Anthropic’s new Cowork tool offers Claude Code without the code

On Monday, Anthropic announced a caller instrumentality called Cowork, designed arsenic a much accessible mentation of Claude Code. Built into the Claude Desktop app, the caller instrumentality lets users designate a circumstantial folder wherever Claude tin work oregon modify files, with further instructions fixed done the modular chat interface. The effect is akin to a sandboxed lawsuit of Claude Code, but requires acold little method savvy to acceptable up.

Currently successful probe preview, Cowork is lone disposable to Max subscribers, with a waitlist disposable for users connected different plans.

The caller instrumentality is inspired successful portion by the increasing fig of subscribers utilizing Claude Code to execute non-coding tasks, treating it arsenic a general-purpose agentic AI tool. Cowork is built connected the Claude Agent SDK, which means it’s drafting connected the aforesaid underlying exemplary arsenic Claude Code. The folder partition gives an casual mode to negociate what files Cowork has entree to, and due to the fact that the app doesn’t necessitate command-line tools oregon virtual environments, it’s little intimidating for non-technical users.

That opens up a caller satellite of imaginable usage cases. Anthropic gives the illustration of assembling an disbursal study from a folder of receipt photos — but Claude Code users person besides put the strategy to work managing media files, scanning societal media posts, oregon analyzing conversations.

Similar to Claude Code, Cowork is designed to instrumentality strings of actions without idiosyncratic input — a perchance unsafe attack if the instrumentality is fixed vague oregon contradictory instructions. In a blog station announcing the caller tool, Anthropic explicitly warns astir the hazard of punctual injection oregon deleted files, recommending that users marque instructions arsenic wide and unambiguous arsenic possible.

“These risks aren’t caller with Cowork,” the station reads, “but it mightiness beryllium the archetypal clip you’re utilizing a much precocious instrumentality that moves beyond a elemental conversation.”

Launched arsenic a command-line instrumentality successful November 2024, Claude Code has go 1 of Anthropic’s astir palmy products, starring the institution to motorboat a drawstring of caller interfaces successful caller months. A web interface launched in October, followed by a Slack integration conscionable 2 months later.