Cowork: the AI tool everyone is talking about (and they're right)

Today's topic is simple.

We're going to talk about what EVERYONE in the AI world is talking about right now.

And for once… they're absolutely right.

Claude Cowork.

For those who don't know: it's an AI you can train to do your work for you. You give it your files, your rules, your examples, and it gets to work.

For real. In your real folders. While you do something else.

No coding needed. 30 minutes of setup and you're off.

And I'll show you how it works, and why you should start using it today.

By the way, everything I'm about to show you gets even better when you don't have to type at all. Claude does the work. And as you know, typing is the thing I like least, so I've stopped doing it altogether thanks to Wispr Flow. You dictate, it comes out clean. And yes, it works incredibly well in French too!

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First, a bit of context.

The week Anthropic launched Cowork plugins, software stocks lost $830 billion.

In 6 days…

Why? Because Wall Street figured out something simple: if an AI can do the job of a lawyer, a financial analyst, a project manager… then the software those people use is worth a lot less.

That's a signal. And we should pay attention to it.

"OK, but what is it, concretely?"

Until now, you've been using Claude (or ChatGPT) like a chatbot.

Question → answer.

Period.

Cowork is a whole different game.

You give Claude an entire folder on your computer. Claude can read, edit, and create files in it. But most importantly, you can teach it how YOU work.

Your style. Your standards. Your processes. And it applies them every single time.

Example: you have 15 screenshots of expense receipts. You say "Make me a clean Excel spreadsheet." It does it. While you have your coffee.

Another example: messy notes for a report. You point Claude at the folder, and it produces a structured Word document, ready to send.

This isn't copy-paste anymore. It's delegation.

How to get started (in 10 minutes)

1. Download the Claude desktop app. You need a Pro plan ($20/month).

2. Open the "Cowork" tab at the top of the app (next to Chat and Code).

3. Select a folder. Claude sees ONLY that folder, nothing else.

4. Select "Opus 4.6" + "Extended thinking". That's the most powerful combo.

That's it. You're ready.

The secret nobody explains

With ChatGPT, you were taught to write longer, more detailed prompts.

With Cowork, forget prompts. It's all about text files.

Take everything you know, your writing style, your company's rules, your best examples, and put it into .md files (markdown, it's just text).

Drop them into your folder.

The idea: the more context you put in the files, the less you need to prompt. And the result goes from "generic AI" to "sounds like someone on my team".

The folder structure I recommend:

Create a "CLAUDE COWORK" folder with 4 subfolders:

→ ABOUT ME: who you are, what you do, your priorities, your style.

→ PROJECTS: one subfolder per current project, with briefs, drafts, references.

→ TEMPLATES: your best past work. Not for copying, but so Claude understands the structure you like.

→ CLAUDE OUTPUTS: where Claude drops its finished work.

It's your "employee onboarding". Except this employee reads everything in 3 seconds and never forgets a thing.

The trick that got me hooked

Always add this sentence to your prompts:

"Start by using AskUserQuestion to ask me questions before you answer."

Claude doesn't charge ahead blindly. It generates an interactive form: buttons, clickable choices, options to rank.

The AI prompts you. Not the other way around.

My universal prompt:

"I want [TASK] for [GOAL]. First, explore my folder. Then, ask me questions with AskUserQuestion. I want to refine the approach with you before you execute."

2 lines. And the result is better than what I used to produce in 45 minutes!

Plugins: the reason Wall Street panicked

Anthropic launched 11 official plugins. Sales. Marketing. Legal. Finance. HR. Data analysis.

Each plugin gives Claude specific skills for a profession. A legal plugin that does 80% of the work of a $500/month tool… for $20.

To install them:

Cowork → "Customize" → "Browse plugins".

Pick, install, done.

And to go even further: Claude Skills

Plugins are powerful. But there's a level above: Claude Skills.

Skills let you teach Claude repetitive workflows specific to your job. You teach it ONCE, and it repeats forever, with the same quality.

The difference between an intern… and a senior employee who knows all your processes by heart.

Where it falls short (to be honest)

→ It's still in "research preview": it's evolving fast, and there are bugs.

→ Pro subscription minimum ($20/month). Full version: Max plan ($100 or $200/month).

→ You need to invest time upfront to structure your folder. It's an investment, not instant magic.

→ On very ambiguous tasks, you still have to guide it. Great at execution, not (yet) at strategy.

Spend 30 minutes on it this weekend. Whether it works perfectly today or not, at least you'll be ready and ahead of most people.

Talk soon,

Salim from GenevIA, in Geneva