Lesson Content

Cowork is where Claude meets your actual work tools.

Chat mode assists you with tasks by producing text you then act on. Cowork mode is different: it connects Claude directly to the applications where your work already lives, and allows Claude to take actions inside those applications on your behalf.

In Cowork, Claude can read your email, search your documents, draft a reply in Gmail, find a file in Google Drive, post a message to Slack, and execute complex multi-step workflows that span several tools in sequence – all triggered by a single instruction or a scheduled routine.

To understand Cowork, you need to understand its three building blocks: Plugins, Connectors, and Skills.

The three pillars of Cowork.

Skills are the smallest unit. A Skill is a single, reusable workflow that Claude can run on command. Skills are invoked by typing a slash followed by the skill name – for example, /morning-briefing or /weekly-report. A Skill might be: "Search my email for messages marked urgent in the last 24 hours and summarize them." Once a Skill is set up, you run it with one command, every time, without re-explaining the workflow.

Connectors are the bridges to your real tools. A Connector wires Claude into a specific external service – Google Drive, Gmail, Slack, Microsoft Outlook, OneDrive, DocuSign, and many others. Once a Connector is set up, Skills that use that service can access it. Without a Connector, Claude cannot reach into that application. Connectors are what make "search my email" actually mean your real email inbox rather than Claude imagining one.

Plugins bundle Skills and Connectors together for a specific role or domain. Instead of setting up every Skill and Connector individually, you install a Plugin and get a ready-to-use collection tuned for a particular kind of work. Anthropic launched 11 official Plugins at Cowork's release covering legal, sales, finance, marketing, data analysis, and more. A growing marketplace of third-party Plugins opened in February 2026. When you install a Plugin, all its Skills appear in your / command menu and its Connectors can be authorized with a few clicks.

How to set up Cowork.

Getting Cowork configured takes about fifteen minutes the first time:

1. Open Cowork mode by clicking the Cowork tab at the top of the left sidebar in the Claude desktop app
2. Go to Settings – start with your Profile, personal preferences, and working style. This teaches Claude how to work with you, not just for you
3. Browse and install Plugins – open the Plugins section under Customize in the sidebar and click "Browse plugins" to see available options. Choose one that matches your professional role
4. Authorize Connectors – after installing a Plugin, its required Connectors will be listed. Click each Connector to authenticate with that service (Google, Microsoft, Slack, etc.)
5. Explore your Skills – type / in Cowork to see all available Skills from your installed Plugins. Try running one to confirm the setup is working
6. Customize a Plugin – click "Customize" on any installed Plugin to open a task that walks you through adjusting its Skills and Connectors to match exactly how you work

Routines and scheduled tasks.

Cowork includes a Routines feature for recurring automated tasks. Type /schedule in Cowork to set up a task that runs on a schedule – a daily morning briefing, a weekly summary email, a Friday project status update. Scheduled tasks run automatically when your Claude app is open and your computer is awake. Routines appear in the left sidebar.

What Cowork is not.

Cowork is not the same as Code mode. Code mode gives Claude access to your local file system and computer environment. Cowork gives Claude access to your connected cloud applications – email, documents, calendars, team communication tools. They solve different problems. A power user might use both, for different parts of their day.