Cowork Glossary

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Terminology specific to Claude Cowork and related concepts

A

Agentic

Describes AI systems that can autonomously plan and execute multi-step tasks with minimal human intervention. Cowork is “agentic” because it analyzes your request, creates a plan, and executes it (with your approval).

Agent Teams

A research preview feature enabling multi-agent coordination where multiple Claude agents work together on complex tasks. One agent orchestrates others, each handling a specialized sub-task with sophisticated coordination.

Approval Gate

The checkpoint where Cowork shows its planned actions and waits for your confirmation before executing. Critical security measure—always review before approving.

Artifact

A file created by Claude (document, spreadsheet, image, etc.) during a Cowork session. Artifacts appear in Claude’s interface where you can preview, edit, or download them. Examples: generated PDFs, organized spreadsheets, extracted data files.

C

Claude Code

Anthropic’s CLI tool for developers. Shares architecture with Cowork but provides full shell access and code execution. Terminal-based interface.

Claude Desktop

The macOS and Windows application that hosts Cowork. Different from the web interface (claude.ai).

Context Compaction

A beta feature that automatically compresses conversation history during long sessions. This allows much longer effective sessions by keeping relevant context while removing redundant information.

Claude in Excel

Microsoft Excel add-in (launched January 24, 2026) that provides AI assistance inside Excel. Not the same as Cowork. The add-in helps with formula writing, data analysis, and chart creation within existing Excel files. Cowork’s Excel capabilities generate new spreadsheets from unstructured data. See comparison.

Customize Tab

The settings area in Claude Desktop for managing Skills, Connectors, and personalizations. Access it from the main app navigation to install skills, configure external tool connections, and set per-tool permissions.

Context Limit

The maximum amount of text/data Claude can process in a single session (~200K tokens). When exceeded, tasks may fail or produce incomplete results.

Context Window

The “memory” space where Claude holds your conversation and file contents during a session. Measured in tokens.

Cowork

Claude’s agentic desktop feature for knowledge workers. Manipulates files without code execution.

Desktop Commander

An official Cowork extension installed from the Customize tab. Enables: (1) file system access beyond the workspace folder, (2) cross-session memory via a memory.md file, (3) one-click MCP server installation. Recommended for all regular Cowork users.

E

Execution Plan

The detailed list of actions Cowork proposes before starting work. Shows what files will be affected and how. Review this carefully.

Extended Thinking

Claude’s ability to reason through complex problems step-by-step. Shared capability between Claude Code and Cowork.

F

Folder Sandbox

The restricted area where Cowork can operate. You grant access to specific folders; Cowork cannot access anything outside this boundary.

K

Knowledge Worker

Non-technical professionals who work primarily with information and documents (project managers, analysts, writers, consultants). Cowork’s target audience.

L

Local-First

Design principle where data and processing stay on your computer rather than in the cloud. Cowork accesses local files only.

M

Max Tier

The highest Claude subscription level ($100-200/month, with 5x or 20x usage multipliers). Recommended for heavy Cowork usage.

Pro Tier

The standard Claude subscription level ($20/month). Now includes Cowork access, but with tighter usage limits (~1-1.5 hours intensive use before quota resets).

MCP Connector

A Model Context Protocol integration allowing Cowork to interact with external tools and services. Three types: web search, desktop/local files, and custom JSON. Each connector’s tools can be set to Allow (automatic), Ask (prompt each time), or Block. No coding required for setup.

Memory File

A markdown file (typically memory.md) used with Desktop Commander to persist context across Cowork sessions. Contains business context, client preferences, and recurring task information. Reference it at the start of each session: “Read ~/Cowork-Workspace/memory.md first.”

Multi-Step Task

An operation requiring multiple sequential actions. Example: “read files → analyze → create report → organize output.” Cowork excels at these.

O

OCR (Optical Character Recognition)

Technology that extracts text from images. Cowork uses OCR to read receipts, screenshots, and scanned documents.

Orchestrator

The main Cowork agent that receives your request, creates the plan, coordinates sub-agents, and assembles results.

P

Plugin (Cowork Plugin)

An official third-party integration that extends Cowork’s capabilities. 11 plugins were announced January 30, 2026: Asana, Canva, Cloudflare, Figma, GitHub, Google Drive, Jira, Linear, Notion, Sentry, and Slack. Plugins allow Cowork to interact directly with these services without browser automation.

Prompt

The instructions you give to Claude. Can be simple (“organize these files alphabetically”) or complex multi-step workflows (“read invoices → extract data → create spreadsheet → categorize by date”). Clear prompts yield better results.

Prompt Injection

A security attack where malicious instructions are hidden in files, attempting to manipulate AI behavior. Mitigation: only process trusted files.

Projects

Claude’s conversation interface on claude.ai. Allows document uploads but no local file access or creation.

R

Research Preview

Anthropic’s term for early-access features that aren’t production-ready. Cowork is in research preview (January 2026). Expect bugs.

S

Skill

An add-on capability for Cowork, installed via the Customize tab. Invoked via slash commands (e.g., /pdf, /docx, /xlsx, /canvas-design). Skills extend what Cowork can do beyond its defaults. Official skills: github.com/anthropics/skills.

Skill Chaining

Combining multiple skills in a single workflow. Example: /pdf to extract content from a document, then /xlsx to organize it into a spreadsheet. Skills execute sequentially.

Slash Command

A shortcut for invoking a skill in Cowork (e.g., /pdf, /docx, /xlsx). Type the slash command at the start of your message in the Cowork chat interface.

Scheduled Tasks

A feature allowing automated recurring Cowork operations on a set schedule (e.g., daily report compilation, weekly file organization). Removes the need to manually trigger repetitive tasks each time.

Sub-Agent

Specialized workers spawned by the orchestrator to handle specific parts of a task. Each sub-agent has fresh context and can work in parallel with others.

Sandbox

See Folder Sandbox.

T

Token

The unit Claude uses to measure text. Roughly 4 characters or 0.75 words. Used to calculate context limits.

W

Workflow

A repeatable sequence of actions that transforms input into output. Example: “read files → process → create output.” Like a recipe you can reuse for similar tasks. Cowork excels at automating repetitive workflows.

Workspace

The dedicated folder structure for Cowork operations. Best practice: ~/Cowork-Workspace/ with input/ and output/ subfolders.

Common Acronyms

Acronym	Meaning
CLI	Command Line Interface
OCR	Optical Character Recognition
PDF	Portable Document Format
API	Application Programming Interface
SSO	Single Sign-On

Term	In Code Context	In Cowork Context
CLAUDE.md	Project context file	Can use for shared team context
Sub-agents	Task-specific workers	Same concept, file-focused
Hooks	Event handlers	Not available in Cowork
MCP	Model Context Protocol	Supported via Claude Desktop configuration

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