Every morning I check the same sources. Industry news, stock market updates, competitor activity. The information is always out there. What takes time is finding it, reading it, and turning it into something useful.
I recently set up a workflow using Claude Code Work that does all of that automatically — collects web data, writes a structured report, and sends it directly to my Slack before I sit down at my desk. No coding. No technical background required.
Here is the complete setup, step by step.
What Claude Code Work Actually Is
Claude Code Work — also called Cowork — is not just a chatbot. It is an AI agent platform. The difference is that a chatbot responds to your questions. An agent takes actions: it browses the web, creates files, connects to external services, and runs on a schedule without you being present.
Code Work has four core features that work together: Claude for Chrome, PlayMCP, Plugins, and Schedule. Understanding what each one does makes the setup straightforward.
What You Need Before Starting
Three things before you begin. First, a Claude account — the Code Work features used here require a paid Claude plan. Set that up at claude.ai if you have not already. Second, the Claude Code Work desktop application installed on your Windows or Mac computer — this is a separate download from the claude.ai web interface. Third, a dedicated folder on your computer that will serve as the agent’s workspace — create one called something like “Claude Agent” in a location you can find easily.
Step 1. Set Up Your Agent Folder
Open the Claude Code Work desktop app. Find the option to select or create an agent workspace and navigate to the folder you created. Code Work will use this folder as the base for all tasks — reading instructions, saving output files, and managing everything it produces.
Once the folder is connected, you will see it appear as your active agent environment. You are now ready to configure the four features.
Step 2. Feature 1 — Claude for Chrome: AI That Browses the Web Like a Person
Claude for Chrome is a browser extension that allows Code Work to control your Chrome browser and navigate websites just like a human user would. It can open pages, read content, and extract information from any website — not just ones with a public API.
How to set it up: Install the Claude for Chrome extension from the Chrome Web Store. Search for “Claude for Chrome” and add it to your browser. Once installed, open the extension and sign in with your Claude account. Back in the Code Work desktop app, Claude for Chrome will now appear as an available connector.
What this enables: Your agent can now browse CNBC, Bloomberg, Reuters, Seeking Alpha, or any other news and financial site — reading articles, extracting data, and pulling any information that a human could find by opening a browser, fully automatically.
Step 3. Feature 2 — PlayMCP: Connecting AI to External Services
PlayMCP is a platform that connects Claude to external services through a protocol called MCP (Model Context Protocol). Think of it as a plug-in system that lets your agent send messages, search the web, and interact with outside tools.
How to set it up: Go to playmcp.com and create an account. Inside, you will see a list of available connectors — services that PlayMCP can link Claude to. In the Code Work desktop app, find the MCP or PlayMCP settings section and enter your PlayMCP credentials to connect the two platforms.
Step 4. Connect Google Search, Yahoo Finance, and Slack
With PlayMCP connected, add the specific service connectors that power a US-focused morning briefing.
For market and financial data: Inside PlayMCP, enable the Google Search connector. This allows your agent to search for the latest news, earnings reports, analyst upgrades, and market commentary from sources like CNBC, Bloomberg, MarketWatch, and the Wall Street Journal. If a Yahoo Finance connector is available in PlayMCP, enable that as well — it lets your agent pull real-time price and volume data for specific ticker symbols directly, without a general web search.
For Slack: Find the Slack connector in PlayMCP and enable it. You will need to authorize PlayMCP to post to your Slack workspace — follow the authentication steps and choose which channel the agent should post to. Create a dedicated channel like #ai-morning-brief to keep the daily reports organized and separate from other conversations.
Alternatively, use Gmail or Outlook: If your team does not use Slack, PlayMCP supports email delivery through Gmail and Outlook connectors. Set up the email connector the same way and your daily report will arrive in your inbox instead.
Test before moving on: Ask Claude to search for today’s S&P 500 performance and send the result to your Slack channel. If both work, you are ready to build the full workflow.
Step 5. Run the Full Workflow — From Web to Report to Slack
With Claude for Chrome and PlayMCP both configured, run the complete workflow manually before automating it. In the Code Work app, type an instruction like this:
“Search Google for the latest news on [your industry or stocks of interest]. Check Yahoo Finance for the current price and daily performance of [your ticker symbols — e.g., AAPL, MSFT, NVDA]. Write a structured summary report in Word document format and save it to my agent folder. Then post the key highlights to my Slack channel #ai-morning-brief.”
Code Work will execute each step in sequence: searching Google and Yahoo Finance, writing a .docx report to your agent folder, and posting a formatted summary to Slack. Watch the first run carefully — check that the report file appears in your folder and that the Slack message arrives. If anything does not work, make the instruction more specific about what you want at each step.
Step 6. Feature 3 — Plugins: Save the Whole Workflow as One Click
Typing out the full workflow instruction every time is not practical. Plugins solve this by letting you save a complete workflow — all the instructions, the format, the output location — into a single reusable package that runs with one click.
How to create a plugin: In the Code Work app, find the Plugin section. Create a new plugin, paste in the full workflow instruction you tested in Step 5, give it a name like “Morning Market Brief,” and save it. From now on, one click on the plugin name runs the entire workflow.
How to share a plugin: Code Work lets you export the plugin file. Share it via email or a shared Google Drive link, and your colleague imports it directly into their own Code Work app — getting the same workflow without any setup from scratch.
Step 7. Feature 4 — Schedule: Make It Run Automatically Every Morning
The Schedule feature tells Code Work to run a specified plugin at a set time each day — no manual trigger needed.
How to set it up: In the Code Work app, find the Schedule section. Select your “Morning Market Brief” plugin. Set the time — 6:30 or 7:00 AM works well so the report is ready before your workday starts. Choose which days of the week it should run. Save the schedule.
From this point forward, every morning at the scheduled time, Code Work will automatically search Google and Yahoo Finance, write the report, and post the summary to your Slack — while you are still getting ready.
Important: Your computer must be on and the Code Work desktop app must be running for the schedule to execute. The app does not need to be in the foreground, but it cannot be fully closed.
Bonus: Dispatch — Trigger the Agent From Your Phone
Code Work includes a feature called Dispatch that lets you trigger workflows from your mobile device. If you are away from your desk and want to run an on-demand briefing, send a command from your phone and Code Work executes it on your desktop remotely. Find the Dispatch option in Code Work settings and follow the mobile linking instructions.
Why This Workflow Matters
Claude for Chrome handles web data collection. PlayMCP connects to Slack and financial data sources. Plugins make it repeatable. Schedule makes it automatic. Each feature alone is useful. Together, they create a system that runs without your involvement.
The mindset shift that matters here is from “what task can AI help me with right now” to “what workflow can I design that runs without me.” A task saves you twenty minutes once. A workflow saves you twenty minutes every single day.
Some starting ideas for a US-focused workflow: a 6:30 AM brief that searches Google News and Yahoo Finance for your watchlist, writes a one-page summary, and posts it to your Slack before the market opens. A weekly earnings calendar check that pulls upcoming reports for companies you follow and sends a formatted list every Sunday evening. A daily sector rotation brief that summarizes which S&P 500 sectors moved most and why, delivered to your inbox before 8 AM.
Start with one. Build it, test it, run it on a schedule. Once you have done it once, the pattern applies to everything else you want to automate.