Introduction to Cowork

What Cowork is, what is different from chat, install, safety, and how to choose the workspace before typing. About half an hour.

DemoTBC, week of May 18

What we cover

Chat vs Cowork: when each is enough, when each wins
Install on your laptop, Protis-approved steps
Before you type: choose Chat, a plain Cowork task, a Cowork Project, a folder-context Project, Global instructions, or Protis-owned Organization instructions
Claude's simple loop: ask for a plan, review or steer, approve only when the boundary is clear

Why it matters

Chat gets you 80% of the way for one-shot questions. Cowork gets you to the workflow that ships every Tuesday. The habit that makes it useful is choosing where the context belongs before you ask for the output.

Hands-on moment

Install Cowork on your laptop. Confirm the app opens, choose the right workspace for one safe task on your plate, then ask Cowork for a plan before taking action.

Peer moment (3 min)

“Discuss one live workstream: where should the context live before anyone types the prompt?”

Agenda

Chat vs Cowork

Chat answers a question. Cowork runs a workflow. The Claude.ai web chat is great for one-shot questions and quick drafts. Cowork lives on your laptop, reads from the apps you actually use, and turns multi-step work into something you can re-run by name. Same model, different surface, different reach.

Room prompt

Open Claude.ai in one tab and Cowork in another. Ask both the same question about a portfolio company. Notice what Cowork pulls in that the web chat does not.

Install and sign in (Protis-approved)

Cowork installs from a Protis-vetted download. You sign in with your GGP Claude Enterprise account, which inherits the firm's data-handling policy. Install is straightforward and the first run lands right after; the only friction you should hit is granting terminal access on macOS.

Room prompt

If you have not installed yet, run the installer now and sign in. Confirm the icon shows up in your menu bar and the Cowork window opens. If you are already installed, type "hello" in a new conversation and confirm Claude responds with your name.

Before you type: choose the workspace

Organization is part of using Cowork well, not cleanup after the fact. Use Chat or a plain Cowork task for one-off questions and throwaway drafts. Create or use a Cowork Project for a recurring workstream, deal, portco, or multi-step task. If the context already lives in a local folder, use that folder as Project context. Then use Claude's simple getting-started loop: ask for a plan first, review or steer it, and approve execution only when the boundary is clear. Put standing personal preferences in Global instructions. Route firm rules or policy to Organization instructions, Protis-owned. Cowork Projects are desktop-local, Project memory is scoped to that Project, and Team/Enterprise Cowork Projects are not team-shareable today.

Room prompt

Open Cowork in a safe, non-sensitive folder or Project. Ask: "Propose a simple organization plan for this workspace: categories, naming conventions, what to leave alone, and anything to flag for review. Do not move, rename, delete, or edit anything yet. Show me the plan first." Review the plan only. Do not approve file moves, renames, deletes, or external actions during Module 1.

What Module 1 builds on this

With Cowork installed and the workspace decision made, the rest of the session opens the feature system: Skills, Agents, Plugins, MCP Connectors, Scheduled Tasks, and the Instructions plus Memory model. The /command moment now lives inside Skills, where it belongs: as one doorway into repeatable workflows.

Room prompt

Keep Cowork open. The next topic lands each feature on the same habit: choose context, ask for a plan, review or steer, approve only when the boundary is clear.