Getting started with Claude Cowork

Claude Cowork is the agentic mode built into the Claude Desktop app. Instead of a back-and-forth conversation, you hand it a task and a folder, and it figures out the plan, does the work, and reports back. It reads and edits files directly on your machine, nothing is uploaded to a server to process.

This guide walks you through your first Cowork task: what you hand it, what happens while it runs, and how to read what it gives back.

Cowork launched in general availability on paid Claude plans (Pro and above) in April 2026. If you are on a free plan, you will see the interface but cannot start tasks. Confirm current plan requirements on the Claude pricing page because tiers can shift.

What is Claude Cowork (and what is it not)?

Cowork is not a chatbot mode and it is not Claude Code. The three tools sit at different points on the spectrum of how much you stay in the loop.

If you are new to Claude Code, the Claude Code Quickstart guide covers the terminal agent first. Cowork and Claude Code are complementary: use the terminal agent when you want to co-pilot each edit, and Cowork when you want to hand off a chunk of work and come back to the result.

What do I need before my first task?

You need two things:

1. Claude Desktop, installed and signed in with a paid plan.
2. A folder on your machine that Cowork is allowed to read and write. You grant access per folder, not to your whole file system.

Open Claude Desktop and look for the Cowork tab in the sidebar. If you do not see it yet, check for app updates.

Starting a task

Step 1 · Open Cowork and create a task

Click New task in the Cowork panel. You get a text field and a folder picker. The folder picker is important: Cowork can only touch files inside the folder you select. Pick the smallest folder that contains everything the task needs. If you are reorganising documentation, point it at docs/. If you are fixing a bug across a whole repo, point it at the repo root.Common gotchaFirst-timers often grant a huge folder like the home directory "to be safe", but Cowork can edit anything inside whatever you pick, so one loose line in the brief can rewrite files you never meant to touch.Scope it to the narrowest folder the task needs.

Step 2 · Write a clear brief

The brief is plain English. You do not write code or list commands. Describe what done looks like.

A good brief has three parts:

• Scope. What files or folders should it touch, and which should it ignore.
• Goal. What the end state looks like, not the steps to get there.
• Output. What you want back: a summary, a report file, a diff, or just the edited files.

You do not need to tell Cowork how to read a file or how to write frontmatter. It works that out. Your job is to be clear about intent and boundaries.

Step 3 · Review the plan

Before it touches anything, Cowork shows you a plan in the Progress panel. The plan is a numbered list of the steps it intends to take. Read it. If a step looks wrong, click Edit to adjust the brief before it starts. This is the lowest-cost moment to catch a misunderstanding.

The Progress panel stays visible the whole time the task runs. Each step checks off as it completes. You can pause the task mid-run if something looks off.

Step 4 · Let it run

Click Start. Cowork works through the plan step by step. The desktop app must stay open while it runs. If you close it, the session ends. You can lock your screen, switch apps, or walk away. You cannot quit Claude Desktop.Common gotchaThe mistake first-timers make is starting a long task and then quitting the app or letting the laptop sleep, which kills the run partway and leaves files half-edited.Cowork runs locally, so there is no server finishing the job in the background. Disable sleep for long tasks, and lock the screen instead of closing the lid.

For most tasks under a few hundred files this takes a couple of minutes. Larger tasks can take longer. The Progress panel gives you a live view so you are never left guessing.

Step 5 · Read the result

When the task finishes, Cowork drops a summary into the task thread. It describes what it changed, what it skipped, and anything it could not complete. Read this before you open your files. It tells you where to look first.

Then check your files. Cowork edits them in place, so the changes are already on disk. If you are using git, run git diff to see exactly what moved.

git diff

If something looks wrong, you can review and undo with git the same way you would undo any local edit.

What is a Skill in Cowork?

A SkillA SKILL.md file in your folder that gives Cowork a set of permanent instructions it applies to every task in that folder is a SKILL.md file you drop into your folder. Cowork reads it at the start of every task in that folder, so you do not have to repeat the same instructions every time.

A minimal Skill file looks like this:

# Writing style
- Use present tense throughout.
- Prefer short, plain sentences.
- British English spelling.
 
# File rules
- Never touch files inside /archive.
- Match the existing file naming style.

Create the file at the root of the folder you point Cowork at, name it SKILL.md, and that is it. From the next task onwards, those rules apply automatically.

Skills are especially useful for content folders where you have a consistent voice, or for codebases where you have linting rules or naming conventions you do not want to explain each time.

How do I connect Cowork to other tools?

Cowork can connect to external plugins (Gmail, Google Drive, Notion, Slack, and others depending on your plan). You add a plugin in the Cowork settings panel. Once connected, you can include tasks that read from or write to those services alongside local files.

Plugin availability and the exact connection flow varies by plan and region. Check the in-app settings for what is available to you right now.

A practical first checklist

Run through this before your first real task:

• Claude Desktop is installed and up to date.
• You are signed in to a paid plan.
• You have a folder picked that contains only what the task needs.
• You have a SKILL.md if there are standing rules you want applied.
• Your brief has a scope, a goal, and a stated output.
• You have read the plan before clicking Start.
• You have a git repo (or a backup) so you can diff or undo easily.

What is Cowork good at?

Cowork does well on tasks that are well-defined but tedious at human speed:

• Renaming files to follow a convention across a large folder.
• Finding and replacing a deprecated function name or import path everywhere.
• Generating a table of contents or index from existing files.
• Reformatting frontmatter across a content directory.
• Auditing links and flagging broken ones.
• Pulling structured data from a set of files and writing it to a single summary document.

It does less well on tasks that require judgement calls you have not pre-answered in the brief. If Cowork hits something ambiguous, it pauses and asks rather than guessing. That is the right behaviour, but it means a vague brief leads to interruptions. The more precisely you describe the goal and the edge cases, the more cleanly the task runs end to end.

What to try next

Once you are comfortable with basic file tasks, look at:

• Scheduled tasks. You can set a task to run on a recurring cadence without opening a new Cowork session each time. The schedule lives in the desktop app's task settings.
• Plugins. Connect a Drive or Notion workspace and give Cowork tasks that span both local files and cloud documents.
• Claude Code alongside Cowork. Use Cowork for the setup and bulk work, then switch to Claude Code in the terminal for interactive editing on the result. The two tools read the same files; they do not conflict.

The Claude Code Workflows guide covers patterns for longer, multi-step coding tasks that sit between a single session and a fully autonomous Cowork run.