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The update makes task execution less visible at the start of a conversation. Claude will decide when a request needs more than an answer, while documents, slides and design work stay in the same thread.
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Anthropic is making Claude’s long-running agent workflow the default behind ordinary conversations, ending Cowork’s separate interface while preserving its task execution, connectors, projects, and existing work. The rollout also adds beta tools for collaboratively editing documents and presentations, with exports to common office formats. Cloud sessions can continue while users are away and across devices, but some local-file and computer controls still require the desktop app.
Cowork launched as a Claude Max macOS research preview in January 2026; its capabilities now move into standard Claude conversations.
Claude Docs exports to Word or Google Docs; Claude Slides supports PowerPoint and PDF downloads.
Pro and Max rollout is gradual across web, desktop, and mobile; Team and Free plans are planned later.
Anthropic is folding Claude Cowork into its main chat app, removing the separate place users once used for larger agent tasks. A normal conversation can now shift into longer-running work, while new Claude Docs and Claude Slides tools turn responses into editable, shareable documents and presentations.
The practical change is a simpler starting point. On accounts receiving the update, the Chat-versus-Cowork selector disappears. Users describe what they need in any conversation, and Claude determines whether the request calls for a quick reply or a task that can use tools, connectors and multiple steps.
Cowork’s underlying behavior is not going away. Anthropic says the capability includes longer-running work, task decomposition, and connector and tool use while a user is away. Existing Cowork chats, projects, artifacts, connectors and skills are set to remain available during the transition, so users will not need to restart their work in a new space.
The integrated experience builds on Cowork’s cloud execution. Anthropic’s help documentation says cloud sessions run on its servers, with files and sessions saved to the user’s Claude account across desktop, web and mobile. A task can continue after a laptop closes, and scheduled work can run without a device online.
That continuity is central to the redesign. A user can start a request on one surface, then open the same session elsewhere to check progress, answer questions or redirect the work. Claude’s interface becomes the common entry point for a short exchange and a job that keeps running in the background.
Claude Docs and Claude Slides are launching in beta alongside the interface change. Docs are designed for collaborative document work: Claude can draft sections, answer questions and comment on completed portions. Slides can be created, edited and presented from a Claude conversation, rather than existing only as a final generated attachment.
A single entry point does not make every Claude capability equally available on every device. Cloud sessions can reach connected local files only while the Claude Desktop app remains open on that computer. Local connectors, browser use and direct computer use also have documented desktop-app requirements in certain cases.
Anthropic also says Claude asks for permission before taking an action by default. Users can configure it to continue working until it reaches an action needing closer review. The design therefore removes a visible mode choice while retaining an approval choice over what the system does next.
Cowork was introduced as a research preview in January 2026, initially as a Claude Max feature in Anthropic’s macOS desktop app. Its separate workspace made the handoff to bigger jobs explicit. This release reverses that product boundary: the distinction becomes less visible, even as the task system is placed inside ordinary Claude conversations.
The unified experience is rolling out gradually to Claude Pro and Max subscribers on web, desktop and mobile. Team and Free plans are due to follow later. Claude Code remains separate, preserving a distinct product for developers working in terminals and integrated development environments.
Story updates
Standalone Claude Design users have until December 14, 2026, to save chats and comments before the site closes; public project links will also stop working. Anthropic’s migration guide says Claude Design now lives inside Claude, where new designs, design systems and slide decks become artifacts. Design-system migration is available now, but project-transfer details are still coming.
Claude Design is available on Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans. The standalone site remains usable until its closure, after which claude.ai/design will redirect to Claude. Migrating a design system leaves the original unchanged in the standalone version until that deadline.
To begin, open Claude’s Artifacts page and choose “Migrate team design systems.” Anyone who can use Claude Design can start the process—not only an organization owner. A single run brings over every eligible design system in the organization, including other people’s. Individual-plan migrations start without a confirmation step.
Empty systems and those built from starter themes are excluded, even if the starter theme was edited. Other systems may fail because of file size, names or formats. Editors can use the standalone version’s check tool to identify problems, fix them and retry.
Migrated systems keep their files, but users cannot yet edit them directly on their pages; they must ask Claude to make changes. Running migration again skips systems changed in Claude, protecting those edits from being overwritten.
Claude Design depends on artifacts being enabled. Enterprise plans have design systems and design-and-slides templates switched off by default, unlike Team plans. Enterprise organizations using custom roles must also grant the relevant permissions; a system cannot migrate if its owner’s role lacks design-system access.
Organizations with zero data retention cannot enable artifacts and therefore cannot migrate. Anthropic tells those organizations to download their projects before the standalone site closes.
Existing projects keep working in the standalone version. Claude’s Artifacts page lists up to 60 of them, but those entries still open the old site. Anthropic says more details about moving projects to Claude are coming soon.
Chats and comments will not carry over and will be deleted after closure under Anthropic’s data-retention practices. Users must save anything they need from that history beforehand. For project files, the guide provides an export route, but no bulk download:
Open a project in standalone Claude Design, click “Share,” then choose “Project HTML.” For slide decks, look under “More formats and apps.”
Keep “Project archive” selected and click “Export.” The resulting ZIP contains every file in that project. Downloads are free and do not count toward usage limits.
claude.comClaude Design, Claude Slides and Claude Docs also work inside Claude Code now. Ask for a design review deck or a UI mockup and point it at the actual files and RFCs in the repo. Edit it yourself or keep going in the conversation, and share the link when it's ready.
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