Getting Started with Claude Cowork

Set up your workspace, build your context files, and configure Cowork to actually know who you are and how you work.

Access Claude Cowork

1 Download the desktop app

• Go to claude.com/download and download for your computer
• Cowork is only available in the desktop app - not in the browser, not on mobile

2 Make sure you have a paid account

• Cowork requires a paid plan - Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise
• Starting at $20/month - upgrade at claude.ai → Settings → Upgrade
• Free accounts will not see the Cowork tab

3 Open the app and switch to Cowork mode

• Open Claude Desktop and sign in with your paid account
• At the top of the app, look for the tabs: Chat | Cowork | Code
• Click Cowork - you are now in task mode

4 Select a folder from your computer

• Cowork will ask you to select a workspace folder
• This is the folder Claude reads from and saves all its work to
• How to set this up properly - right on the next page

Your Cowork Folder

Claude Cowork is all about how you set up your folder inside your computer. This is what separates a generic AI session from one that actually knows who you are, how you work, and what you are building.

Create this folder structure

• Create a new folder on your computer named Claude Cowork
• Inside it, create 4 subfolders exactly as shown below

📁 Claude Cowork/
├── 📁 ABOUT ME/        ← Most important. Claude reads this before every task.
│   ├── about-me.md
│   ├── anti-ai-writing-style.md
│   └── my-company.md
├── 📁 OUTPUTS/         ← Where Claude saves all its work
├── 📁 TEMPLATES/       ← Reusable formats Claude builds over time
└── 📁 PRESENTATIONS/   ← Optional, for slide-related work

Why the ABOUT ME folder matters

• These are the only files Cowork reads automatically before every single task
• The other folders are only read when you explicitly point Claude to them - saving your token budget
• If these 3 files stay under 6,000 tokens total, Claude reads them completely - every session
• If they grow too large, Claude summarizes loosely instead of reading carefully. Keep them lean.

File #1 - about-me

Who you are. How you think. How you want Claude to write for you. This is the highest-signal file in your setup - get it right and every Cowork session starts in the right place.

• Keep it under 2,000 words - extract the patterns, throw away the raw transcripts
• Every sentence should carry information. If it can be cut without losing signal, cut it.

Don't have a file yet? Use this prompt

"You are building my about-me.md for my Cowork folder. It will be read by Claude before every session. Concise and
high-signal - under 2,000 tokens.
Your job: interview me with AskUserQuestion (15–20 questions), then compile into about-me.md.
Interview rules: one question at a time. If I'm vague, push back and ask for a specific example. Follow interesting threads
before moving on.
What to cover:
WHO I AM - What I do, my role and industry / who I work with or for / what a good week looks like
HOW I WORK - tools I use daily / how I start a task / my review process / what "done" looks like
WHAT GOOD LOOKS LIKE - best output I've produced recently and why / what separates great from average / what I notice
in others' work
WHAT I HATE - bad work examples and what specifically is wrong / patterns that make me cringe / what's usually off when
Claude writes for me
MY RULES - hard lines I won't cross / 2–3 non-negotiables every piece of my work must have
MY OPINIONS - what I believe that peers would push back on / what's overrated vs. underrated in my field
Output: Compile into markdown. No raw Q&A. Extract patterns, write as condensed prose and bullets.
Sections: Who I am / How I work / What good looks like / What I hate / My rules / Instructions for Claude.
Save as about-me.md in my ABOUT ME/ folder."

File #2 - anti-ai-writing-style

Your taste, tone, and rules - written as constraints for Claude. The words you hate. The sentence patterns that make you cringe. The formatting rules you care about.

• Ban specific "AI words": delve, harness, tapestry, unleash, revolutionize - and any others that bother you
• Set formatting rules: max paragraph length, no bullet overload, header preferences
• Give Claude samples of your actual writing - LinkedIn posts, emails, reports
• Be specific. "Write clearly" means nothing. "Never use em-dashes" is actionable.

File #3 - my-company

Your targets. Your strategy. What you are focused on. What you are saying no to. This file tells Claude what you are working toward right now - so it makes better decisions on every task.

Update this file when something actually changes - maybe once a quarter. Cowork does not need to know your Tuesday deadline. It needs to know your work.

Paste this in the same Cowork session as about-me (keep prompting):

"You are building my my-company.md for my Cowork folder. ONLY goals, strategy, and decisions - not who I am (that's
in about-me.md). Under 1,000 tokens.
Your job: interview me with AskUserQuestion (6–8 questions), then compile into my-company.md.
What to cover:
GOALS - top 2–3 goals this year with specific numbers or milestones / most important platforms or markets / the one metric
that would make this year a success / revenue or audience targets
DECISIONS - what I'm actively saying no to right now / what I recently stopped doing and why / where I'm spending most
time and energy this quarter / what I'm betting on that most peers aren't
Output: Short bullet points. No filler. No identity info.
Save as my-company.md in my ABOUT ME/ folder."

The OUTPUTS Folder

This is where Cowork works and saves all its deliverables.

• One subfolder per project - Cowork organizes everything itself, automatically
• Claude never reads from this folder on its own - that would consume your token budget unnecessarily
• To reference a past deliverable: "Read the report in OUTPUTS/project-name"
• Keep one subfolder per client, project, or campaign - you will thank yourself in three months

The TEMPLATES Folder

Cowork fills this folder over time. You do not set it up upfront - you build it as you work.

• When Cowork builds something you like - a report, an email, a brief - say at the end of that session:
• "Save this as a template in TEMPLATES/"
• Next time you need something similar, Claude has a model to follow - no re-explaining, no recreating from scratch
• Over time, your TEMPLATES folder becomes the memory of your best work

Templates + Global Instructions

• The TEMPLATES folder does not fill itself - Claude only saves there when you explicitly ask it to
• Your Global Instructions (next page) can tell Claude: "When I ask for a template to be saved, store it in TEMPLATES/"
• This creates a compounding system: every session improves the next one

Global Instructions

Your folder is not as good without Global Instructions. This is a prompt Claude Cowork reads before any task. Use it to explain how your folders work - because Claude does not know what your files mean or when to read them unless you tell it explicitly.

• Go to Settings → Cowork → Edit Global Instructions
• Paste the template below, then update the file descriptions to match your own

I usually start my Cowork session by pointing you to my Cowork folder.
Before any and every single task, you must read every file in ABOUT ME/:
- about-me: it's me, who I am, what I love and hate
- anti-ai-writing-style: I hate how Claude writes by default - always audit your output against this file before delivering
- my-company: where I work, my role, my current goals
Never read the folders OUTPUTS/ or TEMPLATES/ unless I specifically point you to a file.
Save all deliverables in OUTPUTS/ under a subfolder named after the project.
If the brief is unclear, use AskUserQuestion. Don't fill gaps with filler. Don't over-explain. Deliver the work.

Ready to go further?

The best way to get better with Claude is to use it on real work - not practice prompts. Here are three things to explore once your folder is set up.

1 Skills

• Saved instructions that tell Claude exactly how to handle a specific task - your voice, your format, your workflow. Use built-in skills or create your own for tasks you repeat often.
• To explore: click Customize in the left sidebar → Skills

Examples: price-quotes · workshop-builder · morning-digest · shani-brand-voice

2 Plugins

• Bundles of skills designed around a specific role - marketing, legal, sales, finance. Installing one gives you a whole set of relevant skills at once, pre-configured to work together.
• To explore: click Customize → Browse plugins → pick a category

Examples: Marketing (campaign planning, SEO, content) · Sales (outreach, pipeline, call prep) · Brand Voice (guidelines, tone enforcement)

3 Connectors

• Links Claude to your actual tools - email, Drive, Notion, Calendar. Without connectors, Claude works with what you tell it. With connectors, it works with what you already have.
• To connect: click Customize → Connectors → choose a tool and authorize

Examples: Gmail · Google Drive · Notion · Google Calendar

The CLAUDE.md File

CLAUDE.md is a file you place at the root of your Cowork workspace folder. Claude reads it before every session — before you type a single word. It is your standing context: who you are, what you are working on, how you work, and what rules Claude must follow. Define it once. Claude remembers every session.

Where to place it

• At the root of your Claude Cowork folder — the folder you selected when setting up your workspace
• Not inside a subfolder. Claude looks for it at the top level.
• File name must be exactly: CLAUDE.md

Paste this into Claude Cowork to build your CLAUDE.md:

"Create a CLAUDE.md file for my workspace folder. Interview me to gather the information you need — one question at a time.

Cover: what I do and who I work with / my goals and priorities right now / how I like to work / my communication style and tone / rules you must always follow / which files in this folder to read before each task.

After the interview, write the file and save it to the root of this folder."

What to include — 10 key sections

1. Project overview
2. How I work
3. Voice and tone
4. Goals and priorities
5. My audience / clients
6. Active projects
7. Folder and file structure
8. Rules and hard limits
9. Output preferences
10. What good looks like

Project overview — the highest-value section.

Keep it to 2–3 short paragraphs. Claude needs a crisp mental model, not a brand story.
Bad: long origin story, "we value innovation," marketing copy with no practical relevance.
Good: "I am a GenAI consultant. My clients are CMOs at Israeli tech companies. Primary goal:
help teams move from AI curiosity to actual use."