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

On Monday, Anthropic has announced a new tool called Coworkdesigned as a more accessible version of Claude Code. The new tool, built into the Claude Desktop app, allows users to designate a specific folder where Claude can read or modify files, with further instructions provided via the 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 previewCowork is only available to Max subscribers, with a waitlist for users on other plans.

The new tool is partly inspired by the growing number of subscribers Using Claude Code to perform non-coding tasks, and treating it as a general-purpose agentic AI tool. Cowork is built on the Claude Agent SDK, which means it uses the same underlying model as Claude Code. The folder partition provides an easy way to manage which files Cowork can access, and because the app doesn’t require any command-line tools or virtual environments, it’s less intimidating for non-technical users.

That opens up a new world of potential use cases. Anthropic gives the example of building an expense report from a folder of photos of receipts, but Claude Code users have also puts the system to work manage media files, scan social media posts or analyze conversations.

Like Claude Code, Cowork is designed to perform a series of actions without user input – a potentially dangerous approach if the tool is given vague or conflicting instructions. In a blog post announcing the new tool, Anthropic explicitly warns of the risk of quick injection or deleted files, and recommends users make instructions as clear and unambiguous as possible.

“These risks are not new to Cowork,” the message reads, “but it may be the first time you use a more advanced tool that goes beyond a simple conversation.”

Launched as a command-line tool in November 2024, Claude Code has become one of Anthropic’s most successful products, prompting the company to launch a series of new interfaces in recent months. A web interface was launched in October, followed just two months later by a Slack integration.