Anthropic has announced a new tool that brings Claude Code’s advanced features to less technical users, allowing them to perform various actions without writing a single line of code. The tool, called Cowork, can access folders on a user’s computer and read, modify or delete files on their behalf.
Claude Cowork can also launch new projects using information from the folder, enabling tasks such as creating reports based on a user’s notes. Anthropic says the tool can even be used to organize old receipts and create a spreadsheet for expense tracking or clean out a messy downloads folder.
Cowork can also leverage Claude’s existing connectors to create documents, presentations, or other projects based on information from third-party apps. Additionally, it works with the Claude in Chrome extension to perform actions that require browser access.
Anthropic explains that Cowork is “designed to make using Claude for new work as easy as possible.” The company adds that users don’t have to repeatedly provide context or manually convert output to the correct format, and can queue up multiple tasks and have Claude work on them in parallel. The experience should feel more like collaborating with a teammate than constant back and forth with a chatbot.
The trade-offs of deeper access
The company notes that Cowork’s ability to access local files poses potential risks. To address privacy concerns, it says the tool can only read or edit files that users explicitly grant access to. However, because Cowork can delete local files when prompted, Anthropic recommends users be precise with their prompts to reduce the risk of unintentional actions.
It also warns of the risk of prompt injection attacks, which could be particularly problematic if Cowork has access to sensitive files. While Anthropic says it has developed safeguards to mitigate such threats, it acknowledges that immediate injection protection is “still an active area of development.”
Cowork is currently rolling out as a research preview for Claude Max subscribers on macOS. Users of other plans or platforms can join a waitlist to gain access in the future.
