Anthropic's Cowork moves inference and VMs to the cloud
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Anthropic's Felix Rieseberg introduced the new Cowork architecture. The old Cowork executed tool calls in a local VM while model inference ran in the cloud. This design frustrated users, with main issues including heavy strain on local disk, battery, and performance, plus tasks stopping when the laptop lid was closed. The new Cowork moves both model inference and the VM to the cloud, with each session using an isolated sandbox and no shared state. When access to files on a user's device (such as local files) is needed, the desktop app handles the tool calls for that file access. This architectural change brings three improvements: support for use on phones, tasks that can keep running, and reduced local battery consumption.
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- Simon WillisonQuoting Felix Rieseberg
Anthropic's Felix Rieseberg described the new Cowork architecture: the old version ran tool calls in a local VM with model inference in the cloud, but users disliked the disk, battery and performance overhead and it stopped when the laptop lid closed. The new version moves both model inference and the VM to the cloud, with each session in an isolated sandbox sharing no state; when user device files (such as local files) need access, the desktop app handles that file access tool call, enabling phone use, tasks that keep running, and lower battery drain.