35 Claude Cowork Workflows

Act as my chief of staff and write my morning executive briefing.

Here is today's raw input:

Calendar:
[Paste today's meetings]

Inbox:
[Paste the subject lines or messages that need attention]

Messages and Slack:
[Paste anything outstanding]

Open priorities:
[List what you are currently driving]

Produce a briefing I can read in five minutes:

1. The three things that matter most today, and why
2. Decisions I need to make before end of day
3. What is waiting on me that is blocking someone else
4. What I can safely defer or decline
5. Any conflicts, risks, or preparation gaps in my calendar

Be direct. Do not list everything. Filter for consequence.

Write my end of day recap based on the following:

What I worked on today:
[Paste notes, tasks, meetings, or messages]

Review it and produce:

Completed
What actually got finished, stated as outcomes rather than activity.

Still open
What moved but is unfinished, and what the next concrete step is.

Dropped or slipped
What I intended to do and did not, with a likely reason.

Tomorrow's top three
The three highest-leverage items for tomorrow, in priority order, with the first action for each.

One observation
One honest pattern you noticed about how I spent the day.

Keep it under 300 words.

Analyze my week and identify what is actually slowing me down.

Here is the week:
[Paste tasks, meetings, notes, and anything that stalled]

Do not summarize the week. Diagnose it.

Identify:

The single largest bottleneck, and the evidence for it

Recurring interruptions or context switches

Work I am doing that someone else should own

Decisions I am delaying, and what the delay is costing

Tasks that consumed disproportionate time relative to their value

Then give me:

The one change that would recover the most time next week
The second change, if the first is not possible
What I should stop doing entirely

Be specific and unsentimental.

Build a decision memo for the following choice.

Decision:
[Describe the decision]

Option A:
[Describe]

Option B:
[Describe]

Context and constraints:
[Budget, timing, team, obligations, anything that limits the choice]

What success looks like:
[Definition of a good outcome]

Structure the memo as:

1. The decision, stated in one sentence
2. What must be true for each option to succeed
3. Comparison across impact, cost, speed, risk, and reversibility
4. The strongest argument for each option
5. The failure mode of each option and its early warning sign
6. Recommendation, with the reasoning
7. What new information would change the recommendation
8. The first three actions if we proceed

Flag any assumption you had to make.

Review the following week of work and surface the patterns I am too close to see.

Material:
[Paste conversations, notes, decisions, and meeting summaries]

Look for:

Themes that appeared more than once

Problems I keep restating without resolving

Decisions I made quickly that deserved more scrutiny

Places where my stated priority and my actual time do not match

Signals from customers, teammates, or data that I noted but did not act on

Then produce:

Three patterns worth my attention, each with the evidence
One thing that is working better than I probably realize
One uncomfortable observation
Three commitments for next week, written as specific actions

Turn the attached documents into an organized, searchable knowledge base.

Purpose of this knowledge base:
[Who will use it and what questions it should answer]

Do the following:

1. Identify the distinct topics covered across the documents
2. Propose a folder and naming structure with no overlapping categories
3. For each document, give a one-line description and where it belongs
4. Write a short index that points to the right document for each common question
5. Note duplicated content that should be merged
6. Note gaps where a document is missing
7. Preserve the terminology used in the source material

Do not rewrite the documents. Produce the structure, the index, and the gap list.

Read every file in this project and onboard me as if I am joining today.

My role and what I need to be able to do:
[Describe]

Teach me in this order:

1. What this project is, in plain language
2. The current state and how it got here
3. The key people, systems, and dependencies
4. The decisions already made and the reasoning behind them
5. The open questions and unresolved debates
6. The vocabulary and acronyms used here
7. The three things most likely to trip up a newcomer

Cite which document each point comes from. Where the material is silent or contradictory, say so instead of filling the gap.

Target ten minutes of reading.

Build a decision timeline from the material in this project.

For every meaningful decision, capture:

Date or sequence position
The decision made
Who made it or drove it
The reasoning given at the time
What was assumed to be true
What changed as a result

Present it in chronological order.

Then add:

Decisions that were later reversed or quietly abandoned
Decisions that were never formally made but are being treated as settled
Decisions still pending

Mark anything you inferred rather than found stated.

Compare the documents in this project and find where they disagree.

For each contradiction, report:

The topic
What document A says, quoted
What document B says, quoted
Whether the conflict is factual, definitional, or a difference in priority
Which version appears more current, and why
What decision or work is at risk if the wrong version is used
The question someone needs to answer to resolve it

Rank the contradictions by consequence.

Do not smooth over differences or synthesize a compromise. Report them plainly.

Write an executive summary of this project for a senior leader with no prior context.

Their focus is:
[Budget, risk, customer impact, timeline, or whatever they care about most]

One page maximum, in this structure:

Situation
What this project is and why it exists.

Status
Where it stands right now, in concrete terms.

Key decisions made
The choices that shaped the current approach.

Risks and open issues
What could go wrong and what is unresolved.

What we need from you
The specific decisions or support required.

Use their language, not internal jargon. Lead with consequence, not chronology. No filler.

Analyze my writing and build a style guide you can write from.

Here are samples of my writing:
[Paste 3 to 5 emails, posts, or documents]

First, analyze:

Sentence length and rhythm
Vocabulary level and word choices I favor
How I open and close
How formal or direct I am
How I handle disagreement, requests, and bad news
Punctuation and formatting habits
Words and constructions I never use

Produce a written style guide with concrete rules and examples pulled from my samples.

Then write the following in my voice:
[Insert the thing you want written]

After writing it, compare it against the style guide and note anything that does not match.

Rewrite this email so it is shorter, clearer, and more likely to get the response I need.

Email:
[Paste draft]

Recipient:
[Who they are and our relationship]

What I need them to do:
[The specific action or answer]

Rewrite it so that:

The ask is visible in the first two sentences
Context is only included where it changes the decision
Every sentence earns its place
The tone matches the relationship
There is one clear next step with a deadline if appropriate

Give me the rewrite, then a one-line note on what you cut and why. If the email should not be sent at all, say so.

Turn these notes into a finished article.

Notes:
[Paste raw notes]

Audience:
[Who is reading]

Goal:
[What they should think, feel, or do afterward]

Length:
[Target word count]

Before drafting, do this:

1. Identify the single strongest idea in the notes
2. Discard anything that does not serve it
3. Propose an outline and the argument it makes

Then write the article:

Open with something specific, not a generalization
Support each claim with a detail from the notes
Use my examples rather than inventing new ones
Close with a point, not a summary

Do not add facts, statistics, or examples that are not in my notes. Flag where the notes are thin and a detail from me would make the piece stronger.

Repurpose the following content for five channels.

Source content:
[Paste article, transcript, or post]

Audience:
[Who you are speaking to]

Produce:

LinkedIn post
Professional, one clear insight, short paragraphs, ends with a question or a takeaway.

X thread
Six to eight posts. Strong opening line. One idea per post.

TikTok or Reels script
Under 60 seconds. Hook in the first three seconds. Spoken language, not written language.

Newsletter section
Conversational, gives more depth than the social versions, one clear takeaway.

Email
Short, one purpose, one call to action.

Each version must make a real point on its own. Do not simply shorten the same paragraph five times. Keep the specifics from the source; drop the generic parts.

Edit this as a demanding professional editor. Do not be encouraging.

Draft:
[Paste writing]

Audience and purpose:
[Describe]

Identify:

The weakest paragraph and why it fails
Sentences that say nothing
Claims made without evidence
Places where I hedge instead of committing
Clichés and stock phrases
Where the structure buries the point
Where the reader would stop reading

Score it 1 to 10 on clarity, specificity, originality, structure, and usefulness.

Then produce a revised version that fixes every issue you raised, preserving my voice and my argument.

Turn this podcast episode into a newsletter issue.

Transcript:
[Paste transcript or detailed notes]

Newsletter audience:
[Who subscribes and why]

Produce:

Subject line
Three options, each a different angle.

Opening
Two or three sentences that give the reader a reason to keep reading.

The core idea
The single most useful thing said in the episode, explained in the writer's own words.

Three supporting points
Each with a specific moment, quote, or example from the episode.

What to do with this
One concrete action the reader can take this week.

Close
A short line plus a link to the full episode.

Use direct quotes where the speaker said it better than a paraphrase would. Do not invent anything that was not said.

Turn this video into a carousel people will save.

Video transcript or notes:
[Paste]

Platform:
[Instagram, LinkedIn, or TikTok]

Produce 8 to 10 slides:

Slide 1
A hook that promises something specific. No vague curiosity bait.

Slides 2 through 9
One idea per slide. A short bolded label, then one or two lines of substance. Each slide must be useful on its own.

Final slide
A save or follow prompt tied to the value delivered.

For each slide, also give:
The visual note (what should be shown)
The caption line if it differs from the slide

Then write the post caption and five relevant hashtags.

Prioritize specificity. If a slide could apply to any topic, rewrite it.

Turn this blog post into a LinkedIn post that earns attention honestly.

Blog post:
[Paste]

Who I am to this audience:
[Your role and credibility]

Requirements:

First line stands alone and makes a specific claim or observation
No "I'm excited to share" or "Let's dive in"
Short paragraphs, generous line breaks
One clear idea, developed, not five bullet points
Include one concrete detail, number, or example from the post
Close with a genuine question or a firm point of view
250 to 350 words

Give me three versions with different angles: a lesson learned, a contrarian take, and a practical how-to.

Turn this long form content into 10 standalone posts for X.

Source:
[Paste content]

Rules:

Each post must be useful on its own, not a fragment of a thread
Lead with the point, not the setup
Use specifics: numbers, names, examples, or exact language
No threads of throat-clearing, no "a thread 🧵"
Vary the format: some observations, some how-to, some contrarian

For each post, add a one-line note on why it should land.

Then pick the three strongest and explain what makes them stronger than the rest.

Turn this customer conversation into an FAQ.

Call transcript or notes:
[Paste]

Extract every question the customer asked, including the ones asked indirectly or implied by confusion.

For each, produce:

The question, written in the customer's own language
A clear answer based on what was said on the call
A note if the answer given on the call was incomplete or wrong
Whether this belongs in a customer-facing FAQ or an internal team FAQ

Then add:

The three questions this customer did not ask but should have
Any point where the customer misunderstood our product or process
The wording the customer used for things we describe differently internally

Preserve the customer's vocabulary. Do not translate it into our terminology.

Write a standard operating procedure for this process.

Process:
[Describe the process, or paste your rough notes on how it is done today]

Who performs it:
[Role and experience level]

How often:
[Frequency]

Produce the SOP with:

Purpose
Why this process exists and what a good outcome looks like.

Trigger
What starts the process.

Prerequisites
Access, tools, information, and approvals needed before starting.

Steps
Numbered, each starting with a verb, each independently verifiable. Note the tool used at each step.

Decision points
Where judgment is required, and the rule for deciding.

Quality checks
How to confirm the work is correct before finishing.

Common failure modes
What usually goes wrong and how to recover.

Handoff
Who receives the output and in what format.

Write for someone doing this for the first time. Ask me for anything you had to guess.

Map this process end to end as a workflow.

Process:
[Describe]

People and teams involved:
[List]

Tools currently used:
[List]

Produce:

1. The full sequence of steps from trigger to completion
2. Owner for each step
3. Tool or system used at each step
4. Every handoff between people or systems, and the format of what is passed
5. Wait states and where work sits idle
6. Approval and decision gates
7. What data is created or changed at each step

Then analyze the map:

Where the process breaks down most often
Steps that add no value and could be removed
Handoffs that could be eliminated
Steps that could be automated, and what would be required
The single change with the highest return

Present the workflow as a numbered sequence, then a short table of handoffs.

Clean and organize this data for analysis.

Data:
[Paste or attach]

What I plan to analyze:
[The question you want the data to answer]

Work in this order:

1. Describe what the data contains and what each field appears to represent
2. Report problems found: duplicates, missing values, inconsistent formatting, mixed units, invalid entries, and outliers
3. State the cleaning rules you will apply, and why
4. Apply them and return the cleaned data
5. List every change made and every row affected
6. Flag anything you could not resolve without a decision from me

Do not silently drop rows or invent values. If a field is ambiguous, ask rather than assume.

Finish with the three data quality issues most likely to distort my analysis.

Write an automated email sequence.

Audience:
[Who they are and how they entered the list]

What I offer:
[Product, service, or program]

Goal of the sequence:
[The specific conversion]

Sequence length:
[Number of emails and timing]

Their objections:
[What makes them hesitate]

For each email, produce:

Send timing
Subject line, plus one alternative
Preview text
Body
One call to action
The job this email does in the sequence

Rules:

Each email must be valuable even if the reader never buys
Address one objection per email
No fake urgency and no invented scarcity
Vary the format: story, teaching, proof, direct offer
Write at a reading level a busy person can skim

Finish with what to measure for each email and what a weak result would tell me.

Design a monitoring and alerting plan.

What I run:
[Business, product, campaign, or system]

What I care about most:
[Outcomes that matter]

Available data and tools:
[What you can actually measure and where]

Produce:

Metrics to monitor
For each: what it measures, why it matters, and how often to check it.

Thresholds
The normal range, the warning level, and the level that requires immediate action.

Leading indicators
Signals that move before the outcome does.

Alert design
What triggers a notification, who receives it, through what channel, and how urgent it is.

Review cadence
What gets reviewed daily, weekly, and monthly.

Response plan
For each alert, the first action to take.

Keep the alert list short enough that every alert is worth interrupting me for. Call out any metric that would generate noise rather than signal.

Build tomorrow's plan.

My goals right now:
[The two or three outcomes that matter this month]

Fixed commitments tomorrow:
[Meetings and obligations with times]

Open tasks:
[Everything on the list]

Energy pattern:
[When you focus best and when you fade]

Produce a time-blocked plan that:

Protects one deep work block for the highest-leverage task
Batches shallow work into a single window
Leaves buffer between commitments
Assigns each block a specific outcome, not a vague topic
Names what will not get done tomorrow, deliberately

Then give me:

The one task that makes the day a success even if nothing else happens
What to cut first if the day goes sideways
A five-minute end-of-day review question

Break this goal into a plan I can actually execute.

Goal:
[State it]

Deadline:
[Date]

Time available per week:
[Realistic hours]

What I have already tried:
[Previous attempts and why they stalled]

Produce:

1. The goal restated as a measurable outcome
2. The milestones between here and there, with target dates
3. The weekly commitments that produce those milestones
4. The daily actions that produce the weekly commitments
5. The leading indicator that tells me early whether I am on track
6. The three most likely reasons I will fall behind, and the countermeasure for each
7. A weekly check-in question

Be realistic about the time I gave you. If the goal does not fit the deadline and the hours available, say so and tell me what to change.

Summarize this book for practical use.

Book:
[Title and author, or paste notes and highlights]

My situation:
[Why you are reading it and what you want to apply]

Produce:

The core argument
In three sentences.

The structure
How the argument is built, chapter by chapter or section by section.

The key lessons
Five to eight, each with the idea, the supporting evidence the author gives, and how it applies to my situation.

The best examples
The two or three stories or cases worth remembering.

What to be skeptical of
Claims that are weakly supported, overgeneralized, or dated.

What to do this week
Three specific actions drawn from the book.

Do not pad with generic self-improvement advice. Stay with what the book actually argues.

Design a learning plan for this skill.

Skill:
[Name it]

Current level:
[Honest starting point]

Target level:
[What you want to be able to do, described as a task you can perform]

Time available:
[Hours per week and total weeks]

How I learn best:
[Reading, building, watching, teaching, or a mix]

Produce:

1. The skill broken into its component sub-skills, ordered by dependency
2. A week-by-week plan within my time budget
3. For each week: what to study, what to build or practice, and how to know it worked
4. The projects that produce real competence rather than familiarity
5. The common plateau at each stage and how to get past it
6. How to test myself at the midpoint and the end
7. What to deliberately ignore for now

Favor practice over consumption. If my timeline is unrealistic, say so and adjust the target.

Help me think through this decision properly.

The decision:
[Describe]

The options:
[List them]

What matters to me:
[Values, constraints, and priorities]

What I am worried about:
[Your hesitation]

Do this in order:

1. Restate the decision in a way that might be more accurate than how I framed it
2. Name the criteria that should drive the choice, weighted
3. Evaluate each option against those criteria
4. Surface the assumption each option depends on
5. Identify which option is reversible and which is not
6. Ask me the two questions whose answers would settle this
7. Give a recommendation and the conditions under which it holds

Tell me if I am asking the wrong question, or if the real decision is something I have not named.

Design a Notion workspace for how I actually work.

What I do:
[Role and main responsibilities]

What I currently track, and where:
[Tools, docs, notebooks, sticky notes]

What keeps falling through the cracks:
[Describe]

Produce:

1. The databases I need, and what each one is for
2. The properties for each database, with the reason for each
3. The relations between databases
4. The views I should create for daily, weekly, and planning use
5. A dashboard layout for my home page
6. The templates worth creating for recurring work
7. A weekly maintenance routine that takes under 15 minutes

Keep the system as small as possible. Explicitly tell me what not to build, and what I should keep out of Notion entirely.

Design our Slack conventions so communication gets clearer, not louder.

Team size and structure:
[Describe]

Current problems:
[Noise, missed messages, decisions lost in threads, after-hours pings, whatever applies]

Produce:

1. Channel structure, with a naming convention and the purpose of each channel
2. What belongs in Slack versus a document, a meeting, or email
3. Threading and mention rules
4. Response time expectations by channel type
5. How decisions get recorded so they are findable later
6. Status and notification norms, including after hours
7. A short written guide I can post for the team

Then draft the announcement message introducing the change, written so it does not read like a policy memo.

Design a file structure and sharing policy for our Drive.

What we produce:
[Types of documents and assets]

Who needs access:
[Roles, clients, contractors]

Current problems:
[Duplicates, lost files, wrong permissions, unclear versions]

Produce:

1. A folder hierarchy no more than three levels deep
2. A file naming convention with examples, including dates and versions
3. Where work in progress lives versus finished work
4. Permission rules by folder and by role
5. What gets shared externally and how
6. An archive policy: what gets moved, when, and where
7. A migration plan for moving from today's mess to this structure without breaking links

Then give me the five rules the team must follow, short enough to remember.

Set up time tracking that produces useful information rather than busywork.

What I want to learn from the data:
[Billing accuracy, capacity planning, where time leaks, project profitability]

My work:
[Clients, projects, and types of work]

Produce:

1. Project and task structure, kept as simple as possible
2. Tags or categories that will actually be used
3. Billable versus non-billable rules
4. A tracking habit that takes under two minutes a day
5. The weekly report to review, and the three numbers to watch
6. How to spot scope creep and unprofitable work in the data
7. What to change after the first month based on what the data shows

Warn me about the categories that create tracking overhead without producing insight.

Redesign my calendar so it reflects my priorities instead of everyone else's requests.

My priorities this quarter:
[List them]

A typical week right now:
[Paste or describe your current calendar]

Problems:
[Too many meetings, no focus time, back-to-back days, whatever applies]

Produce:

1. An ideal week template with blocks for deep work, meetings, admin, and recovery
2. Which existing recurring meetings should be shortened, merged, delegated, or cancelled
3. Meeting defaults: length, buffers, and agenda requirements
4. Which days should be meeting-free, and how to defend them
5. How to use multiple calendars or color coding meaningfully
6. Booking rules for people scheduling with me
7. A monthly calendar audit: three questions to ask of the last four weeks

Then write the short, polite message I can send to decline or restructure the meetings you flagged.