Claude Code does a lot more than code, but the name and command line scare people.

Anthropic realized a rebrand was in order. Two weeks later, we have Claude Cowork, written entirely by Claude Code.

Did you know that chat interfaces were always (mostly) secretly a command line?

This is still very much a research preview, available only for Claude Max users on Macs with a bunch of bugs and missing features. It will improve rapidly over time.

Cowork combines a lot of the power of Claude Code with the ordinary chat interface, giving it access to a folder on your computer and to Claude Code's planning and agentic capabilities. It can use that folder as context, to download, to organize and create files, and it can be paired with Claude for Chrome and use your existing connectors.

Anthropic: Introducing Cowork: Claude Code for the rest of your work.

Cowork lets you complete non-technical tasks much like how developers use Claude Code.

In Cowork, you give Claude access to a folder on your computer. Claude can then read, edit, or create files in that folder. Try it to create a spreadsheet from [...]

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Outline:

(02:23) Early Takes

(05:51) Minimum Viable Product

(07:04) Maximum Viable Product

(08:16) Backup Your Directory

(08:38) Meanwhile In Claude Code News

(15:49) You Are The Bottleneck

(18:07) Claude Code Upgrades

(19:30) Oh No

(20:23) I'm In Danger

(20:54) In The Beginning Was The Command Line

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First published:
January 13th, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/fm2N4cws8nbdmfGux/claude-coworks

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:

Text message conversation about using Claude to create capsule wardrobe app prototype.

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“Claude Coworks” by Zvi

LessWrong (30+ Karma)