Cowork

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Same brain, two modes — one thinks, one acts

Cowork

Cowork and Claude Code are two modes of the same brain. They share everything in ~/.claude/ — agents, memory, settings, rules. The difference is posture.

Two Modes

ModePostureWho
CoworkThink. Plan. Research. Write. Decide.Ali, Samia, Abdout
Claude CodeDo. Build. Deploy. Fix. Ship.Abdout, Sedon

Shared State

Both modes read and write to:

ResourcePathPurpose
Agents~/.claude/agents/Same 46 agents in both modes
Memory~/.claude/memory/Persistent state
Bridge file~/.claude/bridge.mdCowork ↔ Code handoff note
GitHub Issuesdatabayt/*/issuesShared work queue

Handoff: Cowork → Code

When work starts in Cowork (planning, strategy, research):

  1. Cowork produces a deliverable: plan, architecture, stories
  2. Cowork creates GitHub issues for actionable items
  3. Cowork appends to ~/.claude/bridge.md
  4. Code reads bridge.md at session start
  5. Code picks up the issues and executes

Example

[Cowork session]
Abdout: "Plan the hogwarts notification system"
→ Research patterns, design architecture, write stories
→ Create issues: databayt/hogwarts#10, #11, #12
→ Append to ~/.claude/bridge.md: "Notification system planned. Issues: #10, #11, #12."

[Claude Code session]
Captain: reads bridge.md → sees plan → starts executing #10

Handoff: Code → Cowork

When Code finishes work that needs strategic review:

  1. Code writes to ~/.claude/bridge.md
  2. Code creates a GitHub issue if follow-up is needed
  3. Cowork picks up in the next Desktop session

Cowork Use Cases

Ali (QA + Sales)

> "Summarize this week's hogwarts progress for pitch materials"
> "Draft proposal for King Fahad Schools — open source, sharing economy angle"
> "Research schools, sponsors, investors in Sudan/MENA"

Samia (R&D)

> "Translate these UI strings to Arabic"
> "Write help documentation for the admission module"
> "Research best practices for school notification systems"

Abdout (Planning)

> "Plan the notification system architecture"
> "Review the weekly revenue report"
> "Design the multi-tenant billing flow"

Session Start Protocol

Every Cowork Session

  1. Read ~/.claude/bridge.md for Code's latest output
  2. Review GitHub issues for completed/blocked items (label from-code or priority/blocking)
  3. Plan next moves

Every Code Session

  1. Read ~/.claude/bridge.md — check for Cowork handoffs
  2. gh issue list --state open --label "from-abdout,priority/blocking" — check Abdout's instructions + blockers
  3. gh issue list --state open — full work queue
  4. Proceed with highest priority

The Key Insight

Cowork doesn't need to know how to code. Claude Code doesn't need to strategize. They share a brain through bridge.md + GitHub Issues + native push notifications.

Abdout switches between them like switching between thinking and doing. Both are Captain — one thinks, one acts.