Free card
Code vs Cowork: the Router
The one-page card that ends the Claude Code vs Cowork confusion. It is the same Claude underneath, so you stop guessing and pick by one question: do you want to hand the work off, or drive it yourself?
Pick in seconds, stop guessing
One question sorts any task: hand it off, or drive it yourself? Hand off goes to Cowork, drive goes to Claude Code. No more picking wrong and fighting the tool for a week.
It is the same Claude
Cowork is literally Claude Code wrapped in a friendly app. Same brain underneath, so the choice was never about which is smarter, only which cockpit fits how you want to work.
Do not burn your usage
Code, Cowork and chat all share one usage budget. Cowork runs unattended so it can drain it fast. The card shows you when to drive Code instead so you can steer the burn.
What's inside
- The one question that routes any task: hand it off, or drive it yourself
- Why it is the same Claude underneath, so you pick the cockpit, not the tool
- Cowork vs Claude Code side by side: what each is for and when to reach for it
- A sort-any-task table: drop your job on the closest row and read off the answer
- The shared usage budget tip: why Cowork can quietly eat your limit, and how Code lets you steer it
- The path: start in Cowork, graduate to Code, plus where to get both
Questions
Is this the same as the Which Claude, When card?
No. That card answers which model tier to use (Haiku, Sonnet, Opus). This one answers which surface to work in, Claude Code or Cowork. Different decision, and they pair well.
Will this go out of date when Anthropic ships something new?
The split it is built on, hand it off versus drive it yourself, is durable. Feature names move, but the cockpit question keeps working. Verified against Anthropic's own pages, June 2026.
I run everything in Claude Code already. Is Cowork still for me?
Then you are the power-user case, you want control and your own system, which is exactly what Code is for. Cowork is the easy front door for work you would rather just hand off. Same Claude either way.
Is it really free?
Yes. Drop your email and it is yours, and a copy lands in your inbox so you keep it.