(Note: Feature analysis last updated March 2026) There’s Claude Code, Claude Desktop (now with three tabs: Chat, Cowork, and Code), Claude on the web, Claude Code on the web, Claude for Chrome, Claude mobile, Office add-ins, and now a Marketplace. Then there’s MCPs, skills, hooks, plugins. It’s a lot, and it keeps growing. At some point I stopped being able to keep track of what works where, and I’m someone who uses this stuff daily.
This is my attempt to make sense of it, updated because half the original article was already outdated.
ALL THE CLAUDE PRODUCTS
- Claude.ai (web): The chat interface at claude.ai. Upload files, have conversations, use Projects to organize context. This is where most people start.
- Claude Desktop App: The desktop version of Claude, now with three tabs - Chat, Cowork, and Code. Faster startup than web, keyboard shortcut to summon it, and can run local MCP servers.
- Claude Cowork (Desktop tab): New as of January 2026. Point it at a folder, describe a task, and Claude works through it autonomously - creating documents, organizing files, processing data. Same agentic engine as Claude Code, but for knowledge workers who don’t want a terminal. Still in research preview.
- Claude Code (terminal or IDE): The agentic coding tool that lives in your project folder, whether you run it in terminal (like I do) or in an IDE like VS Code or Cursor. Reads your files, runs commands, knows your whole codebase. This is where hooks, skills, CLAUDE.md, and the full customization layer live. Now supports experimental agent teams for coordinated multi-agent work.
- Claude Code on the web: Looks like Claude Code, runs in the cloud, but only works with GitHub repos. No local files, no MCPs. Think of it as “Claude Code lite for quick GitHub tasks.”
- Claude for Chrome: Browser extension that can click around websites for you. Fill forms, navigate tabs, read console errors. Now in beta for all paid subscribers. Connects to Desktop and can work alongside Cowork for tasks that need web access.
- Claude in Excel / PowerPoint: Office add-ins that bring Claude into your spreadsheets and presentations directly. Excel support includes native operations like pivot tables and conditional formatting. PowerPoint is in research preview.
- Mobile apps: Chat interface on your phone. Can use remote MCPs you’ve already set up elsewhere, but can’t add new ones.
- Claude Marketplace: Launched March 2026, an enterprise marketplace where you can get Claude-powered tools from partners like Replit, GitLab, and Snowflake.
WHERE CUSTOMIZATION ACTUALLY WORKS
This is the part that confused me. Some features are Claude Code only, some work across surfaces but don’t sync, and Cowork sits somewhere in between.
| Feature | Claude Code | Cowork | Claude Code web | Claude.ai / Desktop Chat / Mobile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLAUDE.md | ✓ full support | ✗ | ✓ reads from repo | ✗ |
| Hooks | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Skills (yours) | ✓ local folders | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ upload separately |
| Skills (Anthropic’s) | ✓ | ✓ | ? | ✓ |
| Plugins | ✓ | ✓ shared with Desktop | ✗ | ✗ |
| Agent teams | ✓ experimental | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Scheduled tasks | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
Skills are now an open standard adopted by Microsoft, OpenAI, Cursor, GitHub, Atlassian, and others - so a skill you write for Claude Code can potentially work in other tools too. I wrote a complete guide to skills if you want the full picture.
The catch with skills hasn’t changed: if you’ve built custom skills in Claude Code using local folders, those don’t sync to claude.ai or Cowork. You’d have to maintain separate copies. Anthropic’s pre-built skills (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, PDF) work across surfaces though.
WHERE MCP SERVERS WORK
MCPs let Claude connect to external tools like databases, APIs, your calendar, whatever. But where they work depends on what kind of MCP and which surface you’re on:
| MCP Type | Claude Code | Cowork | Claude Desktop | Claude.ai web | Mobile | Claude Code on web |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local (on your machine) | ✓ | ✓ via Desktop | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Remote (hosted servers) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ paid | ✓ use only | ✗ |
A couple of things have changed since I first wrote this. MCP Tool Search (launched January 2026) reduces context consumption from MCP tools by up to 85% by loading tool definitions on-demand instead of preloading everything at once. Chrome 146 Canary also shipped with built-in WebMCP support, which means web pages can function as structured tools for AI agents.
STILL TRUE If you set up an MCP in Claude Code, it won’t automatically appear in your Desktop app or Cowork. They have separate configs. Cowork shares MCP config with Desktop Chat, but Claude Code manages its own.
WHICH CLAUDE PRODUCT TO USE
For vibers who just want to know what to open:
- Starting out? Claude.ai web or Desktop app. Simple, no setup, just chat and upload files.
- Building a project? Claude Code in terminal. Full file access, customization, and the ability to run commands in your codebase.
- Repetitive knowledge work? Cowork. File organization, document creation, data processing, scheduled reports - hand off a project and check back when it’s done. No terminal required.
- Quick GitHub fix from your phone? Claude Code on the web. Clone repos, make changes, open PRs, all without touching your local machine.
- Browser automation? Chrome extension. Now in beta for all paid plans. Can work alongside Cowork if your task needs both file access and web navigation.
- Spreadsheets and presentations? The Excel and PowerPoint add-ins bring Claude into your existing Office workflow.
DON’T STRESS ABOUT USING ALL OF IT
AI moves fast and Anthropic ships updates constantly, so if you feel behind, you’re not alone. There are genuinely more Claude products now than there were when I first wrote this article in January, which is kind of proving my own point.
If you’ve got a setup that works, stick with it. You don’t need to use every product or chase every new feature. I use Claude Code for building, Cowork when I want to hand off a knowledge work task, and Claude on the web for quick research. I ignore the rest until I have a specific reason not to.
This stuff will keep changing, so if something here is outdated or you think I should add something, let me know.