Cowork

Cowork is a product form Anthropic launched in January 2026 as a research preview, positioned as an agent environment capable of autonomously executing multi-step tasks in an isolated virtual machine rather than a chat assistant; its difference from Claude Code is that Claude Code is aimed at developers and centered on code repositories, while Cowork is aimed at general knowledge work.

This VM network-layer vulnerability was previously discovered and reported by Johann Rehberger in Claude chat (not Cowork), and Anthropic confirmed it, but it had not been fixed before Cowork launched.

v1.13.0 added type definitions for unified analytics metrics in Chat and Cowork.

Cowork mode can directly access and operate the local computer, including reading and writing the file system, calling script editors, and using installed apps.

Cowork shares underlying capabilities with Claude Code, and technical users can achieve almost all of Cowork's functionality using Claude Code.

Cowork's positioning is not 'more powerful' but 'easier to use,' lowering the technical barrier compared to Claude Code through better UI, preset routines, and visual connectors.

The core value of Cowork lies in being a more user-friendly interface built around Claude's capabilities, explicitly targeting non-technical scenarios.

Cowork can perform system-level operations via AppleScript, such as changing the desktop background and adjusting alarms and notifications.

Cowork can call public weather APIs combined with vague clues to reverse-infer a time range and locate files on a computer.

Cowork supports integration with service connectors including Gmail, Chrome, Cloud, Google Drive, and Google Calendar.

Cowork offers options such as 'request permission' and 'skip all approvals,' corresponding to the bypass and auto modes in Claude Code.

Cowork can automatically summarize missed Slack messages, unread emails, and pending replies, generating a complete overview.

Cowork allows specific preset prompts to be run at specific times, supporting the configuration of fixed routines and scheduled tasks.

Cowork's value is highly dependent on how many data sources users are willing to connect, and incorrectly configured connectors will limit the effectiveness of its features.

Microsoft's proposed division of responsibilities: Chat for quick Q&A, Cowork for delegating long and complex tasks of 10 to 20 minutes while accumulating reusable skills, and Scout as an always-on assistant with an independent identity that proactively creates value.

Ishan, a product manager on Microsoft's TAP team, used Cowork and Scout to compress a task that originally required 34 person-hours per week (completed by him, a colleague, and an outsourcing team) down to 4 hours per week for him alone.

Cowork allows users to delegate an entire task, and after describing the task, returning in about ten minutes yields a finished deliverable that only needs to be reviewed.

Cowork first generates an execution plan and requests user approval for sensitive operations involving email, calendar, and similar items, keeping the user in the decision loop.

Cowork is deeply integrated into Microsoft 365, capable of reading emails, calendars, and Teams, understanding reporting relationships, and connecting to external resources and scheduling timed tasks.

Cowork's Skills are essentially text files that can be created without coding and can be shared with colleagues.