The Claude Desktop app is the workshop. It has three tabs. Chat is the Claude you already know. Cowork takes a goal and finishes the job for you. Code, waiting in Module 3, builds software with you. One app, three levels of hands-off.
This module is about Cowork. In chat, Claude can tell you how to organize your invoices. In Cowork, Claude opens the folder and organizes them. The difference:
- You give it a goal, it makes a plan, then executes step by step, reading, creating, and editing real files in a folder you choose.
- Tasks can run for a while. You can watch, step in to correct course, or come back when it is done.
- It asks permission before risky actions, and always before deleting anything.
Install the desktop app, sign in, and find the Cowork tab at the top of the app. Just look around today. Note: Cowork tasks use noticeably more of your monthly usage than chat, so save it for jobs worth automating.
No Cowork tab? It is still rolling out to some plans. Read on meanwhile and check back in a few days; nothing after this lesson expires.
Done when: the desktop app is installed and you can see the Cowork tab.