Claude Cowork: How Anthropic’s New AI Agent Automates Your Mac or PC

Anthropic has introduced a new research preview called Claude Cowork, a tool designed to handle complex, recurring tasks across both desktop and mobile platforms. The new system allows the AI to interact directly with your Mac to open apps, fill spreadsheets, and navigate browsers without requiring manual hand-offs or shared passwords.

The cool feature with Claude Cowork is its ability to follow a user across devices. A conversation started on your iPhone can continue on your Mac, with the AI remembering the context and specific instructions of the session. This persistent memory is designed to help Claude run tasks on a set schedule, such as checking emails every morning or pulling data from analytics dashboards into weekly reports every Friday.

Claude Cowork operates by viewing the user’s screen or using specialized connectors for tools like Slack, Notion, and GitHub. It can be customized with plugins for specific roles, such as finance, legal, or sales, to handle specialized workflows like contract reviews or financial reconciliations. Instead of providing step-by-step updates, the AI focuses on delivering finished products, such as formatted memos or organized legal exhibit sets.

In a nutshell, this looks like a turn-key OpenClaw AI agent that can control your Mac. Anthropic says support for Windows is coming “in the next few weeks”.

On the security front, Anthropic is emphasizing user control. Claude is restricted from accessing folders or connectors without explicit permission and is required to show its plan for approval before taking any significant action.

For pro users, conversation history is stored locally on the device rather than on Anthropic’s servers, and administrators have the ability to toggle these features on or off.

The tool is currently available in research preview for macOS only for now (Windows as mentioned above is coming). But it’s not free as you’ll need either a Pro or Max plan, starting from $17 US per month. Check out their video below: