Using Claude Cowork
Regular chat answers your questions. Cowork does the work. This chapter is a plain walkthrough of handing Claude a real task, plus how your Skills carry over and do the heavy lifting once you get there.
Chat shows you how. Cowork gets it done.
In a normal chat, Claude can tell you how to build a report or clean up a spreadsheet, but you still do it. In Cowork, Claude has permission to read and write files in folders you choose, use your connected tools, and run a multi-step task from start to finish. You describe the outcome, Claude works out the steps.
It runs on the same engine as Claude Code, the developer tool, just without any terminal or coding, wrapped in the ordinary Claude interface you already know.
Before you start
Cowork is on Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans, on desktop, web, and mobile (web and mobile are still rolling out, so check your plan if you do not see it yet). Keep the desktop app open whenever a task touches your own computer, your files or your browser, since that is how Claude reaches them, even though the actual work runs remotely and keeps going if you close your laptop.
Getting started
- 01Open Claude and select CoworkChat and Cowork share the same message box. Switch back any time.
- 02Point it at a working folderClaude reads what is there and saves new files alongside it. Scope it to one job.
- 03Describe the finished thing, not the steps"Turn the research in this folder into a one-page brief," not a list of instructions.
In your very first session, type /setup-cowork. It walks you through your role, a matching plugin, connecting your tools, and trying a Skill, so you start from a real setup instead of a blank folder.
The one setting worth understanding: approval modes
Cowork lets you choose how often Claude checks in before acting, from the mode selector in the chat box: Manual pauses before every action, Auto keeps working but still screens each action for safety, and Skip pauses for nothing. Start in Manual, move to Auto once you trust it, and stay close for anything involving money, messages sent as you, or important files. Deleting a file permanently always asks first, regardless of mode.
Using Skills inside Cowork
This is where Cowork compounds. Any Skill you have already enabled just works here too, Claude reads its description and reaches for it the moment your task matches, the same as in chat.
Fire automatically whenever a task matches their description.
Package Skills, connectors, and sub-agents for a role in one install.
Screen-record yourself doing the task; Claude drafts the Skill for you to review.
A combo worth trying
Point Cowork at a folder of receipt screenshots: "Create a formatted expense report from these." A Skill locks in your columns and categories, so the report comes out the same shape every time, no matter who runs it.
Only use Skills and plugins from sources you trust, your own or Anthropic's. Cowork also uses more of your usage allowance than chat, since multi-step work is heavier, so batch related tasks into one session.