Claude Cowork is now generally available — your first background task

Cowork — Anthropic's desktop app where Claude works on tasks in the background with access to your files — went GA for all paid subscribers on April 9. If you skipped the preview, now's the time.

Good first tasks (real files, low risk):

• "Organize this folder of 200 invoices into subfolders by month and vendor, and give me a CSV index."
• "Read these 12 customer interview notes and write the five themes with quotes."
• "Draft replies to everything in this exported inbox file, saved as drafts for my review."

The habit that makes it click: write the brief like you're delegating to a capable new hire — context, goal, what done looks like — then check back in twenty minutes instead of supervising every step. Chat is for questions; Cowork is for work.