Claude Cowork and chat are one Claude

We’re introducing a new way to use both Claude Cowork and chat that removes the distinction between the two products: in the new experience, these are merged into a single conversation, so you don’t need to decide which option better suits your task before getting started. Ask Claude for what you need, and it can decide which tool to use. Claude can answer a quick question, and it can also take on more complex work, like research, reports, spreadsheets, and presentations, and hand it back as finished files you can edit. With the new Claude experience, you ask for all of it in the same conversation, with no mode to choose. What you could previously only do in Claude Cowork is available from any conversation.

We're rolling this new experience out in stages, so even accounts on the same plan will see the changes at different times. You don't need to do anything to enable the new experience. If you're on a Pro or Max plan and your message box still shows "Chat" and "Cowork" options, you don't have it yet. Until then, keep using chat and Claude Cowork as you do today, where you can do most of what's in this article. Your chats, tasks, projects, and settings come with you when your account moves over. Once your account has the new experience, you can't switch back to separate "Chat" and "Cowork" options.

Describe the outcome you want, and Claude works through the steps on its own: searching the web, reading your files, running code, and putting the results together. You don't need to break the work into steps or pick a mode first. A quick question still gets a quick answer, and you can have several tasks running at the same time.

Try: "Go through these five interview notes and pull out the top themes, with a quote for each."

More involved tasks keep running in the cloud even if you close your laptop or leave the page. Come back when the task is done, and the result is waiting in the conversation. Tasks that use files or apps on your computer need Claude Desktop open.

Try: "Research the top project management tools for small teams and write up a comparison. I'll check back later."

Claude can create documents, spreadsheets with working formulas, and presentations you can open in PowerPoint. Download them and use them anywhere, or ask Claude to keep refining them.

Try: "Turn this analysis into a 10-slide deck I can present on Monday."

Claude can build charts, diagrams, and interactive visuals right in the conversation. Learn more in Custom visuals in chat and Cowork. On paid plans, you can also ask for a design, deck, or doc for work you'll put in front of others. Claude Design makes on-brand visuals and mockups, Claude Slides makes presentations, and Claude Docs makes living documents you write with Claude and your team (Claude Design, Claude Slides, and Claude Docs are in beta.) Edit the result yourself or tell Claude what to change, then share it by link or export it. Learn more in What are artifacts and how do I use them?

Try: "Make a one-page visual summary of this launch plan."

Apps you've connected to Claude (like Google Drive, Gmail, Microsoft 365, or Slack) work while Claude carries out a task, so it can pull what it needs as it goes. Connect apps in Customize > Connectors.

Try: "Find last quarter's board deck in my Drive and summarize what changed since."

Claude reaches your local files, the built-in browser, and computer use only while Claude Desktop is open, and by default it asks before permanently deleting any files.

Try: "Organize my Downloads folder by file type and date."

Ask Claude to run a task on a schedule, like a summary of your inbox every Monday morning. Scheduled tasks can run in the cloud, so they keep going when your computer is off. Learn more in Schedule recurring tasks in Claude Cowork.

Try: "Every weekday at 8 AM, summarize new messages in my team's Slack channels."

A task you start at your desk shows up in Claude Mobile too, so you can see how it's going, answer questions from Claude, and redirect the work from anywhere. You can also start a task from your phone, and Claude keeps working in the cloud.

A permission setting in the message box controls how independently Claude works:

You can change the setting at any time, and you can stop or redirect Claude while it works. The setting applies to the whole conversation. For work with real consequences, like sending messages or changing important files, stay close and review what Claude does. Learn more in Use Claude Cowork safely.

In the new experience, everything Claude Cowork does is available from any conversation. Your existing Cowork tasks, projects, connectors, skills, artifacts, and files carry over, and those Cowork tasks open as they did before, so you can continue them. The model picker and the “Code” tab are where they were.

Everything you do with Claude counts toward your plan's usage limits. Longer agentic tasks that search the web, run code, or create files generally use more than a quick question. While the new experience rolls out, usage may be measured slightly differently for accounts that have it and accounts that don’t. Check your current usage in Settings > Usage, and learn more in Usage limit best practices.

Open Claude and describe what you need, the way you'd brief a colleague. You'll get better results when you include:

Not sure where to start? Ask Claude what it can help with.