Pro and Max Cowork tasks move to Anthropic's cloud on 6 October

On 6 October 2026, Anthropic’s help page Use Claude Cowork on web, desktop, and mobile says new Cowork tasks on Pro and Max plans run in the cloud. The same section says the Only on your computer option in Settings, then General, will be removed, and that there is nothing to set up. Opened at 05:36 UTC on 6 October, the page still says “will be removed.” The heading is “What’s changing for Pro and Max plans on October 6.” It does not name Team or Enterprise.

Cloud Cowork is in beta. Work continues after the laptop closes. Scheduled tasks run with no device online. The same sessions and files are available on desktop, web, and mobile. The work runs on Anthropic’s servers, and sessions and files are saved to the Claude account.

Tasks already started on a computer

Tasks already started on the computer stay there until they are done. Each shows a note at the top with a button to download its transcript, to continue that work in Claude Code. A headline that says local support was removed goes past this page. The control named for removal is Only on your computer, for new Pro and Max tasks.

For work that has to stay on one machine, the page points to Claude Code in the desktop app, which keeps folders and history on the computer. Open a downloaded transcript, or the full Cowork history from the notice in the app, in Claude Code. Projects and scheduled tasks do not carry over. Shared logins are not supported.

Folders, copies, and the privacy setting

Anthropic’s sentences on the Pro and Max page, on files and on training use:

“Your folders stay on your computer. Claude reaches only the folders you’ve connected, through the desktop app, and only while it’s open. When a task needs a file in the cloud, Claude fetches a copy of just that file. When you delete a session, the copies Claude fetched are deleted too, per our data retention practices. Whether your conversations are used to improve Claude follows the Help improve our AI models setting in Settings > Privacy.”

A table note adds that a cloud session reaches connected folders only while the desktop app is open and the session was started on desktop. If the app is closed, the session keeps running and cannot reach local files. Local connectors, browser use, and computer use from web and mobile also go through that app.

The architecture overview, marked updated more than two weeks earlier, says the architecture is the same across plans and that a cloud session reaches the device only through the desktop app. On processing, that page says: “Because a session in the cloud runs on Anthropic’s servers, the agent’s work, including any local files it opens through the desktop app, is processed on Anthropic’s servers rather than staying on the device. Conversation data is handled under the same commercial commitments as other Team and Enterprise data and isn’t used to train Claude.”

That training sentence names Team and Enterprise commercial commitments. The Pro and Max page, for the 6 October change, points instead to the Help improve our AI models setting under Settings, then Privacy.

Scheduled tasks

“Your scheduled tasks move to the cloud too, including ones that use files on your computer. Tasks that use files on your computer need the desktop app open.”

A scheduled task that uses files on the computer still needs the desktop app open. The no-device case is a scheduled task that does not use those files.

Team and Enterprise

The Team and Enterprise article was marked updated today when opened at 05:38 UTC on 6 October. It says those organizations keep chat and Cowork as they are today. During the beta it still describes cloud sessions on Anthropic’s infrastructure and local sessions on the user’s computer, with code in an isolated virtual machine. The organization toggle “Run Cowork in the cloud” is on by default for Team, and an owner can turn it off. For Enterprise it is off by default. With the HIPAA configuration on Claude Code local mode and Cowork local mode, Cowork in the cloud is unavailable, and no setting turns it on.

The 16 September post Claude Cowork and chat are now one Claude is background for the merged app. It says the merge was rolling out to Pro and Max first, that Team and Free plans would follow, and that Enterprise admins would hear at least 30 days before anything changed for their organizations.

Practical takeaway

Finish a task already running on the computer, or download its transcript for Claude Code. Keep the desktop app open on a connected folder when a new Pro or Max task needs a local file. On Team and Enterprise, check the separate cloud toggle before assuming the Pro and Max setting change applies.