The February 25, 2026 Cowork update shipped two underrated features alongside scheduled tasks:
- Global instructions — tell Claude how you work once, and it applies that context to every session
- Folder instructions — set rules that activate whenever Cowork is working in a specific directory
- The Customize panel — a unified place in Claude Desktop that brings skills, plugins, and connectors together
These features eliminate the need to re-explain your role, preferences, or project context at the start of every task. Set them up once and Claude works with that understanding automatically.
Global Instructions
Global instructions are persistent context about you and how you like to work. Claude reads them at the start of every Cowork session.
What to Put in Global Instructions
Think of this as your permanent briefing to Claude. Useful things to include:
Your role and context:
I'm a product manager at a 200-person B2B SaaS company.
I work across engineering, design, and sales. My main tools are Notion, Linear, and Slack.
Output preferences:
When writing documents, use clear headings and bullet points.
Keep summaries under one page unless I ask for more detail.
Use plain language — no jargon, no filler phrases like "certainly" or "great question".
File naming conventions:
Name output files with the format: YYYY-MM-DD_description-in-kebab-case.md
Save reports to ~/Documents/Reports/ unless I specify otherwise.
Recurring projects:
My active projects are:
- Q2 Launch (deadline June 30) - files in ~/Projects/q2-launch/
- Customer Research (ongoing) - files in ~/Research/customers/
Setting Up Global Instructions
- Open Claude Desktop
- Click Customize in the left sidebar (below Cowork)
- Select Global instructions
- Type your instructions and click Save
Changes take effect immediately on the next task you start.
Updating Global Instructions Mid-Session
You can update global instructions directly from chat. In any Cowork session, type:
Update my global instructions to add: [new instruction]
Claude will update them and confirm. You can also say:
What are my current global instructions?
Folder Instructions
Folder instructions are context that activates automatically whenever Cowork is working within a specific directory. They're project-level or client-level rules that you don't want applied everywhere — just in that context.
Example: Client Project Folder
Create a folder instruction for ~/Work/Acme-Corp/:
This folder contains work for Acme Corp, a manufacturing company.
Tone: formal, no humor.
All documents should include Acme Corp's legal disclaimer at the bottom (see ~/Work/Acme-Corp/templates/disclaimer.md).
Use metric units unless the document is for their US team.
Never include internal cost figures in client-facing documents.
Now any time Cowork reads or writes files in ~/Work/Acme-Corp/, these rules apply automatically.
Example: Code Project Folder
For ~/Projects/api-service/:
This is a Python FastAPI service.
Code style: follow PEP8, use type hints everywhere, docstrings for public functions.
Tests live in tests/ and use pytest.
Never commit secrets — check for env var usage before writing any credential to a file.
Setting Up Folder Instructions
- Open Customize in Claude Desktop
- Select Folder instructions
- Click + Add folder
- Browse to the folder and select it
- Write the instructions for that folder
- Click Save
You can add instructions for as many folders as you need. Instructions for nested folders stack — if you have instructions for ~/Projects/ and also for ~/Projects/client-a/, both apply when working in the client-a folder.
The Customize Panel
The Customize panel consolidates what previously required multiple locations in Claude Desktop:
| What | Where before | Where now | |------|-------------|-----------| | Skills (custom slash commands) | Skills tab | Customize → Skills | | Installed plugins | Plugins tab | Customize → Plugins | | Connected services | Connectors tab | Customize → Connectors | | Global instructions | Didn't exist | Customize → Global instructions | | Folder instructions | Didn't exist | Customize → Folder instructions |
Skills
Skills are custom slash commands you define for Cowork. They're reusable prompt templates triggered by a /command syntax.
Example skill: /weekly-report
In Customize → Skills, add:
name: weekly-report
trigger: /weekly-report
prompt: |
Review files modified this week in the current working directory.
Write a weekly status report covering: what was completed, what's in progress,
what's blocked. Save to Reports/weekly-{date}.md.
Now typing /weekly-report in any Cowork session runs that workflow.
Skills can also take parameters:
name: summarize-for
trigger: /summarize-for {audience}
prompt: |
Summarize the current working directory's key documents for a {audience} audience.
Adjust the level of technical detail appropriately.
Typing /summarize-for executives or /summarize-for engineers runs the skill with the right context.
Plugins
The Plugins section in Customize shows all installed plugins and lets you:
- Enable or disable individual plugins
- Customize a plugin's skills for your organization (click Customize on any plugin)
- Install new plugins from the Anthropic marketplace or a private marketplace
For a full list of available plugins, see the Plugins page.
Connectors
The Connectors section shows all configured MCP connections. From here you can:
- Connect new services (Slack, Notion, Google Drive, Microsoft 365, and more)
- Disconnect services you no longer use
- Test a connector to verify it's working
Practical Setup: The 15-Minute Customize Configuration
If you want to get meaningful value from Customize quickly, here's a focused setup:
Step 1 (5 min): Write your global instructions
Answer these in your global instructions:
- What's your role and company size?
- What are your 2-3 most active projects?
- What's your preferred output format (bullets, prose, headers)?
- Where do you want output files saved by default?
Step 2 (5 min): Add folder instructions for your 1-2 most active project folders
Pick the folders you work in most. Add context: what the project is, any formatting rules, any constraints (don't share with clients, use their terminology, etc.).
Step 3 (5 min): Create 2-3 reusable skills
Think about tasks you run more than once a week. Common ones:
/daily-brief— summarize your calendar and any pending tasks/draft-update— draft a project status update from recent files/meeting-prep— given a meeting topic, pull relevant docs and write a prep brief
Tips
Keep global instructions under 500 words. Extremely long instructions can dilute their effect. Focus on what genuinely changes every response — your role, output format, file conventions.
Folder instructions are best for rules, not tasks. Use them for standing constraints ("always include the disclaimer") not workflows ("summarize files weekly" — that's a scheduled task).
Skills complement plugins. Plugins provide domain-specific commands; skills let you create your own on top. Use a skill to chain multiple plugin commands into a single trigger.