GA Released April 2026

Claude Cowork Desktop Complete Guide

Claude Cowork is Anthropic's native desktop AI assistant built for knowledge workers, featuring computer use, scheduled tasks, and project management. This guide covers core features and setup.

macOS + Windows Computer Use Scheduled Tasks & Project Management

Claude Cowork vs Claude Code

Two complementary products for different use cases — Cowork for knowledge work automation, Code for software development.

Claude Cowork

AI desktop assistant for knowledge workers

GUI automation: click, fill forms, screenshot
Scheduled tasks: cron-style workflow automation
Projects: long-lived tasks with multi-file context
Plugin marketplace: extend workflow capabilities

Claude Code

Terminal AI coding assistant for software engineers

Codebase understanding and large-scale refactoring
MCP tool integration and Hooks automation
Agent Teams multi-agent parallel collaboration
Git workflow and CI/CD integration

Both share the same Claude API backend and work seamlessly via QCode.cc proxy.

Core Features

The four pillars of Cowork covering everyday automation needs for knowledge workers.

Computer Use

Claude operates desktop apps like a human: browse websites, fill forms, work with Excel/Word, automating repetitive GUI operations.

Mouse clicks, keyboard input, window switching
Screenshot analysis to understand current UI state
Cross-application automation workflows

Scheduled Tasks

Set cron-style scheduled tasks so Claude automatically executes workflows at specified times without manual triggering.

# 设置每日早报任务
cowork schedule daily "9:00 汇总昨日 GitHub PR 变更"

Projects

Cross-session long-lived project context. Claude remembers project background, file structure, and past decisions to continuously track complex tasks.

Project-level persistent memory
Multi-file context understanding
Cross-session task tracking

Plugin Marketplace

Built-in plugin marketplace for one-click installation of professional tools extending Cowork capabilities, covering CRM, calendar, email, and other business system integrations.

Official picks + community plugins
Interoperable with Claude Code plugin ecosystem
Private plugin support

Installation & Configuration

Three steps to install Claude Cowork and configure it for your environment.

Download Installer

Download the installer for your platform from the Anthropic website.

anthropic.com/cowork/download

Complete Setup Wizard

Follow the setup wizard to grant system permissions (screen recording and accessibility permissions are required for Computer Use).

Configure API Endpoint

Set the API Base URL to QCode.cc in settings to use all features stably.

China Region Setup

Route Cowork's API requests through QCode.cc for stable access without VPN.

Config File Paths

# macOS: ~/.cowork/config.toml
[api]
base_url = "https://api.qcode.cc"
api_key  = "your-qcode-api-key"

# Windows: %APPDATA%\Cowork\config.toml
[api]
base_url = "https://api.qcode.cc"
api_key  = "your-qcode-api-key"

Important Notes

Computer Use requires screen recording and accessibility permissions
Scheduled tasks run automatically while Cowork is in the background
Project data stored locally; API key stored in encrypted Keychain
Test Computer Use in low-risk scenarios first