Claude Co-work General Availability: Complete Guide to Real-Time Collaboration Features

Claude Co-work just reached general availability. After a month of soft launch, Anthropic shipped the remaining collaboration features that make Co-work a true team platform. If you tried Co-work in December and found it limited, try again. The general availability release adds features that change how teams work together. ## What's New in General Availability **Inline Comments:** Highlight any text in a conversation and add comments. Tag teammates, discuss specific points, and mark discussions resolved. **Version History:** See who made which changes and when. Restore previous versions of conversations. Compare different project states. **Advanced Permissions:** Comment-only access (can't edit but can leave feedback), granular controls per user, and custom permission templates. **External Sharing:** Invite clients or external collaborators to specific projects without adding them to your Team plan. **Usage Analytics:** See which projects are most active, who's contributing, and how team uses Claude across projects. ## How Inline Comments Work The feature teams requested most during soft launch: the ability to comment on specific parts of conversations. **Using inline comments:** 1. Highlight text in any conversation 2. Click "Add comment" (or Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + M) 3. Write your comment 4. @mention teammates if you want their input 5. Mark resolved when addressed **Why this matters:** Before inline comments, team members would Slack each other: "In that Claude conversation about the pricing model, I think the revenue assumptions are too aggressive." Now: highlight the specific text, comment directly, and the feedback is attached to the right context. **Comment threads:** Comments support threaded discussions. Multiple people can discuss a specific point without cluttering the main conversation. ## Version History and Restore Co-work projects now track complete version history. **What you can see:** - Who made each change (prompts, edits, deletions) - When changes happened (timestamp per action) - What changed (diff view between versions) **Restoring previous versions:** If someone accidentally deletes important conversation or a prompt doesn't work well, restore previous version: 1. Open project settings 2. Click "Version history" 3. Browse versions (organized by date/time) 4. Preview to see full project state at that time 5. Click "Restore" to revert This is particularly useful when experimenting with prompts or project structure. Try changes knowing you can revert. ## Advanced Permission Controls Soft launch had simple permissions: view or edit. General availability adds granular controls. **New permission levels:** **View-only:** Can read conversations and project knowledge. Cannot edit, comment, or prompt Claude. Use for: stakeholders who need visibility but shouldn't modify anything. **Comment-only:** Can view and leave comments. Cannot directly prompt Claude or edit conversations. Use for: reviewers, external advisors, clients providing feedback. **Contributor:** Can prompt Claude and participate in conversations. Cannot modify project structure or permissions. Use for: team members doing day-to-day work. **Admin:** Full control including project structure, permissions, and deletion. Use for: project leads and managers. **Per-conversation permissions:** Within a project, set different permissions for different conversations. Example: client has view-only access to most conversations but comment-only on the deliverable review conversation. ## External Sharing You can now invite people outside your Team plan to specific Co-work projects. **How it works:** 1. In project settings, click "Invite external collaborator" 2. Enter their email 3. Set permission level (usually view-only or comment-only) 4. Choose which conversations they can access 5. Send invitation External collaborators see only the project you shared. They don't get access to your team's other work. **Common use cases:** **Client collaboration:** Invite client to project with view-only or comment-only access. They follow progress and provide feedback without editing. **External advisor review:** Share specific conversations with advisor or consultant for feedback on approach or strategy. **Cross-team projects:** When working with people from partner companies, share relevant project without requiring them to join your Team plan. **Pricing for external sharing:** First 3 external collaborators per project: free Additional external collaborators: $5/person/month Most teams stay within free tier since external sharing is usually selective. ## Usage Analytics New analytics dashboard shows how team uses Co-work. **Available metrics:** **Project level:** - Active contributors (who's participating) - Message volume over time - Most active conversations - Average response quality (based on follow-up prompts) **Team level:** - Total Co-work projects - Messages per project - Most active team members - Peak usage times **Why this matters:** See which projects get the most use (probably the most valuable). Identify team members who might need training (low participation). Understand usage patterns to optimize workflows. ## Quick Takeaway Claude Co-work general availability adds critical collaboration features: inline comments for contextual feedback, version history for safety and comparison, advanced permissions for granular control, external sharing for client collaboration, and usage analytics for understanding team patterns. If you tried Co-work during soft launch and found it too basic, try again. These features make it significantly more useful for real team collaboration. All features included in Claude Team plan ($30/user/month). No additional cost. External sharing is free for first 3 people per project.