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Claude Desktop

CO (Cognitive Orchestration) is a methodology for structured human-AI collaboration. It works in any professional domain, not just software development. If you can use Claude Desktop, you can use CO.

What you get

Section titled “What you get”

CO gives your AI collaboration five layers of structure:

  1. Specialized agents that understand your field (not generic assistants)
  2. Domain knowledge that persists across sessions (not forgotten after each conversation)
  3. Guardrails that prevent domain-specific mistakes (not just generic safety)
  4. Phased workflows with approval gates (you stay in control at every step)
  5. A learning system that improves over time (patterns compound, they are not lost)

Choose your domain

Section titled “Choose your domain”

Pick the CO application that matches your work. Then follow the setup steps below.

DomainWhat it does
Codegen (COC)Build software with Claude Code. 30+ specialist agents, automated code review, test-driven implementation. Use the Claude Code path instead.
Research (COR)Co-author academic papers. Citation integrity, literature synthesis, hostile reviewer simulation.
Learners (COL)Subject-agnostic student CO. Study guides, practice problems, exam preparation. Works for any subject.
Learners-Finance (COL-F)COL specialized for finance. Case analysis, financial modeling, portfolio theory, research papers.
Education (COE)Design assessments and rubrics that account for AI use. Instructor-side tools.
Governance (COG)Organizational self-governance. Constitutional compliance, RFC processes, transparency.
Compliance (COComp)Regulatory analysis. Requirement extraction, control mapping, gap assessment, audit prep.
Your fieldBuild your own CO application from the CO template.

Setup (10 minutes, one time)

Section titled “Setup (10 minutes, one time)”

You need Claude Desktop with Cowork support and a Claude Pro, Max, or Team subscription.

Step 1: Download the workspace

Section titled “Step 1: Download the workspace”

Go to the GitHub link for your chosen domain (see table above). Click the green “Code” button, then click “Download ZIP”. Unzip the downloaded file and move the folder to your Documents.

Download workspace ZIP. Unzip and move the folder to your Documents.

Step 2: Enable network access (one time)

Section titled “Step 2: Enable network access (one time)”

Cowork runs in an isolated environment with network access disabled by default. You need to enable it so Cowork can download plugins from GitHub.

  1. Open Claude Desktop
  2. Go to Settings (gear icon)
  3. Find Capabilities (under “Code execution and file creation”)
  4. Enable Allow network egress

Step 3: Add the CO plugins marketplace (one time)

Section titled “Step 3: Add the CO plugins marketplace (one time)”

This gives Claude Desktop access to all CO domain plugins.

  1. Switch to the Cowork tab
  2. In the left sidebar, click Customize
  3. Click Browse plugins
  4. Switch to the Personal tab
  5. Click Add marketplace from GitHub
  6. Enter: terrene-foundation/co-plugins
  7. The CO plugins will appear as cards. Click on your domain plugin (e.g., “co-research”)
  8. Click Install to add it to your Cowork environment

You only need to add the marketplace once. All six CO domain plugins will be available. Install any that match your work.

Step 4: Open your workspace and start

Section titled “Step 4: Open your workspace and start”
  1. In the Cowork tab, click “Open folder”
  2. Select the workspace folder you downloaded (the main folder, not the plugin subfolder)
  3. Type /start in the chat

CO will introduce itself, explain the phased workflow, and ask about your project. Answer in plain language.

Step 5: Work through the phases

Section titled “Step 5: Work through the phases”

Every CO application follows the same six-phase pattern:

PhaseWhat happensYou decide
01 AnalyzeCO researches your topic, gathers information, maps the landscapeWhether the analysis is complete
02 PlanCO creates a structured plan with tasks and deliverablesWhether the plan covers your needs
03 ExecuteCO works through tasks one at a time, producing outputsWhether each output meets your standard
04 ReviewCO critiques the work, finds weaknesses, and produces the finalized outputWhether the final output meets your standard
05 LearnCO captures what it learned into reusable knowledge (stored in .claude/ artifacts, not the workspace)Whether the captured knowledge is accurate
06 DeliverCO prepares and ships the final output to its destinationWhether it is ready to send

You approve each phase before the next one begins. CO does not proceed without your sign-off.

Commands by domain

Section titled “Commands by domain”
CommandPurpose
/startOrientation and project setup
/teachResearch tutor mode with context and debates
/literatureSystematic literature search
/deliberateRecord a structural decision
/craftAuthor writes, AI teaches and critiques
/write-paraAI drafts paragraph with margin notes
/validate-claimVerify claims against cited sources
/challengeHostile reviewer simulation
/check-refsCross-reference and citation audit
/preflightPre-submission deep validation
/publishPrepare for venue-specific submission
/wrapupSave session progress

Where your work goes

Section titled “Where your work goes”

CO writes all output into your workspace folder in an organized structure. You can open these files anytime with any text editor or file manager. Nothing is hidden inside Claude.

workspaces/my-paper/
  briefs/              ← paper scope, objectives, venue targets
  01-analysis/
    literature/        ← literature notes and paper assessments
  03-drafts/
    deliberation/
      decisions/       ← structural decision records
    versions/          ← draft snapshots
  04-validate/
    reviews/           ← verification reports, challenge results
  craft-notes/         ← /craft output: literature gaps, challenges
  journal/             ← insight journal (8 entry types)
  todos/
    active/            ← current tasks
    completed/         ← done tasks

To start a new project within your workspace, copy the template:

cp -r workspaces/_template workspaces/my-new-project

Or just tell CO what you want to work on and it will create the structure for you.

Before you close Claude Desktop

Section titled “Before you close Claude Desktop”

Type /wrapup before closing Claude Desktop. This saves your progress. When you return, type /start and CO will pick up where you left off.

In the CLI version this happens automatically. In Cowork, you must do it manually or your session context is lost (your files are still saved, only the conversation context is lost).

Troubleshooting

Section titled “Troubleshooting”
ProblemSolution
No “Cowork” tabUpdate Claude Desktop to the latest version
”Network access blocked” when adding marketplaceGo to Settings > Capabilities > enable “Allow network egress”
Plugin not appearing after marketplace addClick on the plugin card, then click Install
CO does not remember last sessionType /wrapup before closing next time. For now, type /start and tell CO what you were working on
Workspace folder missing expected directoriesCreate a project: copy workspaces/_template to workspaces/my-project

For developers

Section titled “For developers”

If you prefer the command line, CO also runs via Claude Code with full hook enforcement and automatic session memory. The methodology is identical; the interface differs.