Anthropic’s new Cowork tool gives you Claude Code without the code

On Monday, Anthropic announced a new tool called Cowork, designed as a more accessible version of Claude Code. This new tool, built into the Claude desktop app, allows users to specify specific folders where Claude can read or modify files, and provides detailed instructions through a standard chat interface. The result is similar to a sandboxed instance of Claude code, but requires much less technical knowledge to set up.

Currently in research preview, Cowork is available only to Max subscribers, with a waiting list available to users on other plans.

This new tool is inspired in part by the growing number of subscribers who treat Claude Code as a general-purpose agent AI tool and use it to perform non-coding tasks. Cowork is built on the Claude Agent SDK. In other words, we are drawing the same basic model as Claude Code. Folder partitions allow you to easily manage the files that Cowork can access. The app also doesn’t require any command line tools or virtual environments, so it’s not a threat to non-technical users either.

This opens up a new world of potential use cases. Anthropic uses the example of creating an expense report from a folder of receipt photos, but Claude Code users also use the system to manage media files, scan social media posts, and analyze conversations.

Similar to Claude Code, Cowork is designed to perform a series of actions without user input. This is a potentially dangerous approach if the tool is given vague or contradictory instructions. In a blog post announcing the new tool, Anthropic explicitly warns about the risks of prompt injection and file deletion, and recommends that users provide clear and unambiguous instructions whenever possible.

“These risks are not new to Cowork,” the post said. “But this may be the first time we’re using more sophisticated tools that go beyond simple conversations.”

Launched as a command-line tool in November 2024, Claude Code has become one of Anthropic’s most successful products, leading the company to launch a series of new interfaces in recent months. The web interface was released in October, and integration with Slack began just two months later.