Anthropic opens Claude Duet, a proactive agent app, to a US waitlist

Anthropic has opened a research preview of Claude Duet, a separate app in which Claude works as a proactive agent rather than waiting for you to start a chat [1][2]. It sends a short brief each morning on what needs your attention, takes tasks you give it by text or voice message, keeps working on its own computer in the cloud while you are away, and asks before it acts on your behalf [1][2]. Access is by waitlist and limited to Pro and Max subscribers in the US [2][3]. For a solo operator or a small business owner, the practical questions are what it can reach, what it will do without asking, and how fast it uses up the plan you already pay for.

What was announced

Anthropic published the announcement on 21 October [1]. The company says it built Claude Duet for professionals and small business owners “with more on their plates than they can track” [1]. It is a standalone app for iOS and Android, and it can also be opened on the web at claude.ai [1][2]. It runs on Claude Opus 5.5, and during the preview you cannot pick a different model; Duet decides how much effort a job needs [1][3].

The way it works differs from the Claude app. The Claude app waits for you to open a chat; Duet, the company says, comes to you [2]. Each morning it looks across your email and calendar, picks what most needs your attention, and can start the first steps, such as drafting replies for you to review [3]. Through the day it sends updates on work in progress and follows up on threads that have gone quiet [3]. You message it in one main thread, and you can start separate channels for different topics that share the same memory [3]. Larger jobs, such as a research brief, a financial model, a slide deck or a dashboard, come back as files you can review and edit, in a Make tab [3]. A Tasks tab shows what it is working on and which tasks need your input [3].

Duet uses your existing Claude account, so the memory, skills and connectors you have already set up in Claude are there from the first message [1][3]. It can use the more than 6,000 connectors and plugins in the Claude Marketplace [1][4]. Anthropic’s examples include finding missed Gmail and Slack messages, checking QuickBooks or Stripe for unpaid invoices and drafting reminders, preparing payroll in Gusto, drafting a job post for LinkedIn, sending agreements through Docusign, and managing a Shopify store [1]. For sites without a connector, Duet uses its own browser in the cloud [3].

It can also buy things. Purchases go through Link, Stripe’s digital wallet, or Shop Pay, Shopify’s wallet [1][3]. Duet confirms the item with you, Link asks you to approve the spend, and each purchase uses a one-time card that works only for that purchase, so your real card number is not shared [1][3]. Anthropic says sign-in to sites with logins saved in 1Password is coming soon [1].

What changed, and for whom

The first change is what the agent may do without you. Anthropic says Duet reads, drafts and prepares work on its own, but before it sends a message, makes a payment, signs a document or deletes anything, it shows you exactly what it is about to do and waits for your approval [1][3]. If you cannot approve right away, it finishes the rest of the task and brings the approval back to you later [3]. Some actions are off-limits even with approval: trading securities, moving money between accounts, and accessing someone else’s account [3][4]. It does not make phone calls or send text messages to other people [3].

The second is how it handles sensitive information. Anthropic is releasing Duet with a new classifier and a safety system prompt that check each message [1]. They are designed to refuse requests to share the strictest tier of information, including credit card numbers and government identification [1][4]. Other sensitive information, such as health or personal finances, is let through only when you have explicitly told Duet to send it [1]. When a site asks for a password, you type it into a separate form on your device, which sends it to the browser and is designed to keep it out of your chat [3]. Anthropic says Duet’s credential handling follows the design used for Claude Managed Agents, so it never directly sees your passwords or sign-in tokens [1]. The help page is direct about prompt injection: Duet reads email and web pages written by other people, it is built to treat that content as information, but “no defense is perfect”, which is one reason consequential actions need your approval [3].

The third is cost, and it is less simple than “free”. During the preview, Duet is included in Pro and Max at no extra cost [3]. It uses your plan’s usage limits, including the five-hour session and weekly limits, at the same rate as chats in Claude [3]. Background work, like the morning brief and check-ins, also counts, so you may reach your limits sooner than with chat alone [3]. Anthropic says Duet checks your connected accounts every few hours because checking nonstop would use up a plan’s limits much faster [1]. Larger tasks, like building a financial model or a deck, take more model turns and more background work [1][2]. When you are admitted, you get one full limit reset of both the five-hour and weekly limits, available until 30 November 2026 [3]. What Duet will cost after the research preview is not public.

There are limits Anthropic lists itself. Duet checks accounts at set intervals, so something urgent can arrive between checks [3]. You cannot watch it work in its browser or take over that browser [3][4]. It cannot see all of your projects or the files on your computer, and it can read your work in Claude but cannot change it [3]. Microsoft 365 is not available yet, and some connectors, such as Slack, work with limits [3]. It may misread a thread or misjudge what is urgent [2][3]. TechCrunch notes that Anthropic says Duet is not good at errands such as booking tickets [4].

If you disconnect an app, Duet stops accessing it from that point, but it keeps its memory of information from earlier conversations [3]. It can also search your past Claude chats outside of projects, using the same Search and reference chats setting as Claude [3]. Turning that setting off stops it [3].

Who it is for — and not

Anthropic says it built Duet for professionals and small business owners [1]. Anthropic’s examples from early testers include a broker whose morning brief caught a property showing booked on the wrong day, and the owner of Shahs of Kabob in South Florida, with about 110 employees, who used it for accounting, customer support and marketing [1]. Those are the company’s own picks from its testers, not a measured result.

It suits work that is mostly reading, drafting and chasing: unpaid invoices, follow-ups and meeting prep [1][3]. Because every send, payment, signature and deletion needs your approval, it does not remove you from the loop; it moves the work to you as a queue of decisions [1][3].

It is not for teams yet. Team and Enterprise plans are not included, and Anthropic says it plans to bring Duet to them later [3]. It is not available outside the US during the preview [3]. It is not for anyone who needs Microsoft 365 today [3]. And it is not a way to automate money movement: trading securities and moving money between accounts are blocked even if you approve [3][4].

It is also not a finished product. Anthropic calls it a research preview, says access opens in waves, and says features can change [3]. For now Duet lives in its own app, separate from the main Claude app, and the company says what it learns from early users will shape how the two work together [1].

This page will be updated when Anthropic publishes Duet’s price after the research preview, opens it to Team and Enterprise plans or to users outside the US, or adds Microsoft 365.

∴ Duet is free inside Pro and Max for now, but its background checks spend the same usage limits as your chats.