Claude just introduced Cowork—a new piece of software for using Claude to help with projects other than programming. From the article:
How is using Cowork different from a regular conversation? In Cowork, you give Claude access to a folder of your choosing on your computer. Claude can then read, edit, or create files in that folder. It can, for example, re-organize your downloads by sorting and renaming each file, create a new spreadsheet with a list of expenses from a pile of screenshots, or produce a first draft of a report from your scattered notes.
I’ve already been working this way for a long time. The workflow:
- Navigate to a project folder inside Warp.
- Talk to Warp’s AI, allowing it to create, update, and reference project notes as needed.
- Warp asks questions, suggests next steps, searches the internet, etc.
That’s it.
I’ve found it to be a super powerful way to work on ambiguous and overwhelming projects. I create a Beeminder goal for spending time on the project, and then plans, research, and task lists develop over time with ease.
It seems like the main advantages Cowork may have over just using something like Warp for this is Cowork’s ability to create files in more document formats and use connectors to other services. I’m not sold that those are big enough benefits for me personally to switch.
Links Roundup
- Artificial Intelligence
- Mem - A note-taking application that promises to understand and surface your collection of notes automatically.
- Software Development
- Pullfrog - A tool that lets you trigger agent workflows from GitHub Actions. Currently behind a wait list.
- OpenCode - Opensource alternative to Claude Code. I’m thinking about trying it out with a local LLM.
- Sakura - A minimal CSS theme meant for use with bare-bones semantic HTML pages.
- Announcing Vite+: a unified toolchain for JavaScript - An official CLI tool adding additional features on top of Vite.
- Society
- Elections are the essential remaining pillar of our democracy - I highly recommend subscribing to this newsletter if you’re concerned about the future of democracy in the United States.
- Nearly two thirds of young Americans are considering leaving the US - According to a survey by the American Psychological Association.
- Etc
- The Rebirth of Pennsylvania’s Infamous Burning Town (via Tom Scott’s newsletter) - An interesting article about an abandoned town that’s been reclaimed by nature.
- Ulysses - A long-form writing application for Apple devices.
- PikaPods - A platform for easily and affordably running instances of many self-hostable applications. I’m currently using Render.com for this, though I’m considering making the switch.