Running Claude Cowork on Windows works as of 2026, but Linux has no official app. Platform support, install steps, and cross-platform options compared.
You bought a Max subscription on the strength of a Claude Cowork demo: a desktop agent quietly working through a folder of spreadsheets, drafting a deck, organizing receipts while you did something else. You install Claude Desktop on your Windows laptop, sign in, and start looking for the feature. Or you are on Ubuntu, you go to download the app, and there is no Linux build at all. The question underneath both moments is the same one: where does Cowork actually run, and what do you do if your machine is not on the list.
This guide answers the platform question directly. It covers Claude Cowork on Windows (supported, with a few hardware caveats), the Linux situation (no official app, and what your options are), how the shared-folder workspace behaves once you are in, and where a cross-platform, open-source workspace fits for people whose operating system or use case sits outside what Cowork covers well.
A quick note on what Cowork is, so the platform answer lands in context. Claude Cowork launched in January 2026 as Anthropic's desktop agent for non-technical knowledge work: research, analysis, organizing local files, producing finished deliverables. It runs on the same underlying engine as Claude Code, tuned for delegation rather than software development. You point it at shared local folders, it can use the browser through Claude in Chrome, run desktop plugins, and execute scheduled tasks. It is a capable product for the audience it targets. Platform reach is simply where the questions cluster, so that is the focus here.
Yes. Claude Cowork came to Windows on February 10, 2026, roughly a month after the macOS research preview, and Anthropic shipped it with feature parity to the Mac version. File access, plugins, MCP connectors, and multi-step task execution all work on Windows the way they do on macOS. If you searched for "claude cowork for windows" expecting a half-finished port, what you get is better than that: it is a full release.
One caveat matters before you assume your specific Windows machine qualifies. Cowork runs its agent inside a sandboxed virtual machine, and on Windows that depends on the Hyper-V virtualization stack. Hyper-V ships with Windows Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions, but not with Windows Home, so a Home edition machine may not be able to run Cowork's sandbox even with a paid Claude plan. Anthropic ships separate Windows installers and readiness checks for x64 and Arm (arm64) processors, so grab the build that matches your machine and run the readiness check first. Requirements like these can shift, so verify the current list on Anthropic's site before you commit.
Getting set up follows a short path. The steps below reflect the launch flow; confirm details on Anthropic's site since installers change.
1. Confirm you are on a paid Claude plan. Cowork is available on Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise. A free account w