Anthropic launches Claude Code and Claude Cowork for government in public beta

Anthropic has launched a public beta of Claude Code and Claude Cowork for Claude for Government Desktop, a FedRAMP High authorized offering built for U.S. federal, state, and local government agencies. The release brings Anthropic's coding-agent and task-agent products into an environment cleared for the government's highest civilian security tier.

What's new

• Claude Code for government supports software development and legacy-system modernization work inside agency-controlled environments.
• Claude Cowork for government targets document-heavy casework such as memos, RFPs, and case files.
• Data handling: conversations are stored locally on agency-managed devices, and inference runs inside the FedRAMP High environment.
• Administrative controls: department-level administration, spend allocation and controls, configuration management, and audit logging give IT and procurement teams governance over usage.
• Security features: hash-chained audit logs for administrative actions, two-person approval requirements for sensitive operations, a publicly posted FedRAMP Secure Configuration Guide, and penetration-testing summaries available to agencies under NDA.

Deployment runs through agencies' standard mobile device management (MDM) platforms, and Anthropic remains the contracted billing party directly with agencies — no separate cloud-provider relationship is required. New government customers can request access at claude.com/solutions/government.

Context

Anthropic has been building out a government-specific product line over the past year, including prior FedRAMP-authorized offerings and public-sector partnerships such as its recent work with the Government of Alberta on code security scanning. Government agencies present a distinct set of requirements — data residency, audit trails, procurement rules, and security certifications — that general-purpose consumer or enterprise products don't satisfy on their own, which is why AI vendors typically ship separate, hardened versions of their tools for this market.

Why it matters

FedRAMP High authorization is a prerequisite for selling AI tools to the most security-sensitive parts of the federal government, and it puts real engineering and compliance investment behind Anthropic's public-sector push. Bundling both the coding agent and the more general Cowork task agent into a single government-cleared desktop product signals that Anthropic wants agencies adopting Claude Code for IT modernization to also route everyday casework and documentation through Claude, expanding its footprint inside government agencies beyond developer teams into administrative and policy staff.