If you’ve ever opened an AI tool, stared at a blank chat box, and had no idea what to type — the Claude Cowork Ideas tab was built for you. Instead of figuring out what to ask, Claude tells you what it can do automatically, based on your connected tools, emails, calendar, and files.
Zero prompting required. The Ideas tab sits in the left panel of Claude Cowork and fills up with ready-to-run task suggestions the moment you connect your tools. The more apps you add, the smarter and more personalized those suggestions become.
This guide walks through exactly how the Ideas tab works, how to find it, how to get the most out of it, and what it can do that most people haven’t discovered yet.
What Is Claude Cowork?
Claude Cowork is an autonomous desktop agent built into the Claude Desktop app. Unlike the standard chat interface where you ask questions and get answers, Cowork lets you delegate full tasks — and Claude works through them on its own.
You give Claude access to a folder on your computer, describe what you want done, and come back to finished work. It can read, edit, and create files including Word documents, PowerPoint decks, spreadsheets, and PDFs. It can also connect to external tools like Gmail, Slack, Google Calendar, and HubSpot to take action across your entire workflow.
Cowork is currently in research preview and is available through the Claude Desktop app. If you’re brand new to it, start with our full Claude Cowork tutorial before diving into the Ideas tab. And if you want persistent memory and custom instructions across sessions, check out Claude Cowork Projects — a dedicated workspace that keeps context between every conversation.
What Is the Claude Cowork Ideas Tab?
The Claude Cowork Ideas tab is a built-in suggestion dashboard that automatically generates task ideas based on the tools and connectors you’ve set up. Instead of starting from a blank prompt, you get a curated list of things Claude can actually do for you — right now, with the tools already connected.
Think of it as a smart starter menu. Every time you open it, it reflects your current setup. Connect Slack and it surfaces Slack tasks. Connect HubSpot and you get CRM-related ideas. The more tools you add, the more relevant the suggestions become.
The Ideas tab is organized into four main categories: Create, Analyze, Organize, and Communicate. Each one maps to a different type of knowledge work.
Where to Find the Ideas Tab
Look for the lightbulb icon in the left panel of Claude Cowork. It sits directly underneath the Dispatch section, next to the Customize option at the bottom of the sidebar. Click it and you’ll land on the Ideas dashboard.
The 4 Categories in the Claude Cowork Ideas Tab
Every idea in the tab falls under one of four buckets. Here’s what each one covers:
Create
This category covers content and document generation. Ideas here include things like creating a presentation, turning a document into a deck, building a simple web app, or automating a browser task. If you need to produce something from scratch or transform existing content into a new format, Create is where to start. For a full walkthrough of building presentations with Cowork, see our guide to Claude Cowork PowerPoint.
Analyze
Analyze focuses on making sense of data. Suggestions in this category include analyzing documents, reviewing spreadsheets, summarizing reports, or pulling insights from files you’ve uploaded. If you have raw data or a messy file and want structured takeaways, this is your section. If you work heavily in spreadsheets, check out our dedicated guide to Claude Cowork with Excel.
Organize
Organize covers planning and file management tasks. Examples include planning a trip, organizing your files, building a project tracker, or prioritizing your inbox. It’s the ‘get things in order’ category — less about creating new things, more about structuring what already exists.
Communicate
Communicate handles outbound messaging and writing tasks. Ideas here include drafting an email, writing a status update, preparing a performance review, summarizing a Slack channel, or drafting a Slack message. Connect Gmail or Slack and this category gets significantly more specific to your actual conversations.
How Connectors Expand Your Ideas Tab
Connectors are what make the Ideas tab genuinely useful. By default, the tab shows general-purpose suggestions. Once you start connecting the tools you actually use, the suggestions update in real time to reflect what Claude can now do across those platforms.
Connectors in Cowork are powered by MCP — the Model Context Protocol, an open standard Anthropic introduced in late 2024. MCP is what allows Claude to pull live information from external apps and act on it within a workflow. When you add a connector, you’re essentially giving Claude a live read (and sometimes write) connection to that tool.
How to Add a Connector
Adding a connector takes about 30 seconds. Here’s how:
- Click the Customize tab in the left panel of Cowork.
- Go to Connectors.
- Click + Browse Connectors.
- Find the tool you want (Slack, Gmail, HubSpot, Google Calendar, etc.) and click Connect.
- Authorize the connection and head back to the Ideas tab. New suggestions will appear immediately.
You can also access Connectors directly from the top of the Ideas tab — there’s a shortcut that takes you straight to the browse view. You can sort connectors by default, popular, trending, or new.
Example: Adding Slack
When Slack is not connected, the Ideas tab shows generic communication suggestions. The moment you connect Slack with a single click, new Slack-specific ideas appear automatically: Set up a project tracker, Summarize a Slack channel, Draft a Slack message. The Create a daily briefing idea also updates to show the Slack icon, signaling it will now pull from your actual Slack workspace.
The same pattern applies to every connector you add. HubSpot adds CRM-related tasks. Gmail adds email drafting and inbox management ideas. Google Calendar adds scheduling and meeting prep suggestions.
Need Help Building AI Automations?
Join Our AI Community
How to Filter Ideas by Your Role
The Ideas tab defaults to showing all suggestions across every category and role. But you can narrow it down by selecting your specific job function — and the ideas will update to match what’s most relevant to your work.
To change your role, look for the role selector at the top of the Ideas tab. By default it says ‘All Roles.’ Click it to see the full list of available roles.
Available Roles in the Ideas Tab
Cowork ships with a growing list of role filters. Current options include:
- Data Science — plan a data pipeline, write optimized SQL queries, build a web app for data visualization
- Design — audit a page for UX issues, review brand consistency, create mockup briefs
- Legal — polish rough notes into documents, review contract language, summarize case files
- Marketing — draft campaign briefs, build content calendars, analyze customer segments
- Sales — prep for calls, draft outreach emails, summarize CRM activity
- Finance — analyze spreadsheets, generate cash flow summaries, build reporting templates
- HR — draft job descriptions, summarize performance notes, organize onboarding docs
- Product — write PRDs, summarize user feedback, draft release notes
- Engineering — write technical docs, summarize PRs, draft architecture notes
- Operations — streamline workflows, organize project trackers, prepare SOPs
- Research — synthesize sources, summarize papers, draft literature reviews
Selecting your role doesn’t lock you out of other categories. It just filters the suggestions down to the most relevant ones. You can switch back to ‘All Roles’ at any time.
How Plugins Affect Your Ideas Tab
Beyond connectors, plugins also expand what shows up in the Ideas tab. Plugins are bundles that combine skills, connectors, and sub-agents into a single package — think of them as pre-configured workflows for specific job functions.
The Ideas tab shows suggestions based on whichever plugins you have installed. Add more plugins, and the Ideas tab updates accordingly.
You can browse and install plugins from the Customize tab in Cowork. Anthropic also maintains an open-source repository of plugins for common knowledge work roles — covering sales, finance, legal, marketing, HR, data analysis, and more. For a full breakdown of how to install and use them, check out our guide to Claude Cowork plugins.
Two Live Examples: What the Ideas Tab Actually Does
Example 1: Plan a Trip
Click on ‘Plan a Trip’ under the Organize category and the Ideas tab kicks off a guided conversation. Claude asks where you’re thinking of going, when, what kind of experience you want (adventure, relaxation, culture, or a mix), who’s traveling, and your budget range.
Once you give it enough context — for example, Hawaii for a 4-5 day trip, trail running and beach activities, mid-range budget, couple — it runs a live web search and comes back with a full itinerary recommendation. It picks the specific island (Maui), lists trail run options sourced from AllTrails, suggests specific beaches, notes park entry reservation windows, and gives best travel months and flight cost estimates from your departure city.
The key detail: Claude uses the web search connector in the background to pull live, current information. This is what makes the Ideas tab suggestions more than just canned prompts — they execute against real data from your connected tools.
Example 2: Catch Up on What You Missed
The ‘Catch Up on What I Missed’ idea pulls from multiple connected tools simultaneously. With Slack, Gmail, and Google Calendar all connected, clicking this idea opens a conversation where Claude asks what you want to catch up on — a specific project, team, or time frame.
Claude searches both Slack and Gmail in parallel and returns a prioritized briefing — surfacing active sponsorship negotiations, flagging which ones need a reply, identifying coaching customers with open threads, and even pulling messages from a Skool community integration through Gmail.
The result: a single prioritized list telling you exactly what to respond to first and why — across every connected platform at once.
Tips for Getting the Most Out of the Ideas Tab
Connect Everything You Actually Use Daily
The Ideas tab is only as good as the tools you connect. If you use Slack, Gmail, Google Calendar, and HubSpot every day, connect all four. Each one unlocks a new layer of suggestions specific to your actual work.
Use Role Filtering When You Want Less Noise
If the All Roles view feels overwhelming, set your role. The Data Science filter removes marketing and legal suggestions and surfaces SQL, pipeline, and data visualization ideas instead. Switch back to All Roles when you want to explore.
Search Inside the Ideas Tab
You can search within the Ideas tab for specific tools or task types. Type ‘Slack’ in the search bar and only Slack-related ideas appear. This is faster than scrolling through all categories when you know what you’re looking for.
Assign Tasks from Your Phone
Pro and Max users can send task instructions from mobile while the Claude Desktop app handles execution in the background. Kick off an Ideas tab task from your phone — Claude runs it on your desktop and has results waiting when you get back.
Schedule Recurring Tasks
Cowork supports scheduled task execution. If you run the same briefing every morning or the same weekly report every Friday, you can schedule those tasks to run automatically. For more ways to get the most out of Cowork, see our full list of Claude Cowork tips.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Claude Cowork Ideas tab?
The Ideas tab is a built-in suggestion dashboard inside Claude Cowork that automatically generates task ideas based on your connected tools and plugins. It organizes suggestions into four categories — Create, Analyze, Organize, and Communicate — and updates in real time as you add more connectors. It’s designed to help you get started without needing to write a prompt from scratch.
How do I access the Ideas tab in Cowork?
Open the Claude Desktop app and switch to the Cowork tab. Look for the lightbulb icon in the left panel, directly beneath the Dispatch section and next to Customize at the bottom of the sidebar. Click it to open the Ideas dashboard.
Why is my Ideas tab showing generic suggestions?
The Ideas tab starts with general suggestions because no connectors or plugins are set up yet. To get personalized, tool-specific ideas, go to Customize > Connectors and add the tools you use daily. Each connector you add immediately updates the Ideas tab with new, relevant suggestions.
Can I filter Ideas tab suggestions by job role?
Yes. The Ideas tab has a role selector that defaults to ‘All Roles.’ You can switch it to Data Science, Marketing, Legal, Finance, Sales, HR, Design, Product, Engineering, Operations, or Research to see suggestions filtered for your specific function.
Is Claude Cowork available for free?
Cowork is available as part of Claude’s Pro and Max plans. It is currently in research preview, meaning features are still being developed and expanded. Check the Claude website or your account settings for current plan availability.
Start With One Connector
The Ideas tab solves the hardest part of using AI tools: knowing what to ask. By pulling suggestions directly from the tools you already use, it removes the blank-page problem entirely.
The best way to see this in action is to pick one tool you use every day — Slack, Gmail, Google Calendar — connect it, and head straight to the Ideas tab. The suggestions that show up will be specific to your actual workflow, not generic examples.
From there, keep adding connectors and explore the role filter for your function. The more context you give Cowork, the more useful the Ideas tab becomes.
