This article explains important limitations and considerations for Team and Enterprise organizations using Cowork during the research preview period.
Cowork is available as a research preview for all paid plans (Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise) using the Claude Desktop app on macOS.
Admin Controls
Cowork will be on by default when the research preview launches, but organization owners can manually disable it.
How to enable or disable Cowork:
Log in to your Team or Enterprise organization as an Owner or Primary Owner.
Navigate to Admin settings > Capabilities.
Locate the Cowork toggle.
Toggle off to disable Cowork for all users in your organization.
Note: This is an organization-wide setting. Granular controls by user or role are not available during the research preview.
Compliance and Monitoring Limitations
Cowork currently lacks several enterprise monitoring and compliance capabilities. These limitations are important to understand before enabling Cowork for your organization.
No audit logging or data exports
Cowork activity is not captured in:
Audit Logs
Compliance API
Data Exports
Security teams will have no visibility into Cowork usage through standard enterprise monitoring tools. If your organization requires audit trails for compliance purposes, do not enable Cowork for regulated workloads.
Local conversation storage
Cowork stores conversation history locally on users' computers. This data is not subject to Anthropic's standard data retention policies and cannot be centrally managed or exported by admins.
No role-based access controls
Cowork access cannot be selectively limited by user, role, or team within your organization. The admin toggle is organization-wide only—either all users have access or none do.
If you need to selectively enable Cowork for specific users or teams, contact your account representative.
Security Considerations
Prompt injection risks
Cowork has unique risks due to its agentic nature and internet access. While we've implemented safety measures including model training and content classifiers, the risk of prompt injection attacks is non-zero.
Users should:
Avoid granting access to files with sensitive information
Monitor Claude for suspicious actions
Limit browser and web access to trusted sources
Report suspicious behavior immediately
See Using Cowork Safely for detailed guidance.
Network access
Cowork respects your organization's current network egress permissions. Review your network access settings in Admin settings > Capabilities before enabling Cowork.