Claude Cowork Quietly Changed Where Your Tasks Run. Here's the Catch.
If you use Claude Cowork on Pro or Max, new tasks are no longer running where they used to.
On October 6, 2026, Anthropic moved new Cowork tasks for these plans into the cloud. The previous setting that forced new tasks to run only on your computer was removed. That enables work to continue after you close your laptop and lets you pick it up from other devices.
It also changes the privacy conversation. But the viral shorthand, “Claude uploads all your files,” is not supported by Anthropic's documentation.
The change in one sentence
For Pro and Max users, new Cowork sessions execute on Anthropic infrastructure. That does not automatically mean every local folder has been copied to the cloud.
Anthropic says files on your computer stay there unless accessed as part of a connected folder and an authorized task. When Cowork needs a local file, it fetches a copy of the particular file. Local folder access depends on the desktop application remaining open and the folder being connected.
The distinction matters: cloud execution is not identical to unlimited access to the local filesystem.
What happens when you shut your laptop?
A cloud task can continue processing in the background. Scheduled tasks also run without an online device, and the same account sessions can be inspected from web, desktop and mobile.
But if a task needs your actual local files or a browser running through your desktop application, closing that app can remove that resource from the session even though the cloud task itself continues.
Put differently: the brain can keep working remotely, but some of the hands still depend on your computer.
That is a useful model for understanding the feature without pretending its access is magical or unlimited.
What happened to the old local-only switch?
Anthropic's support page says the "Only on your computer" setting was removed for new Pro and Max Cowork tasks starting October 6. Existing local tasks could continue where they began, but new ones use cloud execution and users on those plans cannot switch new Cowork tasks back to local-only mode.
That is a significant product change for people who previously chose Cowork specifically to keep execution on their own machine.
Anthropic points those users toward Claude Code in the desktop application for new local-running tasks. Cowork also provides ways to export task data for transfer.
This is not a claim that Claude Code and Cowork offer identical functionality; it is an alternative execution route, with its own workflow and permissions.
What about private documents?
A local folder can contain sensitive drafts, source code or personal records. The useful security questions are now concrete: Which folders were connected? Which files were opened? Did the cloud task require copies? How does deletion and retention work? Which connectors could the session call?
Anthropic documents task-file copies and deletion behavior under its retention practices, and model-training controls under the account's privacy setting. Those policy statements are important but do not replace packet traces or a controlled practical test if someone wants to measure actual data movement.
Zerionia has not performed such an experiment for this article. We are describing the product change using Anthropic's published documentation, not claiming to have observed transfers.
A simple experiment that would answer the real question
Use a folder containing only fictional text documents with unique markers. Connect that folder, ask Cowork to summarize one specific file, record which files were accessed, repeat with the desktop app closed and inspect which operations continue or fail. Do not use real secrets. Do not assume that failing to see a local operation proves no cloud data exists.
Those results would support a proper Lab article. Until the experiment is run, the protocol stays a proposed test, not a Zerionia finding.
The Zerionia view
The interesting trade-off is not “cloud bad, local good.” It is continuity versus control. Moving a task to the cloud can make a personal agent dramatically more useful, particularly when it runs overnight. But the execution location, folder permissions and file retention need to be visible enough for ordinary users to understand.
Anthropic made Cowork more persistent. The next product challenge is making it just as transparent.
