Claude Cowork Task Stopped? Check the Session Before You Restart

A Cowork task that stops can look like a model failure. Sometimes the task was local, the desktop app closed, or the computer went to sleep. Sometimes the task is still running in the cloud and a second run would create duplicate work.

This guide gives you a small recovery record and a decision path for a fictional task. It uses the current Claude help guidance for local and cloud sessions. It does not claim that a Claude task was run for this article.

Evidence label: Documentation-based and illustrative. The incident and expected outcomes are fictional. The access details come from the official Claude help page linked at the end.

What you will make

You will make a recovery note with four decisions:

Is the task still running?
Was it a local or cloud session?
Did it need file access that was not granted?
What is the smallest safe retry?

The reader is an office professional using Cowork for a bounded document task. The decision is whether to wait, fix access, resume a step, or stop the task and review the partial output.

Prerequisites

Use Claude on a paid plan and a surface where the Cowork experience is available. Availability and controls vary by plan, workspace, and surface. Claude’s current help says Cowork is available across supported desktop, web, and mobile surfaces, while local file access and some session behavior depend on the surface and account.

Keep two boundaries separate: session runtime and file-access path. A session can use a local file through the desktop surface without that fact alone proving that the model session itself runs locally. Anthropic’s Help guidance says local Pro/Max sessions were tasks started on the computer before 2026-10-06. The desktop app’s ability to access a connected local folder is not, by itself, proof of local runtime. If the account does not state the runtime clearly, record UNKNOWN.

Use a fictional or approved folder. For this exercise, create a folder named quarterly-pack containing these files:

quarterly-pack/
  update-notes.txt
  figures.csv

update-notes.txt:

Q3 operations update

The support queue had 42 open items on 30 September.
The team closed 31 items during the period.
The notes do not state the target for the next period.

figures.csv:

metric,period,value
open_items,2026-Q3,42
closed_items,2026-Q3,31

Do not use confidential business files while learning the recovery path.

Three steps

1. Start one bounded task

Open Claude and start a Cowork task from the message box. Depending on your account, the control may appear as Cowork, or Claude may use the newer unified experience.

Use this brief:

Read only the files in the approved folder named quarterly-pack.

Create one Markdown file named review.md with:
1. the two source filenames
2. the values for open_items and closed_items
3. one sentence stating that the next-period target is not stated
4. a source check showing which file supports each value

Do not edit, move, delete, rename, send, or upload any source file.
Do not invent a target or calculate a performance result.
Stop after creating the draft and tell me the exact output location.

Before sending, note whether the task is running on a desktop surface with local file access or in a cloud session. If the interface does not make this clear, record UNKNOWN instead of guessing.

2. Record the stop instead of restarting immediately

If the task stops, save this recovery record in a separate note:

Task: quarterly-pack review
Started at: [time]
Surface: [desktop, web, mobile, or UNKNOWN]
Session: [local, cloud, or UNKNOWN]
Last visible message: [exact words]
Source access granted: [yes, no, or UNKNOWN]
Output location shown: [path or UNKNOWN]
Source files changed: [yes, no, or UNKNOWN]

Check the task list or session view first. A cloud session may still be working after you close your laptop. Do not start a second task until the first session is clearly stopped or its output has been checked.

3. Choose the smallest recovery action

Use this decision table:

What you can confirm	Action
The task is still running	Wait, then inspect the output when it finishes. Do not duplicate the task.
A local task stopped after the desktop app closed or the computer slept	Reopen the supported desktop app, check the task state, and resume only the unfinished step.
The task cannot see the approved folder	Check the granted file access and the output location. Do not grant a broader folder just to make the task continue.
The session type or last action is unknown	Stop and inspect the task history before retrying.
A partial `review.md` exists	Compare it with both source files and ask for only the missing section.

If you must retry, use this narrower instruction:

Continue only the missing part of the quarterly-pack review.

First list the files you can currently read. Do not reread or change source files.
If review.md exists, preserve its correct sections and add only missing source checks.
If you cannot confirm the folder or output path, stop and report the access problem.

Checkable artifact

Your recovery note and output should show:

the session surface and type, or an explicit UNKNOWN
the last visible status message
whether the task was still running before any retry
the two source filenames
the values 42 and 31 with their source file
the statement that the next-period target is not stated
an output location or an explicit access failure

Acceptance checks

The recovery passes when:

you can explain whether the first task is still running
you do not create a duplicate task while the first one is active
no source file is edited, moved, renamed, or deleted
42 and 31 match figures.csv
the missing target stays missing
a partial output is checked before a retry
the retry asks for only the unfinished work

Troubleshooting

The task appears frozen. Check the task status and the last visible message before sending another instruction. A long-running cloud session and a stopped local session need different actions.

The task says it cannot find the folder. Check the exact granted folder and the output location. If you cannot confirm the permission boundary, stop and use a smaller approved sample.

A second run created two drafts. Keep both files, compare them with the source, and choose one reviewed copy. Do not delete either file until a human has confirmed which output is authoritative.

The task invented a target. Remove the unsupported sentence and rerun only the source-check section with the rule that missing facts remain missing.

Limits and decision

This is a recovery checklist, not proof that Cowork will preserve every partial action. Agentic sessions can read or write files when you grant the relevant access, so keep the first task bounded and review output before using it.

TRY this with fictional files or an approved low-risk folder when the task has a clear output and stop condition.

SKIP a retry when you cannot identify the session, access boundary, or authoritative output.

USE the recovery note when a human has confirmed the source files and the final draft location.

For a related file-access problem, see Claude Cowork Files Aren’t Appearing? Use This Safe Troubleshooting Checklist. The next task is to compare the reviewed draft with the original notes before sharing it.

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