Setup

Cowork needs no install or API key. It needs a paid Claude plan, the Claude Desktop app for local files, and a folder you connect.

A plan that includes Cowork

Cowork is available on the Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans. On Enterprise an owner has to switch it on for the organisation. Computer use has narrower availability, which lesson 18 covers.

The Claude Desktop app and connected folders

A task runs in a sandbox, and it can only reach local folders you have connected in the Claude Desktop app. When a cloud session needs a local file, the request goes through the desktop app on that device, so the app has to be running. Lesson 4 explains where tasks run in detail.

Connect only the folder a job needs. For this course that is the folder of monthly sales exports used from lesson 3.

No API key

Cowork uses your Claude account. There is no key to create or store, and connectors to outside services, covered in lesson 11, each ask for their own sign-in.