Anthropic introduces Cowork with a more accessible version of Claude Code. However, according to Techcrunch, Cowork is currently in the research trial phase and is only for users who register for the Max package, while other packages must participate in the waiting list. Users can communicate with Cowork through familiar chat interfaces, instead of using complex command lines or virtual environments.
Anthropic said that Cowork is developed based on Claude Agent SDK, on the same platform as Claude Code. Restricting access by directory helps users easily control the data that AI can process, while expanding its usability to non-programmers.
In addition to programming, Cowork is expected to serve many other needs such as summarizing cost reports from receipt photos, managing multimedia files, analyzing social media content or processing conversations. These are usages that Claude Code users have applied before.
However, Anthropic also warned that Cowork can perform automatic action sequences without user intervention, posing a risk if the instructions are not clear. The company recommends that users need specific instructions to avoid incidents such as deleting the wrong file or being inserted with a reminder.
Claude Code was launched as a command line tool from the end of 2024, quickly becoming one of Anthropic's most successful products. After that, the company continuously expanded to the web interface and integration with Slack showed a trend of bringing AI from technical tools to more popular applications.
