What is Claude Cowork?

Claude Cowork is a desktop tool from Anthropic that lets you automate complex tasks directly on your own computer — no coding required. Cowork runs as a feature of the Claude Desktop app and provides a secure sandbox (a lightweight Linux VM) where Claude can read, create, edit files, and execute code.

Typical use cases:

• Create documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF)
• Analyse and visualise data
• Organise and process files
• Interact with external services (Notion, Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack, etc.) via connectors
• Use skills and plugins to automate recurring workflows

Create a Claude account

1. Go to claude.ai and click Sign Up
2. Create an account with your email or via Google / Apple Sign-In
3. Verify your email
4. Pick a plan (Free, Pro, Team, or Enterprise)

💡 Important: Cowork is available from the Pro plan upwards. There's no free option.

Download the Claude Desktop app

1. Download the Claude Desktop app at claude.ai/download
2. Install it on your OS (macOS or Windows)
3. Sign in with your Claude account
4. Navigate to Cowork in the top menu of the app

💡 Tip: Keep the app up to date — new features roll out frequently.

Create a project folder

On your computer, create a dedicated project folder for working with Claude Cowork. A clear folder structure helps Claude understand context and manage files cleanly.

Recommended structure:

My-Project/
├── input/            ← Input files (data, documents, images)
├── output/           ← Files Claude creates
├── skills/           ← Your own skills (see Skills section)
├── CLAUDE.md         ← Project instructions for Claude
├── KONTEXT.md        ← Additional project context
└── more .md          ← Additional markdown files as needed

Create a CLAUDE.md file

The CLAUDE.md is a special markdown file that Claude reads automatically to load instructions and context for a project. Think of it as a briefing for your AI assistant.

What goes into CLAUDE.md?

• Project description — what is this about?
• Roles & tone — how should Claude respond?
• Rules & constraints — what should Claude watch out for or avoid?
• File conventions — how should outputs be named or formatted?
• Common tasks — describe recurring workflows

Global vs. project

Location	Effect
In the project folder (/My-Project/CLAUDE.md)	Applies only to this specific project
Global (in your home directory ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md)	Applies to all projects and sessions

💡 Tip: use the global file for general preferences (language, tone) and the project file for project-specific instructions.

Example CLAUDE.md

# Project instructions

## Role
You are an assistant for the marketing team at XYZ Inc.

## Language
Always respond in English.

## Rules
- Create all documents in the /output folder
- Use our brand voice (see KONTEXT.md)
- No emojis in official documents

Auto-setup

Use this prompt in Claude Cowork if you want the app to walk you through setup:

Help me set up Claude. Create a global Claude markdown file for me. Ask me questions about my working style to fill it in.

Connect Claude connectors

Connectors let Claude interact with external services. Claude can read Notion pages, emails, create calendar entries, and a lot more.

Available connectors (selection)

• Notion — read, create, edit pages
• Gmail — read emails and create drafts
• Google Calendar — view and create events
• Google Drive — search and read files
• Slack — read and send messages
• Figma — pull design context
• Vercel — manage deployments

How to connect a connector

1. Open the Claude Desktop app
2. Go to Settings → Connectors (or click the connect icon)
3. Pick the service
4. Authorise access via OAuth (you'll be redirected to that service)
5. Once connected, the connector appears as available

💡 Tip: admins on Team and Enterprise plans can centrally manage and restrict connectors.

Project folder structure in detail

input/

This is where you drop all the input files Claude should process:

• Data files (CSV, Excel, JSON)
• Documents to analyse or reformat
• Images, PDFs, templates
• Anything that serves as a foundation for Claude's work

output/

Claude saves all results into this folder:

• Generated documents (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, PDF)
• Analyses and visualisations
• Exported files

💡 When you pick a project folder in Cowork, Claude uses it automatically as the working directory.

Root directory (project folder)

The main directory of your project holds the control files:

File	Purpose
CLAUDE.md	Main instructions for Claude — role, rules, conventions
KONTEXT.md	Extra project context — background, brand voice, terminology
Other .md files	Any additional context files, e.g. TEAM.md, STYLE-GUIDE.md

skills/

This is where you place your own skills or manage installed skills. Skills are reusable instruction packages Claude uses for specific tasks (e.g. creating documents in your company design, running specific analysis workflows).

More on skills:

• Skills can be installed as plugins
• You can create your own as markdown files with a SKILL.md
• Claude has a built-in SKILL creator you can launch with /skill-creator

Plug-ins

Plug-ins are bundles of skills for a specific area, e.g. marketing, finance, or design. If you're not sure which skills to build yourself, plug-ins are a great way in. To enable plug-ins go to the Claude menu on the left → Customise → click the plus next to "Personal plug-ins".

Available plug-ins (selection)

• Marketing — define brand tone, review content
• Productivity — plan and manage tasks, write updates
• Design — evaluate designs, write copy, user research
• Legal — review contracts, draft text, assess risks
• Finance — month-end close, balance sheets, more
• Product Management — competitor analysis, feature definition, planning
• Data — analyses and visualisations

Next steps

• Create a Claude account
• Install the Desktop app
• Set up a project folder with the recommended structure
• Create a CLAUDE.md with project instructions
• Connect the connectors you need
• Install plugins
• Open the first project folder in Cowork and get started