Facts checked September 29, 2026
Edition: English
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Set-up · about 10 minutes

How to set up Claude as a personal agent

Claude has no agent switch to find: on Pro and Max it judges for itself when a message calls for a longer job, so setup is about what it can reach.

Step by step

  1. Check the merged experience

    When separate Chat and Cowork options have vanished from the message box, your account has been moved over. The switch is spread across several weeks, so yours may still be pending.

  2. Add connectors

    Link the tools that hold your work, for example GitHub, Slack, Notion or Google Drive. Before it does anything inside one of them, Claude asks your permission.

  3. Save skills

    Write down how you like recurring jobs done, such as a report layout or a house style, and save it as a skill. Every conversation can then draw on it, so the format holds steady.

  4. Hand over a real task

    Describe the finished result and the deadline, say a two-page briefing on a supplier by Friday. Closing your laptop does not stop the work.

  5. Edit what comes back

    Claude hands back editable documents, spreadsheets and decks. Claude Docs and Claude Slides, both still in beta, can export to PDF or PowerPoint.

The first week

Use the first week to learn what Claude reads. For each task, say which sources it may draw on, because every connector widens its view and material from connected files can surface in what it produces. Read each deliverable before you share it. After your first long tasks, look at Settings, Usage, since the rollout may count usage slightly differently for a while. Turn the deliverable you ask for most into a skill.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Asking Claude to run errands such as shopping, bookings or contacting strangers, which is not what it is built for.
  • Expecting a colleague's screens to match yours just because you share a plan, while the rollout is still going on.
  • Hunting for the merged experience on Free or Team plans, which receive it later.