Anthropic dropped two things on April 14 that are worth paying attention to if you use Claude Code. A full redesign of the Claude Code desktop app, and a new feature called Routines. They launched together, which makes sense, because one makes a lot more sense with the other.

What Routines Actually Are

A routine is a saved Claude Code job. You give it a prompt, point it at one or more repositories, connect it to whatever triggers you need, and it runs on Anthropic's cloud infrastructure without you needing to be at your desk — or even have your laptop open.

The triggers are what make it useful. There are three types:

  • Scheduled: run on a set cadence — hourly, nightly, weekly, whatever fits your workflow
  • API: send an HTTP POST to a per-routine endpoint with a bearer token and it fires on demand
  • GitHub: trigger automatically on repository events like pull requests or releases

You can stack triggers on a single routine. So you could have one routine that runs nightly on a schedule and also fires on every new pull request. That covers automated code review, documentation updates, deployment checks, issue triage — the repetitive review work that slows teams down.

The obvious use case Anthropic is pushing is overnight work. Set up a routine before you leave the office, come back the next morning and the triage is done. Whether that actually saves time depends on how good your prompt is and how much you trust Claude not to make a mess of something important. Routines is in research preview right now, so treat it as exactly that.

Run Limits by Plan

  • Pro: 5 routines per day
  • Max: 15 per day
  • Team / Enterprise: 25 per day

You need Claude Code on the web enabled to use it. Routines is available on Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise. Not available on Free.

The Desktop App Redesign

The desktop redesign shipped at the same time, and it was clearly built with parallel work in mind. The headline feature is the persistent session sidebar, which puts every active and recent session in one place with filters and grouping. If you run multiple agents across multiple repos, you previously had to context-switch between sessions manually. Now you can see what is running, what is done, and move between them as results come in.

Other things in the update:

  • Side-chat shortcut (Command + ;): branch a quick query off a running task without interrupting it
  • Drag-and-drop panes: integrated terminal, in-app file editor, rebuilt diff viewer
  • Expanded preview pane: renders HTML and PDFs directly in the app

The diff viewer in particular was overdue. The previous version was basic. The new one is closer to what you would expect from a proper IDE review tool.

Claude Cowork Is Now Generally Available

Buried in the same week of updates: Claude Cowork hit general availability on both macOS and Windows inside the Claude Desktop app. If you have been holding off because it was in preview, that wait is over.

What the GA release adds:

  • Expanded analytics so you can see how your team is actually using it
  • OpenTelemetry support for teams that pipe observability data into their own tooling
  • Role-based access controls for Enterprise plans — admins can set access by team or department rather than toggling per user

Pro and Max users also get a persistent agent thread in Cowork. You can manage tasks from Claude Desktop or the Claude iOS and Android apps, which means the handoff between desktop and mobile is cleaner than it was before.

Cowork is not trying to replace your project management tool. It is more useful as a layer on top of your existing work. The analytics and access controls make it easier to justify for enterprise teams that need visibility into what is being used and by whom.

What to Do With This

If you are on a Max or Enterprise plan and already use Claude Code, Routines is worth testing. Start with something low-risk: nightly documentation updates, automated PR summaries, issue labelling. Get a feel for how reliable it is before you automate anything critical.

The desktop redesign is a straightforward improvement. The parallel sessions sidebar alone will save time if you run multiple agents. Update the app if you have not already.

Cowork GA is the quieter news but probably the more durable one for teams. The RBAC additions make it a real option for companies that need to control who uses what. If you have been waiting on that before rolling it out to a broader team, now is a reasonable time to revisit it.