AI Tools

Claude Cowork

Claude Cowork is Claude Code with a friendlier face: point it at a folder of docs and it plans, proposes trade-offs and shows progress; once you want parallel sessions, the terminal is faster.

By Jordan Metzner & Sam Nadler · From our episodes · Updated October 2026

Watch: Episode 29, We Built an AI Recruiter Coach in 6 Hours (Plus Claude Cowork in Real Time) from 10:56

Our verdict on Claude Cowork

Claude Cowork is the friendliest way into Anthropic's coding agent. Sam called it "basically just, like, wrapper around Claude Code," and that's its strength: you get the same engine with a polished view of the plan, the trade-offs and the progress.

It isn't where either of us does most of our building. Sam started his recruiter coach in Cowork and moved to the terminal "pretty quickly," because Claude Code there runs several sessions at once. Jordan's view is that the interface matters much less than using the best tools.

What we built with Claude Cowork

Hollywood transformation trainer (Episode 29, January 2026): a mobile web app personal trainer focused on upper-body muscle and progressive overload. Sam started it live from a PRD in Cowork, picked React, Supabase and a real LLM API, and watched it plan. We didn't show it finished on air.
ScreenEval (same episode): Sam's recruiter coaching app started briefly in Cowork before he moved it to Claude Code in the terminal. It took about six hours in total.

So this is, like, what's kinda nice about Cowork. It it proposes these trade offs for you in a nice UI.

— Sam Nadler, Episode 29

How we use Claude Cowork

Sam's live walkthrough, from 10:56 to 13:15 in Episode 29:

Open it in the desktop app. At the time, Cowork sat in Anthropic's Mac desktop app next to Chat and Claude Code.
Write a PRD first. Sam's described the product and its mindset: aesthetic transformation and progressive overload, not general health.
Give Cowork a folder. This is the key difference from a chat. You give it access to a folder of docs so it has the context.
Say "build this." It asked what to build. Sam pointed it at the PRD, and it summarized the product back to him.
Choose the trade-offs it proposes. Cowork asked about the stack and whether to call a real LLM API. Sam picked React, Supabase and a real API.
Watch the plan and progress. Cowork shows what it's doing and where it is in the process, in a more polished design than the terminal.
Dump in documents freely. Jordan's favorite part: "you can just dump a bunch of documents in."
Move to the terminal when you need speed. Once you want several builds going at once, switch to Claude Code.

You can literally have, you know, five, four, five terminals open working on different projects.

— Sam Nadler, on the terminal vs Cowork, Episode 29

Where Claude Cowork falls short

One thing at a time. Sam didn't think you could open multiple windows. In the terminal he runs four or five Claude Code sessions on different projects.
Slower feeling. Waiting for the plan and progress view is slower than switching between terminals, giving context and testing.
Takes time to build. Sam warned we might edit out part of the live build "because it does take some time."
Changing fast. Jordan noticed a recommendations feature that hadn't existed a few days earlier. Today's interface may not be tomorrow's, so be ready to change how you work.

Claude Cowork compared

Claude Code vs Claude Cowork: same engine. Cowork wins on friendliness and document access, the terminal on parallel sessions.
Claude Design vs Figma: Sam thought Claude Design could have been rolled into Cowork. Jordan's theory in Episode 40 is that Anthropic tests products like Cowork and Claude Design separately, then folds in the ones customers love.

When Sam first tried the OpenAI Codex app in Episode 30, he said it felt "very, very similar to Cowork," though its extra-high reasoning runs took five to ten minutes.

Who should use it

Cowork is part of how we're getting everyone at our company building. In Episode 36, Sam described a push to ramp everyone on AI regardless of job title, and Jordan said we've given everyone access to Claude, Claude Code and Claude Cowork. His line on it in Episode 29: as long as it's a gateway to getting more stuff built, the interface doesn't matter.

Episodes featuring Claude Cowork

Episode 29: the live Cowork build and the terminal debate.
Episode 30: the Codex app compared with Cowork.
Episode 36: Cowork rolled out to everyone at Ryz Labs.
Episode 40: Cowork as an example of Anthropic products customers love.

FAQ

How do you use Claude Cowork?

Open Cowork in Anthropic's Mac desktop app, give it access to a folder with your PRD or docs, and type 'build this'. It reviews the docs, asks you to choose trade-offs such as the stack, then shows its plan and progress while it builds.

What is the difference between Claude Cowork and Claude Code?

Sam calls Cowork basically a wrapper around Claude Code. Cowork gives you a polished view of plans, trade-offs and progress; the Claude Code terminal lets you run as many sessions in parallel as you want, which is faster once you're comfortable.

Is Claude Cowork good for non-technical people?

Yes. Sam, who has never written a line of code, called it an entry point for almost anyone to start building their own products, and Ryz Labs gives everyone access to it.

Can Claude Cowork run several projects at once?

Not easily, in our experience in January 2026. Sam didn't think you could open multiple windows, which is why he moved his own builds to the terminal, where he runs four or five Claude Code sessions.