Claude Desktop already includes Claude Code, so the real choice is between Cowork and Claude Code. Use Cowork when you can describe the result you want, like a sorted folder, the main themes in your notes or a spreadsheet, and come back to finished files. Use Claude Code when you want the work to run on your own computer and to review each change to files you keep editing. You don’t need a terminal for either.
Three things change the answer:
- Where the work should run. Since October 6, 2026, new Cowork tasks on Pro and Max plans run on Anthropic’s servers and reach your folders through the desktop app. Claude Code runs on your computer.
- What you want back. Cowork is built to hand back Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. Claude Code is better at editing text files in place, such as Markdown drafts, notes and code.
- Whether you’ll stay with the task. Cowork keeps working after you close your laptop. A Claude Code session is a conversation you steer as it goes.
Claude Desktop already includes Claude Code
The Claude desktop app has three tabs (Anthropic’s quickstart): Chat for conversations with no file access, Cowork for tasks Claude works on by itself, and Code, which is Claude Code with a graphical interface. There’s nothing else to install.
The names are moving. Anthropic is merging Chat and Cowork into one Claude for Pro and Max, gradually. If your message box no longer shows “Chat” and “Cowork”, you describe a task in any conversation. The Code tab stays.
Claude Code also runs in the terminal, VS Code and JetBrains (overview), with the same engine and settings as the Code tab. Its web version works on GitHub repositories in the cloud, not on folders on your computer (cloud sessions). Why both products now reach into your folders instead of waiting for uploads is covered in Claude Desktop vs Web.
Cowork: hand off a task, get finished files back
Cowork suits document work you can describe as an outcome. Anthropic’s examples include sorting a Downloads folder, turning receipts into an expense report, pulling themes from notes, and building Excel files with working formulas or slide decks (Cowork guide). When it drafts a Markdown document, you can highlight a passage, click Edit with Claude and ask for a change in place.
How it handles your files changed on October 6. On Pro and Max, new Cowork tasks run in the cloud, and there’s no setting to switch back:
- Your folders stay on your computer. Claude reaches only folders you’ve connected, through the desktop app, and only while the app is open.
- When a task needs a file, Claude fetches a copy of just that file. The copies are deleted when you delete the session.
- Shell commands and code run in an isolated environment on Anthropic’s servers, not on your machine (architecture overview).
Permission modes are Manual (the default, asks before actions), Auto (a safety check reviews each action instead of you, and uses more of your usage limit) and Skip (no checks). The merged Claude offers Auto and Manual. By default, Claude asks before permanently deleting files.
If you want tasks to stay on your machine, Anthropic’s own answer is: “For new tasks that run only on your computer, use Claude Code in the desktop app.” Setup steps are in Can Claude Desktop Access Local Files?
Claude Code: work on your computer and review each change
Claude Code suits a folder you keep working in. A local session runs on your computer and reads files in the folder you open, and any folders you add, without asking (permissions). Unlike Cowork, it can also read other folders after asking you, and a setting turns that off for good. Commands run on your machine with the tools you already have, like git or your own scripts.
Five modes set how much it asks: Manual, Accept edits, Plan, Auto and Bypass permissions (permission modes). Recent versions start terminal and VS Code sessions in Auto, where a second model reviews actions instead of you. If you’d rather approve every edit, press Shift+Tab in the terminal to switch to Manual.
The Code tab adds a visual review. After Claude edits files, you open the changes file by file, comment on specific lines, and Claude revises from your comments (diff view). You can also edit a file yourself in the file pane.
The trade-off is file types. Claude Code reads text, images, PDFs and Jupyter
notebooks directly, and its edit tool only changes text files
(tools reference).
For Word or Excel, it has to run a command or script; see
Can Claude read Word documents?
Terminal setup and --add-dir are in
How to Give Claude Access to a Folder.
Side by side
| Cowork | Claude Code | |
|---|---|---|
| Where you open it | Claude desktop app; also web and mobile, which reach local files only through the desktop app | Code tab in the desktop app, terminal, VS Code, JetBrains |
| Where the work runs | Anthropic’s servers (Pro and Max, since October 6, 2026) | Your computer, in a local session |
| Files it reaches | Only folders you connected, while the desktop app is open | The folder you open and folders you add; other paths after asking |
| Best at | Finished Word, Excel and PowerPoint files; tasks you hand off | Editing text files in place; running your own tools |
| Permission modes | Manual, Auto, Skip | Manual, Accept edits, Plan, Auto, Bypass permissions |
| Reviewing changes | Preview the files it creates | Diff per file, with line comments in the Code tab |
| Desktop systems | macOS, Windows | macOS, Windows, Linux (desktop app in beta) |
| Plans | Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise | Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise, or API credits |
One subscription covers both
Neither is on the Free plan. Both come with Pro ($20 a month, or $17 a month billed annually at $200), Max (from $100 a month), Team and Enterprise (pricing). Your use of Claude on web, desktop, mobile and Claude Code draws from the same pool, so a long Cowork task and a long Claude Code session share one limit. For heavy use, Claude Code can also run on pay-as-you-go API credits through a Console account.
When to use both
Use Cowork for one-off deliverables you’ll download, like a deck from meeting
notes, and Claude Code for the folder of drafts or notes you edit every week.
A plugin you add is saved to your account and
works in chat, Claude Code and Cowork.
To move a Cowork task over, select Download task data, unzip it, open the
folder in Claude Code and run /port-task-data
(steps).
When the one you already use is enough
- You use Cowork and it does the job. Keep using it if you’re fine with the files it opens being processed in Anthropic’s cloud. In both tools, what Claude reads goes to Anthropic’s models; what differs is where commands run and where copies are kept.
- You use Claude Code in a terminal. The Code tab runs the same engine
and adds visual diffs and parallel sessions.
/desktopmoves a terminal session there if you want to try it. - You only have a few files to ask about. You need neither. Upload them to a chat.
Writing with Claude Code in StashBase
The Code tab is built for software development, and its diff view shows changed lines. If the folder you keep working in holds your writing, StashBase is a free, open-source writing app that runs Claude Code as its agent. You read and edit documents beside the chat, and after each turn, Review shows every change inside the prose for you to undo or keep. The agent looks for context in your notes and past work, so you don’t paste it in each time.
Claude Code runs on the Anthropic account you already have, and StashBase adds no fee on top (agent setup). If you use ChatGPT, StashBase runs Codex the same way.