Cowork.

How to set up Claude Cowork with the /setup-cowork command:

You overthink Claude, your Claude Cowork setup, and how to optimize everything to “get the most out of it”.

I have 900,000 subscribers on both Linkedin & Substack, so naturally people ask me questions (please keep asking btw):

The bottom left one is from my X account.

And yet, it’s extremely simple. Just type:

Prompt: “/setup-cowork start”

And Claude will literally set up Claude Cowork, for you.

Open Claude Cowork (the app) and type “/setup-cowork start”.

You can stop the newsletter here, use the skill /setup-cowork, and follow the steps, and you’d be good to go.'

But if you give me another 12 minutes, I will cover:

• for rookies → the screenshots of the entire setup (and the mistakes to avoid, especially for cloning your voice),

• for advanced users → how I use Claude these days (spoiler: less and less with Cowork).

This newsletter is free because people like you share it to people they love.

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1. How to set up Cowork.

Once you type the skill /setup-cowork + start, you need to complete the entire setup form it generates.

Instead of writing how I answered, I will share screenshots.

Gmail/Outlook might block you from seeing the entire email because it’s too many screenshots. So you should open the article here.

I answered “Founder,” and it’s suggesting plugins. Pick the ones you think match best. You can click “Manage” to get other ones too.

After clicking “Manage,” you land here. You'll see tons of other plugins. Think of them as mini upgrades for your Claude.

For example, if I do the /command you can see the plugins installed some new skills like start and update.

You access them all in your settings → Plugins → and here I added tons of them.

If this was confusing, here’s a quick video:

Once you’re done, move on to the next step.

Claude will ask you to connect (or not) your favorite apps.

You can connect more apps from your settings → Connectors → Add.

Once done, and at every step, you just have to say “sure, let’s continue” to the last sentence Claude makes (unless you’re lost, and then you just say you’re lost).

It will update the Progress list (on the right) if you’re using Cowork.

Now I told you about the mistake not to make when setting up Claude.

Claude Cowork wants to build your “writing voice”.

I wrote a lot about mirroring your voice with Claude. And you can do it to some degree. But I deeply believe writing is thinking. AI can help you search and form an opinion, be the best 24/7 thinking partner you can have, but you won’t be a Linkedin/Substack star by writing with AI. And you certainly won’t be a loved coworker/boss if your reports are AI-slop.

AI is very good at many things. But some things are better kept unique & flavorful. And I think writing (especially publicly) is one.

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2. How I use Claude.

Less and less with Claude Cowork.

More and more with Claude Code instead.

Now I’m not technical. I don’t know how to code. But I’ve been spinning up live websites almost every day for any use case with this simple prompt: