Set up Cowork (local mode) for a HIPAA-ready organization

The HIPAA configuration is an organization setting on Claude Enterprise plans, for organizations that handle protected health information (PHI) and have a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with Anthropic. It applies to Claude Code (local mode) and Cowork (local mode), and it restricts features in both products.

“(local mode)” means a local session, not a session that runs in the cloud. Local sessions run in one of these places:

Claude Code in the terminal
Claude Code in the Code tab of Claude Desktop
Cowork in Claude Desktop

The Claude Code extensions for VS Code and JetBrains aren’t part of (local mode). They keep working with the HIPAA configuration applied, but your BAA doesn’t cover them. See the Implementation Guide for the full list of Eligible Services.

This page is for the IT or security administrator who manages the macOS and Windows computers where members run Cowork in Claude Desktop. Other readers start on a different page:

The Primary Owner, who applies the HIPAA configuration: see Use Claude Code (local mode) and Cowork (local mode) on a HIPAA-ready Enterprise plan for what your BAA covers and how to apply the configuration
Administrators who prepare computers for Claude Code in the terminal: see Set up Claude Code (local mode) for a HIPAA-ready organization
Administrators of a third-party deployment: see Legal and compliance. The HIPAA configuration doesn’t apply to Claude Desktop on third-party platforms

The table shows when to do each part of the setup:

When	What to do
Before the HIPAA configuration is applied	Prepare computers
After the HIPAA configuration is applied	Cowork is off until an Owner turns it back on. Turn Cowork on and confirm the HIPAA configuration
Ongoing	Manage Cowork data on each computer
When a member reports an error	Troubleshoot Cowork on a managed computer

Prepare computers before the HIPAA configuration is applied

We recommend you start with the tasks in this section and complete them before the Primary Owner applies the HIPAA configuration. Some tasks need an Owner of your Claude organization, so arrange these requests early:

Your organization ID, for the Claude Desktop policy
The network setting for Cowork, in Limit network access for Cowork shell commands
Turning Cowork back on after the configuration is applied, in Confirm the HIPAA configuration in Claude Desktop

Update Claude Desktop

The HIPAA configuration requires Claude Desktop v2.19675.0 or later. To read the installed version, see Check your version. For organizations with the HIPAA configuration, Anthropic’s servers reject requests from versions older than the minimum version. Anthropic raises the minimum version over time. On an older version, members see an Update required dialog that tells them to update Claude Desktop. The dialog’s text names Code, but members see it in Cowork too. What the dialog offers depends on whether automatic updates are on:

Automatic updates are on: the dialog has an Update now button
You turned off automatic updates with the disableAutoUpdates key: the dialog has no Update now button and tells the member to ask their administrator. Deploy each new version with your device management tool

Allow network access for Claude Desktop

Allow the hosts in this table through your proxy and firewall, over HTTPS on port 443. The table lists the hosts that the tasks on this page depend on, and leaves out the rest.

Host	Needed for
`claude.ai`	Sign-in, the Claude Desktop interface, and your organization’s settings
`api.anthropic.com`	Claude API requests, update checks, and the status that tells Claude Desktop the HIPAA configuration is on
`downloads.claude.ai`	The virtual machine image that Cowork runs shell commands in, the Claude Code binary, and app updates

Desktop network access requirements lists the Anthropic hosts to allow for Claude Desktop.

Deploy the Claude Desktop policy

A Claude Desktop policy is a set of settings that your device management tool installs on each computer, as a configuration profile on macOS or as registry values on Windows. You can use one to restrict sign-in to your organization, turn off local MCP servers and desktop extensions, and keep session content out of Cowork monitoring events. The policy in this section is a sample that we recommend as a starting point. Your organization is responsible for deciding what its own environment needs and for confirming that its configuration meets those needs. The following sample sets four keys that you could add to the Claude Desktop policy your organization deploys. If your organization doesn’t deploy one yet, Enterprise configuration explains how to deliver a policy with your device management tool.

macOS
Windows

Add these keys to a configuration profile for the com.anthropic.claudefordesktop preference domain:

<key>forceLoginOrgUUID</key>
<string>xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx</string>
<key>isLocalDevMcpEnabled</key>
<string>false</string>
<key>isDesktopExtensionEnabled</key>
<string>false</string>
<key>otlpContentCapture</key>
<string>[]</string>

Write these values under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Claude:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Claude]
"forceLoginOrgUUID"="xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx"
"isLocalDevMcpEnabled"="false"
"isDesktopExtensionEnabled"="false"
"otlpContentCapture"="[]"

The sample writes every value as a string, including false and []. Value types lists the other encodings Claude Desktop accepts.

The Claude Desktop policy is separate from Claude Code’s managed settings, which also apply to Cowork.

What each Claude Desktop key does

The table shows what to set each key to and what Claude Desktop enforces for it. The key names link to the configuration reference, which describes third-party deployments. Some of its keys apply only to third-party deployments, such as coworkEgressAllowedHosts and otlpEndpoint.

Key	Value	What Claude Desktop enforces
`forceLoginOrgUUID`	Your organization ID, which an Owner can copy from claude.ai admin settings	After a member of your organization signs in, Claude Desktop switches them to your organization. Anyone else sees a page that reads “This account is not approved by your enterprise admin” and can only log out
`isLocalDevMcpEnabled`	`false`	Members can’t add local MCP servers to chat or Cowork. Local MCP servers that plugins provide stop loading too, including plugins your organization distributes. Claude Desktop also skips the setup that connects it to the Claude in Chrome extension
`isDesktopExtensionEnabled`	`false`	Installed desktop extensions stop loading, and members can’t install new ones
`otlpContentCapture`	`[]`	Cowork monitoring events carry metadata only

Cowork monitoring sends events to the OpenTelemetry collector that your organization sets up. When otlpContentCapture isn’t set, those events can include prompt text, model responses, and tool inputs.

Check these values before you deploy:

otlpContentCapture: write the two characters []. Claude Desktop reads an empty string as if the key weren’t set, and Cowork monitoring events can then include prompt text, model responses, and tool inputs.
forceLoginOrgUUID: if you deploy a value that Claude Desktop can’t read as an organization ID, nobody can use the app on that computer. Members see “Sign-in is blocked by this device’s configuration”.

Confirm the Claude Desktop policy loaded

Claude Desktop applies these keys when it starts, so quit Claude Desktop on a managed computer and open it again first. The table shows how to check each key.

Key	How to check it
`isLocalDevMcpEnabled`	Open Settings in Claude Desktop. The list of entries has no Developer entry
`isDesktopExtensionEnabled`	Open Settings in Claude Desktop. The list of entries has no Extensions entry
`forceLoginOrgUUID`	Sign in with an account that isn’t in your organization. Claude Desktop shows “This account is not approved by your enterprise admin”
`otlpContentCapture`	Run a Cowork task and read the events your Cowork monitoring collector receives. They contain no prompt text, model responses, or tool inputs

Check which Claude Code managed settings apply in Cowork

Cowork runs Claude Code on the member’s computer, so Claude Code’s managed settings apply to Cowork tasks as well as to the terminal. To control how long a computer keeps Cowork tasks, set cleanupPeriodDays. It’s a Claude Code managed setting, not a Claude Desktop policy key, so you deliver it through Claude Code’s managed settings even if your organization uses only Cowork. Deploy managed settings on the Claude Code setup page has a sample that sets it. Cowork tasks read only the managed settings that are on the computer itself:

A managed-settings.json file on the computer, or a Claude Code policy from your device management tool: Cowork tasks read these settings
Server-managed settings: Cowork tasks never receive them. Keep the file or the device management policy on each computer even when an Owner delivers the same keys from claude.ai

cleanupPeriodDays works differently, because Claude Desktop reads it and the task doesn’t. When Claude Desktop deletes Cowork tasks says which sources Claude Desktop reads. The table shows what Cowork does with the keys from the Claude Code setup page, and with other Claude Code keys that change how Cowork works.

Claude Code key	What happens in Cowork
`cleanupPeriodDays`	With the HIPAA configuration applied, Claude Desktop deletes inactive Cowork tasks after this many days
`allowedProviders`	With `anthropic` in the list, Cowork tasks start as usual. Without it, no Cowork task starts
`forceLoginMethod`, `forceLoginOrgUUID`	Cowork tasks skip both checks, because Claude Desktop signs the task in. Set `forceLoginOrgUUID` in the Claude Desktop policy
`permissions.deny`	A rule that denies `Bash` with no pattern also stops Claude from running shell commands in Cowork
`allowManagedPermissionRulesOnly`	In a Cowork task that asks before edits, Claude can’t write to the folders a member connects until you add allow rules for those folders
`allowManagedMcpServersOnly` with an empty `allowedMcpServers`	The key doesn’t apply to connectors or Cowork’s built-in tools. MCP servers that plugins provide are blocked
`disableSideloadFlags`	Claude Desktop passes no plugins to Cowork tasks
`sandbox.enabled` with `sandbox.failIfUnavailable`	On Windows, Cowork tasks fail with Sandbox required but unavailable

Apart from cleanupPeriodDays, Claude Code’s managed settings stop applying to Cowork if the Claude Desktop policy sets requireCoworkFullVmSandbox to true. With that key set, Claude Code runs inside Cowork’s virtual machine, where it doesn’t read the computer’s managed settings. If you rely on those settings for Cowork, leave the key out of the Claude Desktop policy.

Limit network access for Cowork shell commands

Cowork runs shell commands in a virtual machine (VM) on the member’s computer. An Owner sets which hosts the VM can reach, in your organization’s settings. To restrict which hosts the VM reaches, you can ask an Owner to go to Organization settings > Capabilities and turn off the Allow network egress toggle under Code execution. Turning the toggle off has these effects:

Cowork: the VM reaches only anthropic.com and claude.com hosts, plus your OpenTelemetry collector if Cowork monitoring is set up
Chat: the toggle also applies to code execution in chat
Web search and connectors: neither goes through the VM, so the toggle doesn’t limit them

If Cowork tasks need other hosts, such as a package registry, the Owner turns on the Allow network egress toggle and uses these controls:

Domain allowlist: the Owner selects a preset list of domains. With the HIPAA configuration applied, the All domains option is unavailable
Additional allowed domains: the Owner adds each domain your organization needs

Turn off web search in Cowork

Web search in Cowork follows your organization’s web search setting. Applying the HIPAA configuration doesn’t change it. If web search is on and your organization’s own policy forbids it, turn it off at one of these levels:

For your whole organization, in chat and Cowork: ask an Owner to go to Organization settings > Capabilities and turn off the Web search toggle under Data sources
For Cowork and the Code tab on managed computers: add the disabledBuiltinTools key to the Claude Desktop policy

The disabledBuiltinTools key takes a list of tool names, written as a string:

macOS
Windows

Add the key to the profile for the com.anthropic.claudefordesktop preference domain:

<key>disabledBuiltinTools</key>
<string>["WebSearch"]</string>

Add the value under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Claude:

"disabledBuiltinTools"="[\"WebSearch\"]"

After a member restarts Claude Desktop, Claude can’t search the web in Cowork tasks or Code tab sessions on that computer.

If you deploy a disabledBuiltinTools value that Claude Desktop can’t read as a list, Claude Desktop turns off every built-in tool.

Confirm the HIPAA configuration in Claude Desktop

Run this check on one managed computer after the Primary Owner applies the HIPAA configuration.

Ask an Owner to turn Cowork back on

Applying the HIPAA configuration turns Cowork off for your organization. Ask an Owner to go to Organization settings > Cowork and turn on the Enable for your organization toggle.

Restart Claude Desktop

Quit Claude Desktop and open it again.

Check the title bar

Confirm that the title bar shows a HIPAA configured label. On a Mac, open the sidebar to see it.

Check your monitoring events

If your organization uses Cowork monitoring, run a Cowork task. Confirm that the events your collector receives contain no prompt text, model responses, or tool inputs.

The HIPAA feature availability table lists which Cowork features are off with the HIPAA configuration applied, and which ones an Owner can turn back on.

Manage Cowork data on each computer

Cowork (local mode) stores task data on each member’s computer. Securing and deleting that data is your organization’s responsibility.

Where Cowork stores data

Cowork keeps most of its data in the Claude Desktop data folder, which is in a different place on each operating system:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude, or %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Claude_pzs8sxrjxfjjc\LocalCache\Roaming\Claude for the installer downloaded from Anthropic. Check both for a local-agent-mode-sessions folder

The table shows what each location holds, and whether Claude Desktop deletes it with the HIPAA configuration applied. It isn’t a complete list of the files in the Claude Desktop data folder.

Location	What it holds	Deleted automatically
Task folders in `local-agent-mode-sessions`, in the Claude Desktop data folder	One folder per Cowork task, with the task’s transcript, uploaded files, and outputs	Yes, after `cleanupPeriodDays`, except for the background sessions that Dispatch creates
Everything else in `local-agent-mode-sessions`, in the Claude Desktop data folder	Data that Cowork keeps between tasks, such as memory and plugins	No
`vm_bundles`, in the Claude Desktop data folder	The disk images of the virtual machine that runs shell commands	No
The Cowork files folder, `~/Claude` by default	Artifacts, scheduled tasks, and project files	No
Folders a member connects to a task	The member’s own files, including any that Claude created or changed there	No

On Windows, ~ means %USERPROFILE%. To find a member’s Cowork files folder, go to Settings > Cowork in Claude Desktop and read the path under Cowork files. Members can change the folder, and some computers use ~/Documents/Claude.

When Claude Desktop deletes Cowork tasks

You can set cleanupPeriodDays in Claude Code’s managed settings to the number of days your records policy lets a computer keep Cowork tasks. The value must be a whole number of 1 or more. Without a managed value, Claude Desktop uses the value in the member’s ~/.claude/settings.json, or 30 days. If your organization also uses server-managed settings, have an Owner set cleanupPeriodDays there too. Claude Desktop reads server-managed settings for this check, and uses one managed source at a time. With the HIPAA configuration applied, Claude Desktop deletes Cowork tasks that have been inactive for longer than cleanupPeriodDays, including starred and archived ones. Running or opening a task counts as activity. Claude Desktop checks for tasks to delete after it starts, and every six hours while it stays open. The check needs all of these conditions:

Claude Desktop is open: a computer where nobody opens the app keeps its data
The member who owns the tasks is signed in: after a member signs out, their tasks stay on the computer
The member is switched to your organization: while a member stays switched to another organization, your organization’s tasks stay on the computer
The computer is online: an offline computer keeps its data
Claude Desktop can read cleanupPeriodDays: if managed-settings.json can’t be parsed, Claude Desktop skips the check and deletes nothing. The same happens when no managed value is set and the member’s settings file can’t be parsed or sets an invalid value

Offboard a member

Removing a member from your organization doesn’t delete Cowork data on their computer, and neither does signing out of Claude Desktop. To remove all of it, you can wipe the computer with your device management tool.

Troubleshoot Cowork on a managed computer

Each entry in this section is headed by the message or symptom a member reports.

Sandbox required but unavailable

On Windows, Cowork tasks fail with a message that starts “Sandbox required but unavailable” when Claude Code’s managed settings set both sandbox.enabled and sandbox.failIfUnavailable to true. Remove the sandbox block from the Claude Code managed settings that your Windows computers use, whether that’s a managed-settings.json file or a registry policy. Cowork still runs shell commands in its own virtual machine.

Update required

The computer runs a version of Claude Desktop older than the minimum required for the HIPAA configuration. See Update Claude Desktop.

This account is not approved by your enterprise admin

The member signed in with an account that isn’t in the organization that forceLoginOrgUUID names. See What each Claude Desktop key does. Claude Desktop can’t read the forceLoginOrgUUID value in the Claude Desktop policy. Correct the value, deploy the policy again, and restart Claude Desktop. See Deploy the Claude Desktop policy.

The HIPAA configured label is missing

Restart Claude Desktop, then open the account menu, which shows the same HIPAA configured label. If the label is missing from both places, check these causes in order:

The wrong organization: confirm in the account menu that the member is signed in with their work account. If the menu lists more than one organization, confirm that your Claude Enterprise organization is selected
The HIPAA configuration isn’t applied yet: ask the Primary Owner to check Organization settings > Data and privacy. To find out what that page shows after the configuration is applied, see Use Claude Code (local mode) and Cowork (local mode) on a HIPAA-ready Enterprise plan

Restrictions remain after a member switches organizations

Restart Claude Desktop. After Claude Desktop has run under the HIPAA configuration, it keeps some restrictions until it restarts, whichever organization the member switches to.

Features

Administration

Set up Cowork (local mode) for a HIPAA-ready organization

Prepare computers before the HIPAA configuration is applied

Update Claude Desktop

Allow network access for Claude Desktop

Deploy the Claude Desktop policy

What each Claude Desktop key does

Confirm the Claude Desktop policy loaded

Check which Claude Code managed settings apply in Cowork

Limit network access for Cowork shell commands

Turn off web search in Cowork

Confirm the HIPAA configuration in Claude Desktop

Manage Cowork data on each computer

Where Cowork stores data

When Claude Desktop deletes Cowork tasks

Offboard a member

Troubleshoot Cowork on a managed computer

Sandbox required but unavailable

Update required

This account is not approved by your enterprise admin

The HIPAA configured label is missing

Restrictions remain after a member switches organizations

​Prepare computers before the HIPAA configuration is applied

​Update Claude Desktop

​Allow network access for Claude Desktop

​Deploy the Claude Desktop policy

​What each Claude Desktop key does

​Confirm the Claude Desktop policy loaded

​Check which Claude Code managed settings apply in Cowork

​Limit network access for Cowork shell commands

​Turn off web search in Cowork

​Confirm the HIPAA configuration in Claude Desktop

​Manage Cowork data on each computer

​Where Cowork stores data

​When Claude Desktop deletes Cowork tasks

​Offboard a member

​Troubleshoot Cowork on a managed computer

​Sandbox required but unavailable

​Update required

​This account is not approved by your enterprise admin

​Sign-in is blocked by this device’s configuration

​The HIPAA configured label is missing

​Restrictions remain after a member switches organizations

​Related resources

Prepare computers before the HIPAA configuration is applied

Update Claude Desktop

Allow network access for Claude Desktop

Deploy the Claude Desktop policy

What each Claude Desktop key does

Confirm the Claude Desktop policy loaded

Check which Claude Code managed settings apply in Cowork

Limit network access for Cowork shell commands

Turn off web search in Cowork

Confirm the HIPAA configuration in Claude Desktop

Manage Cowork data on each computer

Where Cowork stores data

When Claude Desktop deletes Cowork tasks

Offboard a member

Troubleshoot Cowork on a managed computer

Sandbox required but unavailable

Update required

This account is not approved by your enterprise admin

Sign-in is blocked by this device’s configuration

The HIPAA configured label is missing

Restrictions remain after a member switches organizations

Related resources