I Run Claude in Chrome All Day. Here's My Exact Workflow.

I have Claude open in Chrome almost every hour I'm working. Not because I'm doing anything technical. Because it's faster than thinking alone for most things I write.

The setup is genuinely nothing: claude.ai in a pinned tab. That's it. No extensions required to get started. Here's how it actually fits into a day.

The Tab Setup

I keep claude.ai pinned in Chrome so it's always one click away. When I'm working in Gmail, Google Docs, or any other browser tab, Claude is one click to the left. The workflow is: notice I need something written, click Claude, describe it, copy the output, come back.

The context switch takes about 5 seconds. The draft takes about 10. Most things I'd have spent 15 minutes on take under 2 minutes now.

What I Actually Use It For in the Browser

Emails I've been avoiding: The ones where I'm not sure how to phrase something. I open Claude, describe the situation, explain what I want the recipient to do, and get a draft. I edit it before sending. It's not the final word, it's the starting point that removes the blank-page problem.

Summarising long articles: When a report or article is longer than I have time for, I select all (Ctrl+A), copy, paste into Claude with a prompt asking for the 5 key points. Takes 30 seconds. I've started doing this for any article over 800 words.

Research prep: Before meetings with clients or in industries I don't know well, I give Claude the context and ask for a briefing. Who are the players, what's the jargon, what are the current problems, what questions should I be asking. It's not a substitute for real research, but it gets me from zero to credible in under 20 minutes.

Google Docs drafting: I keep Claude and Docs open side by side. Describe what I'm writing, get a draft, paste it in, edit from there. The edit is faster than the draft for me, so this has genuinely cut my document writing time in half.

When the Extension Makes Sense

The pinned tab workflow covers 90% of what I do. The Chrome extension adds value when you want Claude accessible on a page without switching tabs at all. If you're reading through a long report and want to highlight a section and immediately ask Claude to explain it, the extension makes that seamless.

I use the extension for reading-heavy days. The tab for writing-heavy days.

The Prompt That Changes Everything

Most people use Claude like a search engine: they type a query and expect an answer. The better mental model is a colleague who's just walked into the room.

Instead of: "write an email about the project delay"

Try: "I need to email my team about a 2-week project delay. The reason is late feedback from a stakeholder. I want to acknowledge it directly, explain without making excuses, give the new timeline, and leave them feeling confident we'll deliver. Tone: direct and reassuring. Under 200 words."

The second prompt takes 20 extra seconds to write and produces something you'd actually send.

Start Here

If you're new to using Claude in Chrome, the getting started guide covers the first 5 minutes from sign-up to first useful output. The full Chrome section has 6 guides covering everything from browser basics to running Claude alongside Gmail and Google Docs.