Anthropic’s new Cowork instrument presents Claude Code with out the code

On Monday, Anthropic announced a new tool called Cowork, designed as a extra accessible model of Claude Code. Constructed into the Claude Desktop app, the brand new instrument lets customers designate a particular folder the place Claude can learn or modify recordsdata, with additional directions given via the usual chat interface. The result’s just like a sandboxed occasion of Claude Code, however requires far much less technical savvy to arrange.

Currently in research preview, Cowork is barely accessible to Max subscribers, with a waitlist accessible for customers on different plans.

The brand new instrument is impressed partially by the growing number of subscribers utilizing Claude Code to realize non-coding duties, treating it as a general-purpose agentic AI instrument. Cowork is constructed on the Claude Agent SDK, which implies it’s drawing on the identical underlying mannequin as Claude Code. The folder partition offers a straightforward strategy to handle what recordsdata Cowork has entry to, and since the app doesn’t require command-line instruments or digital environments, it’s much less intimidating for non-technical customers.

That opens up a brand new world of potential use instances. Anthropic offers the instance of assembling an expense report from a folder of receipt photographs — however Claude Code customers have additionally put the system to work managing media recordsdata, scanning social media posts, or analyzing conversations.

Much like Claude Code, Cowork is designed to take strings of actions with out person enter — a probably harmful strategy if the instrument is given imprecise or contradictory directions. In a weblog put up asserting the brand new instrument, Anthropic explicitly warns concerning the danger of immediate injection or deleted recordsdata, recommending that customers make directions as clear and unambiguous as doable.

“These dangers aren’t new with Cowork,” the put up reads, “nevertheless it is perhaps the primary time you’re utilizing a extra superior instrument that strikes past a easy dialog.”

Launched as a command-line instrument in November 2024, Claude Code has develop into certainly one of Anthropic’s most profitable merchandise, main the corporate to launch a string of latest interfaces in latest months. An online interface launched in October, adopted by a Slack integration simply two months later.