How to Use Claude Cowork: From Setup to Your First Automated Task
A practical walkthrough of Claude Cowork, from installing Claude Desktop to running your first real task and setting up scheduled work.
Quick Answer: To use Claude Cowork, install Claude Desktop on macOS or Windows, sign in with a paid Claude account (Pro or higher), open the Cowork tab, grant access to a folder, and describe the task you want done in plain English. Claude works on the files in that folder and reports back when finished. Most people run their first successful task within 10 minutes.
Step 1: Install Claude Desktop and check your plan
Cowork lives inside Claude Desktop, not the web app. Download Claude Desktop for macOS or Windows from claude.com, then sign in. You need a paid plan: Pro ($20/month) or higher. On the free tier the Cowork tab will not be available.
Once signed in, you'll see three tabs at the top of the app: Chat, Cowork, and Code. Click Cowork.
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Step 2: Grant access to your first folder
Cowork works on a folder-permission model. It can only touch folders you explicitly approve.
Start clean: create a new folder for your first project, something like Documents/cowork-test, and drop a few files into it. A handful of PDFs, a spreadsheet, some meeting notes. When you start your first task, Cowork asks for permission to that folder. Approve it.
Two habits worth building from day one. First, keep a dedicated working directory for Cowork projects instead of pointing it at your entire Documents folder. Second, know that you can revoke any folder's access from Settings at any time.
Step 3: Run your first task
Describe the outcome you want, not the steps. Cowork plans the steps itself.
Good first tasks that show off what it can do:
"Read every PDF in this folder and create a one-page summary document with the key points from each."
"Organize these files into subfolders by month based on their dates, and rename them with a consistent format."
"Take the data in expenses.xlsx and create a summary report showing spend by category with a short written analysis."
Cowork shows its progress as it works. You can step away; it keeps going. This is the core difference from chat: you delegate and come back to finished work, in your actual files.
Step 4: Review, refine, and give standing instructions
The first output is a draft, not a verdict. If the summary format isn't right, say so: "Shorter bullets, and lead each summary with the document's date." Cowork revises the actual files.
When you find yourself repeating the same preference, turn it into an instruction. Cowork supports global instructions (applied to every task) and folder-level instructions (applied to tasks in that folder). A consultant might set a folder instruction like: "All client documents in this folder use our standard structure: situation, findings, recommendations, next steps." From then on, every document Cowork produces there follows it.
Step 5: Schedule recurring work
Any task you'd run repeatedly can run on a schedule. Weekly folder cleanups, Monday morning digests of new files, monthly reports built from the same source data. Set the task once, set the cadence, and Cowork runs it in the background and leaves the output in your folder. You can also check on tasks remotely from the Claude mobile app.
Step 6: Install skills to get expert-level output
Here is the honest limitation of a fresh Cowork setup: it is a strong generalist. Ask it for a competitive analysis and you get a decent generic one. Ask it for a client proposal and you get a reasonable but unremarkable draft.
Skills close that gap. A skill is a SKILL.md file containing expert instructions for one specific job. Install a proposal-writing skill and Cowork produces proposals with the structure, tone, and persuasion patterns of someone who writes them for a living. Install an SEO brief skill and it produces briefs a content strategist would sign off on.
Agensi is the marketplace for these. 2,000+ skills from 200+ expert creators, each one security-scanned before it's listed, installable in about 30 seconds, most priced between $5 and $29. Browse by what you're trying to get done at agensi.io/browse. If the skill you need doesn't exist yet, post a request and creators on the platform are notified to build it.
Common beginner mistakes
Pointing Cowork at a huge messy folder on day one. Start with a small, purpose-made folder. Expand scope once you trust the workflow.
Writing step-by-step instructions. Cowork plans its own steps. Describe the outcome and the constraints, then let it work.
Ignoring instructions and skills. Without them, every task starts from zero. With them, Cowork compounds: it gets more useful the more context you give it.
Treating usage as unlimited. Cowork tasks consume your plan's usage. Pro covers regular use; heavy daily automation may need Max. Details in the pricing guide.