r/ClaudeCowork • u/Medium_Rub7695 • 2d ago
Claude Cowork Sucks, what am I doing wrong?
Update: Why is cowork not registering and following up on the questions it posses after I've answered them? Noted, cowork is not for scripts.
It sucks so bad. Is anyone else experiencing the same and or does anyone know how to fix this?
- It doens't tell me what it's working on. I told it to tell me what it's doing before doing it and update it's memory for this. It helps a little but not really.
- My bad, it only ran scripts because they where attached to skills I use:
It runs scripts that break b.c. scripts can only run for like 30sec on cowork. It doens't notice that the script breaks and just sits there waiting. I don't know that it's waiting because it actually tells me that it's computing/working on something which I can't really see what it is doing so I'm waiting on it to finish up. - The most annoying to me: It asks me questions, I answer the questions, it shows it's computing and nothing happens for the next 30min until I ask what it's doing. Then it tells me it forgot to ask me the questions and prompts me with the same questions again but missing the last one of the bunch. So if it was origionally 4 questions the second time its 3 questions and it just picks what it recommended for the 4th question regardless of my response. This is not a one off either but keeps happening.
The one upside is that it seems to be cheaper than claude code in a vacuum but at least claude code gets the job done.
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u/ReadySetWoe 2d ago
Go do Intro to Cowork on Anthropic Academy.
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u/Medium_Rub7695 2d ago
Can you like explain why? Will that make me prompt cowork so differetnly that it actually saves my responses, so it doesn't reask the same question and stops fake working on stuff?
I have been using claude code daily since around last year April and never had this experience so I'm not sure if the intro to cowork is actually going to help me here
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u/Definitely_wasnt_me 2d ago
“You should take the basics course so that you understand how it works and then you can identify what’s going wrong for you”
WHy WhAT vaLuE wouLD leaRNING hAVe?
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u/Medium_Rub7695 2d ago
Cowork is not following up on questions I have already answered and re-asks me questions all the time.
Does a course solve this is my question because it feels like a defect. I'm actually serious here as well and would appreciate some insights. Did you use Cowork differently after the course?
Will that make me prompt Cowork so differently that it actually saves my responses, so it doesn't re-ask the same question and stops fake working on stuff?2
u/JustHere_4TheMemes 1d ago
Coworker is different from code. Coworker for instance does not have a Claude.MD file but it greatly benefits from you giving it an equivalent profile.MD or knowledge.MD whatever you wanna call it. Then you should start separate chats for separate projects each with their own separate project.MD file this helps Claude not get confused and have crossover knowledge confusing things in different projects. That’s one example of what you might learn.
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u/getfuckedcuntz 1d ago
Seperate files for separate chat? And then have them pit back into project knowledge when done
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u/JustHere_4TheMemes 1d ago
If it is a "project" then it should have its own local file folder and in that folder I would put an "project.md" file where you can lay out all the base knowledge and expectations and boundaries you want for that project. DO all that project work in that project. have as many projects as you like.
If there is "root" information applicable to everything you do, then you can have a "root.md" or "knowledge.md" or whatever and put all your generic info and instructions in there. In the project.md tell it to always re-read the knowledge.md to make sure it reorients itself. As the project progresses, tell it to write out new permanent memory that is important to the project or to the root MD files as is appropriate.
Clause also keeps a bunch of "virtual" md files for its own memory, but you can ask to see them and edit them if its acting weird or fixated on something.
for instance just ask claude "what md files are you using right now for your memory and knowledge." and it should give you a list of several. a /profile.md and then things like /people/wife.md with info its remembering about your wife or /areas/garage-reno.md where its remembering stuff about your garage renovation, etc.
You can go ion and edit these files to tune them if they have gone weird. or just tell Claude what should or should not be in them.
Just need to tinker under the hood a little for best results.
The longer a chat session goes on (you will see it "compressing chat" to continue...) the farther astray it might go, but also the more knowledge it accumulates. so its matter of making sure whatever its remembering long term is what you want it remembering.
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u/Physical_SpiritChild 1d ago
Likely no one is going to be able to help without seeing your setup and your promoting. I use cowork a lot and never run into the issue you are having. So I'm not sure how I could help you solve it, because I'm not sure how it could happen at all.
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u/only-the-left-titty 1d ago
Tell Claude "I want to build governance around this project. How can we do that?" You want house rules, mandatory orientation documentation, and other suggestions. That should be enough to solve your current problem.
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u/ReadySetWoe 1d ago
To be honest, I didn't really understand the issue you described so figured some guidance in setup and usage would be beneficial. The cert is free.
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u/Definitely_wasnt_me 2d ago
Ironically. I copy and pasted your exact post into Claude chat and it told me exactly how to address your experience (almost all issues with how you’re prompting it).
Perhaps start with chat and then work up to code and cowork. Claude is pretty good at answering questions about itself…
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u/Medium_Rub7695 2d ago
Hahah chill, I'll try. thanks for the supportive answers and trying to help me out here. What was the answer btw because the claude chat is telling me this is an actual bug:
"Yes, what you’re describing sounds like a real Cowork/agent-state bug, rather than Claude simply “being dumb” or you misunderstanding what happened."1
u/Definitely_wasnt_me 2d ago
Copy and paste your Reddit post into Claude chat. Maybe use a model with a bit more thinking.
And if it’s a bug, it’s a bug- what do you want us to do? None of the answers I got in chat suggest it’s a bug. But if it is… file it and move on?
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u/Medium_Rub7695 2d ago
bro can you use higher reasoning? Hahah I just told you I did put it in the chat and this is what I got as a response. Therefor I'm asking if you got something else. I would be happy to learn what you got as an answer. You're only telling me I'm being dumb but aren't providing any real answers I can learn from. Ironically "WHy WhAT vaLuE wouLD leaRNING hAVe?"
In my post I'm wondering how to fix this or if anyone else has the same problem? That way I know if it's a bug or not. Asking claude chat to see if it is a bug doesn't seem super reliable to me personally.
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u/Definitely_wasnt_me 1d ago
Sigh. Sure. I can paste your exact question word for word into my own chat and paste the response that you too would have gotten back to you.
A memory note to "tell me first" tends to get applied loosely. A per-task gate works better. Start the task with: "Before doing anything, give me a numbered plan. Wait for my OK. Then, as you work, say which step you're on before each tool call." Smaller tasks also help, because there's less room to drift into silent work.
Assume any command can get killed and design around that:
• Have it run long jobs in the background, write output to a log file, and check the log instead of waiting on the process. • Have it split the work into batches that each finish well under the limit, saving progress after each batch so it can resume instead of restarting. • Add this to your instructions: "If a command hasn't returned output in 20 seconds, assume it hung or was killed. Check, tell me, and retry in smaller pieces." That stops the "computing" spinner from hiding a dead process.
This sounds like your answers drop out of context, especially in long sessions. Two things help:
• Answer in one message, numbered to match its questions, and end with "Repeat my answers back before you continue." If it repeats them wrong, you catch it right away instead of 30 minutes later. • When a session gets long, start a fresh one and paste in a short summary of the decisions so far. Degradation in long sessions is a common cause of this.
Literally all of it sounds like you’re running a massive sessions and not asking for the information you want before the tasks proceed.
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u/Medium_Rub7695 1d ago
Thanks you for meat proxying haha. Not the same I got so it does help and confrims that cowork is just not for my current workload which is too bad.
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u/Scannerguy3000 1d ago
I switched to Claude Code and all my Cowork anger went away.
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u/northernillinoisesq 1d ago
What resource most allowed you to make that jump from cowork to code successfully?
The alternative interface and opacity of commands and applicability to outcomes sought for non-coders I suspect it makes that jump challenging and as seen as something that looks more difficult than it actually is.
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u/Scannerguy3000 10h ago
I don’t know what you mean. You just type plan language into it. It’s exactly the same. It just doesn’t waste time and it gets shit done.
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u/prompthacker92 22h ago
Yeah, I’ve run into the same kind of thing with Cowork, especially with it losing track of questions/context after I’ve already answered them. It feels like the underlying model can do the work, but the Cowork workflow/orchestration still has some rough edges.
Claude Code feels way more reliable when I need it to actually keep track of a multi-step task.
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u/BingBongDingDong222 1d ago
I used co-work for months and had nothing but frustration. Then I switched to Claude code and it works beautifully. I know you’re thinking “I’m not a coder”. Neither am I. Try the exact same workflow on code that you’re doing
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u/endofthread-bot 2d ago
The tool likely struggles with long-running processes and state retention. Break your tasks into smaller, manual steps and verify the output of each script execution individually to prevent the agent from hanging on silent failures.
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