1.4
Your First Hour with Claude · Lesson 4 of 6
Claude on Your Computer: Cowork
Claude stops being a chatbot in a box and starts acting like a colleague with hands.
CoworkConnectors12 min
The big idea
In Cowork mode Claude can open your files, use your connected tools (Calendar, Gmail and more), and produce real deliverables on your machine. You give it a task; it does the work and reports back. A great everyday example is a “morning brief” that pulls together today’s calendar, your inbox, and what needs attention.
Key insight: Cowork is Claude with hands — and it’s the engine behind Thursday’s “Do your taxes with Cowork” session.
What you'll see on screen
The Cowork tab and its sidebar — New task, Projects, Artifacts, Scheduled — then real scheduled work in the sidebar, and the output of a morning-brief task.
What Cowork can do
How Cowork differs from plain Chat. Tap to expand.
Key points to remember
Cowork = Claude with hands: files plus connected apps.
You give it a task; it does the work and reports back.
Connectors pull from your real life — only with your permission.
A human still reviews the output before it counts.