Free Setup Guide

10 Cowork
Plugins That
Replace Departments

Anthropic shipped 30+ Cowork plugins. Most people are using zero. Each one turns Claude into a specialist for one specific role. Install Sales, Claude does sales. Install Finance, Claude does bookkeeping. Here are the 10 worth your weekend.

First, what a plugin actually is

A Cowork plugin turns Claude into a specific kind of worker. Install the Sales plugin, Claude does your sales. Install Finance, Claude does your bookkeeping. Install Marketing, Claude runs your marketing.

Each plugin comes pre-loaded with the skills, prompts, and workflows that role actually needs. They know which connectors to pull from. They know what good output looks like. You don't have to teach Claude how to be a salesperson. You install the Sales plugin and Claude already knows.

Most are free. You install them once and they're available across every Cowork chat from then on. There are 30+ in the directory and Anthropic is shipping new ones every month.

First Install any plugin in 60 seconds

Same flow every time. Once you do it once, you'll fly through the rest of the list.

Step 01

Open Claude desktop or web

Cowork plugins only live inside Cowork (not regular Claude chat). If you don't see Cowork in your sidebar, you may need to enable it in settings or update your Claude app.

Step 02

Click Cowork in the sidebar

You'll land in the Cowork workspace. Look for the “Customize” button (usually top-right or in the settings menu).

Step 03

Hit Customize, then Browse plugins

The plugin directory opens. You can browse by category or search by name. All the plugins in this guide are in there.

Step 04

Pick one. Click Install.

One click. No setup. Some plugins will ask you to connect specific apps (the Marketing plugin asks for Canva, the Finance plugin asks for QuickBooks). Connect them as it asks.

Step 05

Done. It's live in every Cowork chat.

Repeat for every plugin on this list. They stack. You can have 5 plugins installed and Claude will pull from whichever one fits the task you're working on.

If you're brand new to connectors

Many plugins pull from connectors you may not have installed yet. Install the connectors first so the plugins work end-to-end. Full walkthrough on which to install in what order is in 10 Claude Connectors That Change Your Daily Life.

The 10 Plugins worth installing today

Each one below has the same shape. Who it's for. What it actually does. The exact prompt to run on it first. The connectors that make it sing.

Plugin 01

Productivity · for anyone juggling more than they should

Wakes up to a morning brief pulled from overnight Slack, email, and calendar. Preps every meeting with the right context. Creates tasks straight from messages and threads.

Try this

Run my morning brief. Pull anything from Slack and Gmail from the last 12 hours that needs my attention. Surface the 3 most important things, draft replies for the 5 routine ones, and tell me what's on my calendar today with prep notes for each meeting.

Connectors it pulls from: Gmail, Slack, Google Calendar, Notion or Asana.

Plugin 02

Enterprise Search · for anyone losing 20 minutes a day to “where did I save that?”

One query searches Gmail, Slack, Notion, Google Drive, and Asana at the same time. Finds the thing in seconds.

Try this

Search everything. Where is the latest version of the Q3 pricing doc? And what did Sarah say about it in Slack last week? Pull the quotes, link the doc, and give me a 2-line summary of where we landed.

Connectors it pulls from: Gmail, Slack, Notion, Google Drive, Asana, and any other workspace tool you've connected.

Plugin 03

Sales · for solopreneurs and small business owners doing their own outreach

Researches prospects, drafts follow-ups, flags deals stuck in your pipeline, and builds competitive battlecards. Replaces a junior sales rep.

Try this

Pull my pipeline from HubSpot. Flag any deal that hasn't moved in 14+ days. For the top 5, draft me a follow-up email that references something specific about that company (latest news, hiring, funding) and ask for a 15-minute call.

Connectors it pulls from: HubSpot, Attio, Apollo.io, Gmail, LinkedIn.

Plugin 04

Marketing · for anyone running their own marketing

Drafts content in your brand voice, plans campaigns, runs competitive briefs, and pulls performance numbers across channels.

Try this

Plan my next 2 weeks of Instagram content. 3 posts a week. Mix carousel, single image, and reel. Pull my best-performing post from each format last month and use it as the model. Then draft the captions and create the Canva graphics for week 1.

Connectors it pulls from: Canva, HubSpot, Instagram, Mailchimp, Klaviyo.

Plugin 05

Brand Voice · for anyone creating content who wants it to sound like them

Enforces a consistent brand voice across every piece of content you generate in Cowork. Social posts, emails, sales pages, long-form. All on-brand.

Try this

Train my brand voice from the 20 captions I'm attaching. Then write me a 3-email welcome sequence for new subscribers. Mirror the voice exactly. No corporate language. No buzzwords.

Stacks with: Marketing, Sales, anywhere you're writing for your audience. Install this one and every other content output gets sharper.

Plugin 06

Claude Design · for anyone making slides, mockups, or one-pagers

Turns a prompt or rough brief into polished design systems, slide decks, interactive prototypes, or one-pagers. Production-ready in minutes.

Try this

Build me a 10-slide pitch deck for my new offer. Product is a $2k AI consulting package for small businesses. Open with the problem, end with the offer and the booking link. Use minimal design, brand colors are red and cream, fonts should be Anton and Open Sans.

Stacks with: Marketing, Sales. Skip Canva for internal decks (Gamma + Claude Design is faster).

Plugin 07

Finance · for small business owners managing their own books

Preps journal entries, reconciles accounts, generates financial statements, and runs variance analysis. Most of the work an outsourced bookkeeper does.

Try this

Pull my QuickBooks transactions from this month. Reconcile against my Stripe deposits. Flag anything that doesn't have a clear category. Run a quick variance vs last month and tell me what changed.

Connectors it pulls from: QuickBooks, Stripe, PayPal, Mercury, Brex, Ramp.

Plugin 08

Legal · for anyone reviewing a contract without a lawyer

Reads the document. Flags risk in green, yellow, and red. Surfaces the clauses that actually need human review and separates them from boilerplate.

Try this

Review the attached NDA. Flag every clause in red (do not sign), yellow (negotiate), or green (standard). For each red and yellow clause, tell me why it's flagged and what to ask the other side to change. Keep boilerplate review brief.

Not a replacement for a lawyer on high-stakes deals. Use this for the 80% of contracts where you'd otherwise skim and sign.

Plugin 09

HR · for small business owners hiring their first 5

Writes job descriptions, drafts offer letters, builds onboarding plans, and runs performance review summaries. The HR department most small businesses can't afford.

Try this

Write me a job description for a part-time virtual assistant. 15 hours a week, remote, $25 an hour. Skills needed: inbox management, scheduling, light social media. Pull from 3 strong VA job posts on LinkedIn for the structure. Then build me a 30-day onboarding plan for the role.

Stacks with: Small Business (below). Together they cover the full hire-to-paycheck flow.

Plugin 10

Small Business · the just-launched all-in-one

15 pre-built skills covering the full operating system of running a small business. Plans payroll, chases invoices, closes the month, runs full marketing campaigns, and triages leads. Connects to QuickBooks, PayPal, HubSpot, Canva, DocuSign, and your Google or Microsoft suite.

Try this

Run my Monday morning small business kickoff. Pull yesterday's revenue, this week's open invoices over 30 days late, any DocuSign that's been sitting unsigned, and any lead in HubSpot that came in over the weekend. Draft the chase emails for the late invoices and the first reply for every new lead.

If you only install one plugin on this list, install this one. Launched May 13, 2026. Built specifically for owner-operators running every department themselves.

Your turn Install order by who you are

Don't install all 10 at once. Install the 3 that match your situation first. Layer the others as you go.

If you're a solopreneur or creator

Brand Voice, Marketing, Productivity

Start with Brand Voice so everything else you generate sounds like you. Then Marketing for content production. Then Productivity for the morning brief and meeting prep. Add Sales if you do outreach. Add Claude Design when you start building offers.

If you're a small business owner

Small Business, Finance, HR

Install Small Business first. It already covers 60% of what you do. Then Finance for the books. Then HR when you're hiring. Add Legal for contract review. Add Marketing once everything else is stable.

If you're an employee using AI at work

Productivity, Enterprise Search, Brand Voice

Productivity for daily workflows. Enterprise Search for stop-losing-things. Brand Voice so the docs and emails you write match your company voice. Add the role-specific plugin (Sales, Marketing, Finance) that matches your function.

Daily use How to actually use them every day

Habit 01

Pin Cowork to your dock

If you have to click 4 times to get into Cowork, you won't use it. Pin the Claude desktop app to your dock or taskbar. Open Cowork as your first move every morning.

Habit 02

Run a morning brief every weekday

Same prompt, same time. Productivity plugin pulls it from your overnight inbox, Slack, and calendar. 5 minutes of reading replaces 45 minutes of catch-up.

Habit 03

Hand off recurring work to the plugin that owns it

Stop doing the work yourself if a plugin can do it. Invoicing chase email? Small Business plugin. Brief for next month's campaign? Marketing plugin. Contract review? Legal plugin. Build the habit of asking “which plugin owns this?” before you start.

Stack with connectors and skills

Plugins pull from connectors and trigger skills. The full setup is connectors first, plugins on top, custom skills layered last. If you haven't installed connectors yet, start with 10 Claude Connectors That Change Your Daily Life. If you're not sure where any of this fits in the bigger AI picture, run through Become AI Fluent in 7 Days.

For Your Job

Set Up Claude for Your Specific Job

If you’re ready to set up Claude for your specific job, with custom skills, connectors, and automations built around the work you do every day, I built a bootcamp just for you.

Start the Weekend Bootcamp →

Get The Agents

Get Access to All My AI Agents

These are the exact AI agents I have running across my businesses, automating 90% of my day-to-day operations. Install the same ones I use, ready to plug straight into your work.

Get the AI Agent Bundle →

Work With Me

Implement AI Into Your Business

If you want help implementing AI into your business, I’m now taking on consulting work and would love to help you. Shoot me an email with your budget, scope, and a little about your business.

Email Me →

© 2026 Mariah Brunner. All rights reserved.