Week 11 — Readings & Resources · Agents & Claude Cowork I

Course: Using Artificial Intelligence (AI 101) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Quinn
Week 11 of 16 · Fall 2026

All resources below are external links only — no open-license or CC claims are made. Links were verified as functional against official, authoritative sources as of 2026-06-29. Links rot; if a URL no longer works, search for the title on the official site. Every Claude/Cowork claim in this course is traced to the official Anthropic documentation listed here.

Required: Official Claude Cowork Documentation

These are the primary sources for everything taught in Week 11. Read (or skim) both before Thursday's class.

1. Get started with Claude Cowork
https://support.claude.com/en/articles/13345190-get-started-with-claude-cowork
The official Anthropic guide covering: what Cowork is, how to access it, requirements (paid plan, Desktop app), how tasks run, global and folder instructions, plugins, and scheduling. Read the "Key capabilities," "Get started," and "Permissions and security" sections carefully — they are directly tested in Quiz 11.

2. Organize your tasks with projects in Claude Cowork
https://support.claude.com/en/articles/14116274-organize-your-tasks-with-projects-in-claude-cowork
The official guide to Cowork projects: how to create one (from scratch, import from a chat project, or use an existing folder), what's inside every project (instructions, scheduled tasks, context, memory), and how memory works within a project.

3. Use Claude Cowork safely
https://support.claude.com/en/articles/13364135-use-claude-cowork-safely
Safety guidance from Anthropic. Covers permission modes, what kinds of tasks to watch closely, and how to think about giving an agent access to your files. Read this before the Studio.

Recommended: Additional Cowork Docs

Assign tasks from anywhere in Claude Cowork
https://support.claude.com/en/articles/13947068-assign-tasks-from-anywhere-in-claude-cowork
Covers sending tasks from your phone while Cowork runs on your desktop (Pro/Max). Optional for this week; builds context for Week 13.

Claude Cowork desktop architecture overview
https://support.claude.com/en/articles/14479288-claude-cowork-desktop-architecture-overview
Technical overview of how Cowork runs on your computer — the two execution environments (VM for code, your local filesystem for files). For curious students who want to understand what "isolated VM" means in practice.

Claude download page (for installing the Desktop app)
https://claude.com/download

Conceptual Background: What Is an Agent?

Claude product page — Cowork overview
https://claude.com/product/cowork
Anthropic's product overview of what Claude Cowork is and who it's for. Good for the big-picture framing before you read the docs.

Claude Cowork release notes

Release notes (support.claude.com)
https://support.claude.com/en/articles/12138966-release-notes
How Anthropic announces new Cowork features and changes. Bookmark this page for Weeks 12–14. Cowork evolves rapidly — checking release notes is how professionals stay current.

Keeping up with AI tools

The tools covered in this course change frequently. The habits below are more durable than any single tutorial:
- Bookmark official documentation pages; official docs are more reliable than third-party tutorials.
- Check release notes when a tool updates before changing your workflow.
- When a feature you saw described no longer works as described, search the official help center — don't assume the tutorial is right and the tool is broken.

Links-rot note: external links are verified at the time this file is built but may change. If a link breaks, search the exact title on support.claude.com or the vendor's official site.