How do I add skills to Claude Cowork?

Upload the skill as a ZIP file under Customize > Skills, or install a plugin that contains it from the Plugins tab in the Customize menu. Skills and plugins sit on your Claude account, so the same ones are available to Cowork tasks. On team plans, check whether your organisation already provides the skill.

Why can't I see a Cowork option in Claude?

You may have the new combined Claude experience, where there's no separate Cowork button and any conversation can become a task. Anthropic is rolling this out to Pro and Max plans first. Cowork also needs a paid plan, and some features need the desktop app. Check Anthropic's current Cowork guide for your plan.

Can a Claude Cowork task run a skill on a schedule?

Yes. Type `/schedule` to set a task to run on a recurring schedule. Scheduled tasks run in the cloud, so your computer doesn't need to be on. Start with tasks that prepare a draft for review, and keep anything that sends, pays or deletes behind an explicit approval step.

Does changing a skill change a Cowork task that's already running?

Don't assume it does. A task that has already loaded a skill may keep the earlier instructions. With Contexta, connected AIs fetch the published version the next time they use the skill, so start a new task to pick up the change. A skill you uploaded by hand stays as it was until you replace it.

Claude Cowork Skills: A Practical Guide

Q: What are Claude Cowork skills?

They're the skills you use across Claude, applied to Cowork's multi-step tasks. A skill is a saved set of instructions for one job, such as a weekly update. When Claude takes on a task that matches, it follows the skill's steps, format and checks while working through your connected files and apps.

Q: Is there a Claude Cowork skills library?

On Team and Enterprise plans, your organisation has a library. People can publish skills to it, owners can provision skills for everyone, and admins can distribute plugins through plugin marketplaces. Anthropic also provides plugins to browse in the Customize menu. Public skill directories exist too, but read any downloaded skill before using it.

Quick Answer

Claude Cowork skills are the same skills you use elsewhere in Claude: saved instructions for one job that Claude loads when a task matches. You add them under Customize > Skills or through a plugin, and on team plans they can come from your organisation's library. In Cowork, Claude follows the skill across a multi-step task, using the files and connectors you've allowed.

What Are Claude Cowork Skills?

Cowork handles multi-step work and runs it in the cloud, so a task can carry on after you close your laptop (Anthropic: Get started with Claude Cowork). A skill gives that work a method. Without one, Claude decides for itself how a handover or a weekly report should look. With one, it follows your steps, your format and your checks.

Think of Cowork as a capable new starter given a whole afternoon's job. The skill is the job card. The files and connectors you allow are the desks and systems they can use. Your review at the end is the sign-off.

Anthropic describes the change plainly: Cowork is now just Claude, and Claude decides whether a request needs a quick answer or a task. The new experience is rolling out gradually to Pro and Max plans first. If your message box no longer shows separate Chat and Cowork options, you already have it (Anthropic: Get started with Claude Cowork).

How Skills Work in Cowork

Plans. Cowork needs a paid plan: Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise.

Adding a skill. Skills are managed in the same place as the rest of Claude (see Claude Skills: A Practical Guide). Upload a skill as a ZIP file under Customize > Skills (Anthropic: Use skills in Claude).

Adding a plugin. Plugins bundle skills, connectors and sub-agents for a role or team. A plugin you add is saved to your account, so it works in chat, Claude Code and Cowork. Install one from the Plugins tab in the Customize menu (Anthropic: Use plugins in Claude).

Your organisation's library. On Team and Enterprise plans, people can publish skills to the organisation's library, and owners can provision skills for everyone. Admins can also distribute plugins through plugin marketplaces or approve plugins that users publish.

Files and connectors. Claude only reaches the folders you've connected, and you choose which connectors it can use from the + menu or Customize > Connectors. Tasks that use local files, a browser or your computer need the Claude desktop app open.

Scheduled tasks. Typing /schedule sets a task to run on a schedule. Scheduled tasks run in the cloud, so your computer doesn't need to be awake. To chain several skills, see How to Build an AI Workflow From Your Skills.

Worked Example: A Friday Project Update

Kingfisher Property Services, a fictional facilities firm, has five project leads who each spend Friday afternoon writing client updates. The updates vary, and two clients have complained about missing risks.

Their skill sets the method:

Inputs: the week's site notes in the project's connected folder, last week's update and the client's name.
Steps: compare with last week, list progress, separate agreed decisions from proposals, and give each risk an owner.
Missing information: if a site note has no date or owner, list it under "To confirm" instead of guessing.
Output: a two-page update saved as a Word document in the project's "Updates" folder.
Stop point: save the draft and notify the project lead. Never email the client.

Each project lead then sets a scheduled task: "Every Friday at 2pm, prepare this week's update for the Harbourside project." Cowork runs the skill against that week's notes. The lead reads the draft, fixes anything wrong and sends it themselves.

The stop point matters. Preparing an update is a safe first task. Emailing clients, changing project records or tidying shared folders each need their own decision about permissions and review.

Try It: Add a Skill and Run a Cowork Task

Choose one multi-step job with a clear result, such as a weekly update or a handover.
Write the skill, including the stop point, or download one from the skill builder.
Zip the skill folder and upload it under Customize > Skills.
Connect only the folders and apps the task needs.
Ask Claude for the task, naming the project and the inputs.
Before it starts, ask Claude to list the sources it can reach for the task.
Review the result against the source notes.
When it passes the tests below, use /schedule to run it each week.

Test It: Three Cases

A normal week. Give it a full set of notes. Check every commitment against the notes and every link against the source.
Incomplete input. Remove the dates from two site notes. They should appear under "To confirm", not with invented dates.
An unrelated request. Ask Claude to reorganise the project folder. The update skill shouldn't take over, and nothing should move without you agreeing.

Keep these examples so you can rerun them after any change.

Where Contexta Fits

Cowork runs your skills well inside Claude. Many teams also use ChatGPT, Copilot or Cursor, and keeping a separate copy of each skill for each tool soon drifts. A skill tells your AI what to do. Your knowledge base shows it how, in detail. Your company context tells it who it's for. The Contexta harness brings them together, in every AI.

With Contexta, every session starts the same way: the AI loads your organisation's rules, the right space and the published skill. Company context, covering your terminology, naming and formats, sits under every skill. The site notes, templates and past updates stay in your knowledge base in your own SharePoint or Google Drive, and Claude reads them through its own connectors. Company, team and personal spaces route each job to the right home and rules.

Publish a change and connected AIs fetch it the next time they use the skill; a task already running may still be using the earlier version. Version history lets you compare and restore. Claude is tested with Contexta; check Integrations for the current Claude setup and see How It Works.