Claude Cowork is Anthropic's agentic mode inside the Claude app: instead of chatting back and forth, you describe an outcome and Claude reads and writes real files on your computer to get there. Setting it up comes down to five things: a paid Claude plan, the desktop app, a permission mode you're comfortable with, a project connected to a folder on your computer, and your first task. Here's each one, in order.

What Claude Cowork is

Cowork takes a task you describe in plain language and works on it directly inside a folder you choose: reading files, writing new ones, running code, and delivering finished output. Chat is a back-and-forth conversation. Cowork hands off a task and works it, with or without you watching.

What you need before you start

Four things, and one of them is optional depending on your operating system:

  • A paid Claude plan. Cowork requires Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise. Pro starts at $20 a month and is the cheapest tier that includes it. If you don't have a Claude account yet, create one free at claude.ai first, then upgrade when you're ready for Cowork.
  • The Claude Desktop app, open and signed in, for macOS, Windows, or Linux (beta). Cowork can run your session remotely, but reaching your local files and folders still requires the desktop app open on that computer.
  • An active internet connection for the length of your task.
  • On Linux only: hardware virtualization enabled in your BIOS, about 25 GB of free disk space, and 8 GB of RAM, since Cowork runs your local tasks inside a small virtual machine on your own hardware.

One more thing worth knowing going in: Cowork on desktop is available to every paid plan today, but the web and mobile versions are still rolling out gradually. If you don't see "Cowork" as an option on web yet, check the desktop app instead.

Step 1: install Claude Desktop

If you already use Claude in a browser, you still need the desktop app for Cowork to reach your local files.

  1. Go to claude.ai/download and pick macOS or Windows.
  2. Open the downloaded file and finish the install.
  3. Launch Claude from your Applications folder (Mac) or Start menu (Windows).
  4. Sign in with your Claude account.

Linux is supported in beta through Anthropic's apt repository or a downloaded .deb file, with the extra virtualization setup listed above.

Step 2: switch from Chat to Cowork

Chat and Cowork share one message box, whether you're on desktop, web, or mobile. Find the box, and instead of typing straight into a chat, click "Cowork," which sits right next to "Chat." That's the whole switch. You'll use the same box for every task from here on.

Step 3: choose a permission mode

Before Claude touches a single file, decide how closely you want to watch it work. Cowork has three modes, set from the mode selector in the chat box:

  • Manual (manually approve). Claude pauses and asks before every action. This is the recommended starting point for your first project.
  • Auto (automatically approve). Claude keeps moving without stopping for every step, but still reviews each action for safety and blocks anything it flags as risky before it happens.
  • Skip (skip all approvals). Claude doesn't pause, and nothing checks its actions automatically. Reserve this for tasks where you trust every file, connector, and app involved.

Whatever mode you're in, Claude still asks your explicit permission before it permanently deletes a file. Start on Manual. Switch modes once you've watched Claude work and know what it does with the access you've given it.

Step 4: create your first project from a folder on your computer

A project in Cowork is a workspace tied to a specific folder, with its own instructions, files, and memory that carry across every task you run inside it. For your first one, point it at a folder you already use.

  1. In Cowork, open Projects in the left panel and click the + button.
  2. Choose "Use an existing folder."
  3. Select the folder on your computer you want Claude working in.
  4. Name the project something specific to the work, not "My Project."
  5. Choose where Cowork saves the project on your computer (it defaults near the folder you picked).
  6. Add instructions now if you already know how you want Claude to work here, or skip this and add them later.
  7. Click Create.

Cowork attaches that folder to the project automatically. Every task you run inside this project can now read and write files there, without you uploading or downloading a single thing. (No existing folder to start from yet? "Start from scratch" sets up a brand-new one instead, from the same "+" menu.)

Step 5: give the project instructions

Instructions tell Claude how to work in this project before you ask for anything specific, so think of them as the standing rules for the room. Add tone, formatting preferences, or facts about the work that would otherwise get repeated in every prompt: "Save finished files to the /output folder." "Always ask before deleting anything." "I run a small nonprofit and most documents need to stay under one page."

Cowork also has global instructions, set separately from Settings > Cowork > Global instructions, which apply to every session across every project. Save what's specific to this project for the project. Save what's true about you no matter what you're working on for global instructions.

Step 6: hand off your first task

With the project set up, type a real task into the message box the way you'd text instructions to a coworker. A vague task produces a vague result. Name the folder, and say exactly what you want done:

Look through this folder and group the files into
subfolders by type: documents, images, spreadsheets, and
everything else. Rename anything with a generic name like
IMG_2841.png to something that describes what's in it. Show
me what you're about to do before you move anything.

Claude reviews the folder, lays out a plan, and, if you're on Manual mode, pauses for you to confirm before it moves anything. Watch this first one closely. It's the fastest way to learn what Claude does with the access you gave it.

What "done" looks like

You've finished setup once all of this is true:

  • Claude Desktop is installed and you're signed in.
  • You can open the message box and see "Cowork" as an option next to "Chat."
  • You have at least one project connected to a real folder on your computer.
  • You've run one task in that project and can see the files it changed.
  • You know which permission mode you're in, and why.

A few things worth knowing before you lean on it

Keep the desktop app open while a task touches your local files or browser. If the app closes or your computer sleeps mid-task, a local session can stop; remote sessions keep running in the background either way, and you can reopen them from any surface to check progress.

Cowork also uses more of your usage allocation than a regular chat, since multi-step, file-touching work is more compute-intensive. Batch related work into one project session instead of running several small, disconnected ones.

Read Anthropic's guide to using Cowork safely before you connect anything sensitive, like email or financial accounts, to a project.

The short version

Get a paid Claude plan, install Claude Desktop, switch the message box from Chat to Cowork, pick Manual mode to start, create a project from a folder you already use, and hand off one specific task. Once that first task finishes, the setup part is done. Everything after it is just getting more specific about what you ask for.

Want to see what a finished Cowork project can build? I wrote up the exact process I use to build this website with Cowork. And if you're moving over from another AI tool entirely, here's how to bring your existing context with you. Stuck on your first project? Send me a question.

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