Claude for Small Business: what the plugin includes and how an owner gets started
Claude for Small Business is an Anthropic plugin that drafts back-office and sales work in Claude for your approval.
What Claude for Small Business is
Claude for Small Business is a plugin that runs in Claude Cowork, where Claude works directly with your files and connected tools. A plugin bundles skills and connectors. A skill is a saved set of instructions for one task, and a connector links Claude to another program, such as your accounting software.
Anthropic announced the plugin on May 13, 2026. The first version connected to Intuit QuickBooks, PayPal, HubSpot, Canva, Docusign, Google Workspace, and Microsoft 365. A release on September 15, 2026 brought the plugin to 43 workflows and added 27 integrations, including Shopify, Salesforce, Xero, Square, Stripe, and Zapier.
Every workflow starts in approval mode. Claude drafts and stages the work, and nothing sends, posts, or pays until you approve. Once you trust a workflow, you can let that workflow run without stopping for you, one workflow at a time.
| Skill | What Anthropic says the skill does |
|---|---|
| /monday-brief | One page with cash, sales, pipeline, your calendar, and the one thing that most needs you. |
| /close-month | Reconciles the books against your payment processors and writes the close packet for your accountant. |
| /pay-the-bills | Codes your bills, checks that you have the cash, and lines up the payment run for your approval. |
| /restock | Works out what to reorder, drafts the purchase orders and supplier emails, and logs the purchase orders in your books. |
| /speed-to-lead | Answers new inquiries on nights and weekends with real meeting times, and logs each inquiry in your customer database (CRM). |
| proposal-builder | Turns your notes, photos, or a request for proposal into a priced proposal, sent for signature after you approve. |
| contract-review | Reads a contract and writes a plain-English summary, a list of red flags, and a marked-up copy. |
| /smb-onboard | Asks about your business, helps you connect your tools, and saves that context for the other skills. |
For the full list of skills and the tools that each skill reads, see Anthropic’s install guide for the plugin.
How the plugin differs from the Team and Enterprise plans
Team and Enterprise are plans. A plan sets how the company pays and which controls the owner gets. Claude for Small Business is a plugin that runs on top of a paid plan, and Anthropic’s install guide lists Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise.
Anthropic’s small business page answers the plan question in one line: “Pro for one person, Team for a business with more than one”. The Team plan covers 2 to 150 people. On Team, the owner gets central billing, single sign-on (staff sign in with the company login), and control over which connectors staff can use.
Enterprise adds audit logs, automatic account provisioning, and custom data retention, and charges a seat fee plus usage. For what each company plan includes and the settings to change on day one, see Claude for business: Team and Enterprise plans.
What to set up before the first job
- Choose the plan. Anthropic recommends Team for a business with more than one person, and the person who creates a Team account must use a business email address.
- Install the Claude desktop app, then add the plugin. In Claude, open Customize, then Plugins, and add Small Business.
- Run /smb-onboard, or ask Claude to help you get set up. Claude asks about your business and saves the answers, so every other skill starts from those answers.
- Connect one tool first, such as your accounting software. On Team, an owner turns each connector on for the company, and each person then signs in to that tool.
- Limit what each connector can change. A Team owner can let a connector read a service without writing back, for example reading email without sending any.
- Give Claude a working folder instead of your whole drive. Anthropic’s safety guide for Cowork suggests a dedicated folder and backups of important files.
- Keep approval on for anything that sends, pays, or changes records. Anthropic’s Cowork guide says to stay close and review the work when money or messages sent in your name are involved.
Pick the job worth setting up first
Tell Derik which job takes the most hours in your week and who would attend. He will tell you what a working session built on that job would cover.
Start a conversationA first week for the owner of a small manufacturer or distributor
The connectors link Claude to CRM, accounting, email, and payment tools, such as HubSpot, QuickBooks, and Stripe. A plant also keeps orders, stock, and job records in an ERP (enterprise resource planning software). If your ERP has no connector, Anthropic says that every workflow also runs from a spreadsheet, a PDF, or a forwarded email.
A custom connector cannot reach an ERP on a server inside your plant. Anthropic’s plugin guide says the server must be reachable over the public internet. The week below therefore feeds ERP data in as exports, and each row names the check to make before you approve the draft.
| Day | Job | Skill | What to check before you approve |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | One page with cash, sales, open orders, and overdue invoices | /monday-brief, with an open-order export from the ERP | The cash figure against the bank, and the open-order total against the ERP’s own report |
| Tuesday | Reorders for stock that runs low | /restock | Each quantity against open orders, and each price against the supplier’s last invoice |
| Wednesday | A first read of a supplier contract | contract-review | Payment terms and liability clauses, then a lawyer before you sign |
| Thursday | Reminders for overdue invoices | invoice-chase | One customer you know well against your books, and any invoice shown as open that you know is paid |
| Friday | A priced reply to a request for quote | proposal-builder | Every price and lead time against your costs, because the draft prices from past jobs |
The habit carries over to every skill. Anthropic’s install guide asks you to “check the result against something you know before you approve it”. A Monday brief that shows a paid invoice as open is the cue to stop and find the mismatch before anything goes out.
What the plugin does not do
- The plugin files nothing for you. Anthropic says payroll is staged for you to submit, and bills wait for your approval before payment.
- The decisions stay with you. Anthropic’s guide names what to charge, what to sign, and what to send your accountant as calls for you and your advisers.
- Claude sees only what the connected account sees. If an employee cannot open a record in QuickBooks or Google Drive, Claude cannot open that record for the employee either.
- The tax skill is built around US forms. Anthropic’s guide says the skill builds quarterly estimated taxes or a year-end 1099 list.
- Some features depend on your plan in each connected tool. Anthropic notes that designs and staged sends can need a higher tier in the tool itself.
How Anthropic handles your business data
On Team and Enterprise, Anthropic does not use your business data to train the Claude models by default. Pro and Max follow Anthropic’s consumer terms, where the model improvement setting decides whether your chats help train the models. Check that setting under Settings, then Privacy, before you upload company files on a Pro plan.
Feedback works the same way on every plan. A thumbs up or down sends the whole conversation to Anthropic. Anthropic keeps that conversation for up to five years, according to the training article for company plans. On Team, an owner can turn feedback off for everyone with the Rate chats setting.
What Claude costs a small business
Anthropic charges for the Claude plan. The small business page answers the monthly cost question with Pro for one person and Team for more than one. The rates are on Anthropic’s pricing page. Anthropic’s Team plan article says that pricing, currency, and tax handling vary by region.
| Plan | Who the plan is for | How Anthropic charges | Runs the plugin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | One person trying Claude | No fee | No, because Cowork needs a paid plan |
| Pro | One person | A monthly or yearly subscription | Yes |
| Max | One person who works in Claude all day | A monthly subscription for 5 or 20 times the usage of Pro | Yes |
| Team | Companies with 2 to 150 people | A fee per seat each month, billed monthly or yearly, with Standard and Premium seats | Yes |
| Enterprise | Larger companies that need audit logs and custom retention | A seat fee plus usage at API rates, billed yearly | Yes |
Every plan has usage limits that reset on a rolling five-hour window, and paid plans add a weekly limit. Auto mode, where Claude checks each step instead of asking you, uses more of the limit than a workflow that waits for you.
How ThriveAI helps
ThriveAI teaches owners and their teams to use AI on their own work. Training runs as working sessions on the attendee’s own tasks and documents, on site at the plant or office, in French or English.
Derik Lawlis leads every ThriveAI project. Derik plans and quotes each engagement separately, around the jobs chosen and the people who take part. For sessions built for owners and leadership teams, see AI training for executives. For sessions with the people who do the work, see AI training for your team.