Anthropic released a new tool for desktop computers called Cowork, which lets users designate a specific folder where Claude can read, modify, or create files based on user instruction through its standard chat interface. In other words, you can tell Claude to do things for you on your computer!
For example, Claude can:
- re-organize your downloads by sorting and renaming each file
- create a new spreadsheet with a list of expenses from a folder of screenshots or photos of receipts
- produce a first draft of a report from your scattered notes
Here's how it works (or “coworks” LOL):
- You give Claude access to a folder on your computer.
- Then you give it instructions via text prompts.
- Claude makes a plan and steadily completes it, periodically updating you on its progress.
- Anthropic says Cowork can take on many of the same tasks that Claude Code can handle, but is better for non-coding tasks.
- If you pair Cowork with Claude in Chrome, it can complete tasks that require browser access too.
- Claude can't read or edit anything you don't give it explicit access to, and it will ask before taking any significant actions.
- Cowork is currently a research preview so that Anthropic can learn what people use it for and how they think it could be better. It plans to make many improvements from here.
- It's currently only available to Claude Max subscribers on macOS.
I can see the beneficial applications for e-commerce merchants! Imagine being able to do things like:
- Rename all my product images with the name of the product followed by a sequential number.
- Edit this product CSV file to remove all columns with inventory counts or tags.
- Review these Amazon and Shopify CSVs and flag rows with missing images, inconsistent pricing, or incomplete descriptions.
We still have a long way to go before we're operating our desktop computers entirely by text or verbal instruction, but this is the kind of AI that I'm personally most excited about as a heavy desktop user. If it works of course…