Anthropic has firmly integrated its tool Cowork into the Chrome sidebar of its browser extension since August 12, 2026. Skills, plugins, and connectors run there for the first time without separate setup, and ongoing tasks seamlessly transition between browser, desktop, and smartphone. Initially, only the paid plans Max and Team will have access.
Cowork takes on tasks directly in the browser
Claude’s Chrome extension has primarily served as a simple sidebar for questions and research in the browser. With the redesign, it becomes a full-fledged Cowork session: anyone who starts a task in the app can continue it in the Chrome window – and vice versa. Claude recognizes website content, clicks on links, fills out forms, and navigates independently between pages, including on internal dashboards, legacy systems, or supplier portals.
In July, Anthropic demonstrated how Cowork learns its own routines after a short screen recording; such routines can now be executed in the browser without additional setup. As an example, the company mentions collecting invoice data from multiple supplier portals for a budget table, the fine-tuning of which continues in the desktop app. According to Anthropic, the combination is also suitable for extracting metrics from analytics dashboards, sorting folders in Google Drive, or logging sales calls in Salesforce.
Access starts staggered for paid plans
Immediate access to the new sidebar is granted to customers of the Max and Team plans, which cost around 90 or around 18 euros per seat per month, depending on provider comparison. Those using the cheaper Pro plan, costing around 18 to 21 euros per month, will have to wait a few more weeks until the feature becomes available there, according to Anthropic. In enterprise accounts, Cowork is initially disabled in the browser; administrators can selectively enable access and restrict it to shared domains.
The prerequisite is the installation of the Chrome extension via the Chrome Web Store; for local files and the connection of additional programs, the desktop app remains necessary. The feature does not currently run on other Chromium browsers or mobile devices. Anthropic does not mention any restrictions to specific countries or a separate EU version in the announcement, meaning the extension is generally available to users in Germany as well.
Anthropic additionally secures critical actions
An AI agent that fills out forms and can trigger purchases simultaneously increases the attack surface for prompt injections – hidden instructions on manipulated websites that aim to lead the model to unwanted actions. Just at the beginning of August, the security company Zenity demonstrated how several AI browsers could be remotely controlled through such vulnerabilities, including Anthropic’s product. In response, Claude will now require automatic confirmation before consequential steps such as submitting forms, sending messages, or downloading files.
For particularly risky or hard-to-reverse actions like purchases or sharing personal data, the tool requires additional approval; for a smoother process, this step can also be automatically approved if desired. According to Anthropic, these measures significantly reduce the risk but do not eliminate it completely.
It will be crucial whether the automatic confirmation requirement proves effective in practice without consuming the promised efficiency gains through constant click prompts. Until Pro customers also gain access in the coming weeks, it remains to be seen whether the staggered rollout actually prevents gaps like those discovered by Zenity.
