Claude Cowork: Your Desktop Operator
90 minutes
Module 10 · Tier III
Cowork
Your desktop operator.
Charter Oak Strategic Partners
“I type. It responds.”
How you have used Claude so far.
I direct.
It works.
Open Claude Desktop. You see two modes.
Multi-step autonomous execution. Reads your files, writes code, creates documents, saves output. You describe the outcome and step away.
One message at a time. What you have been doing in Tiers I and II.
First step: choose a folder.
This is the folder Claude can read from and write to. Everything it creates goes here.
Claude cannot access anything outside this folder. Same principle as giving a new hire access to one shared drive.
Claude reads CSVs, creates reports, writes markdown, generates HTML. All saved to this folder.
Scripts run in a sandboxed VM. They process your data without touching your system.
Two layers of instruction.
# Global Preferences
Always use ISO date format (YYYY-MM-DD)
Save reports as PDF when possible
Use AP style for all written content
Round financial figures to thousands
# Quarterly Review Rules
Column A is always the cost center
Use fiscal year dates (Jul-Jun)
Include footnotes for every data source
Compare to prior quarter, not YoY
Set once in Settings. Applies everywhere.
Drop a CLAUDE.md in the folder. Applies to this project.
Build a quarterly business review.
Read all three files. Create a quarterly business review: executive summary, financial highlights with trends, customer satisfaction analysis, team scorecard, and three strategic recommendations. Save as QBR-Q4.md.
Your quarterly business review is ready. QBR-Q4.md includes five sections with three data-backed recommendations. Revenue is up 12% QoQ with customer satisfaction holding at 4.2/5.
Set it. Forget it. Almost.
Type /schedule in any Cowork session, or click Scheduled in the sidebar.
Requires: laptop open + Claude Desktop running at scheduled time
Plugins extend what Cowork can reach.
Read pages, query databases, create content directly in your workspace.
Access design files, extract components, generate design specs.
Jira tickets, Confluence pages, sprint boards. Read and update.
Bloomberg, FactSet, S&P data feeds for analysis and reporting.
Excel and PowerPoint integration. Claude works inside your spreadsheets. macOS preview available now.
Each plugin connects through the Model Context Protocol. Understand what data leaves your machine before installing.
The security model.
Code runs in a virtual machine on your computer. Scripts cannot escape the sandbox. Code execution is isolated.
File changes write to your actual file system. Claude can create, edit, and overwrite files in the selected folder.
Select a dedicated working folder. Give Cowork access to one project at a time. Back up files you cannot afford to lose.
100 points. Five categories.
Data Integration
Real numbers from the source files.
Narrative
Data connects to decisions.
Source Coverage
All three files used meaningfully.
Presentation
Clean slides. Useful speaker notes.
Completeness
6 slides + exec summary + notes.
What Cowork does not do.
No memory across sessions. Each conversation starts fresh.
Sessions cannot be shared between users.
Scheduled tasks only run when the computer is awake.
Usage costs accrue based on tokens processed and code executed.
What recurring document could Cowork build for you every week?
Cowork handles documents.
Claude Code builds tools.
Module 11 shows non-engineers what becomes possible when code can be created on demand.