Claude Cowork Guide

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Table of Contents

🌐 Official Website

Stars Workflows Prompts

Status Platform Subscription Version

Complete guide to Claude’s desktop assistant for knowledge workers and small businesses. Invoices, quotes, follow-ups, prospecting — automated without coding.

StarMapper — see who stars this repo on a world map

⚡ Quick Start

1. Enable Cowork

Settings → Features → Enable Cowork → Grant folder access

2. First workflow

mkdir -p ~/Cowork-Workspace/{input,output}
# Add files to input/, then:

“Organize the files in ~/Cowork-Workspace/input/ by type”

3. Go further

Prerequisites - **Subscription**: Pro ($20/mo) or Max ($100-200/mo) - **Platform**: macOS and Windows - **App**: Claude Desktop (latest version)

Why this guide?

The problem: Official docs are dense. Tutorials get outdated quickly. You need ready-to-use workflows, not feature lists.

This guide: 28 business workflows, 70 copy-paste prompts, 11 official plugins documented, Desktop Commander guide, Skills/Customize Tab documentation, practical examples.

Reading time: Getting started 5 min Complete guide 45 min

👨‍💻 Are you a developer?

Claude Code is the guide for developers — same AI, terminal interface, code execution.

→ Claude Code Guide

🎯 Learning Paths

Beginner — First week (5 steps) 1. [Overview](/guide/00-overview.html) — What Cowork can do 2. [Getting Started](/guide/01-getting-started.html) — Installation and first workflow 3. [File Organization](/workflows/file-organization.html) — Practical example 4. [Prompts Library](/prompts/file-ops.html) — 20 ready prompts 5. [Cheatsheet](/reference/cheatsheet.html) — Print this
Decision Maker — Overview (4 steps) 1. [Content](#-content) — Capabilities and resources 2. [Golden Rules](#-golden-rules) — Essential principles 3. [Security](/guide/03-security.html) — Best practices 4. [Comparison](/reference/comparison.html) — vs Copilot/Gemini/ChatGPT
Power User — Deep dive (6 steps) 1. [Complete Capabilities](/guide/02-capabilities.html) — Feature matrix 2. [All Workflows](workflows/) — 28 step-by-step guides 3. [Troubleshooting](/guide/04-troubleshooting.html) — Error resolution 4. [FAQ](/reference/faq.html) — 20+ questions 5. [Advanced Prompts](/prompts/research.html) — Research and synthesis 6. [Glossary](/reference/glossary.html) — Terminology

📚 Content

Guides (5 files)

Guide What you’ll learn Time
Overview What Cowork can do 5 min
Getting Started Installation, first workflow 10 min
Capabilities What works, what doesn’t 8 min
Security Best practices 12 min
Troubleshooting Common issues 8 min

Plugins (11 official)

Claude Cowork supports 11 official plugins: Asana, Canva, Cloudflare, Figma, GitHub, Google Drive, Jira, Linear, Notion, Sentry, Slack. Plugins extend Cowork’s capabilities by connecting to external tools directly.

Workflows (28 guides)

📋 Administrative (6)

💼 Sales & Marketing (5)

🔧 Operations (5)

📣 Communication (6)

🗂️ Organization (6)

→ All workflows

Ready-to-use prompts (70) | Collection | Count | Examples | |------------|-------|----------| | [Files](/prompts/file-ops.html) | 20 | Organize, rename, deduplicate | | [Documents](/prompts/document-creation.html) | 15 | Reports, summaries, Excel | | [Extraction](/prompts/data-extraction.html) | 15 | PDF, OCR, images | | [Research](/prompts/research.html) | 17 | Web, synthesis |
References | Resource | Description | |----------|-------------| | [Cheatsheet](/reference/cheatsheet.html) | 1-page printable | | [Comparison](/reference/comparison.html) | vs Copilot, Gemini, ChatGPT | | [FAQ](/reference/faq.html) | 20+ questions | | [Glossary](/reference/glossary.html) | Cowork terminology |

🔑 Golden Rules

  1. Always review the plan before approval — Cowork proposes, you decide
  2. Dedicated folder only — Never grant access to Documents/Desktop/system
  3. No credentials — Keep passwords and API keys elsewhere
  4. Verify sources — Downloaded files may contain malicious prompts
  5. Disconnect VPN — Issue #1, breaks VM networking
  6. Backup before deletion — No undo possible

See Security Guide for detailed practices.

🌍 About

Origins & Philosophy This guide exists because official docs are dense and tutorials get outdated quickly. **Philosophy**: Practical over theoretical. Real workflows, not feature lists. **Focus v1.1**: Small businesses and knowledge workers worldwide. **Created with Claude Code**. Maintained by [Florian BRUNIAUX](https://github.com/FlorianBruniaux). **Related**: [Claude Code Guide](https://github.com/FlorianBruniaux/claude-code-ultimate-guide) — For developers
Privacy Cowork sends prompts, files, and results to Anthropic servers. | Plan | Retention | Training | |------|-----------|----------| | Default | 5 years | Yes | | Opt-out | 30 days | No | | Enterprise | 0 | No | **Action**: [Disable training](https://claude.ai/settings/data-privacy-controls)
Current Limitations (February 2026) **Platform**: macOS and Windows **Known issues**: - VPN incompatible (VM routing conflict) - Usage resets every 5 hours - Pro: ~1-1.5h intensive use before limit - OCR: ~97% fields, ~63% line items accuracy **Status**: Research preview — expect bugs

🤝 Contributing

Found an error? Have a workflow to share?

How to help: ⭐ Star the repo • 🐛 Report issues • 📝 Submit workflows

→ CONTRIBUTING.md Open an issue

📄 License

Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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*Version 1.5.0 February 2026 Part of Claude Code Ultimate Guide Crafted with Claude*