Anthropic Launches Cowork for Everyday AI Assistance on Mac

Anthropic released a new feature called Cowork for its Claude AI chatbot on January 12, 2026, granting the tool access to users' computer folders to handle file-related tasks independently.

Credit: Claude / YouTube

The San Francisco-based company made the addition available immediately to subscribers of its Claude Max plan, which costs $100 per month, through the Claude desktop application for macOS computers.

Cowork permits Claude to read, edit and generate files within a designated folder, executing instructions such as sorting downloads, renaming items, compiling spreadsheets from screenshots or drafting documents from notes.

The new AI feature draws on the underlying technology of Claude Code, the company's existing coding assistant, to enable these operations without requiring users to have programming skills.

"In Cowork, you give Claude access to a folder of your choosing on your computer. Claude can then read, edit, or create files in that folder," Anthropic detailed in its announcement.

Users initiate tasks by chatting with Claude in the app's Cowork sidebar, where the AI formulates plans, processes files step by step and seeks clarification if needed, reducing the need for constant interaction.

The tool (acting as an AI agent) also integrates with external services like Asana and Notion via connectors, and it pairs with the Claude Chrome extension for browser-based actions.

Anthropic restricted initial access to macOS and Claude Max users to gather data on real-world usage during this research preview phase.

"Cowork is available today as a research preview for Claude Max subscribers on our macOS app, and we will improve it rapidly from here," the company stated.

The Verge described Cowork as an expansion of Claude's agent capabilities, noting its availability only to power users at launch.

Cowork can organize folder contents or build new projects from existing data on your Mac, and it can also automate complex workflows, such as synthesizing notes into drafts.

Anthropic intends to extend the feature to Windows devices and introduce cross-device syncing in upcoming updates.

Non-Max subscribers can sign up for a waitlist to gain access later.