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Claude for Operators

Cowork

Last verified: 13 February 2026 | Applies to: Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise

In 30 seconds

Section titled “In 30 seconds”

Cowork is Claude that can act autonomously. It runs in Claude Desktop on macOS and Windows (x64) and gives Claude the ability to read files, browse the web, execute code, and take multi-step actions on your behalf — all in a sandboxed environment on your computer. The gap between “Claude helped me think through this” and “Claude actually did this” is Cowork.

What it does

Section titled “What it does”

Cowork gives Claude access to a folder on your computer. From there, Claude can:

  • Read and create files — process documents, build spreadsheets, organise folders
  • Browse the web — research topics, pull data from websites, verify information
  • Execute code — run scripts, process data, build automations
  • Use plugins — install domain-specific plugins for finance, legal, sales, and more
  • Queue multiple tasks — run several jobs in parallel
  • Follow instructions — set global or folder-specific instructions that persist across sessions

Global instructions apply to every Cowork session. Folder instructions apply only when Claude is working in a specific folder. This is the simplest way to customise Claude’s behaviour without building a plugin.

How to set it up

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  1. Open Claude Desktop (macOS or Windows x64)
  2. Click the Cowork tab
  3. Select a folder for Claude to work in
  4. Start a conversation — Claude can now read and modify files in that folder

To install plugins: Visit claude.com/plugins or use the plugin interface in the Cowork tab to browse and install.

To set instructions: Create a file called CLAUDE.md in any folder. Cowork reads this automatically when working in that directory.

How operators actually use it

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Processing documents: “Read all the invoices in this folder, extract the totals, and create a summary spreadsheet.”

Research and reporting: “Research our top 5 competitors’ pricing pages, compare their plans to ours, and write a competitive analysis.”

Building plugins: “Create a plugin for our weekly ops reporting workflow” — Claude builds the folder structure, manifest, and skills files.

File organisation: “Go through these 200 support tickets exported as CSVs, categorise them by issue type, and create a summary with trends.”

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