AI & Automation 5.00 (1)

Your First 15 Minutes with Claude Cowork

Created by Jibrail Idris

Categories AI & Automation

Review 5.00 (1 reviews)

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Your First 15 Minutes with Claude Cowork

Course overview

Get Claude Cowork running on your machine in one hour. Install Claude Desktop, connect officedesk CLI, write your first CLAUDE.md, and learn the safety discipline that keeps you in control.

No Xero required — this is a general setup course for anyone wanting to use Claude Cowork.

Prerequisites

You must have an active Claude Pro or Claude Max subscription plan. Cowork mode is not available on the Free plan.
You must have already downloaded and installed Claude Desktop on your machine.

What you'll learn

Install Claude Desktop with Cowork and verify it is running
Install and configure officedesk CLI
Connect Claude to officedesk via the MCP bridge
Write a CLAUDE.md configuration file for accounting workflows
Apply dry-run safety guardrails before any financial action
Understand what Claude should never touch in your Xero account

Curriculum

5 lessons · 50m total

1 What is Claude Cowork and officedesk? 10 min

Meet the stack:

Claude Desktop with Cowork mode — your AI pair programmer
officedesk CLI — the command-line bridge to your business tools
MCP bridge — the protocol that lets Claude and officedesk talk to each other

Understand how each component fits together and what you will set up in this course.

2 Verify Claude Desktop and Enable Cowork 10 min

Confirm Claude Desktop is installed and Cowork mode is ready before moving on to officedesk setup.

You will verify:

Claude Desktop launches and you are signed in with a Pro or Max account
The Cowork mode toggle is visible and selectable in Settings
Cowork mode is enabled and active (you see the Cowork panel)

If Cowork mode is missing or greyed out, your subscription plan may need an upgrade before proceeding.

3 Installing officedesk CLI 10 min

Install the officedesk CLI using the one-line installer.

macOS & Linux:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/initdsg/officedesk.ai-cli/main/install | bash

Windows (PowerShell):

iwr https://raw.githubusercontent.com/initdsg/officedesk.ai-cli/main/install.ps1 | iex

After installation, verify everything is working:

officedesk --version — confirm the CLI is installed
officedesk --list — see which plugins are discovered
officedesk --help — browse available commands

The CLI installs to ~/.officedesk/bin and adds itself to your PATH. You may need to restart your terminal for the PATH change to take effect.

4 The MCP Bridge: Connect Claude to officedesk 10 min

Configure the MCP server in Claude Desktop to connect to officedesk CLI.

You will:

Edit the MCP server configuration in Claude Desktop
Add the officedesk MCP server entry
Restart Claude Desktop and verify the connection
Confirm Claude can see your officedesk tools

5 Your First CLAUDE.md 10 min

What is a CLAUDE.md and why you need one. It is the instruction manual Claude reads before every task — your business context, tools, preferences, and rules in one file.

You will write your first CLAUDE.md covering:

Your business context — what you do and who you serve
Your tools — which plugins Claude should reach for (you connect them in Lesson 4)
Your preferences — how you like work done
Your rules — the limits Claude should respect (Cowork asks your approval before it acts)

Watch this cohort

Cohort recap · 16 Jul 2026