A Claude Cowork cheat sheet only needs to cover the handful of mechanics you actually reuse every session: the Cowork versus Chat toggle, the three approval modes, slash commands like /schedule, and how skills and plugins fit together underneath all of it. I built this one after watching new Cowork Academy members reopen the same support article every week instead of just keeping one page open while they work.
Short answer
Your Claude Cowork cheat sheet needs five things: how to switch into Cowork mode, the three approval modes and when to use each, the /schedule command for recurring tasks, the difference between a skill and a plugin, and where global instructions live. Everything else on this page is a nice to know.
Cowork vs Chat: Where This Starts
On the web, in Claude Desktop, and in the Claude mobile app, chat and Cowork now share one home. You do not open a separate app to get agentic behavior, you pick a mode in the same message box.
- To start a session: open the message box, select “Cowork” instead of “Chat,” then describe the task.
- To go back to a normal conversation: select “Chat” again in the same box.
- In the Claude in Chrome side panel: opening the panel starts a Cowork session directly, no toggle needed.
That single switch belongs at the top of any cheat sheet because everything else, approval modes, slash commands, skills, only exists once you are inside a Cowork session. Anthropic’s own Get started with Claude Cowork guide covers the full mechanics if you want the primary source alongside this cheat sheet.
The Cowork Command Layer
Once a session is running, five things sit on top of it and shape how Claude behaves: the approval mode, slash commands, your installed skills, your installed plugins, and any global or folder instructions you have saved. None of them do anything by themselves, they shape how Claude works inside the session you just opened.
The picture below is your map for the rest of this page. Each section that follows walks through one spoke, in the order you are most likely to touch it.
The Three Approval Modes, Your Real Shortcut
The single most useful shortcut in Claude Cowork is not a keyboard command, it is the mode selector that controls how often Claude stops to ask permission before acting. You can change it from the mode selector in the chat box at any time.
| Mode | What happens | When I use it |
|---|---|---|
| Manually approve (Manual) | Claude pauses and asks before most actions. You review each request and click Allow or Deny. | New connectors, sensitive files, or the first run of any workflow I have not seen before. |
| Automatically approve (Auto) | Claude keeps working without stopping for every step, screening each action for safety on its own and pausing only when something looks unsafe. | Repeat workflows I already trust, when I want speed without giving up review entirely. |
| Skip all approvals (Skip) | Nothing is checked automatically. Claude simply runs. | Only when I completely trust every connector, file, and app involved in the task. |
Worth pausing on
Auto mode reviews every action for safety, but Anthropic is direct about the tradeoff: no defense is perfect, and for anything touching money, messages sent as you, or important files, staying close and reviewing what Claude does still beats any automated mode.
Auto mode also draws down more of your usage allocation than Manual or Skip, since Claude is doing extra safety checking behind the scenes. That is worth knowing before you default to it on everything.
Slash Commands, Skills, and Plugins
Type / in the message box, or click the + button, and you will see the commands available from whatever plugins you have installed. Each plugin bundles its own commands together with skills, connectors, and sub-agents, so installing one plugin can add several commands at once.
Small thing worth knowing
The slash and the plus button open the exact same command list. If you forget the slash, click the plus sign instead. Either way you are browsing what your installed plugins added, not a separate menu.
A skill is the narrower piece: a defined, repeatable capability Claude Cowork can call on for a specific kind of task. A plugin is the wrapper. It packages one or more skills with the connectors and slash commands that make them useful, so you are not wiring each piece together by hand. The official Use plugins in Cowork article walks through installing and customizing a plugin step by step.
- Install a plugin: open the “Customize” menu in the desktop app sidebar, click “Browse plugins,” then “Install” on the one you want.
- Customize a plugin: open an installed plugin and click “Customize” to start a guided Cowork prompt that adjusts its skills, commands, and connectors to match how you work.
- Build your own: Plugin Create, the built-in plugin made for this, walks you through the process from scratch.
Inside Cowork Academy, the Foundation Plugin is the one most members install first. It configures an entire starting workspace, folders, standing instructions, and an initial set of skills, in one guided conversation instead of a dozen separate setup steps.
Scheduling Recurring Work
The /schedule command is the closest thing Claude Cowork has to a true keyboard shortcut. Type it inside any Cowork task and Claude turns your current instructions into a saved, recurring task instead of a one-off conversation.
You can also skip the command entirely and build a scheduled task straight from the sidebar:
- Click “Scheduled” in the left sidebar to open the Scheduled tasks page.
- Click “New task,” then choose “Create with Claude” to describe the task in plain language, or “Set up manually” to fill in the name, prompt, approval mode, and cadence yourself.
- Confirm the schedule when Claude shows you the name, cadence, and description it plans to save.
- Check back from “Scheduled” any time to review past runs, pause a task, or run it on demand.
Scheduled tasks run in the cloud, so a daily briefing or a weekly report still lands even if your laptop is closed or asleep when it fires. Full setup details live in Anthropic’s Schedule recurring tasks in Claude Cowork article.
Global and Folder Instructions, Set It Once
Two settings do most of the work of making Claude already know how you work before you type anything.
- Global instructions apply to every Cowork session. Set them once from Settings, then Cowork, then click “Edit” next to Global instructions.
- Folder instructions apply only when you select a specific local folder on desktop, and Claude can update them itself as a project’s context changes.
I treat global instructions as the one-time setup cost that keeps every later session shorter. Once your tone, format preferences, and role are saved there, you stop re-explaining them in every new task.
Quick Reference: Where Everything Lives
| What you need | Where to find it |
|---|---|
| Switch into Cowork mode | Message box, select “Cowork” instead of “Chat” |
| Change your approval mode | Mode selector in the chat box |
| See available slash commands | Type “/” or click the “+” button |
| Schedule a recurring task | Type “/schedule,” or click “Scheduled” in the left sidebar |
| Browse and install plugins | “Customize” menu, then “Browse plugins” |
| Set standing instructions | Settings, then Cowork, then Global instructions |
| Check your usage | Settings, then Usage |
A Few Habits Worth Keeping
A cheat sheet only pays off if the outputs it produces are easy to find later. None of this requires technical setup, just a little consistency. For a deeper look, see the Claude Cowork plugins and skills inside Cowork Academy.
- Separate inputs from outputs. Keep the files you hand to Claude in one folder and what it produces in another.
- Name files by purpose, not by date alone. A label like “ready to send” tells you more than a timestamp does.
- Save Skip mode for workflows you already trust. Reserve it for tasks you have watched run safely in Manual or Auto first.
- Remember deletion protection. Claude asks for explicit permission before permanently deleting files, so a stray cleanup request will not wipe anything without your Allow.
- Cowork and Chat share one message box, you just pick a mode.
- Your approval mode, Manual, Auto, or Skip, is the shortcut that matters most day to day.
- The
/schedulecommand turns any task into a recurring one without leaving the conversation. - Skills are the capability, plugins are the bundle that ships skills with connectors and commands.
- Global instructions are the one setup step that shortens every session after it.
How This Fits the Rest of Cowork Academy
This cheat sheet covers the mechanics. The order you learn them in matters more than memorizing every one on day one, which is exactly what I laid out in Claude Cowork basics: the first concepts to learn, covering Cowork mode, connected folders, skills, plugins, connectors, and how a session actually runs.
If you want the fastest way to turn this reference into a working setup instead of a bookmark, that is what the Cowork Academy community is built around. Membership details are on the Cowork Academy join page, and you are welcome to join the Cowork Academy community and build it alongside people doing the same work.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a claude cowork cheat sheet?
It is a one-page reference for the Claude Cowork mechanics you reuse most: the Cowork versus Chat toggle, the three approval modes, key slash commands, and how skills and plugins connect, so you stop re-searching the same basics.
How do I switch from Chat to Cowork?
Open the message box on web, desktop, or mobile and select “Cowork” instead of “Chat,” then describe the task. In the Claude in Chrome side panel, opening the panel starts a Cowork session directly.
What is the difference between Manual, Auto, and Skip approval mode?
Manual asks before nearly every action. Auto keeps working and screens each action for safety on its own. Skip runs without checking anything automatically. Change the mode any time from the selector in the chat box.
How do I schedule a recurring task in Claude Cowork?
Type /schedule inside any Cowork task, or click “Scheduled” in the left sidebar, choose “New task,” and either describe it to Claude or set the name, prompt, approval mode, and cadence manually.
What is the difference between a skill and a plugin in Claude Cowork?
A skill is a specific, repeatable capability Claude can call on. A plugin is the bundle: it packages one or more skills together with the connectors and slash commands that make them work, installed as one unit.
Reading a cheat sheet and actually opening Cowork tonight to run the one task you keep pushing to Monday are two different kinds of progress. The cheat sheet gets you unstuck faster. The task is where you actually learn any of this.
I’ll see you inside.
