Choose which browser Claude Cowork is allowed to use

Before Claude Cowork opens a website on your behalf, choose which browser it is allowed to use. A vendor portal or this month's invoices belongs in Claude's own browser. Updating a CRM tab you already have open belongs in Chrome, with the accounts you are already signed in to.

You need a paid Claude plan (Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise) and the Claude desktop app. The paths, defaults and 10 September 2026 dates below follow Anthropic’s help pages, checked on 1 September 2026.

Who this is for

Use this if you already run Cowork on the desktop app and Claude can use the web, or the built-in browser is about to arrive and you want the choice made first. The useful outcome is a decision you can apply the next time Claude asks to open a site.

Skip it if you do not have the desktop app, or you are not on a paid Claude plan. Most cliffinkent readers work in ChatGPT or Copilot. This page is for people who do have Cowork. It does not pretend everyone does.

What changed on 26 August 2026

On 26 August 2026 Anthropic added a browser inside Claude Cowork on the desktop app. When a task needs a website, a browser opens in the side panel. Claude reads pages, clicks and fills forms while you stay with the task. Until then, web work in Cowork meant the Claude in Chrome extension, which uses your live Chrome session.

The 26 August product post said Pro, Max and Team would get the built-in browser "this week", on by default once it reaches you. Today is 1 September 2026. That window may already have finished for some plans. If Preferred browser is missing, treat it as a rollout gap.

Enterprise could turn the built-in browser on from 26 August. It ships off, then turns on by default on 10 September 2026 unless an owner has already switched it off. The same 10 September default applies to Claude in Chrome on Enterprise.

Pick the browser that matches the job

Claude's built-in browser is separate from yours. Claude does not see your tabs, bookmarks or passwords unless you import logins site by site. Digital Trends reports the same point: the built-in browser does not touch your Chrome tabs or saved passwords.

Use Claude's browser when the task only needs a browser. Collect invoices from a vendor portal. Gather sources for a report. Work a site that has no connector.

Use Claude in Chrome when the work is already on a page in front of you. Update a CRM record in the tab you have open. Work through the inbox you are already signed in to.

If you already use Claude in Chrome, Anthropic keeps that as your default. Otherwise the built-in browser becomes the default once it reaches you. Switch any time in Settings → Cowork → Preferred browser.

The first time Claude's browser opens, you can import cookies site by site. Import works from Chrome, Edge and Firefox on macOS, and from Firefox on Windows and Linux (beta). Safari is not supported. Banking, email and single sign-on stay unchecked unless you include them. Anything you sign in to inside Claude's browser is available to Claude in later Cowork sessions on that computer.

Set Preferred browser

Open the Claude desktop app, go to Settings → Cowork, then under Preferred browser choose Built-in browser or Chrome (Claude in Chrome). That path is from Anthropic's built-in browser help article, not from a screen I opened.

Claude uses that choice unless you ask for the other one. If the preferred browser is unavailable and you asked for a browser in general, Claude tells you and continues with the other. If you named a specific browser, Claude asks before switching.

The built-in browser lives in the desktop app. From the web or your phone, Claude can still drive it when the desktop app is open and online. On the web without the desktop app, Claude in Chrome remains the way to give Claude a browser.

If you own Team or Enterprise

Owners and Primary Owners control both surfaces separately. You can enable one, both, or neither. Anthropic's Team and Enterprise setup article is the source for the paths and the 10 September default.

Built-in browser sits in Organization settings → Cowork. Claude in Chrome sits in Organization settings → Claude in Chrome.

On Team, both are on by default as they roll out. An owner can turn either off.

On Enterprise, both are off at launch. From 10 September 2026 they turn on by default unless you have already disabled them. When the built-in browser is off, users cannot open it and Claude cannot use it. That setting does not affect Claude in Chrome or the browser in Claude Code. Claude in Chrome admin controls carry the same 10 September default for the extension.

Anthropic's Help Center is explicit about communication. On Enterprise, users are not notified automatically when you turn the built-in browser on. The same note appears when you enable Claude in Chrome. 10 September will not email staff for you. If you leave the default, tell people which browser they are now allowed to use, or switch the surface off first.

The Built-in browser control may not appear in Organization settings until the rollout reaches your organisation.

A rule you can apply this week

When Claude asks to use the web, answer with the job.

These are constructed examples, not sessions I ran.

If the preferred browser is missing an option on Team or Enterprise, that is an owner control, not a personal setting you can force.

What Anthropic says about prompt injection

Anthropic's built-in browser help article, checked 1 September 2026:

Any AI agent that acts in a browser can be targeted by prompt injection, where instructions hidden in a webpage try to redirect Claude. These safeguards reduce that risk but can't remove it.

The same article tells you to start on sites you trust, stay close to tasks with real consequences, and stop the task if something looks off. It also advises against using either browser for financial accounts, medical information, or other people's personal data.

Decide that stop point before Claude starts clicking. That is the same practical habit as the agent production-readiness stop rule.

Limits to keep in view

I could not walk Preferred browser or Organization settings on this box. There is no Claude desktop app here, so there are no screenshots and no tool verdict. Linux is listed as beta. Anthropic has not published a UK-specific availability line for the built-in browser.

The 26 August "this week" rollout for Pro, Max and Team may already have finished on some accounts and still be pending on others. Check the desktop app rather than assume the date.

This is a different job from connecting a second Google account to ChatGPT. Neither that Guide nor the stop-rule Opinion covers Cowork or 10 September.

Sources

Anthropic, Claude Cowork gets a built-in browser: nothing to install, 26 August 2026.

Anthropic Help Center, Set up browser use in Claude Cowork for Team and Enterprise plans, checked 1 September 2026.

Anthropic Help Center, Use the built-in browser in Claude Cowork, checked 1 September 2026. Prompt-injection warning quoted from this page.

Anthropic Help Center, Claude in Chrome admin controls, checked 1 September 2026, for the Enterprise 10 September default on Claude in Chrome.

Digital Trends, Claude Cowork gets its own browser that doesn't touch your tabs, bookmarks, or saved passwords, checked 1 September 2026.