktop app only |
Use Chat when:
- You have a one-off question or want a thought partner
- Light context with few files or sources
- You're present and iterating turn by turn
- Output is text for reading or copying elsewhere
Use Cowork when:
- You have a clear deliverable in mind
- Work touches multiple files, tools, or sources
- The task is multi-step or long-running
- You want to delegate the whole job and review results
How Cowork Actually Works
When you send a Cowork task, Claude doesn't just reply — it plans, executes, and delivers.
You delegate the work
Send a prompt describing your objective and what success looks like. Be specific about deliverables, sources, and format.
Claude plans and executes
Claude understands your goal, breaks it into steps, reads files, searches connected tools, and verifies output — all shown in the sidebar. You can interrupt and redirect at any point.
You review the result
Finished files appear in your project folder. Claude asks for approval before anything consequential. You get a full record of everything it did.
What Cowork Can Do That Chat Can't
Getting Started — 5 Setup Steps
Open the Claude desktop app, switch to Cowork from the top navigation, and follow these steps:
Create a Project
A project gives your work a home. Select a folder where Claude reads existing files (PDFs, spreadsheets, docs) and saves completed work. Claude automatically matches the formatting of prior documents.
Connect your tools
Link services like Slack, Google Drive, Calendar, Gmail, Jira, Salesforce. Claude can then read from and take actions in these tools — update a ticket, draft a reply, post to a channel, save a file.
Tell Claude how you work
Add Project Instructions describing your role, preferred output formats, and decision-making preferences. Use Settings → Cowork to set Global Instructions that apply across all your projects.
Install plugins
Go to Customize → Plugins and add role-specific packages for Sales, Finance, Legal, Marketing, or custom workflows. Each plugin bundles connectors and skills built for that role.
Add Claude for Chrome (optional)
Install the browser extension to give Cowork access to login-protected pages, dashboards, and web portals as you.
Skills — Save and Reuse Your Workflows
Skills encode your best processes into repeatable instructions. Once set up, you invoke them by name or just describe the task.
- Create a skill by running a workflow and asking Claude: "Package what we just did into a skill"
- Invoke any skill by typing
/skill-namein Cowork - Skills capture steps, templates, source locations, and your preferences
- Share skills with teammates as part of a Plugin
Tip: The fastest way to build a skill is to just do the task once with Claude, then ask it to capture the process. The built-in skill creator handles the rest.
Plugins — Examples for Content Creators
Plugins bundle skills and shortcuts for specific workflows. You can build your own or use ready-made ones. Here's what Cowork looks like for everyday creators:
Build your own plugin in minutes
Open Customize → Plugins, pick a starting point, and click Customize. Claude asks what tools you use, how you work, and what good output looks like — then builds a plugin matched to your workflow. No technical knowledge needed.
Instructions — Three Levels
Global instructions
Set in Settings → Cowork. Apply to every session across all projects. Good for your overall work style, tone, and personal preferences.
Project instructions
Specific to one project. Describe your role, output format, sources, and decision-making preferences for that project's scope.
Organization instructions
Set by enterprise admins. Applied across the whole team to ensure consistent behavior and compliance guidelines.
Good First Tasks to Try
- Research a topic across multiple PDFs and produce a summary report
- Pull updates from Slack + Calendar and write a daily briefing
- Synthesize customer feedback from multiple sources into themes
- Draft a document that matches the format of an existing file in your folder
- Set up a recurring weekly report with
/schedule - Prepare a meeting brief by pulling from your CRM and email
Best first task: Pick something that spans many steps, files, or sources — describe the outcome clearly, and come back to the result. That's Cowork at its best.