Claude Cowork is a mode where Claude works the way a capable teammate would: inside a real workspace, with access to your files and tools, able to take multi-step actions and even run tasks on a schedule. Regular chat answers questions. Cowork actually does the work.

How Cowork is different from chat

• It works in a folder. Point Cowork at a working folder and it reads and writes real files, not just talk about them.
• It uses your tools. With connectors, it pulls from your email, calendar, drive, and CRM, then acts on what it finds.
• It follows your context. A CLAUDE.md file tells it about your business and how you operate, so its output sounds like you.
• It runs on a schedule. Recurring work can run automatically, without you in the loop.

In practice, you give Cowork a home to work in -- a folder with your context and files:

A working folder + a CLAUDE.md is Cowork's home base.

How to get started with Cowork

1. Open a working folder for the area you're focused on.
2. Write a short CLAUDE.md -- a few paragraphs about your business, goals, and preferences. This single step drives most of the output quality.
3. Connect a tool or two you live in (email, drive, calendar).
4. Give it a real task from your actual week and refine from there.

Where Cowork gets powerful: it runs on its own

Once it's set up, Cowork can put recurring work on autopilot -- a Monday report, a weekly inbox digest, a pipeline cleanup -- running on a schedule without you:

Set it up once; it runs itself.

Why the setup matters

Most people who feel underwhelmed by AI never set it up -- they ask a blank assistant for good work without giving it any context. Cowork's payoff comes from the opposite move: invest a little up front in context, access, and a couple of scheduled tasks, and it starts running like part of your team.