Choose your setup

The toolkit runs in two environments. You can use both, but most people start with one. Here’s how to choose.

The 60-second verdict

• Want research, strategy decks, and copywriting with zero setup? Use Cowork. It’s the friendliest way in, it works entirely through a normal app window, and there’s nothing to configure.
• Want to generate ad images, render video ads, or build full landing pages? Use the Claude Code desktop app. It’s the complete production studio. It takes a few more minutes to set up the first time.

Plenty of the roster runs both: Cowork for thinking and writing, the desktop app when it’s time to produce finished creative and pages.

What works where

What you want to do	Cowork	Claude Code desktop
Market research, competitor teardowns	✅	✅
Buyer personas, psychographic angles	✅	✅
Ad copy, emails, sales letters	✅	✅
Meta strategy decks	✅	✅
Adversarial reviews + page scoring	✅	✅
Generate ad images	⚠️ Not yet	✅
Render video ads	⚠️ Not yet	✅
Build + deploy landing pages	⚠️ Planning only	✅

Why the ⚠️ on Cowork?

Cowork runs in a secure sandbox that currently blocks the outside image and video services the creative skills call (the tools that actually render an image or video). So in Cowork those skills can plan and prompt, but can’t produce the finished file yet. Everything that lives in Claude’s own reasoning (research, strategy, copy, reviews) works perfectly. This is a known limitation we expect to narrow over time.

Cowork: the no-terminal way in

• Best for: research, strategy, personas, copywriting, reviews, the whole “thinking and writing” half of the toolkit.
• Good to know: it runs inside the Claude desktop app as a mode. No terminal, no commands. You install the toolkit with a few clicks and connect a folder for your files.

If that’s you, head to Install on Cowork.

Claude Code desktop: the full studio

• Best for: everything Cowork does, plus image generation, video ad rendering, and building + deploying full landing pages.
• Good to know: it’s an app you install (Mac or Windows). You’ll paste a couple of commands during setup and add your image/video API keys. We walk through every step.

If you want the full production toolkit, head to Install on Claude Code desktop.

Still unsure?

Start with Cowork. You’ll be researching and writing within minutes, and you can add the desktop app later the day you need to produce finished ad creative or pages. Nothing you set up is wasted, your brand files work in both.

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Next: pick your path → Claude Code desktop · Cowork