Claude Cowork

Claude Cowork lets Claude keep working on a task even after you turn off your computer and walk away — like asking a coworker to finish something for you before you leave for the day. Open the app on your phone the next day, and you'll find the results waiting for you.

Connect Gmail or Google Drive, and Claude goes beyond just giving instructions — it actually writes and sends email replies, or organizes files. In effect, you're handing over the key to a specific drawer in your account. Gmail and Drive each need their own separate connection, and you can choose whether Claude asks for confirmation before every send or action, or just goes ahead with routine tasks on its own.

Anthropic first launched the feature as a beta for Max plan subscribers on July 7, 2026, then expanded it to all paid plans on both mobile and web on August 18 of the same year. OpenAI's ChatGPT Work, Microsoft Copilot, and Google's Gemini Spark are moving in a similar direction — reaching into email and document tools — making Cowork one front in that broader competition.

Articles describe it like this: "Anthropic first introduced Claude Cowork as a Max-plan beta on July 7, then expanded it to all paid plans on mobile and web on August 18." A common misunderstanding is that Cowork simply saves your conversation when you close your laptop — in fact, it goes further, actually taking actions like sending Gmail messages or organizing Drive files.

If you're on a paid plan, hand Claude a time-consuming task and close your laptop or app. Check back later on your phone to see if the work has continued. If you've connected Gmail or Google Drive, try a request that touches your actual account, like "sort through my unread emails and flag the ones that need a reply." For anything hard to undo, like sending or deleting something, it's safer to require approval each time.