Anthropic announced a major update to its Chrome extension that turns Claude in Chrome from a useful but somewhat disconnected experience into a full Claude Cowork client in the browser, with sessions that persist across Anthropic’s various apps.
The updated extension is now available to all Max and Team plan subscribers, with plans to bring it to Pro users in the coming weeks.
Until now, Claude in Chrome operated largely in isolation from the other Claude apps, making it useful in the browser context but not as a companion to Claude’s other surfaces. That disconnect was one of the main complaints from reviewers in the Chrome Web Store.
Since the extension is now deeply connected to the overall Claude ecosystem, all conversations are saved in the user’s history, making it easy to start a conversation on the desktop or mobile app and pick it up in the browser. Equally important, all of a user’s skills and connectors are now available in the Claude sidebar on Chrome.
Credit: Anthropic.
The main advantage of the browser extension is that it can see what the user is looking at in the browser.
“Many of the tools you use every day connect directly to Claude, but others don’t, such as internal dashboards, legacy systems, and vendor portals,” Anthropic explains. “With Claude in Chrome, Claude can work in these apps through the browser.”
Claude Cowork as the Default
Anthropic brought Cowork to the web and mobile only a few weeks ago — work that was likely necessary to also enable Cowork in the Chrome extension. Before that, Cowork existed only in the desktop app. Now it is becoming the de facto standard for using Claude.
Anthropic may consolidate Cowork and its basic Claude Chat over time. That would clear up confusion many users have about when to use regular chat versus Cowork, since Cowork can do everything a basic chat can — and much more.
Credit: Anthropic.
Safety Through Auto Mode
As Anthropic notes, “Claude in Chrome carries the same risks as any AI agent that acts in a browser, chiefly prompt injection.”
If a malicious actor hides instructions for the agent on a website, that could be a problem. With this update, Anthropic is extending its Claude auto mode to the browser-based agent, with the agent automatically checking for anything out of the ordinary without requiring the user to constantly approve every action.
“While these measures meaningfully reduce the risk, they cannot eliminate it.” — Anthropic.
Claude will still ask the user before making any purchases or sharing personal data. Anthropic rightly acknowledges that “while these measures meaningfully reduce the risk, they cannot eliminate it.”
Availability
The new extension experience is now rolling out to users on Max and Team plans. Pro users will gain access in the coming weeks. For Enterprise plan users, the feature is off by default, but admins can enable it and limit its use to specific domains. Anthropic also notes that the extension will not run on other Chromium-based browsers or on mobile.
