One afternoon I asked Cowork to look something up, and a panel I had never seen opened on the right. Pages loaded by themselves, a cursor moved, a form filled in. My Chrome window sat there doing nothing.
It took me a moment to realize that the browser at work was not mine. It was a separate one inside Claude Desktop. On first launch it also offered to import my saved logins, and I stopped just short of the button.
What I'd like to share first: Cowork has two doors to the web, and you choose which one is the default. I re-read the current Help Center pages before writing this, and below is the line I ended up drawing.
The two browsers carry different things
According to the Help Center, the built-in browser lives inside Claude Desktop, needs no installation, and does not touch your own tabs or logins. Claude in Chrome works on the page you already have open, with the accounts you are already signed in to.
Both are described as having the same browsing abilities. The difference is what Claude is holding while it works.
| What to compare | Built-in browser | Claude in Chrome |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | Side panel in Claude Desktop | Your own Chrome |
| Setup | None | Extension required |
| Logins | Starts empty; import or sign in as you go | Uses whatever Chrome is already signed in to |
| Fits when | You hand off the web part and keep working | The page is in front of you and you want help with it |
That last row became my rule: hand-off work goes to the built-in browser, and the page in front of me goes to Chrome.
How the default gets chosen, and how to change it
What surprised me is that a default already exists before you touch anything. Per the Help Center, if you already use Claude in Chrome, it stays the default for web tasks in Cowork. If you don't have the extension, or this is your first time using a browser in Cowork, the built-in browser is used.
Changing it takes two steps:
- Open Claude Desktop and go to Settings, then Cowork.
- Under Preferred browser, pick "Built-in browser" or "Chrome (Claude in Chrome)".
Claude uses your choice unless you ask for the other one by name, in which case that request wins for that task.
Three decisions before pressing "Import cookies"
The import brings saved logins over site by site. Banking, email, and single sign-on sites are unchecked by default. On macOS you can import from Chrome, Edge, and Firefox; on Windows and Linux (beta), from Firefox. Safari isn't supported.
One sentence in the Help Center deserves a second look: anything you sign in to inside the built-in browser stays available to Claude in future Cowork sessions on that computer.
So I wrote down three rules before importing anything:
- Sites I only read are fine to import.
- Sites that handle money or personal data stay out. If I need them, I run the task in Chrome while I'm watching.
- When I'm unsure, I skip the import and decide on the day a sign-in is actually needed.
Asking "will I be fine with Claude holding this next time too?" instead of "is this convenient right now?" cut the number of checked boxes considerably.
When your choice isn't available
If your preferred browser can't be used, Claude tells you and carries on with the other one. If you named a specific browser and it's unavailable, Claude asks before switching. I found that reassuring, because it means a task won't quietly run under an account I didn't intend.
Starting tasks from the web or your phone has different conditions:
| Preferred browser | When you start a task from web or mobile |
|---|---|
| Built-in browser | Claude Desktop must be open and online on your computer |
| Claude in Chrome | The session must be connected to a desktop, but the app doesn't need to be open |
If you plan to send tasks while you're out, decide the default now, so you don't come home to a task that never ran. On Team and Enterprise plans, an owner may have turned either browser off; if an option is missing, ask your admin.
One thing to try this week
Open Settings, then Cowork, and look at your current Preferred browser. Then think of one web task you plan to hand over this week and sort it: hand-off, or in front of me?
I wrote about the permission side separately, in my note on setting Claude in Chrome to automatic and limiting "always allow" to read-only sites. Screens that touch money are the ones I'll keep running in front of my own eyes.