Claude Cowork moves to cloud, enabling tasks to run without an open laptop

Anthropic has shifted Claude Cowork's infrastructure from desktop-only to cloud-based, allowing automated workflows and scheduled tasks to continue running even when users close their laptops or switch devices. The update rolls out this week to subscribers of Anthropic's Max plans ($100/month and up), with broader availability expected in coming weeks.

The move marks a significant maturation of Anthropic's agentic tool, which had previously remained tethered to a continuously powered personal computer. Users can now initiate tasks, schedule recurring work, and maintain progress across web and mobile interfaces without device dependency.

Unified interface across platforms#

The update brings Claude Chat and Cowork into a more cohesive experience. On web and desktop, both features now inhabit a shared workspace where projects and artifacts flow seamlessly between them; toggling between chat and agentic modes happens via a modal rather than navigation to separate sections. Mobile users will find Cowork as a dedicated app section, though the unified design philosophy carries through.

This integration simplifies the handoff between conversational assistance and autonomous task execution. Rather than switching contexts, workers can transition from asking Claude a question directly into delegating ongoing work.

Scheduled tasks finally run 24/7#

The most transformative change allows scheduled tasks to execute in the cloud. Previously, automation ceased whenever a laptop closed. Now new scheduled tasks operate continuously on Anthropic's infrastructure—a capability comparable to hosted automation services.

However, existing scheduled tasks won't migrate automatically; they remain device-dependent until manually transferred via the Scheduled Tasks page. Going forward, new tasks will default to cloud execution.

This removes a major friction point for knowledge workers seeking always-on automation. Anthropic notes that the Claude desktop app retains an advantage for "deep work" because it can still access local files and browser history, a capability cloud instances haven't yet replicated at parity.

Beyond coding: the grunt-work market#

According to Anthropic's usage analysis of 1.2 million anonymized sessions in May, over 90% of Cowork activity has nothing to do with software development. Business operations—spreadsheet reconciliation, report aggregation, checklist generation—constitutes roughly one-third of sessions. Content creation and copywriting add another 16.4%, making these two categories account for half of all usage.