Claude’s Chrome side panel is now a full Cowork session

Anthropic is enhancing Claude's Chrome side panel, transforming it into a full Cowork session. This change enables browser-based tasks and conversations to seamlessly follow users across Claude's various apps. Conversations initiated in the side panel are now stored in Claude's history and can be resumed from the desktop, web, and mobile versions of Claude.

Existing skills and connectors for an account also function within the browser without requiring additional setup. Claude in Chrome can perceive the current webpage and interact with it using the user's existing browser credentials, such as clicking links, navigating between pages, inputting text, and completing forms.

Anthropic's demonstration involves Claude collecting invoice information from multiple vendor portals, creating a spreadsheet, and then continuing the same session on a desktop to append local files or compare the outcome with a previous budget. This update resolves a previous discrepancy in Claude's browser workflow, as side panel sessions previously operated independently from sessions in Claude's other applications, resulting in lost context and conversations.

Recently, Anthropic showcased Claude Code's in-app browser, which operates using an isolated profile. In contrast, the Chrome extension collaborates with websites where the user is already authenticated.

However, the company cautions that browser agents are still susceptible to prompt injection. A separate review process examines consequential actions when automatic approval is enabled, while Claude still seeks confirmation before conducting actions such as purchases or sharing personal data. These safeguards decrease risk but cannot completely eradicate it.

The Cowork side panel is now accessible to Max and Team customers, with a Pro rollout set for subsequent weeks. Enterprise administrators have the ability to enable the feature and restrict access to authorized domains.

Claude in Chrome does not currently support other Chromium browsers or mobile devices. This release aligns with Anthropic's ongoing objective to make Claude's work adaptable across various devices and platforms. Recent enhancements include live iOS app testing in Claude Code for Mac and new Opus 4.8 controls, which facilitate longer-running tasks across more of Anthropic's products and devices.